Peggy Koenig, co-CEO and Managing Partner of ABRY Partners, one of the most experienced and successful private equity firms in North America, will discuss how over the past 25 years she has led ABRY in its growth from a narrow, media-focused private equity firm with less than $100M under management to its current broader sector focus managing over $12 billion of capital in their active funds.

ABRY now focuses across business services, information services, and communications. Peggy will discuss how the firm has evolved its investing strategy, why they chose the sectors they focus on and will delve into their current investor thesis across sectors and growth strategy for the future. She will also discuss the important role that culture has played in ABRY’s success.

We hope you can join us for what is certain to be an informative Q&A with one of the most successful leaders in private equity.

Speaker Biography:

Peggy Koenig is co-CEO and Managing Partner of ABRY Partners, LLC, which is a top ranked North American private equity investment firm focused solely on investing in the media, communications, information and business services industries. ABRY has completed over $62 billion of leveraged transactions and other private equity investments. The firm manages buy-out, growth equity and senior debt funds.

Peggy joined ABRY in 1993 as a Partner when the firm organized its first $250 million buyout fund. Ms. Koenig has been responsible for numerous transactions in the broadcasting (Nexstar Broadcasting, Citadel Communications, Connoisseur Communications), cable television (Avalon Cable, Wide Open West), consumer and business publishing (Network Communications, Cygnus Business Media, F+W Publishing), local media (Hispanic Yellow Pages), health care information (Knowledge Point 360), marketing services and logistics (Inmar) and business services sectors (Language Line).

She is responsible for the oversight of the firm’s 71 employees, including 47 investment professionals. During Peggy’s tenure she has initiated a myriad of professional development activities to enhance the firm’s employee base. She co-chairs the firm’s investment committee, and she is responsible for leading the firm’s fundraising efforts. During her tenure as co-CEO she has been responsible for raising nearly $7.5 billion of capital.

Peggy is a member of the Board of Trustees of Cornell University, where she sits on the Finance, Building and Properties and Audit committees. She is a member of the Board of Observers of Cornell’s NY Tech Campus. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Boston Medical Center, where she chairs the Finance Committee and sits on the System board. She is also a member of the Massachusetts Women’s Forum.

Moderator Biography:

Joanna Stone Herman is a Partner at DeSilva+Phillips, a leading boutique leading M&A advisory firm specializing in the education, media & technology industries.

Joanna has worked in the broader media and technology industry for over 20 years and has served in executive roles at Reed Elsevier, where she was SVP, Global Strategy for LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters, where she was EVP Business Development for Thomson Financial Corporate Group and VP Business Development for Thomson Learning, Joanna also worked at Dow Jones, Time Warner and Accenture’s Media & Entertainment Practice. Most recently, Joanna was co-Founder and CEO of Librify, the exclusive eBook provider for Target, which was sold to Scribd.

Joanna has served as an investor and advisor/board member of several tech start-ups including City Maps (sold to Trip Advisor in 2016), Thuzio, Axial Markets, and Matterhorn. Her writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Newsweek, People and The New York Daily News.

Joanna is on the Board of Harvard Business School Club of New York, the Business Advisory Council for ProPublica, a non-profit investigative journalism organization, Vice President of the Alumni Council for The Dalton School and Board Member for the Leadership Committee for Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Kids Cancer Walk. Joanna has a BS and Masters from MIT and MBA from Harvard Business School.

Video Highlights:

About The Dealmaker Breakfast Series:

Sponsored by the NYC-based investment bank, DeSilva+Phillips, the Dealmakers Series are events for the top dealmakers and operators in the Media, Advertising & Marketing, Information, Education, Technology and Healthcare Communications industries. They feature industry experts discussing the future of investing in the media and technology industries, specifically focusing on recent and imminent notable transactions, as well as emerging trends and opportunities in our space. The HBSCNY Monthly Dealmaker Breakfast Series is intended to be a smaller, more intimate event designed to bring together HBS Alumni and influential industry leaders for stimulating discussions, valuable networking opportunities and engaging Q&A.  The program is a question and answer session where the moderator asks 30 minutes of questions, and then the speaker and moderator take 30 minutes of questions from the roundtable audience.

Date: Thursday, June 15, 2017
Time: 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM
8:00 to 8:30 AM – Registration & Breakfast/Networking
8:30 to 9:30 AM – Discussion and Audience Q&A

Venue: The offices of DeSilva+Phillips
475 Park Ave. S FL 22 (between 32nd and 31st Streets), NYC 10016

Price:
$20/Members & Member guest (limit one)
$50/Non-Alumni

Space is limited and spots will be filled on a first come first served basis (with preference given to HBSCNY members and their guests). Please register by June 12th. No refunds will be issued. This event will be recorded.

Organizers: Joanna Stone Herman HBS ’97

Registration: Click Here to Visit the HBS of NYC Website