Moderator

Matt DiGuiseppe

Managing Director,

Governance Insights Center, PwC, Boston



Matt is a Managing Director with PwC’s Governance Insights Center, which strives to strengthen the connection between directors, executive teams, and investors by helping them navigate the evolving governance landscape. 

Matt has over 15 years of corporate governance experience, is a member of the Council of Institutional Investors (CII) Markets Advisory Committee, and sits on the advisory board of the University of Delaware Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance. He was the founding chairperson of the Investor Stewardship Group (ISG), which advanced a set of corporate governance and stewardship principles for the US market. 

Panelist

Eric Farnkoff

Partner

PwC Private, Boston 

Eric is an Assurance partner with more than 20 years of experience dedicated to serving private companies. His client base consists entirely of privately owned businesses in the manufacturing, industrial services/utilities, engineering and construction, government contracting, retail and distribution, and service industries. 

Eric has assisted with many of the challenges faced by private companies as they pass through different life-cycle stages, including acquisitions and divestitures, organizational restructuring, business process improvements, financing transactions, financial reporting matters, and other business issues. Eric has extensive experience working with fast-paced, highly transactional private equity portfolio companies seeking near, medium, or long-term exit transactions including potential public offerings.

Panelist

Margery Piercey, CFO/ COO

Mass Insight Education and Research

Margery is CFO/COO of Mass Insight Education & Research, a non-profit providing education consulting services to public school systems around the country that serve historically marginalized students. Prior to joining Mass Insight in this capacity, Margery was a Mass Insight Board member for eight years, including during the leadership succession of the organization’s founder and CEO. During her time on the board, she chaired both the Finance & Audit, and Governance & Nominating Committees.

Margery has spent most of her career in public accounting. She held many leadership roles, serving as Partner-in-Charge of a national firm’s Boston office and member of the

firm’s Executive Committee and, prior to that, leading the Family Business Service Team and Broker-Dealer audit practice at a large regional firm. Margery is an alum of PwC’s private company audit practice. During a six-year hiatus from public accounting, Margery worked for a global public manufacturing company in financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting and cash management functions.

Margery has lent her experience as a financial expert and business leader to a variety of organizations. She is a Board member of Middlesex Savings Bank, a $6 billion mutual bank and middle-market lender. She is a past Board member of the Association of International Professional Accountants and the American Institute of CPAs, a past Board Chair of both the Massachusetts Society of CPAs and the United Way of Tri-County, and an active member of the Accounting Department Advisory Council of UMass Amherst’s Isenberg School of Management.

Panelist

Gordie Spater, CEO

Katahdin Group

Gordie Spater is the CEO of Katahdin Group and was formerly the co-founder and CEO of Kurgo, the leading dog travel product company in North America and an 8-time Honoree of the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in the US. Before coming to Katahdin Group, he celebrated a successful exit of the business to Radio Systems Corporation after 16 consecutive years of revenue growth.

Prior to founding Kurgo with his brother in 2003, Gordie helped start two other companies. Pharmaneer was an importer of durable medical equipment where Gordie was the VP of Sales and Marketing. At myteam.com, Gordie was part of the startup team and Director of Business Development. Gordie started his career in advertising on Madison Avenue and then applied those skills to the ski business as the Director of Marketing at Sunday River Skiway and the American Skiing Company.

Gordie lives in Topsfield, MA with his wife Brooke, three children and two dogs a Golden-Doodle Baxter and a Labradoodle Winnie. He is a Cum Laude graduate from the University of Vermont and obtained his MBA from the Harvard Business School. Gordie was elected to the Topsfield School Committee in 2010 and the Board of Directors of the American Pet Products Association in 2012; he currently serves as a Director of W.F. Young.

Panelist

Robert Travis, Founder

Linden Capital Advisors

Rob is founder of Linden Capital Advisors, providing consulting, advisory and investment management primarily to financial service companies. He has over 30 years of private and public experience in strategic planning, structuring, decision support, financial systems, compensation, accounting and tax across multiple industries.

Most recently, he was Chief Financial Officer of Gordon Brothers responsible for the overall management of global financial reporting, planning and analysis, treasury, compensation and tax strategy and compliance. Prior to joining Gordon Brothers, Rob served in several roles at Fidelity Investments where he oversaw the finance, accounting, financial reporting and financial regulatory compliance function primarily for the asset management and brokerage businesses. He has also held various positions in assurance and business advisory services at PwC. Rob earned his BS in Accounting from Suffolk University and is a Certified Public Accountant.