Speakers / Moderators

Scott Blackmun was named Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee on January 6, 2010.

Blackmun returns to the USOC where he spent three years, including serving as Acting Chief Executive Officer from November 2000-October 2001. During his tenure at the USOC, he was also the organization's General Counsel and Senior Managing Director of Sport, first joining the USOC in 1998. As General Counsel, he was the USOC staff liaison to the Bid Investigation Committee headed by Senator George Mitchell.

Previously, Blackmun was a partner at Holme Roberts & Owen LLP (HRO), an international law firm, where he had offices in both Denver and Colorado Springs. He joined HRO in September 2006. It marked his second stint with the firm, as he started his career with HRO in 1982 and became a partner in 1988.

In February 2002, Blackmun was named Chief Operating Officer of Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), one of the world's most respected presenters of sports and entertainment events. While at AEG, Blackmun was responsible for operations. At AEG, Blackmun was based in Los Angeles and served on the Board of Directors of the California Chamber of Commerce and the National Sports Marketing Association's Los Angeles chapter.

Blackmun currently serves on the Board of the Colorado Springs Regional Economic Development Corporation.

Blackmun graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1979 with a degree in philosophy, and received his J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1982. He was a four-year member of the Dartmouth soccer team. He and his wife, Ann, have three children.

Paul Carruthers is Head of Digital Media Strategy for Journey9, having recently joined the company to lead the interactive and social media practice in the UK and support the US projects in this field. Paul forged his career in Information Technology building a strong focus on financial operations. In the UK, Paul worked for the Halifax plc, Digital Equipment Corporation and the Royal Mail before moving to Houston, Texas to join AIMFunds. At AIM Paul’s responsibility was for management of the IT infrastructure and major projects, overseeing a platform to deliver trading systems to more than 30 locations across the world.

On returning to the UK, Paul completed an MBA at Manchester Business School, graduating with distinction. The MBA sparked Paul’s keen interest in knowledge management and social media and over the last 4 years Paul has worked on a number of projects to deliver social platforms for Government and academic institutions in the UK as well as developing and delivering workshops for MBA and executive training.

Paul is currently working with Journey9’s UK clients across a number of sectors including Jaguar, United Utilities and The Manufacturing Institute.

Lu M. Cordova is Chief Executive Officer of Corlund Industries, L.L.C., an investment holding company which specializes in operation management, strategic planning, business development and capital finance. Corlund also manages Almacen Storage, which provides self-storage and small business warehousing in resort areas in Mexico.

As a five-time CEO/President, Ms. Cordova brings close to thirty years experience in navigating companies through start-up phase to maturity and international scope. Ms. Cordova is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas, after serving for three years on the Bank’s Economic Advisory Council and three years as Vice Chairman.

A California native, Ms. Cordova attended the University of California at Berkeley and received B.S. degrees in both political science and economics and a Ph.D.-A.B.D. in economics.

Hendrik Jordaan is a partner based in the Denver law offices of Holme Roberts & Owen  LLP, where he serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Corporate Group. He specializes in advising financial and strategic buyers and sellers in public and private mergers and acquisitions transactions. Mr. Jordaan is the Chair of the M&A Subsection of the Colorado Bar Association’s Section of Business Law. He also serves as Chair of the Membership Committee and as Vice Chair of the Market Trends Committee of the Committee on Mergers and Acquisitions (affiliated with the American Bar Association’s Section of Business Law), which has more than 2,500 members and includes M&A specialists from more than 40 countries.

Mr. Jordaan received his J.D. from Southern Methodist University. Prior to law school, he attended Southern Methodist University on a full tuition scholarship where he captained the varsity tennis team for two years while receiving his bachelor’s degree in Economics with Finance Applications.

Mac Macsovits, Executive Director, Mile High Down Syndrome Association. Mac joined Mile High Down Syndrome Association as Executive Director in early 2009 with a deep commitment to Down syndrome advocacy. His focus is truly on maximizing support opportunities for individuals with Down syndrome and their families in Colorado. In addition, Mac is busy maintaining and developing new relationships in and around the Colorado business community. 

Prior to joining MHDSA, Mac spent his career in community-based programs supporting children, education and individuals with special needs. He most recently served as Director of Development for Special Olympics, where he was responsible for all aspects of the organizations’ major gifts fundraising efforts. Prior to that position, Mac was the Associate Director of Philanthropy for the Nature Conservancy in Denver, where he successfully secured major gifts donations in excess of $1 million in one year working in a team based approach to fundraising. Mac began his career in Colorado as a teacher at Cherry Creek High School where he taught History/Geography.

Mac received his BA from Pfeiffer University in North Carolina and his M.Ed from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.  Mac and his wife Rebecca have two children. Guion is 2 years old and has Down syndrome and Hoke is 1 ½ years old.

Thomas B. Mayrhofer is a Principal focused on Corporate Development for The Carlyle Group. Mr. Mayrhofer has worked on a number of corporate transactions for The Carlyle Group including the sale of a portion of the Firm to the Mubadala Development Corporation in 2007. Prior to his Corporate Development role Mr. Mayrhofer worked extensively on operational aspects associated with Carlyle’s acquisition of Hawaiian Telcom, the incumbent local exchange carrier for the State of Hawaii. He is based in Washington, DC.

Additionally Mr. Mayrhofer has served as the Chief Financial Officer for Carlyle’s Asia focused investment funds, Carlyle Asia Partners and Carlyle Asia Venture Partners. In this capacity, Mr. Mayrhofer was responsible for fund formation, tax structuring, financial reporting, foreign currency management and investor relations. Mr. Mayrhofer worked closely with Carlyle's investment teams based in Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore and India and also worked with several Carlyle investments in Asia including QuEST, Taiwan Broadband Communications and served on the Board of Directors of Platypus Technology, Inc.

Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Mayrhofer worked at Arthur Andersen LLP in the RealEstate and Hospitality Group. Mr. Mayrhofer contributed to several significant real estate transactions, including the conversion of Host Marriott Corporation into a Real Estate Investment Trust and Host Marriott's acquisition of more than $1 billion of hotel properties from The Blackstone Group.

Mr. Mayrhofer graduated from the College of William and Mary with a B.B.A. in accounting in 1995. He is a CPA and a CFA charterholder.

Sean Murphey has more than 11 years of experience in leading global and domestic transaction related engagements for private equity and corporate buyers in connection with mergers, acquisitions and dispositions.

Sean is a Principal of the Financial Due Diligence practice within Transaction Services.  Sean primarily serves Private Equity clients, but does have strong experience in the following sectors: oil and gas, financial services, cable and food and beverage.

Sean’s representative list of delivered services includes directing buy side and sell side financial due diligence, assisting with purchase and sale agreement negotiation, commenting on transaction structuring, providing bankruptcy support and leading post-merger integration activities.

Countries in which Sean has led transactions include Argentina, Brazil, Canada, England, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago and the United States.

Ares Capital Corporation, Crestview Partners, Essilor of America, Exterran Holdings, Harbert Management Corporation, Hicks Holdings/Hicks Equity Partners, HM Capital, Imperial Sugar, Koch Industries, Liberty Media/Ascent Media, Lion Capital, Mark Cuban Companies, Stone Point Capital, Tetra Technologies, The Sterling Group and Tyson Foods.

Preston Oade, a litigation partner with Holme Roberts & Owen, has successfully argued two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Preston is also a serious poker player who has been coached by professionals as well as a psychologist who is a “mindset coach” to professional poker players. Preston regularly plays poker on the Internet and has been ranked among the top 3% of on-line players world-wide. He is a net money winner in Las Vegas cash games and poker tournaments.

Jon Pardew is a Managing Director at St. Charles Capital. Previously, Mr. Pardew was a Vice President at The Wallach Company / KeyBanc Capital Markets. Jon joined The Wallach Company / McDonald Investments after earning his MBA from the University of Colorado Graduate School of Business.

Before graduate school, Mr. Pardew held several leadership positions in both business and the United States Army. In addition to his graduate degree, Mr. Pardew earned his undergraduate degree from Virginia Military Institute.

Cliff Stricklin, White Collar Crime and Securities Litigation practice group Chair, is a partner in the firm’s Denver office since July 2009. In 20 years of shaping white collar and corporate fraud law, Mr. Stricklin has successfully tried some of the nation’s largest, most complex U.S. Department of Justice cases. His prominent public service positions have included First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney with the Enron Task Force, and State District Judge in Dallas, Texas. He is also an adjunct professor of White Collar Crime Law at the University of Colorado School of Law.

Mr. Stricklin led the successful prosecution team in the highly-publicized insider trading case against Joseph P. Nacchio. The case involved complex securities regulation and telecommunications industry matters and resulted in a jury finding Nacchio guilty of 19 counts of insider trading. The Rocky Mountain News reported, “Stricklin’s stunning performance was the defining moment of the trial,” and observed that “Stricklin is a great litigator.” An award followed when the Denver Business Journal named Mr. Stricklin its 2007 PowerBook Legal Industry Leader.

Prior to coming to Colorado, Mr. Stricklin was a key member of the prosecution team that tried and convicted Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay on conspiracy, securities fraud and insider trading charges, as a two-year member of the Enron Task Force. He also was a co-lead prosecutor in the fraud trial against five Enron Broadband Services executives. That case involved telecommunications, bandwidth technology, intellectual property and securities regulation.

Mr. Stricklin’s courtroom experience extends to the bench. During his distinguished term as a State District Judge, he heard thousands of cases—not one case has been overturned on appeal. After an arduous process, Mr. Stricklin was selected as Presiding Judge of the Frank Crowley Courthouse, a position he used to implement a number of measures designed to bring openness and fairness to the justice system. Again the media responded enthusiastically, with the Dallas Morning News opining, “Mr. Stricklin totes impressive credentials. His work ethic, calm judicial temperament and judgment have earned him the respect of his robed colleagues... Mr. Stricklin has performed admirably on the bench.”

Mr. Stricklin’s vast experience, which includes successes directing trial strategy, presenting evidence and presiding over trials includes another talent: the art of jury selection. This was his significant duty in the Nacchio case and both Enron trials, as he worked closely with jury selection specialists. Additionally, as a District Judge he oversaw the selection of over 130 jury panels.

Mr. Stricklin gained critical experience early in his career serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the Eastern District of Texas where he concentrated on white collar and public corruption cases and argued numerous cases in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. He has also been a senior attorney with a large national law firm, an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law, and an appointed member to the City of Dallas’s Ethics Task Force. He is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Kent Thiry has been Chairman and CEO of DaVita Inc. since October 1999.  DaVita is the largest independent provider of dialysis services in the United States for patients suffering from chronic kidney failure, also known as end stage renal disease, or ESRD.  Our 34,000 Teammates provide services to approximately 1,400 outpatient dialysis centers in 43 states and the District of Columbia.  We serve more than 110,000 patients in the U.S. every week, almost one out of every three in America.  Current annual revenues are over $6 billion, and our market cap is a bit above $6 billion.

DaVita’s management philosophy has been discussed in various forums - a Stanford Business School Case Study, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Modern Healthcare, CEO Magazine and several books.  Kent has been asked to speak about The DaVita Story/leadership to organizations such as Bain, Accenture, CMS, Bright Now Dental, the Nashville Health Council, KPMG, Abbott, and YPO.  He has been asked to speak at Stanford, Harvard, Northwestern’s Kellogg, University of Michigan Ross Business School and the University of Colorado Business School Advisory Board.  The case has been taught at Stanford, Harvard, and elsewhere.

Mr. Thiry was a partner at Bain & Company from 1987-1991.

Mr. Thiry earned his BA in Political Science, with Distinction and Phi Beta Kappa, from Stanford University in 1978.  He earned his MBA, with Honors, from Harvard Business School in 1983, where he was also elected to the Century Club. 

He serves on the Board of TPL (Trust for Public Land).  Prior Board Seats include Varian Medical Systems and the Chairmanship of Oxford Health Plans.

He is a member of the Harvard Business School Board of Advisors, as well as a member of the University of Colorado Business School Board of Advisors.

Tyler Tysdal is a private equity and debt investor. He is the former Man-aging Director of Mantucket Capital, a private investment company with over $1 billion under management. Mr. Tysdal’s portfolio companies include Actagro, Symbius Medical, Art Funding, BrandJourney Capital, Water Supply & Storage, North Poudre Irrigation Company, Sports Shares and BridgeHealth International. Mr. Tysdal began his career in investment banking with Alex. Brown & Sons. He graduated with an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BSBA in Finance from Georgetown University.

Sunny Vanderbeck is a Managing Partner of Satori Capital, a private equity firm that invests in profitable, growing, sustainable businesses.  The firm partners with management teams to accelerate the growth of companies that are "built to last" and meet a set of criteria that the firm describes as sustainability. These businesses operate with a commitment to the success of all stakeholders; are driven by strong values and a mission or purpose; and evaluate decisions with a long-term horizon in mind.

Prior to co-founding Satori Capital, Mr. Vanderbeck co-founded and served as CEO of Data Return, a leading provider of managed services and utility computing.  For eleven years, he led the company through all phases of growth and transformation.

Prior to co-founding Data Return, Mr. Vanderbeck served as a Team Lead at Microsoft, supporting Microsoft’s largest clients and partners.  Through his experience at Microsoft, he was able to identify a compelling market opportunity that he founded Data Return to address.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Mr. Vanderbeck served as a Section Leader of the 2nd Ranger Battalion (U.S. Special Operations Command).

Leveraging his expertise in strategy, operations and capital allocation, Mr. Vanderbeck is actively engaged with several private businesses as an investor, advisor, and board member.  Additionally, Mr. Vanderbeck is a member of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) where he serves as the North American Co-Chair of the Corporate Social Responsibility Network.  In this role, his charter is to develop awareness and support for more sustainable business models among YPO companies.