Anna has a passion for producing engaging content and generating audiences for high-caliber thought leadership programs featuring global experts in business, M&A, finance, restructuring and private equity.

With deep understanding of industry trends, insights and best practices and the capabilities to communicate them effectively to the most qualified audience, Anna leads the business, strategy and direction of the platform.

She oversees the production, distribution and promotion of video content that showcases the expertise and profile of Expert Webcast speakers and sponsors.

Anna partners with leading organizations to expand the reach and impact of the platform and to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among industry peers and stakeholders.

Alex Kasdan is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Restructuring Practice at DelMorgan & Co. He has more than twenty-five years of experience in restructuring, M&A and corporate finance.

Prior to joining DelMorgan, Alex founded and ran Convergence Capital Partners, LLC, an investment banking advisory firm, and worked at Barrington Associates, Peter J. Solomon Company, Credit Suisse First Boston and Merrill Lynch. 

He also practiced law with O’Melveny & Myers LLP (formerly O’Sullivan Graev & Karabell LLP) and Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP (formerly Battle Fowler LLP), where he specialized in mergers & acquisitions, private equity and corporate finance transactions.  In addition, Alex also previously served as Corporate Counsel in charge of business development at Schlumberger Ltd., a global oilfield and information services company.

Alex holds a J.D. from Columbia University Law School and a B.A. from Middlebury College.  He also studied at the University of Florence, Italy.

Hon. Melanie L. Cyganowski (ret.) provides guidance to Expert Webcast on insolvency, restructuring and bankruptcy content.

Melanie chairs the bankruptcy practice at Otterbourg P.C. , which she joined in 2008, after serving as the Chief Bankruptcy Judge in the Eastern District of New York. She is also an arbitrator/mediator and has testified as an expert in international cases involving U.S. bankruptcy laws.

Melanie graduated magna cum laude from the School of Law at the SUNY at Buffalo and served as law clerk to the late Hon. Charles L. Brieant (SDNY). Melanie was then a litigator at Sullivan & Cromwell and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy.

Igor Kirman provides guidance to Expert Webcast on corporate law, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance content.

Igor is a partner in the Corporate Department at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where he focuses primarily on mergers and acquisitions, activism and takeover defense, corporate governance and general corporate matters.

Igor has advised public and private companies, as well as private equity funds, in connection with mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures, cross-border deals, shareholder activism, takeover defenses and corporate governance matters.

Igor received a B.A. magna cum laude from Yale University and his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was notes editor of the Columbia Law Review.

Agnieszka Rafalska joined EQT in 2024 and is based in the New York office. Prior to joining EQT, Agnieszka worked as Senior Counsel, Private Equity at Apollo Global Management where she oversaw legal aspects of transactions across Apollo’s private equity, sustainability and infrastructure, hybrid and secondaries (S3) platforms and received the M&A Advisor’s Emerging Leaders Award for her contributions to the industry.

Agnieszka began her legal career at the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, advising corporate and sponsor clients on a wide range of high-stakes transactions.

Agnieszka holds an A.B., magna cum laude from Harvard College and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Jay Goffman recently co-founded Smith Goffman Partners (a Merchant Bank specializing in restructuring) with Steve Smith. Together, they have restructured over $1trillion of debt over the past 40 years.

Prior to co-founding Smith Goffman Partners, Jay was Client Chairman of Teneo Financial Advisory and Vice-Chairman, Financial Advisory at Rothschild & Co. Prior to that he was the Global Head of Skadden’s Corporate Restructuring Group.

Jay has reorganized businesses in basically every industry throughout the globe, both out of court and in court, including through Prepackaged reorganizations, a concept he developed almost 40 years ago.

As a leading corporate lawyer, Lina will provide guidance on topics such as shareholder and hedge fund activism defense and preparedness, proxy fights, takeover defense, corporate governance, and mergers and acquisitions.

Lina Tetelbaum is a Corporate Partner at Wachtell Lipton, where she focuses on shareholder and hedge fund activism defense and preparedness, proxy fights, takeover defense, corporate governance, and mergers and acquisitions. 

Lina received an A.B. magna cum laude in Economics from Harvard University and completed a J.D. from Yale Law School, where she served as editor-in-chief of the Yale Journal on Regulation and editor of the Yale Law Journal. After law school, Ms. Tetelbaum served as a law clerk to the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Mark Shinderman has more than 35 years of experience restructuring companies inside and outside of bankruptcy, directing bankruptcy-related litigation and handling the purchase of assets out of bankruptcy. Mr. Shinderman often advises ad hoc committees of lenders and bondholders and official creditors’ committees, as well as debtors, purchasers of assets from troubled companies, key vendors, equity sponsors and other important constituents in insolvency situations.

Mr. Shinderman also has represented and advised numerous clients involved in litigation and transactions in which the counterparty may be in financial distress, helping the clients mitigate potential insolvency risk.

Cynthia Romano provides guidance to Expert Webcast on insolvency, restructuring and bankruptcy content.

Cynthia is a Senior Managing Director with FTI Consulting. She has more than 25 years of experience in performance improvement, turnaround management, transaction support, and investment analysis.

EDUCATION

• MBA, International Management, MIT Sloan School of Management

• B.A. with honors, Educational History and Policy, Brown University

Neal J. Reenan is a corporate partner in the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Groups. Mr. Reenan has a broad-based transactional practice with more than two decades of experience advising large global and middle-market private equity sponsors, their portfolio companies and other businesses on their most complex domestic and cross-border transactions, including take-privates, divestitures, carve-outs, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures, minority and strategic investments, recapitalizations and restructuring transactions. He has handled matters across many industries, including healthcare, life sciences, medical devices, financial services, insurance, asset management, fintech, business services, industrials, energy transition, defense & aerospace, and technology. 

Sylvie Gadant provides guidance on private equity, independent sponsor and transaction advisory content. She is a partner with Citrin Cooperman’s Private Equity and Capital Markets Practice and is the Transaction Advisory Services (TAS) practice leader.

She leads buy-side and sell-side due diligence engagements for private equity firms, independent sponsors, family offices, and strategic buyers.

In 2017, Sylvie launched Citrin Cooperman’s Independent Sponsor Survey, which was the first of its kind.

Eric Waxman provides guidance to Expert Webcast on private equity, corporate governance, M&A and securities litigation and other corporate content.

Eric is a Partner within the Ares Private Equity Group.  He works on both the acquisition and disposition of ACOF portfolio assets and assists portfolio companies in dealing with significant legal issues.

Prior to joining Ares in 2016, he was a Partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, where he practiced for more than 30 years.

Eric holds a B.A. from the University of California Los Angeles in Economics and a J.D. from The University of California Davis School of Law.

Alison provides guidance on private equity, private credit and M&A related content. She is based in New York, joined Warburg Pincus in 2019, and focuses on legal matters relating to the firm’s investing activities.

Prior to joining Warburg Pincus, she was a Vice President in legal and compliance at GSO Capital Partners, the credit-focused business of The Blackstone Group.

Previously, she was an Associate in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of Sullivan & Cromwell.

She received a BA in Economics from the University of Notre Dame and a JD from Harvard Law School. Alison is a member of the New York Bar.

Jason S. Kim is a deal lawyer. His practice focuses on representing domestic and foreign companies, financial institutions, funds, and serial entrepreneurs in acquisitions, mergers, and divestitures and related financing and capital raises with special emphasis on cross-border deals.

Jason also served as an Adjunct Professor at USC Gould School of Law from 2009 through 2018 and taught International Business Transactions covering the legal principles and practices involved in private business transactions and movement of goods, services, capital, knowledge, and technology across the boundaries of different nation-states.

Donald M. Ephraim Professor of Law and Economics, Faculty Director, The Center on Law and Finance, Tony Casey is an expert on business law, finance, and corporate bankruptcy. His research—which has been published in the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the Supreme Court Review, and the University of Chicago Law Review—examines the intersection of finance and law.

He has also written about the role of intellectual property law in the organization and financing of creative projects and about how technological innovation is changing the foundations of our legal system more generally.

Before entering academics, Professor Casey was a partner at Kirkland and Ellis, LLP. Before joining Kirkland & Ellis, he was an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

Rita O’Neill provides guidance to Expert Webcast on private equity, mergers and acquisitions and other corporate content, as well as women’s initiatives in law and finance.

Rita is a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell’s Los Angeles office and serves as co-head of the Firm’s Global Private Equity Group.

She has a broad-based practice that includes advising clients on mergers and acquisitions and securities offerings, and providing general corporate advice on disclosure and governance.

She has advised clients in a wide range of industries, including consumer and retail, financial institutions, healthcare and life sciences, industrials, telecommunications and transportation.