Pat McHugh is a Founder and Senior Managing Director of Okapi Partners. He has over 20 years of experience in managing complex solicitations and campaigns. Pat has managed solicitation campaigns related to annual and special meetings (domestically and abroad), M&A solicitations, consent solicitations as well as fixed income-related matters, including numerous tenders and exchanges.

In addition to hundreds of annual and special meeting solicitations, Pat has represented Fortune 500 corporations involved in complex transactions including contested M&A deals, proxy fights and restructurings. He frequently works on contested solicitations where he provides strategy and advice to clients including campaigns on behalf of activist investors as well as providing defensive counsel to corporations that have been targeted by activists.

Prior to establishing Okapi Partners, Pat was a Senior Managing Director of Georgeson Inc. and a member of its Global M&A Advisory team. He received his B.A. in Economics from East Stroudsburg University.

Christian Mezger is Anuvu’s Chief Financial Officer. Having previously served as Ciber, Inc.’s President and Chief Executive Officer and as Chief Executive Officer of CMTSU Liquidation Inc. (f/k/a Ciber, Inc.) from 2018 through 2019. Christian also served as Ciber’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, of Corporate Finance. Christian also served in several leadership roles for Hewlett Packard Company / Compaq Computer Corporation, including Vice President of Technology Services, Vice President of Worldwide Financial Planning & Analysis, and Senior Director of Corporate Planning and Global Function Finance. Christian received an MBA-equivalent degree in International Business Management with a specialization in International Finance and International Marketing from the University of Vienna. He currently sits on the Advisory Board at the University of Denver’s School of Accountancy.

A senior strategic executive with extensive high tech experience; known for thinking beyond the numbers, focused on execution, improving processes & leading change, particularly around transformation through acquisitions.

Richard Gluckselig is an Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an S&P 500 biotechnology company headquartered in New York whose mission is to help patients with serious diseases. In his role, Richard focuses on disclosure, corporate governance and financing matters, as well as strategic transactions, shareholder engagement and board support. Previously, Richard worked as a member of the securities and public companies practice group of an international law firm in Manhattan. Richard holds an LL.M. from the University of Michigan.

Sonalee Parekh leads HPE’s corporate development and investor relations teams and oversees critical growth initiatives, including merger and acquisition (M&A) plans globally. Parekh serves as a key member of the finance executive team and advisor to the CFO.

A seasoned corporate advisor, Parekh brings more than 20 years’ experience in the global technology, media, and telecommunications industries. She has held senior leadership roles at several global investment banks, including Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies.

Russ Hartz is a deeply experienced Corporate Development professional, with specific expertise in M&A, strategic investments and post-merger integration. He manages global M&A activity at Ansys, Inc., the worldwide leader in engineering simulation software. Prior to joining Ansys, Russ served in a similar role for 12 years on SAP’s global Corporate Development team, negotiating and managing M&A and strategic investment transactions of all sizes, from multi-billion-dollar deals to small IP acquisitions. Russ began his M&A career in 1999 practicing corporate and securities law at a large Philadelphia law firm, advising clients on M&A deals as well as a broad range of other commercial transactions, corporate governance and securities law compliance.

Arthur B. Crozier is Chairman of Innisfree M&A Incorporated of New York and of Lake Isle M&A Incorporated, Innisfree’s wholly-owned UK subsidiary.

Mr. Crozier’s practice includes the representation of U.S. and international clients in a wide variety of transactions and proxy contests, as well as annual and special meetings. In addition, he counsels an international roster of clients on corporate governance, shareholder engagement and executive compensation issues.

Recent high profile situations he has worked on include: Cigna Corporation in its acquisition of Express Scripts Holding Co, despite opposition by Carl Icahn; The Walt Disney Company in its acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox; Automatic Data Processing (ADP) in its successful proxy contest against Pershing Square Capital Management; Deckers Brands in its successful proxy contest against Marcato Capital Management; Taubman Centers, Inc. in its successful proxy contest against Land and Buildings Investment Management; Tesla Motors in its acquisition of SolarCity; Chicos FAS in its successful proxy fight against Barington Capital; the successful defense at DuPont against the proxy contest waged by Trian Partners; the successful defense at Allergan against the unsolicited offer by Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Pershing Square Capital Management; the acquisition of Dell Inc. by Michael Dell and Silver Lake Management, despite opposition by Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management; and the successful defense at Agrium against JANA Partners’ proxy contest.

Mr. Crozier has written numerous articles and spoken extensively on the subjects of corporate governance, shareholder engagement, proxy contests, hedge fund activism, executive compensation and international voting practices.

He received his B.A. degree from the College of the Holy Cross and his J.D. degree from Boston College Law School.

He is a member of the National Investor Relations Institute, the International Bar Association, the Advisory Board for the Program on Corporate Governance at Harvard Law School, and the Society for Corporate Governance; as well as a Director of the Boy Scouts of America, Greater New York Councils and a Trustee of The Commonwealth Charitable Fund, Inc.

Mike is Managing Director of the M&A and Activism Advisory Group at Morrow Sodali. With 20 years of experience, Mike provides strategic counsel in matters of shareholder activism in contested director elections, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and proxy solicitation.

Several contested situations in which he has served include Newell Brands/Starboard, Olympus Corporation/ValueAct, Natus Medical/Voce Capital, Blackwells Capital/SuperValu, Anheuser Busch/InBev, Martin Marietta Materials/Vulcan Materials, Mylan Labs/Icahn, Sodastream International/Teleios, Caesarstone Ltd./ Kibbutz Sdot-Yam, Sotheby’s Inc./Third Point, Breeden Partners/H&R Block, Ranger Governance/Computer Associates.

In the last year, Mike has also provided guidance to issuers in some of the largest successful M&A transactions including Connecticut Water Service/SJW Group, Pfizer/Medivation salesforce.com/MuleSoft & Demandware, Monsanto/Bayer, RiteAid/Walgreens and Time Warner/AT&T.

Jillian (Jill) Evanko is President and Chief Executive Officer of Chart Industries, Inc. (NYSE: GTLS), serving in this capacity since June of 2018. Ms. Evanko joined Chart in February of 2017 as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Chart, Jill was the Chief Financial Officer of Truck-Lite Co., LLC as well as having held multiple operational and financial executive positions at Dover Corporation (NYSE: DOV) and its subsidiaries. Prior to joining Dover in 2004, Ms. Evanko held financial and operational roles at Arthur Andersen, LLP, Honeywell Corporation and Sony Corporation. In addition to serving on Chart’s Board of Directors, Ms. Evanko also serves as an independent director of the Board of Parker Hannifin Corporation (NYSE: PH).

Jill received a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from The University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from La Salle University. She is the winner of the 2020 ExxonMobil Power Play Rainmaker award, the 2020 S&P Global Platts Energy Award for Chief Trailblazer, and the World LNG Executive of the Year 2020. She serves on the non-profit Board of Directors of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF).

A subscription economy and SaaS expert, Axel leads the product marketing function at Datasite, including industry marketing, market intelligence and pricing. He is a veteran of M&A software technology having worked for various vendors in this space. His M&A experience is complemented by corporate deal-making process expertise in the middleware and cloud space during his time at Software AG.

LI profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/axlki

Erik Levy is the Group head, Corp Dev and M&A at DMGT plc. Erik is a highly experienced Corporate Development Executive with deep experience building and leading best in class, Fortune 1000 acquisition/investment and portfolio strategy. Erik has completed over 150 acquisitions, minority and venture investments and strategic partnerships.

Randle Glenn Reece holds the position of Head-Investor Relations for AMN Healthcare Services, Inc.

In his past career Mr. Reece was Vice President & Senior Research Analyst at Avondale Partners LLC, Senior Research Analyst at Hoover Investment Management Co. LLC, News Editor at The Daytona Beach News-Journal Corp., Equity Analyst at Montgomery Securities, Inc., Analyst at Waddell & Reed Investment Management Co., Equity Analyst at Stephens, Inc. and Investor Relations Officer at StaffMark, Inc.

Randle Glenn Reece received an MBA and an undergraduate degree from The University of Arkansas.

Jeff Hennig is a Senior Director, Corporate Development at Xilinx based in San Jose, California. Previously, Jeff was a Board Member at Aperi and also held positions at Merrill.

Scott Hile is Senior Director of Corporate Strategy & Development at Enviva and is an accomplished strategic transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and global business leader, skilled at effective verbal and written communication, sought for mentoring. Known for uniting globally dispersed teams around cohesive project visions in achieving organizational goals. He has a track record of providing education and building capability in direct reports. He has experience with over 78 M&A and joint venture transactions (45+ closed, lead on 40+) and has 16+ years of evaluating, diligencing, and negotiating, and now 8+ years of successfully sourcing, transactions globally across a range of deal sizes and structures.

Stephen Lovass serves as Executive Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development at Nordson Corporation (Nasdaq: NDSN), a $2B revenue diversified precision technology company. He is responsible for the company’s strategic planning process, M&A and new business integration. In addition, he oversees the company’s minority investment program, focused on early stage technology companies. Mr. Lovass previously ran the company’s former Industrial Coating Systems segment.

Prior to joining Nordson in 2016, Mr. Lovass most recently served as president for one of the global sensors and controls businesses at Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR), a $21 billion revenue Fortune 200 diversified science and technology company. Prior to this, Mr. Lovass has held senior roles in Strategic Planning, Corporate Development and General Management based in the US, Europe, and Asia.

Mr. Lovass, a certified public accountant (Australian equivalent), earned a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne (Australia) and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

With more than 30 years of award-winning digital experience, Don joined us as CEO of our US operations in March 2016, and became Group CEO in January 2017. He’s previously led global operations at interactive agencies iCrossing and Agency.com.

Don’s vision is to lead a company unlike anything else in the digital communications space. He’s put together a team with deep expertise in investor relations and corporate comms, and united them with innovative performance marketing experts to raise the bar for all audiences.

Don is also a recognized thought leader and author. His first book “How to Lead a Values-Based Professional Services Firm,” co-written with Fran Biderman-Gross, released in 2020, and his next title, “The M&A Solution: A Values-Based Approach to Integrate Companies,” is set for a May 2021 release with ForbesBooks.

Don was a member of the Board of Directors for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas. He has dual undergraduate degrees in Chemical Engineering and Mathematical Physics, and a Master of Science in chemical engineering from Rice University; he also has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Outside of work, Don enjoys keeping up with his favorite sports teams with a glass of wine.

Tim Human is senior reporter at IR Magazine. He rejoined the publication in 2019 after two years working as a freelance journalist for a range of international publications. Previously, he was editor of IR Magazine between 2013-2017. He has also written for Corporate Secretary, IR Magazine’s sister publication, and CorpComms, the UK-based magazine for corporate communications professionals.

Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Corporate Secretary, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance issues affecting broker-dealers and asset management firms in the US and Europe. Before that, he was editor of Euromoney Institutional Investor’s International Financial Law Review and IFLR’s Americas editor, working in London and New York.

Steve Wade is a content researcher and conference producer at IR Magazine where he is responsible for crowd-sourcing intelligence on the big global issues facing investor relations. Steve also creates events where the IROs and the wider financial community can discuss, debate and learn about ways to develop the IR function.

Prior to IR Magazine, Steven’s background has been in corporate social responsibility and responsible investment. During his time at Ethical Corporation (now Reuters Events), Steve launched the ESG symposium, an event focused on connecting the socially responsible investment community with corporate sustainability leaders at listed companies. Steve was a judge for the Deloitte Green Frog Awards, celebrating the best corporate reporting in Eastern Europe. Steve also presented research at the Global Sustainable Event Summit in London and has spoken about extra-financial reporting with the United Nations Global Compact, the World Bank and the Polish Ministry of Finance.

Steve has a degree in Event Management and enjoys playing rugby in his spare time.