Speakers at The PIPEs Conference 2025
Osman Ahmed
Managing Partner
New Circle Capital
Osman Ahmed
Managing Partner, New Circle CapitalOsman Ahmed serves as Managing Partner at New Circle Capital. He has over 15 years of experience in public and private markets as an investor, C-level executive, board member and SPAC sponsor and has structured PIPE transactions across multiple industries, including technology, healthcare, and business services. Mr. Ahmed holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Southern California and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Avraham Ben-Tzvi
Founder
ABZ Law
Avraham Ben-Tzvi
Founder, ABZ LawAvraham Ben-Tzvi, is the founder of ABZ Law Office, a boutique law firm based in Israel specializing in corporate & securities laws, commercial law & contracts, and various civil law matters, as well as providing outsourced general counsel services for publicly traded as well as private companies and corporations, which he established in January 2017. Avraham served as Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of Purple Biotech Ltd. (formerly Kitov Pharma Ltd.) (NASDAQ/TASE: PPBT), a clinical-stage company advancing first-in-class therapies to overcome tumor immune evasion and drug resistance, from November 2015 until April 2020. Prior to that, he served as General Counsel and Company Secretary at Medigus Ltd. (NASDAQ/TASE: MDGS), a minimally invasive endosurgical tools medical device and miniaturized imaging equipment company, from April 2014 until November 2015.
Prior to that he served as an attorney at one of Israel’s leading international law firms where, amongst other corporate and commercial work, he advised companies and underwriters on various offerings by Israeli companies listing in the US and on various SEC related filings. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Avraham worked in several business development, corporate finance and banking roles at companies in the financial services, lithium battery manufacturing and software development industries. In connection with a number of listed company reorganizations, Avraham has served, and continues to serve, as a member of the Board of Directors, and various board committees, of a number of listed issuers, including Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: TTNP) and Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CYCC), pharmaceuticals development companies, LQR House, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHC), a company in the wine and spirits e-commerce sector, OpGen, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPGN), a precision medicine company, and Minim, Inc. (NASDAQ: MINM), a company which delivered smart software-driven communications products under the globally recognized Motorola brand and Minim® trademark,.
Avraham received a B.A., magna cum laude, in Economics from Yeshiva University in New York and an LL.B., magna cum laude from Sha’arei Mishpat College of Law in Hod HaSharon, Israel. He is a licensed attorney and member of the Israel Bar Association and is also licensed as a Notary by the Israeli Ministry of Justice
Elliot Berman
Founder & Managing Director
Berman Audit & Advisory
Elliot Berman
Founder & Managing Director, Berman Audit & AdvisoryMr. Berman is a CPA and founder of Berman Audit & Advisory, P.A., bringing over 25 years of experience in outsourced CFO and pre-audit services for public companies and going-public transactions. He specializes in technical accounting for IPOs, reverse mergers, and complex SEC reporting, including derivative liability analysis under ASC 815, business combinations, valuations for complex debt and equity instruments, and ASC 740 tax provisions. Securities attorneys and investment bankers trust Mr. Berman's expertise to guide their small-cap clients through U.S. GAAP and SEC compliance challenges. He holds a Master of Accounting from Nova Southeastern University and B.S. in Accounting from the University of Maryland.
Matthew Beville
Partner
WilmerHale
Matthew Beville
Partner , WilmerHaleMatthew Beville’s practice focuses on investigations, enforcement actions and litigation involving the federal commodities and securities laws. He has represented financial institutions, swap dealers, broker-dealers and proprietary trading firms before the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and self-regulatory organizations. Mr. Beville has extensive experience in matters involving complicated electronic trading issues, swap dealer and futures commission merchant regulatory compliance issues, and various market conduct and trade practice concerns.
Prior to joining WilmerHale, Mr. Beville was an associate at a prominent law firm in Washington DC where he handled securities defense and white collar matters.
Mohit Bhansali
Co-Founder
EquiDeFi
Mohit Bhansali
Co-Founder, EquiDeFiMohit Bhansali has over 25 years of experience in the securities compliance, corporate finance and technology industry. After working at Tradescape Corp. (acquired by ETRADE Securities in 2002), he pursued a career in securities compliance, which culminated in taking on the role of a securities regulation specialist at Haynes and Boone LLP in New York to support the corporate securities practice group.
While at Haynes and Boone, Mohit provided support and consulted on numerous initial public offerings (IPOs) and alternative public offerings (APOs). He developed a system for tracking complex capitalization stacks for private and public companies which helped facilitate share exchanges in the IPO and AP process.
In 2011, Mohit co-founded Equity Stock Transfer, LLC in New York City with less than five clients and the company grew to nearly 500 private and public company issuers while maintaining nearly the same staff size. He is a firm believer in creating operating efficiencies wherever possible while maintaining the highest standards of compliance.
It is with that credo that during the 2020 pandemic, Mohit conceived of EquiDeFi – a workflow tool for all securities professionals and investors to manage any type of offering exempt from registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). By marrying modern software solutions to the arcane securities transaction processes, EquiDeFi was able to create transactional efficiencies and a compliance standard that has never existed before – a boon to issuers and their shareholders alike.
Mohit attended New York University and has also served as a NASDAQ registered representative and has held Series 7, 63 and 55 licenses. He holds a Java programming certification and a Blockchain Law, Regulation and Policy certificate from the University of Nicosia.
James Clare
Partner
Bennett Jones LLP
James Clare
Partner, Bennett Jones LLP
James Clare has a corporate commercial and securities law practice, with an emphasis on corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions, focused on assisting clients in the mining and oil and gas sectors. His transactional experience includes domestic and cross-border public and private corporate finance transactions representing issuers and underwriters as well as merger and acquisitions transactions. He also advises public issuers on general corporate and securities law matters including stock exchange listings, continuous disclosure obligations and other regulatory compliance issues.
Todd Coffin
Senior Managing Director, Head of Structured Finance
TerraNova Capital
Todd Coffin
Senior Managing Director, Head of Structured Finance, TerraNova CapitalTodd is a Senior Managing Director, Head of Structured Finance. He leads all of TerraNova’s structured credit banking efforts, and has significant experience across a range of industries.
Todd joined TerraNova in 2019, after founding Zanbato’s Structured Credit Group in 2017. Prior to that he led Source Capital Group’s investment banking department beginning in 2003, when he created the platform for the firm’s deal focus. Prior to joining Source Capital, Mr. Coffin was a founding partner at Hudson Allen and Company. While at Hudson Allen, Mr. Coffin also served as CEO of Sonus Communications (Empire One Telecom), a public telecom company. Prior to Hudson Allen, Mr. Coffin was with Alex Brown & Sons, and started his career at Smith Barney Harris Upham. Mr. Coffin was a founding Board Member and financed Greenbacker Capital Corp., a registered public non-traded GP of Greenbacker Renewable Energy Corp. He holds a BA from Boston University.
Douglas Ellenoff
Partner
Ellenoff Grossman & Schole
Douglas Ellenoff
Partner, Ellenoff Grossman & ScholeDouglas S. Ellenoff, a member of Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP since its founding in 1992, is a corporate and securities attorney with a focus on developing innovative securities programs for entrepreneurs, like SPACs, PIPEs, and Crowdfunding. Mr. Ellenoff has represented public companies in connection with their initial public offerings, secondary public offerings, regulatory compliance, as well as, strategic initiatives and general corporate governance matters. During his career, he has represented numerous broker-dealers, venture capital investor groups and many corporations involved in the capital formation process.
In the last several years, he has been involved at various stages in numerous registered public offerings, including several hundred financings and, with other members of his firm, hundreds of private placements into public companies, representing either the issuers of those securities or the registered broker-dealers acting as placement agent. Along with other members of his Firm, Mr. Ellenoff has been involved at various stages with over 1,000 registered blind pool offerings (commonly referred to as “SPACs”); In addition to our IPO experience with SPACs, he has been involved with hundreds of SPAC M&A assignments. The Firm represents nearly 100 public companies with respect to their ongoing 34 Act reporting responsibilities and general corporate matters. He also provides counsel with regard to their respective ongoing (SEC, AMEX and NASD) regulatory compliance.
Mr. Ellenoff and the rest of the corporate department distinguish themselves from many other transactional lawyers on the basis of their ability to be part of the establishment of new securities programs, like PIPEs, SPACs, Registered Directs and Reverse Mergers, where the Firm’s professionals have played leadership roles within each of those industries, assisting in the creation, formation and strategies relating to those financings, as well as working closely with the regulatory agencies; including the SEC and FINRA; and the listing exchanges – AMEX and NASDAQ. Mr. Ellenoff is routinely requested to be a panelist and presenter at industry conferences.
Richard Friedman
Partner
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
Richard Friedman
Partner, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLPRichard A. Friedman is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in the firm's New York office and a member of the Blockchain Technology and Digital Assets team.
Richard is principally engaged in the practice of Corporate and Securities Law, with a concentration on public offerings and private placements. His extensive experience includes initial public offerings (IPOs) (including SPAC IPOs on behalf of issuers and underwriters), reverse mergers (both domestic and foreign companies), secured and unsecured private equity financing transactions (PIPEs), as well as registered direct offerings (RDs) and shelf offerings. He also represents publicly-held companies with their 1934 Act reporting obligations and with NASDAQ, AMEX, NYSE and other exchange listing and compliance matters. In addition, he represents both public and private companies with a wide variety of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, employment and shareholder agreements, and the formation of private equity hedge funds. Richard’s practice also involves representation of Broker-Dealers and Registered Individuals in a wide array of matters, including ongoing compliance, regulatory inquiries and disciplinary proceedings before governmental and self-regulatory organizations, such as the SEC, FINRA, NYSE and State Securities Commissions.
Francisco Gonzalez
CFO
Sky Harbor Group Corp.
Francisco Gonzalez
CFO, Sky Harbor Group Corp.Francisco’s career in finance has spanned 30 years, beginning at Goldman Sachs, where he led or participated in more than $25 billion in municipal bond financings, interest rate swaps, and public-private-partnerships in the infrastructure space, with an emphasis on airports. Francisco continued his career at the Royal Bank of Canada and Fortress Investment Group. He serves on the LSN Partners Advisory Board.
Outside his professional life, Francisco has served on the Advisory Board for the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico for more than 20 years. He is the Chairman of the Colegio San Ignacio Scholarship Trust, a member of the Bridgeport Caribe Youth Leaders Board, a member and former treasurer or the Museo del Barrio (NYC), and a trustee of the Luis A. Ferre Foundation.
Francisco holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Harvard College.
He is the father of two young adults, both attending university.
Thomas Haug
Managing Director, Head of Alternative Assets
Force Family Office
Thomas Haug
Managing Director, Head of Alternative Assets, Force Family OfficeThomas J. Haug is a key leader at FORCE Family Office, the largest community of investment-oriented family offices, foundations, endowments, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals in the U.S. As Head of the Alternative Assets, he curates exclusive deal flow and co-investment opportunities by working with top-tier private and public companies, funds, and visionary entrepreneurs. Through Force’s elite peer-to-peer network, Thomas maintains an ecosystem of highly vetted family offices and investors shares insights, collaborates, and accesses opportunities that are otherwise unavailable in the market.
In parallel, Thomas is the Founder & CEO of Aspen Tree Advisory, a boutique multi-family office and corporate advisory firm serving ultra-high-net-worth families and institutions globally. Leveraging nearly two decades of experience in private banking, alternative investments, and family office advisory, he guides clients on portfolio structuring, corporate structuring, due diligence, co-investments, and wealth strategy, helping them unlock high-impact investment opportunities.
A recognized thought leader and entrepreneur, Thomas was the founder of Venture Talk Weekly, offering timely insights on venture capital, early-stage investing, and emerging markets. His expertise spans alternative financing, real estate, impact investing, private credit, metals and mining, AI, virtual assets, SPACs, and beyond.
Thomas speaks frequently at premier conferences globally on topics surrounding family office strategy and alternative investments.
Ele Klein
Partner
McDermott Will & Schulte
Ele Klein
Partner, McDermott Will & SchulteCo-chair of the M&A and Securities Group, co-chair of the Global Shareholder Activism Group and member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Advises on shareholder activism, mergers and acquisitions, securities law and regulatory compliance. Ele represents activists, investment banks and companies in matters ranging from corporate governance and control to proxy contests and defensive strategies.
He works on numerous activist campaigns and related transactions every year for some of the largest private investment groups and investment banks in the United States and abroad.
In addition, Ele advises on private investments in public equity (PIPEs), initial public offerings and secondary offerings, venture capital financing, and indenture defaults and interpretation, and he counsels clients in the regulatory areas of insider trading, short selling, Sections 13 and 16, Rule 144, insider trading and Regulation M/Rule 105. Ele is recognized as a 2022 American Lawyer “Dealmaker of the Year” for his work at Exxon Mobil for Engine No. 1, the largest proxy fight in history, which resulted in the addition of three directors to the ExxonMobil board of directors. He is also ranked as a leading lawyer in Chambers USA, The Legal 500 US, New York Super Lawyers – New York Metro Top 100 and Super Lawyers Business Edition.
Ele has served as a moderator and speaker at numerous conferences and events addressing shareholder activism, regulatory and reporting issues, PIPEs, M&A deals, the capital markets and other topics of interest to the alternative investment industry. He is a regular contributor to the Shareholder Activism Insight report and The Activist Investing Annual Review, produced annually by Activist Insight in association with Schulte.
Eric Lussier
Principal
Next Level Partners
Eric Lussier
Principal, Next Level PartnersEric Lussier is a Principal at NEXT LEVEL Partners®, with over 32 years of experience in Lean transformation and operational excellence. He previously served as SVP at Steel Partners, where he built and led its Business System. Eric began his career at AlliedSignal and has held leadership roles in quality, operations, and new product development. He holds BS and MS degrees in Industrial Engineering from the University of Tennessee and an MS from the University of Alabama Huntsville.
Jon Najarian
Co-Founder
Rebellion Partners
Jon Najarian
Co-Founder, Rebellion PartnersJon ‘DRJ’ Najarian was linebacker for the Chicago Bears before he turned to another kind of a contact sport – trading on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. He became a member of the CBOE, NYSE, CME and CBOT and worked as a floor trader for some 25 years. In 1990 he founded Mercury Trading, a market-making firm at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), which he sold in 2004 to Citadel, one of the world’s largest hedge funds. In 2005 Jon co founded optionMONSTER and tradeMONSTER, sold a majority stake to private equity firm General Atlantic Partners in 2014 & two years later sold the firm to E*Trade for $750M. Today, he is co-founder of Market Rebellion, LLC (a leading options education and trading platform), a professional
investor, money manager, market strategist and venture evangelist. Jon is also a co-host and co-founder of proprietary programming including the popular “Rebels’ Edge” streaming.
Jon is also chairman of a technology SPAC, an investor and senior advisor to IDI Group, LLC (a multi-family office) and co-founder of Moneta Advisory Partners, LLC, a “venture evangelism” platform that raises awareness of a portfolio of growing public companies.
He is one of the most recognizable financial news personalities in the business, having appeared on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on a daily basis for over 15 years. Today, Jon is a regular contributor to Fox Business’ “Claman Countdown”, “Making Money with Charles Payne”, “The Big Money Show” and “The Kudlow Report”. Jon also appears regularly on Fox, Newsmax, NewsNation, Schwab Network, Sirius XM Radio, Bloomberg, and Fox News
Mitch Nussbaum
Co-Chair
Loeb & Loeb
Mitch Nussbaum
Co-Chair, Loeb & LoebMitch Nussbaum is co-chair of Loeb & Loeb. He focuses on representing emerging growth companies and investment banks in initial public offerings of operating companies and SPACs, follow-on public offerings, shelf takedowns, registered direct placements, PIPEs and other private placements (144A, Reg D, Reg A, Reg S, etc.). Mitch also regularly represents public companies regarding their SEC and NYSE or Nasdaq listing compliance and has acted as outside general counsel, including corporate, securities, M&A litigation and business counseling, to hundreds of private and public companies as well as their officers and directors. He also negotiates and documents acquisitions, mergers, going-private transactions, reverse mergers, proxy contests, tender offers, control contests, fund formations and secured lending financings and has represented issuers and underwriters in hundreds of SPAC public offerings and business combinations for over 20 years. Mitch was responsible for developing the groundbreaking IPAC, which features many of the benefits of the SPAC, but offers increased flexibility on pricing and deal structure, along with a more rapid transaction cycle.
Julie Plyler
Special Counsel
Covington Burling
Julie Plyler
Special Counsel, Covington BurlingJulie Plyler counsels clients primarily on capital markets and securities matters, including initial public offerings, private placements (including in connection with reverse mergers), and primary and secondary registered offerings. She also represents companies in connection with M&A and financing transactions. Julie advises public company clients across industries in the preparation of SEC periodic reports and proxy statements, Section 16 reporting, securities compliance matters and corporate governance matters.
Espen Robak
President
Pluris Valuation Advisors
Espen Robak
President, Pluris Valuation AdvisorsEspen Robak is a valuation expert and President of Pluris Valuation Advisors, specializing in the valuation of restricted stock, warrants, convertibles and other illiquid securities of public and private companies. Based in New York and founded as an offshoot of SecondMarket in 2006, Pluris was formed to assist issuers and investors, and their auditors and tax advisors, with the valuation of private, restricted, or illiquid investments.
Dean Rubino
CIO, Founder, Managing Partner
Kelly Park Partners
Dean Rubino
CIO, Founder, Managing Partner, Kelly Park PartnersDean Rubino is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of KPC Private Funds, an SEC-registered adviser that provides independent wealth advisors institutional-grade access to private funds through a streamlined and technology-forward advisor-first platform. With 25+ years in private funds, he joined Terrapin Asset Management in 2012 as President & COO and led an acquisition and subsequent lift-out that became the foundation for KPC Private Funds and a second SEC-registered adviser within Kelly Park Capital. Earlier, he served as CEO and CIO of Hamilton Lane’s Richcourt Group where he led a successful turnaround and sale of a ~$1.7 billion fund-of-funds complex. Prior, he was a partner at the Taylor Companies, and sat on HypoVereinsbank’s Alternative Investment Committee allocating $700mm+ to hedge funds. He began at Merrill Lynch, is a member of American MENSA, and holds a B.A. (1994) from Trinity College and an M.B.A. (1999) from Columbia Business School.
Jason Sardo
Senior Managing Director, Capital Markets
Maxim Group
Jason Sardo
Senior Managing Director, Capital Markets, Maxim GroupMr. Sardo has close to thirty five years of experience in the securities industry. He has participated in over fifty billion dollars of capital raising for over one thousand transactions in his career. As part of his responsibilities, Mr. Sardo has managed approximately one thousand roadshows and conferences internationally. Prior to joining Maxim Group in 2005, he was a Director at Wachovia Securities and CIBC Oppenheimer. He earned a B.A. in Business Administration with a Specialty in Finance from Fordham University in 1991.
Greg Sichenzia
Partner
Sichenzia Ross Ference Carmel LLP
Greg Sichenzia
Partner, Sichenzia Ross Ference Carmel LLPGregory Sichenzia, a founding member of Sichenzia Ross Ference Carmel LLP in May 1998, counsels public and private companies in all securities laws matters, from complex financing transactions and listings on various stock exchanges through everyday regulatory requirements. He has also been responsible for structuring innovative merger and acquisition transactions. Throughout his career he has represented many companies and investment banks in initial public offerings of securities, and has represented numerous public companies in private equity financing transactions (PIPEs) and the resulting resale registration statements associated with these financings.
Gregory Sichenzia, a member of the firm since its inception in 1998, is a corporate and securities attorney who specializes in corporate finance and transactional matters. Mr. Sichenzia’s practice focuses on representing publicly traded companies and FINRA member investment banks as underwriters and placement agents in various financing transactions including initial public offerings, follow-on public offerings, shelf takedowns and registered direct offerings. Mr. Sichenzia was an early pioneer in the development of PIPES transactions, (private investment in public equity), and was recognized as the industry leader for such transactions for over a decade. Mr. Sichenzia also represents public and private companies in other private financings utilizing various exemptions such as Regulation D, Regulation S, Regulation A and 144A. Mr. Sichenzia also represents target companies and investment banks in SPAC and De-SPAC transactions as well as traditional M & A transactions. In addition to transactional work Mr. Sichenzia also advises companies on general securities (34 act compliance) and corporate matters as well as NASDAQ and NYSE compliance and investigations before regulatory bodies.
Mr. Sichenzia has represented hundreds of public companies and completed over 1,000 private and public transactions totaling several billion dollars. The firm regularly represents over 100 public companies, multiple investment banks, private equity funds and financial institutions.
Mr. Sichenzia’s clients include public companies focused in various disciplines from bio-tech to hi-tech and consumer goods and was one of the first attorneys to bring a cannabis rented company public in the United States. His clients are worldwide from countries such as China, India, Korea, France, Israel, Canada, and others.
Sanjeev Srivastava
Founder and Managing Partner
BLF Advisors
Sanjeev Srivastava
Founder and Managing Partner, BLF AdvisorsSanjeev is an Investor and Senior Capital Markets advisor and currently serves as the Senior Capital Markets Advisor for Exozymes, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXOZ). He has over two decades of experience in Capital Markets, Investment Management, SPACs, strategic CFO, and as a Board Member. He spent the first decade of his career with J.P. Morgan based in New York City. He has a MBA in Finance and Marketing from NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in Chemical Engineering from University of Rochester.
Joe Tonnos
Managing Director, Investment Banking
Roth Capital Partners
Joe Tonnos
Managing Director, Investment Banking, Roth Capital PartnersJoe Tonnos is a Managing Director at Roth Capital Partners with over 15 years of experience investing in, structuring and advising public and private companies. Joe’s experience spans across the buyside and sell-side where he has also been a six-time SPAC sponsor and has led and/or invested in several PIPE transactions. His previous experience includes Mistral Equity Partners, Lazard and Bank of America. Mr. Tonnos received his B.S. and M.B.A. from Niagara University.
Perrie Weiner
Partner in Charge, Los Angeles • Chair, North America Securities Litigation Group
Baker McKenzie
Perrie Weiner
Partner in Charge, Los Angeles • Chair, North America Securities Litigation Group, Baker McKenziePerrie is a prominent securities litigation attorney with over 30 years of experience, renowned for his commitment to providing top-tier service and delivering exceptional results. He currently serves as the Partner-in-Charge of Baker McKenzie's Los Angeles office, Chair of the Firm's North America Securities Litigation Group, and leads the Firm's global SPAC Rapid Response Team. Perrie’s diverse clientele includes publicly held issuers (D’s & O’s), hedge funds, PE funds, broker-dealers, underwriters, auditors and REITs.
Mark Wood
Co-Head of Katten's National Capital Markets
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
Mark Wood
Co-Head of Katten's National Capital Markets, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLPKatten Partner and National Capital Markets Co-Head Mark Wood is a highly skilled, pragmatic and client-focused practitioner with extensive experience representing public companies, investment banks and other market participants in various ongoing and transactional matters. As a leading advisor in respect of highly structured PIPE transactions, he represents public companies, placement agents and institutional investors, including a prominent firm targeting the health care space. Many of Mark's clients are in the health care, technology, oil and gas, mining, manufacturing and financial services industries.
Marc Van Tricht
Head of Capital Markets
EarlyBirdCapital, Inc.
Marc Van Tricht
Head of Capital Markets, EarlyBirdCapital, Inc.Joined EarlyBirdCapital in 2016 and is the Head of Capital Markets focusing on SPAC origination and business combinations. Prior to joining EarlyBirdCapital, Mr. Van Tricht was the Head of Event-Driven Strategy at CRT Capital. Earlier in his career, Mr. Van Tricht spent over 15 years on the buy-side at firms including Gracie Capital, Trafelet, and Eos Partners. Mr. Van Tricht graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Economics degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Caitlyn Van Valin
Executive Vice President
Odyssey Trust Company
Caitlyn Van Valin
Executive Vice President, Odyssey Trust CompanyMs. Van Valin is a principal member that leads the U.S. sales expansion for Odyssey Transfer. Her core focus is to profitably grow market share for Odyssey Transfer’s transfer agent and trust business by partnering with executive management teams at domestic and multinational corporations to deliver shareowner service solutions that serve the needs of clients and their investors. Ms. Van Valin has more than 12 years of experience working in the transfer agent and trust space, focusing on complex corporate action events, Mergers and Acquisitions, and IPOs.
Gaurav Verma
Co-Head of Investment Banking
D. Boral Capital
Gaurav Verma
Co-Head of Investment Banking, D. Boral CapitalMr. Gaurav Verma has been covering the Technology, Media, and Telecom sector for over 15 years and has executed over 100 billion in transactions encompassing sell-side and buy-side M&A, IPOs, equity offerings, SPACs, converts, high yield and investment grade financings. Mr. Verma has advised C-Suite executive teams on mergers and acquisition assignments, business development opportunities, growth strategies and capital allocation policies. Prior to joining D. Boral Capital, Mr. Verma was a Director at Nomura spearheading the TMT coverage efforts and executed several financial and strategic transactions and was a Senior Vice President at Bank of America Merrill Lynch within their TMT investment banking group. Mr. Verma received his MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from NYU Stern School of Business and BS in Computer Science and Economics from Rutgers University.
Morris Zarif
Managing Partner
Zarif Law Group
Morris Zarif
Managing Partner, Zarif Law GroupMorris C. Zarif, Esq. is the Founder and Managing Partner of Zarif Law Group P.C., a corporate and securities law firm serving clients globally from its main offices in New York and New Jersey. He leads the firm’s mission to empower businesses through strategic, high-impact legal guidance — from startup inception to public-company milestones and complex M&A transactions.Drawing on experience honed at some of the country’s leading corporate and securities law firms, Mr. Zarif brings big-law sophistication to the mid- and micro-capital markets and M&A fields. His practice focuses on guiding issuers, investors, and corporate boards through the full spectrum of transactional and regulatory matters, including:
• Capital Markets & Securities
• Private Placements & Exempt Offerings
• Public Company Transactions & Regulatory Compliance
• SPACs, Up-Listings & Cross-Listings
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Corporate Governance & Financing
Mr. Zarif earned his LL.M. in Securities and Finance from Georgetown University Law Center, his Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School, and a Master’s degree in International Relations from Eichmann University in Israel.Under Mr. Zarif’s leadership, Zarif Law Group P.C. is recognized for delivering tailored, business-focused solutions that align legal strategy with each client’s growth objectives. The firm partners closely with entrepreneurs, investors, and established enterprises alike — providing precise, proactive, and trusted counsel at every stage of the business lifecycle.
Christina Zaroulis Milnor
Partner
Mincey Bell Milnor/Cranfill Sumner
Christina Zaroulis Milnor
Partner, Mincey Bell Milnor/Cranfill SumnerChristina Zaroulis Milnor is a nationally recognized securities enforcement and investigations attorney. She spent more than a decade at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including service as Assistant Secretary with responsibility for enforcement and litigation matters, and earlier roles in the Division of Enforcement and the Office of General Counsel. In 2024, she returned to private practice as a founding partner of Mincey Bell Milnor, advising financial industry clients in matters before the SEC, FINRA, and other regulators.
