Private Equity Transactions Symposium 2020 - 8 October

Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen joined Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in 1992 and became a partner in 2000. He practices corporate and securities law, concentrating on corporate governance and complex mergers and acquisitions. He has represented numerous public and private businesses, and their boards and special committees, in M&A, spin-off and other reorganization transactions, both friendly and contested; as well as a variety of entrepreneurs in establishing and growing new businesses; and companies and boards in connection with shareholder activism and proxy contests. Mr. Cohen has also worked extensively on a variety of cross-border transactions.

Charles Martin

Charles works principally in M&A and private equity, acting for sponsors, corporates and family offices.

He is rated in the top tiers of the most highly recommended M&A and private equity lawyers in the UK by the leading directories. Much of his work is cross-border. He is an officer of and actively involved in the International Bar Association.

He is a trustee of the 29th May 1961 Charity, the Visitors’ Art Foundation, Outside In and Pallant House Gallery, and is actively involved in supporting a number of other charities.

He was Senior Partner of the firm from 2008 to 2020 and stepped down to focus on client work and relationships.

Susana Leith-Smith

Susana Leith-Smith is a Managing Director in the EMEA Leveraged Finance team at Barclays with over 20 years of Banking experience. Based in London, Susana is responsible for driving leveraged finance client relationships and for the origination of sub-investment grade debt products for both corporate and sponsor clients. She has worked in the team since joining the firm in 2010.

Susana has worked on a number of prominent transactions at Barclays, including the recent acquisition of Inmarsat PLC by a sponsor consortium led by Apax and Warburg Pincus, Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Asset’s acquisition of TDC, and Cineworld’s acquisition of Regal.

Prior to Barclays, she was at the Royal Bank of Scotland and Credit Suisse First Boston. Susana received an MA Joint Hons in International Relations and Modern History from the University of St Andrews.

Susana sits on the board of trustees of a global women’s rights charity, Womankind Worldwide, and is a very active supporter of the arts.

Denise Gibson

Denise is a partner in the London banking practice specialising in investment grade and leveraged acquisition finance. Her practice also covers event-driven and other structured finance transactions in the growth markets for which clients recognise her aptitude for dealing with complex structuring and execution challenges.

From 2011 to 2013, Denise was an executive director at Goldman Sachs responsible for negotiating and executing transactions across the range of debt products offered by the EMEA credit finance team.

Suzanne Gibbons

Suzanne Gibbons is a Managing Member at Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, where she is focused on Distressed Investments. Ms. Gibbons joined Davidson Kempner in 2007. From 2003 to 2005, Ms. Gibbons worked as an Associate at Montgomery & Co., advising healthcare companies on private placements and mergers and acquisitions. From 2001 to 2003, she was an Analyst in the healthcare investment banking group at JPMorgan. Ms. Gibbons received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 2007 and her B.A. from Dartmouth College in 2001.

Nanette Heide

Nanette C. Heide is a partner in Duane Morris’ Corporate Practice Group, Co-Chair of its Private Equity Division and team lead of the firmwide Private Equity Industry Group. Ms. Heide has significant experience handling complex transactions and providing general corporate counseling. She regularly represents private equity and venture capital investors, multinational and domestic corporations (public and private) in a wide spectrum of corporate finance transactions, including private equity and venture capital investments, mergers and acquisitions, institutional private placements, cross-border transactions, debt and equity structuring transactions, joint ventures and strategic alliances. She also has formed and structured private equity and hedge funds. She is the Senior Advisory Partner to the firm's Fashion/Retail/Consumer Branded Products Group, and a member of the firm's Partners Board. In 2018, 2019 and 2020, Mergers & Acquisitions named Ms. Heide one of the Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A.

Ms. Heide serves as outside counsel for many mid-sized companies on issues of corporate governance, securities law compliance, general commercial transactions and disclosure issues. Her clients span a wide variety of industries, from fashion, retail and consumer products to cannabis, communications, media and Internet-based businesses.

Ms. Heide previously served as general counsel and chief financial officer of two technology companies. She is a graduate of Washington and Lee University School of Law, where she was editor in chief of Washington and Lee Law News, and is a graduate of West Virginia University.

Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen joined Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in 1992 and became a partner in 2000. He practices corporate and securities law, concentrating on corporate governance and complex mergers and acquisitions. He has represented numerous public and private businesses, and their boards and special committees, in M&A, spin-off and other reorganization transactions, both friendly and contested; as well as a variety of entrepreneurs in establishing and growing new businesses; and companies and boards in connection with shareholder activism and proxy contests. Mr. Cohen has also worked extensively on a variety of cross-border transactions

Andrew Nussbaum

Andrew J. Nussbaum is a member of the Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Corporate Department, joining the firm in 1993 and becoming partner in 1999. His practice involves a wide range of merger and acquisition-related matters, including cross-border transactions, spin-offs, divestitures, carve-out IPOs, private equity transactions and joint ventures. Mr. Nussbaum also handles related work in public offerings, financings, corporate governance and takeovers, and has completed a number of multibillion dollar cross-border transactions involving mergers between U.S. and European companies, acquisitions in Latin America, investments in China, a public company transaction in Russia and a major transaction involving one of Australia’s largest listed companies. While involved with a wide range of industries, he has extensive experience with international companies in media and entertainment, cross-border matters and private equity transactions.

Reed Rayman

Mr. Rayman is a Partner at Apollo having joined in 2010. Prior to that time, Mr. Rayman was a member of the Principal Strategies Group at Goldman Sachs, and previously was a member of the Industrials Investment Banking group at Goldman Sachs. Mr. Rayman serves on the board of directors of ADT, Shutterfly, Coinstar, Redbox, EcoATM, Mood Media and CareerBuilder, and previously served as a director of Verso Paper.

Mr. Rayman is actively involved with the TEAK Fellowship as a mentor and serves on the Young Professionals Board; he also serves on the Private Equity Executive Council of the UJA Federation of New York. Mr. Rayman graduated cum laude from Harvard with an A.B. in Economics.

Paul Bird

Paul Bird is a member of the firm’s Management Committee. He was Co-Chair of the firm’s Corporate Department and led the Mergers & Acquisitions Group for over a decade. Mr. Bird’s practice focuses on advising private equity firms, public companies, boards of directors and special committees, in connection with mergers and acquisitions and other significant corporate matters, including cross-border transactions, leveraged buyouts, spin-offs and takeover defense. He also regularly counsels corporations and their directors on corporate governance and fiduciary duty matters.

Karen King

Karen King joined Silver Lake in 2004 and is a Managing Director and the Chief Legal Officer. Karen oversees a global team that includes legal, communications and government relations, and is involved in all aspects of the Firm's business. She currently serves on the board of Aras and previously was a director of Serena Software. Prior to joining Silver Lake, Ms. King worked at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in its Palo Alto, New York and London offices. She holds an A.B. in Public Policy Studies from Duke University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Ms. King also serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including the American Leadership Forum, the Duke University Trinity Board of Visitors, Menlo School and the US Olympic and Paralympic Foundation. In addition, she is an Advisor to the Shatter Fund and is a member of Broadway Angels.

David Sorkin

David Sorkin joined KKR in 2007. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Sorkin was a partner in the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP where he served as one of KKR's principal outside counsels. He received a B.A., summa cum laude, from Williams College and a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School. Mr. Sorkin is President of the Board of Directors of New Alternatives for Children, Inc.

John Suydam

Mr. Suydam is a Senior Partner and Chief Legal Officer at Apollo, having joined the firm in 2006, and is also a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Prior that time, Mr. Suydam was a Partner at O’Melveny & Myers LLP where he served as Head of Mergers and Acquisitions and Co-Head of the Corporate Department. Mr. Suydam serves on the boards of The Legal Action Center, Environmental Solutions Worldwide Inc. and is a Director of the American Investment Council. He is a trustee of the New York University School of Law and is a member of the Department of Medicine Advisory Board of The Mount Sinai Medical Center. Mr. Suydam received his JD from New York University and graduated magna cum laude with a BA in history from the State University of New York at Albany.

Susanne Clark

Susy joined Centerbridge in 2009 and is the Firm’s General Counsel. Susy also serves as a member of the Firm’s Management Committee. Prior to joining Centerbridge, Susy was the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Basso Capital Management, L.P., an SEC-registered investment adviser managing multi-strategy, convertibles and credit funds. Prior to joining Basso, Susy was the Deputy General Counsel of Amaranth Group Inc., an investment adviser for multi-strategy and long/short equity funds. Prior to that, Susy served as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where she was responsible for finance and corporate legal matters involving The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and, prior to that, for legal matters involving the investment banking business of Goldman Sachs. Susy began her career as an Associate in the New York office of Shearman & Sterling LLP. Susy serves on the Boards of Directors of American Renal Associates Holdings, Inc. (and affiliated entities) and KIK Custom Products, Inc. (and affiliated entities). Susy also serves on the Board of Directors of the Managed Funds Association.

Robert Knauss

Robert B. Knauss joined Warburg Pincus in 2013 as Managing Director and General Counsel. He is based in New York and oversees the firm’s Legal and Regulatory matters. He also serves as a member of the Executive Management Group. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus, Mr. Knauss was a Corporate Partner at the firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP in Los Angeles, where he focused primarily on Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Finance and Securities and Private Equity. Prior to joining Munger, Tolles & Olson in 1981, he served as a Law Clerk for Justice William H. Rehnquist of the Supreme Court of the United States and the Honorable Walter R.

Randy Raisman

Randy Raisman is a Managing Director focused on distressed investing opportunities and the high yield credit markets at Marathon Asset Management. Mr. Raisman has led both distressed and performing investments for Marathon in the healthcare sector, with a focus on hospitals, medical staffing, laboratory testing and branded and generic pharmaceuticals. Mr. Raisman has also led several large financial services related investments for Marathon, with a focus on mortgage lending and mortgage servicing, the insurance sector and the consumer finance sector. Mr. Raisman has over 15 years of experience investing in distressed opportunities in the retail and consumer sectors, having led several restructurings in those industries. Mr. Raisman joined Marathon from Chatham Asset Management (2010-2012) where he was an Analyst investing in distressed companies across a broad range of industries. Prior to Chatham Asset Management, Mr. Raisman was a senior member of the investment team at Durham Asset Management (2006-2009), a hedge fund focused on distressed investing. Mr. Raisman holds an M.B.A. degree in Finance from Columbia Business School and a Bachelors of Business Administration and a Masters of Accounting degree from The University of Michigan Business School.

Paul Bird

Paul Bird is a member of Debevoise’s Management Committee and was Co-Chair of the firm’s Corporate Department and head of the M&A Group for over a decade. Mr. Bird is ranked as a leading M&A and private equity buyouts lawyer by Chambers Global (2014–2020). His practice focuses on advising private equity firms, public companies, boards of directors and special committees, in connection with mergers and acquisitions and other significant corporate matters, including cross-border transactions, leveraged buyouts, spin-offs and takeover defense. He also regularly counsels corporations and their directors on corporate governance and fiduciary duty matters.