Ryan Schradin
The National Capital Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG National Capital) sponsored their annual Mid-Atlantic Growth Conference last week at the Hyatt Regency Tyson Corner. The conference was held simultaneously with DealSource, where nearly fifty deal makers from investment banks and private equity firms spent the day in one-on-one meetings building their deal pipelines and strengthening professional relationships.
As in years past, the Mid-Atlantic Growth Conference brought together some of the region’s best and brightest business minds to network, share business best practices, learn from the success of others and hear about some of the industries and technologies that are driving investment and innovation. Also, much like in previous years, the agenda of scheduled speakers and panel discussions at the 2018 Mid-Atlantic Growth Conference was both diverse and exceptionally informative.
The conference began with Valerie Camillo, the CRO and CMO of the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team discussing some of the ways in which modern technology is shaping the professional sports industry and impacting the way teams do business. During this opening session, Valerie discussed the impact of Big Data and analytics on game day operations, and how the Nationals and other baseball teams are adapting to succeed in an environment where the competition for attention and entertainment budgets is increasing.
Following Valerie’s opening session, the conference pivoted to another CEO that is innovating in an increasingly competitive industry – Brett Schulman, the CEO of fast-casual restaurant chain, CAVA. During Brett’s session, he discussed the history of the company, why CAVA’s offering is so different in the marketplace and how the company’s culture and reliance on technology is helping to drive success.
The final featured speaker was Mark Rockefeller, the CEO of StreetShares. This Reston-based fintech company is doing something truly revolutionary – offering a marketplace in which affinity groups can lend money internally, greatly increasing access to funding and the amount of financial services available to them.
In addition to these excellent speakers, the Mid-Atlantic Growth Conference also featured multiple panel discussions focused on innovative and disruptive new technologies that are poised for increased investment, and that are capable of revolutionizing entire industries. These panels included discussions about blockchain technology and healthcare IT.
Finally, this year’s Mid-Atlantic Growth Conference featured two panels designed to provide tips and best practices for corporate leaders currently in the process of a merger or acquisition, or that are looking to execute one in the near future as part of their larger corporate growth strategy. The first of these panels looked at best practices for an integration following a merger or acquisition. Another of these panels was a case study on executing a flawless merger, and profiled the creation of government contracting powerhouse, Polaris Alpha, through the merger of three separate companies.
If you were unable to attend this year’s Mid-Atlantic Growth Conference, we will be recapping many of these excellent sessions and panel discussions in the coming weeks on Corporate Growth, Capital Style. In the meantime, here are some photos for this year’s event:
