
Ivan Brockman
Senior Managing Director, The Blackstone Group
Ivan Brockman is a Senior Managing Director with The Blackstone Group, leading the firm`s corporate and M&A advisory group in Silicon Valley. Mr. Brockman advises companies in all sectors of technology. Prior to Blackstone, Mr. Brockman was the co-head of Citigroup's west coast technology investment banking efforts. In addition, Mr. Brockman was previously a Vice President with Goldman Sachs in technology investment banking and a corporate securities and M&A attorney with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Mr. Brockman holds a B.S. with Distinction from Cornell University and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Lori Smith
Partner, Goodwin Procter
Lori Smith, a partner in the firm`s Business Law Department and a member of its Technology Companies Group, specializes in representing foreign and domestic companies in various industries with regard to mergers and acquisitions, financings and general corporate matters, with an emphasis on emerging technologies. Ms. Smith has extensive experience acting as outside counsel for companies at all stages of development, from start-ups to public companies.
Ms. Smith has over 20 years experience representing entrepreneurs, venture capital and private equity investors and public and private companies in the structuring, negotiation and implementation of equity and debt financings and private equity transactions, private placements, acquisitions, mergers, strategic alliances, joint ventures, and licensing, manufacturing and distribution arrangements (including distribution via the Internet and wireless means). In addition to advising clients on transactional and contract matters, she regularly provides advice and assistance to companies and their investors with respect to general corporate governance and ongoing compliance matters as well as the various issues that need to be addressed in anticipation of and planning for a public offering, sale or merger.
Ms. Smith is outside general counsel to New York Angels, one of the leading angel investment groups in the Northeast and serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the New York Chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum.
Ms. Smith received a JD from the Duke University School of Law (with high honors) and a BA from the University of Rochester (magna cum laude).
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Jared Kaplan
Senior Counsel, McDermott, Will & Emery LLP
A frequent author and lecturer on ESOPs, Jerry currently serves on the ESOP Association`s Valuation Advisory Committee. He is the former chairman of the State of Illinois Advisory Task Force on Ownership Succession, and has served on the state`s Employee-Owned Enterprise Advisory Council. He served as chairman of the Legislative and Regulatory Advisory Committee of the ESOP Association from 1985 to 1990. He is the co-author of Tax Portfolio on Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), and Corporate Portfolio on ESOPs in Corporate Transactions, both published by the Bureau of National Affairs, and is editor of The Best of Law, published by the Family Firm Institute.
Jerry also is a past chairman of the Administrative Practice Committee of the American Bar Association`s Tax Section. He is a member of the American, Illinois State and Chicago Bar Associations, and the Lawyers` Club of Chicago. He is also a member of the editorial advisory board of Shannon Pratt's Business Valuation Update, and has served on the board of advisors of the Corporate Taxation Journal and on the board of editors of the Journal of Employee Ownership Law and Finance, published by the National Center for Employee Ownership. In 1999, Jerry completed a three-year term on the board of directors of the Family Firm Institute, and in 2003 he was named its General Counsel. In 2004, Jerry was elected a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefit Counsel, and in 2005 he was named a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He is listed in Who`s Who in America, Who`s Who in American Law, Leading American Attorneys, Global Counsel 3000, Chambers USA and The Best Lawyers in America. Jerry was ranked as recommended counsel in Chicago for employee stock and incentive plans in the 2006-2007 Cross-border Tax on Corporate Transactions Handbook. He has also been named an Illinois Super Lawyer by Law & Politics.

David Silverman
Assurance Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
David is a Partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers` Technology, Information, Communication and Entertainment Group with over 19 years of experience in providing audit, business advisory and consulting services to companies focused in the high-tech, media, publishing and new media industries. He has significant experience working with public and private companies ranging from start-ups to large multi-nationals. David has extensive SEC experience and has provided accounting and auditing services on a number of IPO`s, secondary and debt offerings, carve-outs and other SEC filings. David has assisted numerous clients with respect to revenue recognition, stock option and other complex equity issuances. He has also assisted his clients with restructurings, acquisitions, divestitures, bankruptcies, carve-outs and spin-offs.
David is a frequent lecturer on revenue recognition, venture capital, Internet advertising and developing new media and technology companies. He currently oversees the PricewaterhouseCoopers Interactive Advertising study performed on behalf of the IAB, which measures quarterly Internet advertising spending. David is also the managing partner of the New York Venture Capital and Emerging Companies practice.
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