2019 Deal Of The Year Judges

Audit and financial consulting to publicly owned, private equity-backed and privately held businesses in a broad range of industries, including oil and gas service companies, oilfield equipment manufacturing and fabricating, construction, engineering and architectural service, entertainment, hotels and hotel management companies, clubs, food service operations, leasing, importing and wholesale distribution, telecommunications and technology companies and software development companies.

SEC reporting experience includes initial public registrations and secondary debt and equity filings, annual and quarterly compliance filings (Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, etc.). Additional experience includes assisting with reverse merger transactions, private placement filings for debt and equity securities and transaction services for buyers and sellers, including transaction structuring and due diligence investigations.

Eric is a solutions-oriented management consultant experienced in working with complex and diversified Fortune 500 companies to bring about organizational financial change, Eric brings over 25 years of a broad range of experiences within the energy, government and other sectors.

Eric is a seasoned strategic thinking senior financial executive. He has held many executive level financial positions. Most recently he retired as chief financial officer for a private equity backed oil & gas company. During his tenure the company tripled in size and profitability through strategic acquisitions. Eric’s other senior financial positions have been as a strategic risk officer and investor relations director for several Fortune 500 and NYSE companies. He has also directed the service strategy for industry groups related to oil and gas, energy, healthcare & government, manufacturing, construction, and other industrial services, for PricewaterhouseCoopers.

He is a CPA and has a BS from Morgan State University and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh.

President & CEO of Medical Bridges, a life-changing and life-saving non-profit serving the global poor by providing needed medical supplies and equipment to clinics and hospitals.

In 2018, Walter served as interim CEO of a company that provides financial services to the the poor laying the foundation to offer health care services to the same community throughout Texas. In 2017, he concluded his assignment as president and CEO of Houston Technology Center (HTC). HTC clients have created nearly 6,000 jobs and enjoyed $3.5 billion in funding and transactions.

Walter is a proven business leader adept at building value and driving growth. He was turnaround CEO at two companies, Procurenet in NJ and Mincron Software Systems in Houston, that subsequently had significant liquidity events.

Walter served as one of 17 founding members of the Governor’s Texas Emerging Technology Fund Committee. He works closely with regional academic institutions and supports many community organizations. In 2014, Ulrich was awarded the prestigious NASA Silver Achievement Medal. The previous year, the Texas Black Expo bestowed to him their “Community Builder Award.”

Walter has been CEO of several mid-sized companies, was previously an executive at Arthur D. Little, where he held leadership roles in the energy, financial, healthcare and information industry practices, and was a partner with Coopers & Lybrand. Coopers & Lybrand acquired the successful technology business he had founded and grown into a nationally recognized leader. Early in his career, he developed the first commercially successful email service at Tymshare in Cupertino, CA.

Mr. Ulrich proudly served his country in the US Marine Corps.

Michelle Suárez is a partner in Holland & Knight’s Dallas office in Financial Services. She advises financial institutions, capital companies, business credit divisions and private capital funds in connection with their lending and investment transactions. Ms. Suárez has represented senior lenders throughout her 20 years of practice and, in particular, has an extensive understanding of structuring and negotiating complex asset-based credit facilities. She also has in-depth experience in senior cash flow products, tranche-B financings, leveraged acquisitions, recapitalizations, equipment financings, subordinated debt and mezzanine investments, as well as venture capital and other equity financings.

Ms. Suárez also counsels senior lenders, subordinated lenders and equity investors in the complex intercreditor arrangements critical to various types of transactions, along with workouts and restructurings for troubled investments. For large syndicated credit facilities, Ms. Suárez represents agent banks, co-lenders and participants. She also advises buyers and sellers in secondary debt trading transactions, particularly in distressed credits.

Kelly founded Milestone and serves as its Managing Director. He was responsible for developing the fundamental investment criteria and implementing the business plan by sourcing qualified acquisition candidates, evaluating targets, negotiating and closing purchases of portfolio companies, and being integrally involved in developing and implementing the portfolio companies’ growth strategies. Kelly has participated in each portfolio transaction and post-acquisition monitoring for Milestone. He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of each of the Milestone portfolio companies.

Kelly holds an Accounting and Finance degree from Texas A&M University, a Juris Doctorate from South Texas College of Law and a Masters of Law in Taxation (LL.M. Taxation) from New York University.

Kelly lives in Houston, Texas with his wife and five children. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Gulf Coast Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Kelly is a very active outdoorsman who enjoys snow skiing, running, biking and golfing.

Carin Barth is co-founder and President of LB Capital Inc., a private equity investment firm established in 1988. She currently serves as a director of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE: GPI), Enterprise Holdings LLC, the General Partner of Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD), and Black Stone Minerals, L.P., where she is Chair of the Audit Committee (NYSE: BSM). Additionally, Ms. Barth is Chairman of the Investment Advisory Committee for the Endowment at Texas Tech University, a Trustee of The Welch Foundation, and a board member of the Ronald McDonald House of Houston. Ms. Barth previously served as a Commissioner of the Texas Department of Public Safety from 2008-2014, a director of the Texas Public Finance Authority from 2006-2008, and as a member of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents from 1999-2005. She has previously served on the following boards: Bill Barrett Corporation (NYSE: BBG) from 2012-2016; Western Refining, Inc. (NYSE: WNR) from 2006-2016, where she also Chaired the Audit Committee; Methodist Hospital Research Institute from 2007-2012; Encore Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBTX) from 2009-2012; and Amegy Bancorporation, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABNK) from 2006-2009. Ms. Barth was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as Chief Financial Officer of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from 2004-2005. She received a B.S. from the University of Alabama, summa cum laude, and an M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management.

Rocky Dewbre is a native Texan and holds a Bachelor in Accounting and Management Information Systems from Texas Tech University, a Master in Business Administration from the University of Texas in Austin, and is a registered Certified Public Accountant in Texas.

Mr. Dewbre has over 30 years of experience in public and private businesses in the energy, distribution and multi-unit retail sectors. From 2017 to 2019, Mr. Dewbre served as CEO of Empire Petroleum Partners, LLC, a motor fuel distributor serving over 1500 locations in 27 states with annual revenues exceeding $2.5B. From 2016 to 2017, Mr. Dewbre served on the board of directors and compensation committee for CST Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CST) until the sale of the company to Alimentation Couche Tard (TSX:ATD) for $4.4B. From 2014 to 2015, Mr. Dewbre served as Executive Vice President, Channel Operations of Sunoco LP (NYSE: SUN), which operated approximately 900 convenience stores and retail fuel sites and distributed motor fuel in over 30 states to approximately 6,800 sites. Prior to that, Mr. Dewbre spent 22 years in leadership roles at Susser Holdings Corporation (NYSE: SUSS) and Susser Petroleum Partners LP (NYSE: SUSP), including as President and Chief Executive Officer of Susser Petroleum Partners LP, until Susser Holdings Corporation was acquired by Energy Transfer Partners in 2014 for $2.3B. During his career at Susser Holdings, the company’s revenue grew from $40 million to over $6.2 billion. which included 18 acquisitions, two rounds of private equity funding, an initial public offering, and a spin-off of the wholesale fuel business into a master limited partnership. Before joining Susser Holdings Corporation in 1992, Mr. Dewbre was a corporate internal auditor with Atlantic Richfield Corporation from 1991 to 1992 and an auditor and consultant at Deloitte & Touche LLP from 1988 to 1991.

Mr. Dewbre currently serves on the boards of directors of Core-Mark Holding Company (NASDAQ:CORE), Tank Owner Members Insurance Company, and SHOPCO USA, Inc.