Justin T. Blair
MWCN Trustee
Attorney at Law, Corporate, Transactions & Securities and Healthcare, Parsons Behle & Latimer
Matt Castleberry
MWCN Executive Committee Member
Shareholder/Director of Client Relations and Business Development, Amplēo
Reed W. Chase
MWCN Executive Committee Member
Audit and Business Advisory Partner, Tanner LLC
Jennifer Christopulos
MWCN Trustee, Utah 100 Vice Chair
EVP
Corporate Banking Director, Zions Bank
Franci Eisenberg
MWCN Executive Committee Member
Senior Executive and Technical Recruiter, Professional Recruiters
Terry Pratchett
MWCN Trustee, Deal Flow Committee Vice Chair
Managing Director-Sr. Relationship Manager, PNC Bank
David E. Rognon
MWCN Trustee
Senior VP, Senior Relationship Manager,
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
David Stahl
MWCN Trustee, Golf Committee Chair
Managing Director & Commercial Banking Leader, Hillcrest Bank
Ryan J. Dent
MWCN President
Ryan is a Partner in PwC’s Financial Services practice with a focus on the banking and capital markets sector. He consults with and supervises audit and consulting engagements of public and privately owned companies. Ryan is currently leading PwC’s financial services audit practice in Salt Lake City providing services primarily to asset management and banking clients throughout Utah and the western United States.
Paul Skeen, CPA
MWCN Chairman
Audit Partner, Eide Bailly LLP
Paul is a partner at Eide Bailly and overseen the audit practice for the Utah offices. He has more than 17 years in public accounting with experience in a variety of industries. Paul’s areas of emphasis include governmental, technology and public and private companies. He has served on the MWCN Board for eight years and is Chair of the Utah 100 committee. He is a past President for the Utah Association of CPAs (UACPA) and currently serves on the Advisory Board for the University of Utah’s School of Accountancy.
Cheri M. Waldron
MWCN Executive Director & Secretary
Cheri Waldron plans and executes all key events such as the Utah 100 Award Event, the Entrepreneur of the Year Award Event, Deal Flow Awards, the Deal Makers Golf Tournament, Business Boot Camp and numerous other meetings and events of up to 1,300 people in attendance. Leads and supports the President, Board and Committee chairs in creating new, profitable and engaging programs and events that foster and support entrepreneurship in Utah. Cheri graduated from the University of Utah.
Dave Chase
MWCN Treasurer
Managing Partner, Amplēo
Dave is the managing partner at Amplēo and acting CFO of 5 businesses currently. He has 17 years in small to medium private companies and large public companies as a senior operational and financial leader. With 17 years’ experience in global finance, a CFO of multiple entities and divisional EVP experience, Dave brings a breadth of experience.
Todd A. Reece
MWCN Vice-Chairman
Partner, Holland & Hart
Todd A. Reece is an experienced corporate attorney who advises clients on general business matters, mergers, acquisitions, financings (venture and private equity), securities, joint ventures, licensing matters, and other business transactions. He assists both public and private companies with corporate governance, internal investigations, audits and compliance matters, including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance and reviews.
Garit Lawson
MWCN Trustee
Managing Director, Forbes Partners
Garit has 20+ years of experience as a Mergers and Acquisitions professional. He is known for his expertise in advising company owners on successful strategies for maximizing shareholder value, while accounting for the human “needs and wants” present in business transactions. His transactional specialties are technology-enabled manufacturing, consumer products, and business services. Garit has founded and operated companies in the consumer and business services industries, giving him distinct insights into businesses from the viewpoints of an owner, manager, and entrepreneur.
David E. Rognon
MWCN Trustee
Senior VP, Senior Relationship Manager, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
David Rognon is a Senior Relationship Manager in the Global Commercial Bank for Bank of America. David specializes in providing strategic debt, treasury and capital market solutions to middle market companies in the State of Utah. These companies generally have annual sales between 50 million to $2 billion, or have access to the capital markets. He coordinates a team of treasury, credit and other specialty sales professionals to serve a portfolio of clients in general industries and develop new relationships for Bank of America.
Rob Abercrombie
MWCN Trustee
Audit Partner, Haynie & Company
Rob Abercrombie is an audit partner at Haynie & Company where he provides assurance services to both private and public companies. His practice areas include manufacturing, technology, and SEC reporting for smaller companies.
Daniel Olson
Of Counsel, Dentons Durham Jones Pinegar
Dan is a corporate and transactional attorney whose practice focuses on technology startups and emerging companies and the ecosystems that support them. He has been a med-device tech entrepreneur, in-house counsel to a Web3 and AI media startup, a tenure-track business school professor teaching courses on entrepreneurship and business strategy, and a corporate and capital markets attorney. He has worked in the trenches of building and growing a business and uses that unique perspective to efficiently and effectively advise his clients.
Chris Badger
Senior Accountant, NOW CFO
Chris Badger, CPA is a senior accounting professional with broad industry experience in high tech, oil and gas, manufacturing and financial services. His accounting expertise includes strategic corporate management, mergers, acquisitions, debt financing, implementing and managing external financial reporting and operational reporting functions.
Matt Bartholomew
MWCN Trustee
Principal, CLA LLP
matt.bartholomew@claconnect.com
Matt Bartholomew is a principal with CLA LLP and brings over 20 years of experience between public accounting and as a private company executive with over 14 years in Transaction Advisory Services. Matt’s expertise includes Quality of Earnings analyses (both buy- and sell-side), carve-out preparation and modeling, consulting on purchase agreements, and post-transaction matters. He began his career with Ernst & Young LLP in Assurance, followed by years at FTI Consulting and then at a private company, leading a turnaround as well as a recapitalization process. Prior to CLA LLP, Matt was with BDO for over seven years, leading and growing a fully-dedicated Transactions team in Salt Lake City and Denver.
Reed W. Chase
MWCN Executive Committee Member
Audit and Business Advisory Partner, Tanner LLC
rchase@tannerco.com | Bio
Reed Chase is an audit and business advisory partner at Tanner LLC assisting companies with audit and financial reporting. Reed also works with investors and companies on quality of earnings projects for acquisitions and significant investments.
Ray Chipman
Audit & Advisory Partner, Squire
Ray Chipman is an audit and advisory partner at Squire. He has over 20 years in public accounting experience assisting companies set and meet their financial goals. Ray leads the firms Direct-Selling industry group and is a member of the firm’s executive committee. He has significant experience with construction, manufacturing and distribution companies, and is also responsible for our international network of legal and accounting firms.
Jennifer Christopulos
Corporate Banking Director and EVP, Zions Bank
Jennifer.Christopulos@zionsbank.com
Jennifer has had a 25+ year career assisting mid to large sized businesses meet their strategic objectives by leveraging banking products and services. Currently, Jennifer leads a team of corporate banking professionals that are responsible for the origination of credit, servicing of loan portfolios, and developing and deepening of full banking relationships with middle market to large corporate businesses primarily within the state of Utah.
Jennifer enjoys reading mystery novels and supporting her husband and their five children in their various sports events and extracurricular activities.
Riley Cutler
Corporate and Business Support Specialist
Riley, an outdoor industry specialist with a thought-catalog of Utah hiking and biking trails, brings local knowledge and research to KUER as the Corporate and Business Support Associate. Riley graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. in Biology. Prior to KUER, he worked with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development for more than five years as director of outdoor industry research. He is a longtime partner in Wasatch Touring Co., an outdoor specialty store. In his free time he takes family and friends skiing, hiking, or anything that involves being in nature! During the winter on any given Saturday morning, you will find Riley up the canyon tearing it up in the fresh powder as he backcountry telemark skis.
Franci Eisenberg
MWCN Executive Committee Member
franci@professionalrecruiterinc.com
Franci has over 30 years recruiting experience at the same firm. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the MountainWest Capital Network Board of Directors, and as Mentor, for the Wayne Brown Institute’s (VentureCapital.org) annual Venture Capital Conference “Investors Choice” and their Women’s Advisory Committee as well. As an executive and technical recruiter, she working nationally as well as internationally. An active member of a worldwide recruiting network, National Personnel Associates and partner with 500+ recruiters globally with access to their applicants and positions worldwide.
Justin T. Blair
Attorney at Law, Corporate, Transactions & Securities and Healthcare, Parsons Behle & Latimer
Justin Blair is a member of the firm’s Corporate, Transactions & Securities and Healthcare practice groups. His practice is focused primarily on transactional and corporate matters in the dental industry. He assists his dental clients with a variety of issues, including equity and asset acquisitions, structuring and implementing dental and other management support organizations (DSOs/MSOs), drafting business support and other related agreements, and other corporate matters like formation, business planning, and corporate governance. Justin also provides similar corporate and transactional services for business clients across a variety of other industries.
Chad Fraughton
Cornerstone Show Foundation, Vice President and Co-Founder
Chad is a rock star in the live event industry, boasting more than 27 years of experience, including 23 at the helm of Cornerstone. Prior to this, he gained invaluable experience and insight working on the corporate side for WordPerfect, Novell and Busch Creative Services. He is uniquely qualified to help companies leverage the right technology for their creative messaging requirements. He specializes in offering the opportunity to work hand-in-hand utilizing the latest technology to afford companies a competitive advantage – maintaining a laser focus on creative content to drive message, define the brand and wow the audience.
Tyler Harvey
Regional Team Lead and Senior Vice President, Wells Fargo
Tyler supports a team of commercial banking professionals that provide credit, treasury management, international, investment, and deposit products to businesses with annual sales greater than $20 million.
David Hunter
MWCN Trustee
Managing Director, The Cynosure Group
david.hunter@cynosuregroup.com
David Hunter is a Managing Director for The Cynosure Group. Tracing its roots to the Eccles family of Utah, The Cynosure Group is an independent alternatives asset manager and advisor that makes long-term investments on behalf of families, foundations, and other like-minded institutions. Mr. Hunter heads the Investor Relations efforts and assists in sourcing middle-market private equity transactions. Before joining Cynosure, Mr. Hunter spent 11 years in New York and San Francisco with Partners Group, a global private markets investment management firm.
Kevin Jessop
MWCN Executive Committee Member
kjessop@diversifiedinsurance.com
Kevin has worked in sales and marketing for large public companies for over twenty years and currently manages marketing and business development efforts for Diversified Insurance Group. Prior to insurance, he worked in financial printing for RR Donnelley, helping take companies public and assisting public companies with secondary offerings, large scale debt transactions, and mergers and acquisitions.
Jake Kastan
MWCN Vice President, EOY Committee Chair
Vice President, Peterson Partners
Jake is a Vice President at Peterson Partners, an independent investment management firm with assets under management across a variety of alternative asset classes. Prior to joining Peterson Partners, Jake worked as the Political Director for Speaker Paul Ryan in Washington DC. He was Paul Ryan’s personal aide during the 2012 presidential election and began his career working for Mitt Romney in Boston, MA. Jake received an MBA from the Georgetown McDonough School of Business and a B.S. from Tufts University.
Jason Knight
MWCN Trustee
President, Principal Broker & Consultant, CUI Benefits
Jason is the Principal Broker & Consultant for CUI Benefits. He focuses on level and self-funded benefit programs for small to mid-sized organizations. His goal is to help employers attract and retain quality employees while maximizing cost transparency and value. Jason has a BS in Economics from the U of U and spent time as an analyst in the public sector prior to transitioning to the insurance industry in 2013.
Ted McAleer
PandoLabs, Managing Director
Ted is currently the Managing Director of PandoLabs, a co-working facility and accelerator based in Park City, Utah. From 2006 to 2014, Ted was the 1st Executive Director of USTAR (Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative), the State of Utah’s signature technology-based economic development initiative. Prior to USTAR, McAleer was the Director of Business Development for The University of Utah’s Technology Venture Development organization.
Terry Pratchett
MWCN Trustee
Managing Director-Sr. Relationship Manager, PNC Bank
Terry Pratchett is a managing director and senior relationship manager with PNC Bank. In his role with the bank’s corporate and institutional banking team, Terry manages the bank’s relationships with middle market and large corporate companies across Utah. He is responsible for helping build out the Utah market. Terry supports existing and prospective customers with targeted solutions to achieve their business objectives. He has 17 years’ banking experience. He received his bachelor’s degree at Brigham Young University and received his Master of Business Administration degree at Wake Forest University.
Jason Reading
Partner, Aries Capital Partners
Jason is a partner at Aries Capital Partners, a private equity group which invests in lower middle-market companies. Prior to Aries, Jason held various positions at Peterson Partners and Leucadia National. Jason also worked in investment banking at Merrill Lynch and audit and business advisory at PwC. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a degree in accountancy from BYU.
Kady K. Reese
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Kady K. Reese is a corporate mergers and acquisitions partner who focuses her practice on complex business transactions, including leveraged acquisitions of private and public companies, strategic mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, restructurings and recapitalizations. Kady also represents private equity funds and their portfolio companies in all aspects of their businesses.
Matt Castleberry
MWCN Executive Committee Member
Shareholder/Director of Client Relations and Business Development, Amplēo
Matt Castleberry is a native of Utah and is a Shareholder and Director of Client Relations and Business Development for Amplēo. He has been in Business Development for over half of his life and loves building new relationships with anyone he can. His experience covers a wide variety of industries including, Transportation, Finance, Banking, Advertising, HVAC, and Healthcare. He has worked for companies ranging from freight to lease finance.
Matt has four children and spends most of his free time in Utah’s beautiful outdoors. He is willing to try just about anything once and loves everything from Golf to motocross to fly fishing and just about everything in between.
Jason Roberts
Managing Director, Protiviti
Jason has over 20 years of experience in risk-based internal controls and process reviews, business process outsourcing, business consulting engagements, contract compliance audit services, SOX compliance services, and best practice analyses for clients in the consumer products, technology, manufacturing, distribution, and healthcare industries. As Managing Director and Salt Lake City Office Leader, Jason leads a team of over 25 full-time consultants and has served over 50 clients in the West Region market.
Todd Gordon
Shareholder, CBIZ
Todd is the Attest Practice Leader and Shareholder of the CBIZ & MHM Salt Lake City practice. He has over 25 years of public accounting experience including many years with Big 4 and other National Accounting Firms. Todd has led engagement teams performing the audits of both public and privately held companies. He has experience with many industries including Technology, Consumer Products, Manufacturing Auto Dealerships, Employee Benefit Plans, Professional Service Organizations, Financial Services, Real Estate, and Not-for-Profit Organizations. He has served on multiple MWCN committees over the years including Chairman of the Golf Committee.
David Stahl
Managing Director & Commercial Banking Leader, Hillcrest Bank
David is the Managing Director and Commercial Banking leader for Hillcrest Bank Utah. He and his team work with emerging and middle market companies solving capital needs, acquisition financing and cash management solutions.
Paul R. Thomsen
Executive Director, JPMorgan Chase
Paul is an Executive Director with JPMorgan Chase. As a Commercial Banker within JPMC’s Middle Marketing Banking & Specialized Industries groups, he focuses on companies with annual revenues greater than $100 million. Providing customers with ideas and solutions for a wide variety of banking services and capital market alternatives. He brings a wealth of Business Development results, Credit & Deal Structuring, and market leading Treasury Management tools to find unique solutions for Utah based companies.
Peter Stevenson
Partner, modern8
Peter Stevenson is a Partner at modern8, a brand design agency and a8ency, a food and beveragemarketing company. He brings over 45 years of eating and drinking experience and is probably the person you want to ask where to go eat if you need help with that sort of thing.
Todd Smith
Executive Committee, Moreton & Company
TSmith@moreton.com
Todd is a member of the executive committee based out of Moreton & Company’s Salt Lake City office. In this role, he is responsible for coordinating the delivery of all Moreton & Company resources to our clients, supervising the client team, developing marketplace strategies, and crafting solutions for unusual business and insurance risks. Todd has a BA in Business Finance and serves on the U of U Alumni Board.
Lance Soffe
Director of Targeted Industries, GOED
Lance Soffe is the director of targeted industries at the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity (Go Utah). In this role, he oversees Utah’s targeted industries to cultivate a business-friendly environment and recruit and foster growth in Information Technology/Software, Financial Services, Aerospace and Defense, Life Sciences, and Advanced Manufacturing. Before his position at Go Utah, Soffe served the employer community at the Department of Workforce Services for 14 years in various roles. He also has private sector experience in the financial services sector, real estate, and as a small business owner. Soffe holds a degree in Finance from the University of Utah and an MBA from Utah State.
Steve Wilson
MWCN Trustee
Commercial Relationship Manager – SVP, KeyBank
Steve Wilson is an experienced Commercial Banking Relationship Manager who collaborates with clients by providing various capital solutions to support their growth initiatives both organically and acquisition. Through his experience he is able to provide guidance and solutions across the spectrum commercial banking services for Middle Market clients.
Quentin Smith
Associate, The Cynosure Group
Quentin.smith@cynosuregroup.com
Quentin Smith is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing new investment opportunities. Prior to joining The Cynosure Group, Quentin worked as an investment banking analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York City. His transaction experience includes mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and debt and equity offerings.
Quentin received his B.S. in Business Management with an emphasis in Finance, from Brigham Young University. While attending Brigham Young University, Quentin was a member of the NCAA Division I men’s volleyball team, where he was a team captain.
Barbara Araneo, PhD
USTAR Team Lead, Emerging Technologies
baraneo@utah.gov | Bio
Barbara most recently served Novo Nordisk, Inc. as a Director of External Innovation Sourcing for the company’s Global Research Unit and previously lead the program for diabetic complications at JDRF global headquarters in Manhattan. She served on the faculty of the University of Utah’s Department of Pathology as Associate Professor after completing a doctorate in Cellular Immunology from the University of Rochester and postdoctoral training at Washington University School of Medicine and the Department of Microbiology at UCLA. In addition to a doctorate degree, Araneo holds certification in US Regulatory Affairs.
Bradley B. Bertoch
President & CEO, VentureCapital.org
Brad is a leader in equity backed business development and entrepreneurship. Under his direction, companies participating in WBI programs have raised over $5 billion in private and public equity and created or retained over 100,000 high tech jobs throughout the United States. Brad is a member of the SLC Angels, the Salt Lake Life Sciences Angels, the Park City Angels and the WBI Angels and was a venture partner with Hamilton Bio-Ventures Fund II. He is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Casey W. Jones, Esq.
Attorney, Strong & Hanni
Casey focuses his practice on corporate and trademark law. His diverse background in business law allows to him act as outside corporate counsel for many of his Utah clients. He also works closely with his client’s general counsel on the legal issues they face on a day-to-day basis.
Jason A. Sanders
Registered Patent Attorney, Maschoff Brennan
Jason’s practice focuses on patent and trademark prosecution and counseling. He has advised companies across the spectrum from startups and universities, to Fortune 500 companies. In addition to practicing before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, he has experience in obtaining patents in the Europe, China, Japan, Canada, Australia, Korea, Israel, and other jurisdictions. Recently, Jason has successfully prosecuted patents to allowance in less than one year through the USPTO Track One program. He received his J.D. From Georgetown University Law Center and he also holds an M.S. and B.S. in physics from Utah State University.
Kent Thomas
Founder, AdvancedCFO
Kent Thomas is the founder of Advanced CFO in 1996 and in that role has served as the outsourced CFO of over 80 different businesses. He currently serves as the advisor or Acting CFO of several businesses and as a member of the board of directors of two businesses and the MountainWest Capital Network. Kent graduated from Brigham Young University and the University of Utah’s Graduate School of Business. He is active in the Utah entrepreneurial community where he advises companies, associations, and educational institutions and is a frequent speaker on finance, accounting and entrepreneurship.
Michele Myer
Registered Patent Attorney, Maschoff Brennan
Michele focuses on intellectual property litigation, including patent, trademark, and copyright litigation. As a registered patent attorney, she uses her knowledge of patent prosecution to enhance her litigation practice. She has supported clients across a variety of technology areas in protecting their patent portfolios.
Apart from work, Michele‘s interests include painting and pastel drawing. She also enjoys Pilates, ballet, and astronomy.
David Marx
Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Partner
David focuses his practice on corporate and securities law. He advises companies from their initial formations to eventual sales or initial public offerings. His experience includes advising public and private companies with venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, executive compensation, SEC reporting and regulatory matters, Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance, NASDAQ and NYSE compliance matters, and general corporate counseling and governance. In addition, Dave represents issuers and underwriters in public equity offerings.
Quinton J. Stephens
Associate, Ballard Spahr LLP
Quinton is an Associate in the Litigation Department. His practice focuses on civil litigation. He has successfully represented commercial landlords in collections against their former tenants, litigated complex shareholder disputes, represented lenders against their borrowers’ claims, and assisted organizations in protecting their trade secrets and other proprietary information.
His background and prior professional experience have often provided his clients with an added value, as he regularly draws on his Master of Business Administration training to augment his understanding of the issues and challenges in any dispute.
Thom Williams
Managing Director, USTAR
Marine Corps Col. Thomas M. Williams (Retired) joined USTAR as managing director in July 2015. He commanded at all levels within the Marines during his 31 years of service, and traveled extensively in the Pacific, Europe, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. Thom served several combat tours in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Bosnia and Kosovo in the Balkans. His additional assignments in the area of acquisitions for the Department of Defense have proven an asset to his work for USTAR. He served in the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) as a Concepts Planner, helping to guide the agency’s $15 billion budget. At the Office of Naval Research he served as the Military Department Head, leading the portfolio of over 500 advance technology programs for the Marine Corps and Navy SEAL’s. He has a B.S. in Aeronautics from San Jose State University and M.A. in Economics from the University of Oklahoma.
Barry Sobel
Managing Director, Alex. Brown
Barry Sobel has 29 years of Wealth Management and Money Management experience. His clients are mostly entrepreneurs who have created substantial “first generation” wealth.
John M. Knab
Managing Director, Americas Housing Alliance
Former manager at IBM HQ; Director with Verizon; and CEO of Phonex Broadband. Currently Managing Director of Americas Housing Alliance, a national real estate Fund. Undergraduate degree from BYU and an MBA from Emory University. A member of the BYU Marriott School of Management’s National Advisory Council and a founder with the Center for Technology and Entrepreneurship.
Jason Thompson
Utah Chair – Vistage International
Jason.thompson@vistagechair.com
Jason chairs a private CEO advisory board along the Wasatch Front for the world’s most trusted executive coaching company. He focuses on improving their insights, leadership, decisions and results, enabling them to outperform their competition through boom markets and recession. He has over two decades experience leading and consulting private and publicly held companies, from Fortune 500, Mid-market and Start-Ups across many industries throughout the US. Jason brings a unique perspective and vast experience.
Bryson Lord
Principal, Economics Partners, LLC
Bryson Lord is a Principal of Economics Partners where he provides expert valuation opinions to support tax, financial reporting and strategic positions. He advises clients of all stages including pre-revenue businesses to large public enterprises to family-owned and operated organizations. Bryson is active in the Utah business community as an angel investor and mentor to students at local universities.
Jeff Johnson
Audit Partner, FORVIS MAZARS
Jeff is audit partner with FORVIS with more than 20 years’ experience providing audit and consulting serves to clients in a variety of industries including manufacturing, distribution, construction, software and technology, and real estate. One of Jeffs main areas of focus is serving Private Equity Groups and their portfolio companies with mergers and acquisitions.
Nicholas Hintze
Senior Vice President Commercial Banking, UMB Bank
Nicholas Hintze is senior vice president of UMB’s Commercial Banking division in Utah. Leading the expansion of this market, Nick engages with large public and private organizations to cultivate meaningful connections with their management teams and learn how UMB can offer them ongoing support. Nick’s priority is to understand each client’s unique needs, helping them streamline business processes, assess cash flow and achieve their financial dreams. Outside of work, Nick is dedicated to his family and community.
Ty Gatherum
VP Advisor, Bernstein Private Wealth Management
Tyler Gatherum, CFP® is an advisor at Bernstein Private Wealth Management with a focus on M&A pre-transaction planning. He consults with founders and entrepreneurs as they progress through various milestones of scaling their business and personal net worth, including pre-and-post-liquidity planning and resourcing personal values into bespoke investment solutions across public and private markets.
Steve Lake
Vice President of Business Development, Embark
Steve Lake joined Embark as a Vice President of Business Development to help open the Utah Embark Office in 2020. He is focused on making life easier for CFOs and their teams by providing advisory services within the office of CFO. Prior to Embark Steve spent 6 years in Public Accounting at Grant Thornton and 7 years as CFO with two different consumer product companies. Steve became a MWCN Trustee in 2022, is a CPA, and an adjunct accounting professor at the University of Utah.
Ryan Ollivier
Partner, Moss Adams
Ryan is a Partner at Moss Adams, bringing 24 years of financial and operational expertise. He excels in accounting standards, operational improvement, budgeting, and team leadership. Before Moss Adams, he co-founded The Cadence Group, optimizing processes, and served as CFO/CEO for a multi-million-
dollar manufacturing company. Preceding this, he gained over 5 years of experience at a Big Four firm.
Darren Siegrist
Director, Crewe Capital
Darren Siegrist, is a Director with Crewe Capital which is a mid-market Investment Bank that focuses on sell-side M&A. He provides capital solutions to middle-market companies, private equity, and real estate funds along with alternative investment solutions to institutions and family offices. Darren has over 25 years of diversified financial services experience in real estate finance, private wealth, and alternative investments. He holds the Finra series 7, 66, & 79 along with an MBA from USC and former CPA.
Outside of work, Darren is an avid Motocross rider, Mountain Biker, Skier and Snowboarder. He has two daughters that are currently in college at University of Tennessee and University of Colorado.