Nathan Rust is Senior VP of Corporate Development at Salas O'Brien, an employee-owned engineering firm with approximately 5,000 employees. Over the past three years, Nathan has led or co-led more than 30 mergers, completed a recapitalization with Blackstone as a minority investor, and refinanced debt multiple times. Before joining Salas O'Brien, Nathan held acquisitions roles in the Phoenix area following an MBA from Virginia Tech and an earlier career running a Harley-Davidson dealership.

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Lutz Lehmann founded Magnus Business Group to represent sellers through business sale processes, primarily baby boomer business owners approaching retirement. He has spent over 10 years managing the surprises that come up in lower middle market transactions, and documents every one of them to prepare his team for the next deal.

Patrick Mumman leads origination at CBIZ (NYSE: CBZ), the number eight accounting firm in the United States following the Marcum acquisition. He previously spent 12 and a half years at H&R Block running a roll-up strategy across small accounting and tax practices, giving him a ground-level view of what selling a business actually feels like for owners who have never done it before.

Jeremy is the Executive Vice President of Corporate Development at Progress (NASDAQ: PRGS). He is a corporate development executive with 20+ years of experience in the technology industry focused on M&A, Corporate Ventures, Strategic Planning, Joint Ventures, Divestitures, International Expansion, and Strategic Partnerships

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Tej Brahmbhatt founded Watchtower Capital to bring large-bank M&A process rigor to privately held companies in the $50 to $100 million range. He and his four-person team have collectively closed over $10 billion in transactions and take a KYC (know your client) approach that often surfaces the real transaction a client needs, not the one they came in asking for.

George Helock is a managing director at LCG Advisors, a consulting, investment banking, and due diligence firm supporting buyers, sellers, and lenders across the transaction lifecycle. He leads the firm's Western region and has firsthand experience with what happens when capital markets close mid-process on a deal that is already in flight.

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Angie Astle is EVP of Finance, CFO, and president of the investment division at Chugach Alaska Corporation, one of 13 regional Alaska Native corporations formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. She has led the firm's M&A strategy since joining in 1998 and was the architect of their first commercial acquisition, a deal that required becoming the secured creditor and taking a target through Chapter 11 reorganization before it could close.