Navine Aggarwal, Executive Vice President and Head of M&A Insurance | Ethos Specialty

Navine Aggarwal is Executive Vice President and Head of M&A Insurance at Ethos Specialty. Navine launched the M&A Insurance platform at Ethos in 2017 and leads the team with underwriters based in New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Toronto. Prior to Ethos, Navine ran the Americas division for Ironshore's M&A group and helped build the North American platform for Allied World's transactional liability group. Prior to working in the insurance industry, Navine practiced law in Ropes & Gray's private equity practice in New York and spent time as an investment banking analyst at Macquarie.

Cole Bader, Managing Director, Co-Head | Stifel

Cole joined Stifel in 2010 following the acquisition of Thomas Weisel Partners and is a Managing Director, Co-Head of Stifel’s Global Technology Investment Banking Group and Head of Mergers & Acquisitions. Cole has more than 25 years of experience providing strategic advisory services to public and private companies across a broad range of transactions, geographies, and industries. Cole first joined Thomas Weisel Partners in 2002, where he ultimately served as a Managing Director and Co-Head of M&A. He spent 10 years in the Technology M&A Group at Morgan Stanley, both in New York and London. Cole was also a co-founder of Morgan Stanley's East Coast Technology M&A practice. Cole received a BA from Princeton University.

Michael D. Belsley | Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Michael D. Belsley, is widely recognized as one of the country’s leading attorneys in the field of private equity secondaries. His practice involves the structuring, negotiating and documenting complex investment fund-level recapitalizations and restructurings, as well as captive fund spin-outs and traditional portfolio-level secondary market trades, in a variety of asset classes, including the venture capital, leveraged buy-out, infrastructure/real assets, special situations and real estate sectors.

Michael also frequently represents both private equity fund sponsors (i.e., general partners) and lead investors in fund-level restructurings and related matters.

Dan Berger, Senior M&A Underwriter (Tax) | AIG

Daniel Berger is a Senior M&A Underwriter (Tax) at AIG, where he underwrites tax liability insurance for North America. Prior to joining AIG, Dan was a director at Brookfield Asset Management and focused on global transactional tax matters. He previously worked at Moelis & Company, where he developed tax-efficient structures and tailored solutions for M&A and restructuring transactions for global investment banking clients. Dan began his professional career as a tax attorney at Proskauer Rose LLP, where he advised clients on domestic and cross-border transactions including acquisitions, offerings and financings.

Justin Pierce Berutich, SVP/ Head of Tax | Euclid Transactional

Justin Pierce Berutich is SVP / Head of Tax at Euclid Transactional. A former M&A and transactional tax attorney, he enhances client value through the promotion and underwriting of representations & warranties, tax indemnity, and contingent liability insurance solutions. Justin’s corporate, tax, and insurance experience allows him to bring a unique perspective to each matter. He understands business, and his goal is to achieve success for Euclid’s clients by implementing highly customized insurance solutions in the most expeditious and cost-effective manner possible. Prior to joining the insurance world, Justin, a licensed attorney in three states and the District of Columbia, facilitated efficient and timely negotiations, due diligence, and closing of deals for fortune 500 companies and high growth businesses providing business-centric advice to help his clients achieve objectives, stay competitive, manage risk, and avoid costly disputes.

Gary Blitz, U.S. Co-CEO, M&A and Transaction Solutions | Aon

Gary P Blitz is Co-CEO of Aon Mergers & Acquisitions and Transaction Solutions, with primary responsibility for Tax Insurance and other Transaction Solutions. The Transaction Solutions practice is the leading insurance broker of Transaction Liability Insurance, including Representations and Warranties Insurance (aka M&A Insurance), Tax Insurance and bespoke transactional insurance solutions. The Tax Insurance practice specializes in the placement of tax insurance programs for M&A transactions, tax credit investments and corporate tax risk management. Throughout Gary’s career, he has been a leader in the tax and transactional insurance business and played an instrumental role in the development of Representations and Warranties Insurance and Tax Insurance and the growth of transaction liability insurance generally. Gary joined Aon in 2004 after a twenty-year legal career at firms, including Mintz Levin and predecessors of DLA Piper and Katten Muchin Rosenman. Gary began his career as a tax lawyer and acted as legal counsel to U.S., London and international insurers, and was a nationally recognized expert in the insurance of financial and transactional risks. Gary also founded ML Insurance Strategies, the insurance brokerage affiliate of Mintz Levin, and Kingswood Group, a tax credit insurance underwriter. Gary graduated from the University of Michigan School of Business Administration with a B.B.A. with Distinction and from New York University School of Law with a J.D. He is a member of the New York State and District of Columbia Bars, and a licensed property and casualty insurance broker in New York and other states. Gary previously served on the Board of Directors of Adoptions Together Inc., a Maryland not-for profit, in various capacities.

Ian Boczko, Partner | Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Ian Boczko is a litigation partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, focusing on complex litigation matters and arbitrations, insurance, internal investigations, and corporate governance issues.

Since joining Wachtell Lipton in 2001, Mr. Boczko has worked on several of the Firm’s high-profile matters. He has been involved in the Firm’s representation of Silverstein Properties in its dispute with more than 20 insurance companies in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the Firm’s representation of the New York Stock Exchange in litigation with dissident seatholders in connection with the NYSE becoming a publicly-traded company, the Firm’s representation of IAC and Barry Diller in litigation against Liberty Media Corp., the Firm’s representation of JPMorgan following JPMorgan’s transaction with Bear Stearns and following the Lehman bankruptcy, the Firm’s representation of Philip Morris in litigation resulting from the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, and the Firm’s representation of several clients in sensitive internal and government investigations. Mr. Boczko’s practice also focuses on a variety of issues relating to insurance matters and has played a significant role in assisting the Firm’s clients in placing representations and warranties insurance in numerous corporate transactions.

Prior to joining Wachtell Lipton, Mr. Boczko clerked for the Honorable Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York. He is a 2000 graduate of Columbia Law School where he was a James Kent Scholar, served as a senior editor on the Columbia Law Review and was the recipient of the John Ordronaux Prize for highest academic average in the graduating class. He graduated summa cum laude from Columbia College with a degree in Chemistry and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Jared Bourgeois, Director | PwC

Jared Bourgeois is a Director in the PwC US Contracts and Closing Mechanisms (CCM) and M&A Dispute Advisory practices and is based in Chicago. Mr. Bourgeois advises clients regarding the accounting and financial related aspects of sale and purchase agreements (SPAs) pre-signing, and also advises clients in post-closing M&A disputes, commercial disputes, bankruptcy-related litigation, and forensic accounting investigations. He has performed economic damages, valuation, solvency, and forensic accounting analyses in various matters, including post-closing accounting disputes, breach of representations & warranties claims, earn-out disputes, material adverse change cases, and fraudulent conveyance investigations. He has served as a consulting expert on various matters involving complex damages, valuation, and accounting issues, including the interpretation of generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (US GAAP). He has also conducted a variety of forensic accounting and other internal investigations, including fraud, FCPA, anti-money laundering, auditor malpractice, successor liability, and breach of fiduciary duty investigations.

Mr. Bourgeois holds a B.S. in Accounting from Brigham Young University and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) by the AICPA, and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). He previously served as a member of the board of directors of the Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS), as chair of the ICPAS Young Leaders Advisory Council, and as a member of the AICPA’s Relations with the Bar Committee.

Brian Buchert, Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Mergers & Acquisitions | Church & Dwight

Brian is the Vice President of Corporate Strategy and M&A for Church & Dwight based out of Ewing, NJ – Church & Dwight is a manufacturer of consumer and specialty products and owns such iconic brands as Arm & Hammer, Trojan, OxiClean, Waterpik, First Response, Vitafusion, Flawless, Spinbrush, Nair and Orajel with total sales of $4.4 billion and a market capitalization of over $17 billion. Since joining Church & Dwight in 2006 the company has acquired 16 brands with an aggregate transaction value over $4.3 billion including: Flawless hair removal devices, Waterpik water flossers, Passport Food Safety, Agro Biosciences Animal Nutrition, Viviscal hair care, Anusol hemorrhoid business, Toppik hair fiber care, Vi-Cor Animal Nutrition, RepHresh and Replens Women’s health brands, Avid Health (L’il Critters and VitaFusion gummy vitamins), OxiClean, Orajel, Simply Saline, Batiste, Toothtunes and Feline Pine brands and sold nine businesses. Brian also is on the board of directors of the Armand Products JV in the Specialty Products Division for Church & Dwight. Brian joined Church & Dwight in 2006 after a 10-year career on Wall Street, in Private Equity and Corporate M&A. Brian began his career working in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Morgan Stanley. Brian then went on to work in Private Equity at Columbia Capital in Washington, DC making over 20 direct investments totaling over $400 million in early stage Technology, Software and Telecommunications companies. Most recently prior to Church & Dwight he headed the M&A department at Lafarge North America which was the largest U.S. basic materials provider before being acquired in 2006. He received his BS in Finance from Georgetown University.

Rick Chung, General Counsel and Senior VP | Bowlmor, Brunswick, AMF, Bowlero, BPA

Rick Chung is currently General Counsel and Senior VP of Bowlmor│Brunswick│AMF│Bowlero│PBA, the world's largest operator of bowling and family entertainment facilities, spanning over 300 locations worldwide with nearly 10,000 personnel. For the past 6 years, Rick has counseled the company in building value in core services, and accelerating growth in digital and media offerings. In 2014, Rick led the company in its acquisition of Brunswick which was honored by M&A Magazine as its "Deal of the Year". Rick's prior roles include being the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for Medivo, a Merck pharmaceuticals tech company, and Associate Corporate Counsel for Epiq Systems, a publicly-traded technology company. Most recently, Rick led his team in acquiring the Professional Bowlers Association which holds over 300 televised tournaments on CBS and Fox. For over 10 years, Rick was also Senior Corporate Associate at Proskauer LLP specializing in M&A and technology.

Brian Cochrane, Chief Commercial Officer, New Ventures Group Executive Chairman, M&A and Transaction Solutions | Aon

Brian Cochrane is the Chief Commercial Officer of the New Ventures Group, responsible for identifying and scaling new, high potential businesses globally for Aon. As part of his New Ventures Group responsibilities, Brian also leads Aon’s Intellectual Property Solutions and Aon Special Opportunities groups and serves as the Executive Chairman of the M&A and Transaction Solutions practices. As head of the M&A practice, he leads a team focused on developing and maintaining relationships with Private Equity and larger corporate clients, providing M&A diligence services, portfolio solutions, and solutions to maximize exit value. Before joining Aon, he led strategy and business development at Lehman Brothers’ Mortgage Capital Division, where he oversaw both organic and acquisition-related growth strategies for two years. Prior to Lehman Brothers, Brian spent six years at McKinsey & Co., where he served a variety of financial service companies on operational and strategic issues.

Allyson Coyne, Managing Director | Aon

Allyson Coyne is a managing director on Aon’s Transaction Solutions team, where she advises clients in the areas of representations and warranties insurance, tax indemnity insurance, and other transaction-related coverages. Allyson also is involved in matters concerning financial product lines for a wide variety of clients, including financial institutions, biotech and Fortune 500 companies. A veteran in the industry, Allyson has over 16 years of experience brokering bespoke M&A insurance solutions.

Tapan Datta, Partner | Aon

Tapan is Head of the Global Asset Allocation Team and a Partner at Aon. This team of ten professionals is responsible for the firm’s intellectual contributions on a wide range of global economic and financial market issues. Tapan and his team are responsible for the firm’s long-term capital market assumptions which project economic and market conditions into the future. Tapan is a big individual contributor to the firm’s thought leadership output in the public domain on a range of topics that impact today’s economic and financial markets environment. Tapan and his team’s work over the past year has embraced a range of contemporary public policy issues such as trade conflict, Brexit and challenges to the role of independent central banks. His financial markets research has focused on a wide range of topics – e.g. the risks of zero interest rates arriving in the US, investment hedges in a global recession and the outlook for private markets. He is a member of Aon’s UK and US investment committees, is active with the investment leaders’ group of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership, and a regular commentator on CNBC, Bloomberg and IPE. He has been with Aon since 2007. His previous investment experience was at Schroders, a British asset manager, where he spent nine years as Director of Investment Strategy for international equities and at American Express Bank as Deputy Chief Economist. Tapan graduated from Cambridge University England, and went on to earn a Ph.D in Economics from the same institution.

Stephen Davidson, Managing Director | Aon

Stephen Davidson is a managing director on Aon’s Transaction Solutions team. Stephen’s primary responsibilities are divided into two roles: (i) managing transaction liability claims for the Aon Transaction Solutions team and (ii) overseeing the development of insurance solutions to address litigation and other contingent risks. Prior to joining Aon in 2016, Stephen was a commercial litigation partner in DLA Piper’s New York office, where his insurance and reinsurance practice included arbitration, litigation and counseling for global insurance companies involving directors and officer’s liability and professional liability coverage and complex reinsurance disputes. Stephen’s commercial litigation practice concentrated on business litigation for public and private companies. Stephen began his career at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, where he worked as a litigation associate for several years.

Time Dawe, Vice President | Everest Insurance

Tim Dawe is a Vice President at Everest Insurance, where he is responsible for underwriting rep & warranty policies on a wide range of M&A transactions. Prior to joining Everest, Tim was a transactional attorney at Latham & Watkins and Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Tim earned his JD from Columbia University.

James Dougherty, Practice Leader M&A | Jones Day

James Dougherty is the Practice Leader of Jones Day’s M&A Practice. He advises companies on transactional matters, including takeover defense, leveraged buyouts, proxy contests, shareholder activism, and corporate governance. James has worked on a variety of mergers and acquisitions transactions representing acquirors, targets, and special committees.

Jennifer Drake, Vice President | Aon

Jennifer Drake is a vice president on Aon’s Transaction Solutions team. In her role, Jennifer acts as an advocate for clients, facilitating the resolution of transaction liability insurance claims. Previously, Jennifer held a legal consulting role in Aon’s Financial Services Group providing guidance on executive risk and risk transfer solutions to corporate executives and boards, as well as claims advocacy on directors and officers liability insurance and cyber liability insurance matters. Prior to working at Aon, Jennifer was an associate at Goodmans LLP where her practice covered a range of areas including contractual disputes, real estate litigation, municipal and land planning litigation and other commercial litigation matters. Jennifer received her law degree from the University of Western Ontario and was called to the Ontario Bar in 2009.

Jacob Drouillard, Partner | Honigman LLP

Jacob Drouillard is a Partner in Honigman LLP’s Corporate and Private Equity practices where he concentrates on all aspects of private equity transactions and private company M&A, including deal structuring, negotiating and managing private equity buyouts, add-on M&A transactions, joint ventures and strategic agreements, divestitures and recapitalizations.

He regularly represents middle-market private equity funds and other institutional and entrepreneurial/family office investors in their investing activities, including portfolio company representation and negotiation of management related and transaction bonus agreements. Mr. Drouillard also represents a representations and warranties insurance carrier client in the issuance of a significant number of policies written in connection with private company M&A transactions.

Representative transactions range in size from less than a million dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars and have covered a wide variety of sectors, such as franchising, health care, professional services, consumer products, energy, aerospace, defense, manufacturing, and technology. Prior to joining Honigman as a Partner in 2010, Jacob worked as an associate in the Chicago offices of Latham & Watkins (2004-2008) and Winston & Strawn (2008-2010).

Mary Duffy, Global head of Mergers & Acquisitions Insurance Group | AIG

Mary is a former practicing attorney who heads AIG’s global Mergers & Acquisitions Insurance Group, specializing in Reps & Warranties Insurance, Tax Insurance and other solutions to facilitate deals. After starting her career with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius as an associate in the Business & Finance group, she was Managing Director of Aon’s Private Equity & Transaction Solutions Group. Mary earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and her B.A. from Juniata College.

Elissa Etheridge, Managing Director/Private Equity Sales Leader | Aon

Elissa Etheridge is a managing director on Aon’s Transaction Solutions team. Elissa has a dual role in driving efforts and cogent strategy in the private equity sector for the Aon U.S. TL team, together with responsibility for leading client placements in the areas of R&W insurance and other transaction-related coverage. Prior to moving to the U.S., Elissa led Aon’s M&A and Transactions Solutions practice for Australia and New Zealand. Elissa has over 10 years of combined legal and insurance M&A experience. Since joining Aon in 2012, Elissa’s principal focus has been negotiating and placing warranty and indemnity insurance policies for divestments and internal and inbound investments in the Australia and NZ market. She is recognized as a market expert in this field. Prior to joining Aon, Elissa had over four years of legal M&A experience, having practiced in two of Australia’s leading corporate law firms: Ashurst (formerly Blake Dawson) and McCullough Robertson. During this time, Elissa specialized in negotiating and structuring both domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions, advising Australia’s leading public and private corporations, PE funds, and institutional investment vehicles.

Joshua Halpern, Senior Managing Director | Aon

Josh Halpern is a senior managing director on Aon’s Transaction Solutions team. Since joining Aon in January 2014, Josh has focused on the development, placement and negotiation of representations and warranties insurance for corporate and private equity buyers. Josh also spends time on business development initiatives and educational programs for clients, prospective clients, attorneys and other advisors. Prior to joining Aon, Josh was a senior associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, where he specialized in public and private mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, securities offerings, and other corporate transactions, as well as securities disclosure and corporate governance matters. Josh also worked from 2006 to 2012 as an associate at the international law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP (and its predecessor, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP), where he focused principally on corporate insurance and reinsurance transactions. Josh has advised U.S. and global clients spanning a wide range of industries, including insurance, reinsurance, private equity, technology, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, media and technology.

Jessica Harger, Senior Vice President | Aon

Jessica Harger joined Aon’s Transaction Solutions team in 2016 and focuses on tax insurance. Prior to joining the team, Jessica worked as a tax consultant in Big Four accounting firms, most recently in Ernst & Young’s Transaction Tax group. Jessica began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, advising financial services clients and focusing on international tax issues in M&A transactions. She has advised on both private equity and strategic corporate deals from the buy-side and sell-side, with total value in excess of $10 billion. Jessica has experience in all stages of the transaction life cycle, including strategic analysis of opportunities, development of financial and tax structures, due diligence and negotiation of sale and purchase agreements, and post transaction implementation.

Randy Hein, President | Berkley Transactional

Randy is President and founding member of Berkley Transactional, having previously served as SVP of Chubb where he re-established the Transactional Risk Practice in 2015. Randy also held various leadership positions at Chubb, Genesis, ICI, and Progressive. He also served as a Trustee of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society. Randy holds an MBA in Finance from Case Western Reserve University and a BS in Business Finance from Miami University.

Matthew Heinz, Senior Managing Director/Co-Practice Leader | Aon

Matthew Heinz is a senior managing director and co-practice leader of Aon’s Transaction Solutions team. Matt heads the representations and warranties insurance business. He previously worked as a broker in Aon’s Private Equity and Transaction Solutions group, which served as a national resource in the private equity space for the broader Financial Services group. Matt began his insurance brokerage career at Aon in 2010. Prior to joining Aon, Matt underwrote R&W, Tax and Contingent Liability insurance at AIG and managed their Mergers and Acquisitions Insurance group. Matt began his professional career as a corporate attorney with Proskauer Rose LLP in New York City, where he mainly practiced M&A before entering the insurance field.

Daniel Howard, Vice President | Aon

Dan Howard is a vice president on Aon’s Transaction Solutions team. Prior to joining Aon in 2019, Dan was a senior associate with Stikeman Elliott LLP in Toronto, where he specialized in M&A, private equity, securities law matters, and corporate finance, serving clients across a range of wide range of industries, including the cannabis sector.

Tim Kennedy, President North America and Group Chief Underwriting Officer | Ambridge Partners LLC

Tim Kennedy is the President – North America and Group Chief Underwriting Officer at Ambridge Group, a managing general underwriter of Transactional Insurance Products. Tim has been underwriting transactional insurance for over twenty years and is currently responsible for overseeing the global underwriting and development of Ambridge’s insurance products. Ambridge is a recognized international leader in the Transactional Insurance marketplace, with offices in New York, San Francisco, London and Frankfurt. Tim received his B.A. from Dartmouth College.

Jill Kerxton, Managing Director | Aon

Jill Kerxton is a managing director on Aon’s Transaction Solutions team and has worked in the tax and transactional insurance business throughout her career. Prior to joining Aon in 2014, Jill enjoyed a 20-year legal career during which she was a partner at various law firms, including Mintz Levin and predecessors of DLA Piper and Katten Muchin Rosenman. As co-leader of the Financial Risks practice, Jill became a nationally recognized expert in the insurance of financial and transactional risks, such as M&A insurance, insurance programs covering tax and regulatory risks, litigation buyouts, environmental insurance, and credit enhancements. She also played an instrumental role in the development of tax insurance, representations and warranties insurance, and other transactional insurance products. Jill began her career as a tax lawyer and acted as legal counsel to U.S., London and international insurers, many of which regularly underwrite financial risks. Today, she advises clients purchasing such insurance programs.

Elliot Konopko, Co-Head, Aon Special Opportunities Group, and Co-Head, Aon Litigation Risk Group | Aon

Elliot Konopko is a Senior Managing Director and Co-Head, Aon’s Special Opportunities Group, and Co-Head, Aon’s Litigation Risk Group. Elliot joined Aon after a 15-year career as a hedge fund manager, including most recently as a London-based managing principal of Halcyon Asset Management (UK) LLP, the UK affiliate of a $13 billion multi-strategy investment firm that specialized in equity, fixed income and special situation investments in public and private markets. Prior to joining Halcyon, Elliot founded Taliesin Capital Management LLC, an investment management firm focused on public and private equity, fixed income, and special situation investments primarily in North America and Europe. Earlier in his career, Elliot was the General Counsel of Axsys Technologies, a publicly traded company engaged in the design and manufacture of precision components serving the aerospace and defense industries, and an attorney at Fried Frank, specializing in mergers and acquisitions on behalf of strategic and private equity buyers and sellers, restructurings, financings, and capital markets transactions. Elliot started his career at Chase Manhattan Bank, where, following his completion of Chase’s Credit Training Program, he worked as a credit analyst and then a corporate loan officer in New York and Mexico City for three years.

Toria Lessman, SVP and Underwriting Leader | QBE North America

Toria Lessman is the SVP, Underwriting Leader for QBE North America’s Transactional Liability practice. She has more than a decade of insurance industry experience in product development and underwriting, primarily focused on management and professional liability coverage. In her current role, Toria is dedicated to driving profitable growth, utilizing deep industry expertise across underwriting and claims to provide solutions for a variety of complex risks. She is responsible for underwriting, marketing and developing transactional insurance products, including representations and warranties insurance and tax liability insurance.

Corey Lewis, Vice President | Aon

Corey Lewis joined Aon’s Transaction Solutions team in June 2015, focusing on tax insurance. Prior to joining Aon, Corey was an associate in the International Tax Services: Financial Services/Real Estate division in the New York office of PricewaterhouseCoopers. At PwC, Corey focused primarily on the tax structuring of international real estate investments.

Angus Marshall, Practice Leader | CFC Underwriting

Angus Marshall is the Practice Leader of CFC’s Transaction Liability business. Angus is an Australian qualified lawyer with experience working for PWC in their international tax and mergers and acquisitions group and Norton Rose Fulbright’s mergers and acquisitions practice. Prior to CFC, Angus worked for AIG as a Transaction Liability Senior Underwriter (focussing on EMEA emerging markets) and as Head of M&A, UK and London Market. Angus holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the Australian National University and a Master of Laws from the University of Sydney.

Ram Menon, Partner | KPMG LLP

Ram Menon, Partner at KPMG LLP based in New York., serves as KPMG’s U.S. and Global Insurance Deal Advisory practice leader. Ram has over 25 years of experience with KPMG serving a broad range of global insurance industry clients, providing mergers, acquisition & divestiture related deal advisory services. Ram has advised on several domestic and cross-border M&A transaction in the insurance industry, relating to: Mergers, Acquisitions, & Integration; Divestitures & Separation, and M&A Strategy. During his career, Ram has worked in KPMG’s financial services industry practices in leading financial centers worldwide, including New York, London, Singapore and Dubai.

William C. O’Neil , Partner | Winston & Strawn LLP

Bill O’Neil is a Litigation Partner in the Chicago office of Winston & Strawn LLP. A significant portion of Bill’s practice involves representing private equity funds and their portfolio companies. Bill frequently represents buyers and sellers in post-closing disputes, including working capital, representation and warranty, and fraud claims. Bill also represents buyers in claims against representation and warranty insurance carriers. More than a dozen private equity funds have retained Bill to handle these disputes; often where another law firm handled the underlying transaction. He brings a practical, business-minded approach to contentious disputes; he is frequently praised by his clients for the depth of his understanding of M&A transactions.

Rita O’Neill, Partner | Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Rita O’Neill is a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell LLP’s General Practice Group and serves as co-head of the Global Private Equity Group. She has a broad-based practice that includes advising clients on mergers and acquisitions and securities offerings and providing general corporate advice on disclosure and governance. She has advised clients in a wide range of industries, including apparel, financial institutions, healthcare and life sciences, semiconductors, telecommunications and transportation. In 2019, she was named among the Los Angeles Business Journal’s “Most Influential Private Equity Investors & Advisors.”

Ms. O’Neill is a member of S&C’s Women’s Initiative Committee and Co-Chair of the ABA’s Women in M&A Subcommittee. She is also Co-Chair of the ABA’s Acquisition of Public Companies Subcommittee and Former Chair of its M&A Market Trends Subcommittee and its Deal Points Study on Carveout Transactions. She is an active provider of pro bono legal services with a particular focus on education, foster youth and animal rights. Ms. O’Neill graduated from Wellesley College with a B.A. and earned her J.D. from Boston College Law School.

Vipul Patel, Senior Vice President | Aon

Vipul Patel joined Aon’s Transaction Solutions team in 2015 as a senior vice president. In this role, he advises clients in the areas of representations and warranties insurance, tax indemnity insurance, and other transaction-related coverage, specializing in health care transactions. Prior to joining Aon, Vipul most recently was a vice president in the health care investment banking group at Robert W. Baird, where he focused on mergers, acquisitions and capital-raising transactions. Prior to that, Vipul was an associate in the health care investment banking group at Deutsche Bank. Before his career in investment banking, Vipul was a corporate attorney with O’Melveny & Myers and Jones Day, focusing on mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and securities offerings.

Jay Rittberg, Managing Principal | Euclid Transactional, LLC

Jay Rittberg is Managing Principal of Euclid Transactional, LLC, a transactional insurance underwriting and claims handling managing general agency with offices in New York, London, Chicago and Toronto assisting clients in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining Euclid Transactional in April 2016, Jay was Senior Vice President and Americas M&A Manager at AIG where he was responsible for managing the development, underwriting and marketing of transactional insurance products. Jay was also previously a corporate attorney at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, where he advised clients on a wide range of corporate matters. Jay earned his law degree from The University of Pennsylvania Law School and has a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.

William J. Row, Partner | Baker McKenzie

William J. Rowe is a partner in Baker McKenzie’s Corporate and Securities Practice Group in Chicago. William assists global clients with transformational domestic and international mergers and acquisitions. He also leads Baker McKenzie's North American corporate knowledge programs with respect to representation and warranty insurance policies. William Rowe has drafted representation and warranty insurance policies for acquisitions in 11 countries and is the author of "A Small World After All: R&W Insurance in Cross-Border M&A," Deal Lawyers, May-June 2018.

Anna Rozin, Vice President and underwriter | AIG

Anna Rozin is a Vice President and underwriter in the M&A Group at AIG, where she underwrites transactional insurance products, including representations and warranties insurance. Prior to joining AIG, Anna was an associate at Ropes & Gray, LLP in the firm’s Private Equity group, advising private investment firms, corporations and financial institutions on mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, restructurings and general corporate matters. Ms. Rozin received her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and her bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University.

Daniel Schoenberg, Senior Managing Director | Aon

Daniel Schoenberg is a senior managing director on Aon’s Transaction Solutions team, focused on tax insurance. Prior to joining Aon in June 2013, Dan was a director at Deutsche Bank and served as tax counsel for the bank. He also worked as a senior tax associate at the international law firms Fulbright & Jaworski LLP (now Norton Rose Fulbright LLP) and Andrews Kurth LLP. Dan has advised on U.S.-based and European-based acquisitions and divestitures with total values in excess of $50 billion. Representative transactions include Deutsche Bank’s staged acquisition of Deutsche Postbank, a leading global industrial company’s sales of the assets and stock of its U.S. and foreign subsidiaries and Code Section 355 spinoffs, and the shelved 2008 takeover of Bell Canada Enterprises (which would have been the largest leveraged buyout in history). Dan also initiated, designed, negotiated and executed tax equity investor acquisitions of refined coal production facilities generating potentially $500 million of tax credits for Deutsche Bank.

Kate Sherburne, Partner | Faegre Baker Daniels LLP

Kate Sherburne works with clients to close transformational deals. She focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and securities. She has represented public and private clients in transactions across numerous industries, including retail, software/technology, medical devices, financial services, health care, restaurants, manufacturing and distribution, wholesale, and professional sports.

Marc Sherman, Managing Director and Partner | Alvarez & Marsal

Marc Sherman is a Managing Director and partner with Alvarez & Marsal, resident in Washington, D.C. He specializes in forensic accounting and corporate restructuring with a focus on insurance, M&A, economic loss and business value and frequently serves as an arbitrator in post-acquisition M&A disputes.

Marc previously was the managing partner of Forensic Services and regional managing partner of corporate finance, corporate restructuring and business valuation for a Big Four firm. He is a CPA and member of the bar.

Marc served on the faculty of Georgetown University for many years and is the chair of the audit committee of the National District Attorneys Association. He has also served as the chair of several ABA subcommittees on forensic accounting and accounting issues.

Jason Sobol, Senior Managing Director | Evercore

Jason Sobol is a Senior Managing Director of the firm’s corporate advisory business with over 20 years of relevant experience and focused on the Information and Technology industries. Mr. Sobol was named to the 2014 Multichannel News 40 Under 40 list and the 2013 Crain’s 40 Under 40 New York Business list.

Prior to joining Evercore in 2004, Mr. Sobol was Vice President of Acquisitions for the Davis Companies, the holding company for Marvin Davis-controlled entities, focusing on private equity and leveraged buyout opportunities primarily in media and entertainment. Mr. Sobol was also a Principal of the Davis family’s venture fund, Stone Canyon Venture Partners. Prior to Davis Companies, Mr. Sobol’s previous roles included Senior Director of Business Development for LAUNCH.com and a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions group of Goldman Sachs & Co.

Notable recent sell-side transactions include: advised J.D. Power on its sale to Thoma Bravo, Definitive Healthcare on its sale to Advent, Green Street Advisors on its sale to WCAS, Alliance Data on its $4.4bn sale of Epsilon to Publicis, Yelp on its successful defense against activist campaign, TAIT on its sale to Providence Equity, New Mountain Capital on the sale of IRI to Vestar Capital Partners, Acxiom on its sale of Acxiom Marketing Solutions to IPG, Reorg Research on its sale to Warburg Pincus, Gartner on its sale of CEB Talent Assessments to Exponent,160over90 on its sale to Endeavor, Wolters Kluwer on its sale of Corsearch to Audax, eVestment on its sale to Nasdaq, the Scripps Family in connection with Scripps Networks to Discovery, Atlantic Media on its sale of The Atlantic to Emerson Collective, Dominion Web Solutions to Goldman Sachs and Eurazeo and Merkle on its sale to Dentsu

Selected buyside transactions include: the acquisition of Turnitin by Advance Publications, The Advisory Board Company’s education business by Vista Equity, Telvent DTN by TBG AG, CEB by Gartner, SNL by McGrawHill Financial, AutoTrader Canada by Thoma Bravo, FNC by CoreLogic, Dealer.com by DealerTrack, Marshall & Swift/Boeckh and DataQuick by CoreLogic, TransUnion by Advent International and Goldman Sachs, eCarList by DealerTrack, UpToDate by Wolters Kluwer and Thomson Learning by Apax

Mr. Sobol has also advised on a broad range of transactions including IPOs, spin-offs, capital raises, recapitalizations and restructurings. Mr. Sobol received a B.A. in Economics, with honors, from Harvard University.

R. Philip Stevenson, CEO | VALE Insurance Partners

Philip is VALE's Chief Executive Officer. Prior to launching VALE in 2014, Philip has served as a private equity and venture capital investment professional, investment banker, and has held business development and corporate development roles at technology companies.

At H.I.G. Capital he was involved in the origination, structuring, and execution of new investment transactions and the strategic management of the firm’s portfolio companies. While in the Healthcare Investment Banking group at Wachovia Securities, he performed advisory services related to M&A and capital markets transactions for companies in the healthcare industry.

Philip received his MBA degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds a degree in finance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Gaurav Sud, Senior Managing Director | Aon

Gaurav Sud is a senior managing director on Aon’s Transaction Solutions team. Prior to joining Aon in 2014, Gaurav was an associate most recently at Fenwick & West LLP in Silicon Valley and previously at Shearman & Sterling LLP in New York, specializing in public and private mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital investment transactions, and other strategic corporate transactions, as well as fund formation and corporate governance matters for private equity sponsors and U.S. and global strategic clients spanning a wide range of industries.

Timothy L. Voigtman, Partner | Foley & Lardner LLP

Timothy L. Voigtman is a partner and business lawyer practicing with Foley & Lardner LLP and serves as chair of the firm’s Tax, Benefits & Estate Planning Practice. He practices general corporate and tax law, including the business and tax consequences of the formation, ownership, operation, sale and reorganization of C corporations, S corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies. He focuses on complex business transactions, such as acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and tax-free organizations. Additionally, Mr. Voigtman also advises clients on executive compensation matters such as equity compensation arrangements, golden parachutes and non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements. Mr. Voigtman is a member of the firm’s Food & Beverage Industry Team and co-leads the practice on the business of running a family office.

Brandon Vongsawad, Deputy General Counsel | TPG Growth and The Rise Fund

Brandon Vongsawad is the Deputy General Counsel of TPG Growth and The Rise Fund. With over $14 billion of assets under management, TPG Growth and The Rise Fund invest in a broad range of industries and have a combined portfolio of over 100 operating businesses around the world. Prior to joining TPG, Brandon was the founder of a healthcare services business and a corporate partner at Kirkland & Ellis, where his practice focused on private equity and M&A.

Benjamin M. Welch, Senior Vice President | Bluechip Underwriting

Benjamin M. Welch is a Senior Vice President and Underwriter with BlueChip. He is a highly experienced attorney and Transactional Risk underwriter with significant expertise in Representation & Warranties and Contingent Liability insurance products. Ben graduated from Northeastern Law School before starting in private practice in Boston doing a wide range of commercial litigation including bankruptcy restructurings, private equity, employment law, healthcare and intellectual property. He later served as insurance counsel at a Boston-based law firm handling Transactional Risk insurance claims before moving into insurance underwriting.

Matthew Wiener, Senior Vice President | Aon

Matthew Wiener is the head of Aon’s Transaction Liability team for the Southwest region and the national leader for its energy practice. In this role, he is responsible for the development and implementation of transactional-based risk solutions, including the deployment of insurance capital for M&A transactions through representations and warranties, litigation, tax, and other contingent liabilities insurance. Prior to joining the Aon team, Matthew was an attorney at Vinson & Elkins LLP, where he specialized in corporate finance and securities law matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, public and private securities offerings, divestitures, and general corporate representation, with a significant focus in the energy sector.

Eric Ziff, Senior Managing Director | Aon

Eric Ziff is a senior managing director on Aon’s Transaction Solutions team. Prior to joining Aon in 2014, Eric most recently was a senior associate in the Corporate Practices group at Davis & Gilbert LLP, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, financings, venture capital, and private equity investments, as well as general commercial matters. Eric also was an associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, where he was a member of the Corporate and Financial Services Department and worked primarily on mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, capital markets transactions, and general corporate and security matters