On February 21, the Chicago Booth Private Equity Group and the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation are hosting the 13th Annual Beecken Petty O’Keefe & Company Private Equity Conference. The event brings together financiers, students, and entrepreneurs to network and share insights into the dynamics of investing in a constantly changing economy.
This year’s conference is themed “Digging In: Driving Returns in Competitive Markets” and will feature keynote speakers William Conway, cofounder, co-CEO, and managing director of The Carlyle Group, and Antonio Gracias, CEO/CIO of Valor Equity Partners and lead director of Tesla Motors.
There will also be a fireside chat between Karen Katz, CEO of Neiman Marcus, and Kewsong Lee, Managing Director and Deputy CIO at The Carlyle Group and a former Neiman Marcus board member, which will be moderated by Professor Steven Kaplan.
2014 Panel Topics
Building a Lasting Firm
Chris McGowan, from CJM Ventures, will moderate this panel discussing how robust human capital development and succession planning are central to the long-term success of firms. This panel will discuss many of the challenges that private equity firms face with long term planning and cover methods to achieve successful changing of the guard.
Operationalized Investment Sourcing
This panel, led by Laurence Bronska of McDermott Will & Emery, explores how mid-market private equity firms are now emphasizing and building resources around operations-focused investment strategies. This panel, comprised of industry veterans from operations-focused private equity firms, will discuss how they are approaching potential investments and identifying actionable operating improvement opportunities throughout the bidding process.
Fundraising Trends and Strategies
A panel of limited partners and placement agents will discuss conditions, trends, and strategies in the private equity fundraising market. Bruce Ettelson, from Kirkland & Ellis, will lead the discussion and examine factors influencing whether investors invest in new or continue with existing fund managers; the consolidation of private equity firms; new fund structures; and the impact of changing regulations.
Driving Equity Value in Portfolio Companies
Chicago Booth’s Scott Meadow facilitates this discussion of how competition in today’s private equity deal market is pushing firms to take a different approach in driving value in their portfolio companies. This panel will offer insights on effective methods for proactively creating value once the dotted lines are signed, as well as examining pre-investment due diligence’s role in jump starting operational improvement initiatives.
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