Argyle Executive Forum

Keynotes:

R. David Andrews
President and Managing General Partner
Gryphon Investors

Since founding the firm in 1995, R. David Andrews has served as President and Managing General Partner of Gryphon Investors. Based in San Francisco, CA and having managed private equity funds of over $1 billion, Gryphon focuses on the lower-end segment of the middle market with industry specialty groups in the sectors of business services, consumer/retail, education, health care and specialized manufacturing. Mr. Andrews either serves or has served as a member of the boards of directors for numerous companies across Gryphon’s targeted industry sectors, including Allied Security, Bright Now! Dental, Consolidated Fire Protection, Delta Career Education, Eight O’Clock Coffee, Intelligrated, Joe’s Sports, LeadAmerica, Miller Heiman, MSD Ignition, Nursefinders, Sheplers, Staffing Now and TASQ Technology. Previously, Mr. Andrews served as Managing Director/Partner of Oak Hill Partners, the management company for Acadia Partners, L.P. Founded by Robert M. Bass, Acadia was a $1.8 billion investment partnership focused on leveraged acquisitions and public high-yield securities. While at Oak Hill, Mr. Andrews served on the board of directors of Butler Aviation, Butterick Patterns, CapStar Hotel Company, Holophane, Multi-Local Media, and Pinnacle Automation. Mr. Andrews earned his B.A. in Economics, J.D. and M.B.A. from Stanford University.

Joshua Friedman
Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer
Canyon Partners, LLC

Mr. Friedman is Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Canyon Partners LLC, one of the oldest and most respected global alternative asset management firms. Founded in 1990 by Joshua Friedman and Mitchell Julis, Canyon currently manages approximately $ 19 billion in alternative asset categories. Most of Canyon' s assets under management are in multi strategy, credit oriented hedge fund strategies, with a focus on bank debt, distressed debt, high yield and convertible bonds, direct investments, arbitrage and value equities. The firm employs a low volatility, absolute return driven approach, and uses little or no financial leverage in most of its funds. Canyon has been registered with the SEC since 1994.

Mr. Friedman is a graduate of Harvard College (B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Physics), Oxford University (M.A., honors, Politics and Economics, Marshall Scholar), Harvard Law School (J.D., magna cum laude) and Harvard Business School (M.B.A., Baker Scholar). Prior to forming Canyon, Mr. Friedman was Director of Capital Markets for High Yield and Private Placements at Drexel Burnham Lambert. Prior to working at Drexel, he worked in the Mergers and Acquisitions Department of Goldman Sachs in New York.

Mr. Friedman lives in Los Angeles with his wife Beth and their 3 sons.

Fred Malek
Chairman
Thayer Lodging Group

Fred Malek is Chairman of Thayer Lodging Group, a hotel investment company that has acquired and owns approximately $1.4 billion of hotel assets.

Mr. Malek led the 1995 acquisition of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, with Marriott International as a major equity partner. He was one of three leaders in the acquisition of Northwest Airlines and is a director and major investor in Northwest Airlines, where he served as President and vice Chairman from late 1989 through 1991. Earlier, Mr. Malek led with management the acquisition of CB Richard Ellis (formerly Coldwell banker), the largest real estate services company in the world where he served as Co-Chairman until 1996 and was an investment partner with President Bush in the Texas Rangers Baseball Club. He currently serves as a Director of several publicly traded companies, including Automatic Data Processing Corp. and CB Richard Ellis.

Mr. Malek was President of Marriott Hotels from 1981 through mid-1988, responsible for more than $3 billion in annual sales and approximately 70,000 workers. During his eight-year tenure, profits of Marriott Hotels grew fivefold and Marriott Hotels rose from fourth to first in consumer preference.

In addition to his business career, Mr. Malek has served as an advisor to four U.S. Presidents over the past two decades. In the early seventies, he entered government as Deputy Undersecretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. He later became Special Assistant to the President of the United States and Deputy Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget under Presidents Nixon and Ford. Mr. Malek advised President Reagan as a member of the executive committee of the President’s Council on Cost Control, as a member of the President’s Commission on Private Sector Initiatives, and as a member of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. More recently, he served President Bush as Director of the 1988 Republican Convention, as Director of the 1990 Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations, with the lifetime rank of Ambassador, and as Campaign Manager for President Bush during 1992.

Mr. Malek is a graduate of West Point and the Harvard Business School, and served in Vietnam. He also serves on a number of charitable and educational Boards, and resides in McLean, Virginia.

Peter J. Nolan
Managing Partner
Leonard Green & Partners, L.P.

Peter J. Nolan (AGR ’80 MBA ’82) is a managing partner at Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. Leonard Green is a $9.0 billion private equity firm specializing in friendly buyouts of established companies including Neiman Marcus Group, Inc., FTD, Inc., Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. and The Sports Authority, Inc.

Previously, Mr. Nolan was a managing director and co-head of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette’s Los Angeles investment banking division, which he joined in 1990. During this time, he helped to build DLJ’s investment banking division into the largest regional office in the nation, with over 125 professionals and acted as advisor to entities such as Adidas-Salomon AG, the Government of Mexico, Saatchi & Saatchi PLC, Televisa S.A. and Orion Pictures. Prior to his time at DLJ, he served as first vice president in corporate finance at Drexel Burnham Lambert in Los Angeles. Prior to that he was vice president at Prudential Securities Inc. in New York City from 1982 to 1986, and an Associate at Manufacturers Hanover Trust.

Initially elected to Cornell’s Board of Trustees in 2004, Mr. Nolan presently serves as Vice Chair of the Student Life Committee and is a member of the Finance Committee, the Investment and its Private Equity Advisory Subcommittee, and the Committee on Alumni Affairs and Development and its Development Steering and Major Gifts Committees.

Mr. Nolan is the national co-chair of the Undergraduate Business Campaign and a current member of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Alumni Career Link. He has served as a member of the Cornell University Council (1997-2001) and as a member of the Class of 1980 20th Reunion Major Gifts Committee. In 2001 Mr. Nolan was named as an Outstanding Alumni of the Year by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He also served on the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Campaign Committee.

In addition to his Cornell service, Mr. Nolan serves on the boards of directors of AsianMedia Group LLC, Claim Jumper Restaurants, LLC, FTD Group, Inc., Motorsport Aftermarket Group, Scitor Corporation, and Activision.

Mr. Nolan and his wife, Stephanie Perry Nolan BS Hotel ’84, live with their three children, Michael, Bobby, and Ellie, in Manhattan Beach, California.

Jeffrey Stevenson
Managing Partner and Co-Chief Executive Officer
Veronis Suhler Stevenson

Jeffrey T. Stevenson is the Managing Partner and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a private equity fund with over $2.8 billion in capital under management. VSS manages equity and Structured Capital funds dedicated to companies engaged in the media, communications and information industries. He joined the Firm in 1982 shortly after its formation and has been the head of its private equity business since its first investment in 1989. Mr. Stevenson serves as the President of each of the Equity Funds, approves all capital commitments, and directs the investment activities of the Equity Funds. Previously, Mr. Stevenson was Executive Vice President in charge of corporate finance at VSS, a department he founded.

Mr. Stevenson currently serves as a Director of Xtreme Information, Access Intelligence, Infobase Publishing, User Friendly Phone Books, Market Strategies, ITN Networks, TMP Worldwide, Medizine, Cambium Learning and Southern Theatres. Previously, he served as a Director of The Official Information Company, Centaur Communications, Birch Telecom, ITE Group, Pepcom, Yellow Book USA, Rifkin Acquisition Partners, Triax Midwest Associates, Broadcasting Partners Holdings, Spectrum Resources Towers, PJS Publications, Kansas Broadcasting Systems, B&B Merger Corporation, Cable Management Ireland, International Media Partners, Hughes Broadcasting Partners, Triax Southeast Associates, Canon Communications, Hanley Wood, De Telefoongids, Mediatel and Broadcasting Partners.

Mr. Stevenson holds a BA from Rutgers College.

Brett Wyard
Managing Director and the Co-Head of Carlyle Strategic Partners
The Carlyle Group

Brett G. Wyard is a Managing Director and Co-Head of Carlyle Strategic Partners. He is based in Los Angeles.

Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Wyard was a Managing Director at Oaktree Capital Management, LLC where he was a senior member of a team that managed $7 billion of invested capital in special situation, distressed debt and private equity investments. While at Oaktree, Mr. Wyard was on the Board of Directors of NTL Inc. and Pinnacle Foods. Mr. Wyard additionally managed the opening of the Frankfurt office in 2004.

Prior to Oaktree, Mr. Wyard was a Vice President in the Global Special Situations Group at Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith, Inc. From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Wyard was in the Financial Restructuring Group at Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin where he advised on restructuring and merger & acquisition transactions. Prior thereto, he worked at Voyageur Asset Management and Miller & Schroeder Financial.

Mr. Wyard received a B.A. in economics from Boston College.

June 3, 2008
8:00am – 6:00pm

Los Angeles, CA

Event Price: $875

Event location will be disclosed to attendees upon completion of the registration process.

Event Overview

Agenda

Keynote Speakers