Event Speakers

CAIA Association in Denver Educational Event: Private Equity Investing in Cannabis

  • Date: February 11, 2020
  • Location: University Club of Denver

Speakers

Tiberio Erdely
Organization: KEY Investment Partners


At KEY Investment Partners, Tiby is responsible for developing the marketing and client outreach initiatives, conducting due diligence on deal opportunities, driving proactive outreach for deal sourcing opportunities, and leading co-investment syndication processes. Tiby championed and led KEY’s first investment in BDS Analytics (data analytics) and proactively sourced and led deals including Flowhub (POS and compliance) and CliqueMJ (loyalty and advertising platform). Tiby championed the formation of KEY’s advisory board and directed the Firm’s client services initiatives. Prior to co-founding the Investment Manager, Tiby spent three years as a member of Partners Group (USA) Inc.’s client solutions team, where he was responsible for raising flagship funds and sourcing opportunities. While at Partners Group, Tiby joined a unique rotational program where he trained with the various deal teams learning Partners Group’s approach to sourcing deals and conducting due diligence. This experience has transitioned well to the rapidly growing and evolving cannabis industry as the demand for institutional quality investment managers in the space continues to rise. Prior to that, Tiby spent four years with Goldman Sachs, working most recently for the Fundamental Equity team in Goldman Sachs Asset Management (‘GSAM’). Tiby has an undergraduate degree in Finance from The University of Texas at San Antonio where he graduated with honors and was a part of the inaugural class of the “100 Best Business Students” award.


Pete Karabas
Organization: KEY Investment Partners


At KEY Investment Partners, Pete is responsible for sourcing deal opportunities and strategic partnerships, conducting investment due diligence, negotiating legal contracts and leading KEY’s digital marketing efforts. Pete sourced the initial equity required to close KEY’s first investment in BDS Analytics and led legal due diligence and negotiations for the deal. Pete is also responsible for developing KEY’s digital marketing strategy which includes social media efforts, managing KEY’s website, writing a white paper and bi-weekly newsletters. Prior to founding the Investment Manager, Pete spent three years as a member of Partners Group’s real estate acquisitions team where he was responsible for originating opportunities, conducting due diligence and executing portfolio transactions valued between $300mn $1.5bn in gross asset value. While at Partners Group, Pete negotiated and closed a total of 12 portfolio acquisitions, deploying $700mn in equity ($2.5bn GAV). Of the $700mn of deployed equity, Pete personally originated and closed 4 portfolio acquisitions for the firm, totaling to $175mn in equity ($450mn in GAV). Pete's experience closing various complex real estate transactions at Partners Group has made him an expert in deal structuring and negotiating both legal contracts and partnership agreements for KEY. Prior to Partners Group, Pete spent three years at Equity Residential where he focused on the acquisition, renovation, and asset management of Class A multifamily properties. Pete has an undergraduate degree in Finance and Real Estate from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.


Ben Leonard
Organization: Vicente Sederberg Law Firm


Ben Leonard is an associate attorney at Vicente Sederberg specializing in corporate law. He has experience working with clients on a broad range of corporate matters both in and out of the cannabis industry, including formation, governance, financing, and corporate transactions. Ben focuses his corporate practice at VS on assisting both buyers and sellers of cannabis-related business to structure transactions that comply with the everchanging regulatory frameworks throughout the country. Prior to joining VS, Ben worked as an associate at a leading law firm in Denver, where he counseled both corporate and estate planning clients. Ben also published two articles discussing estate planning issues relevant to young parents while in his previous employment.


David Traylor
Organization: Golden Eagle Partners


David Traylor is Senior Managing Director at Golden Eagle Partners, a firm he founded in 2012 to advise life science companies. After advising on various transactions in the life science sector, he took an interest in the cannabis sector and started advising cannabis companies in 2013. In 2014, he joined Surna, Inc. (OTC:SRNA) as Chief Business Officer. After close to a year stint at Surna, Mr. Traylor re-founded Golden Eagle Partners to provide his knowledge to companies across the cannabis sector. Before Golden Eagle Partners, Mr. Traylor served at leading investment banking firms including Pacific Growth Equities (which later became Wedbush), Caris & Company and Headwaters MB (which later became Capstone Headwaters). During his banking tenures he has advised private and public biotechnology and medical device companies in various transactions including IPOs, public offerings, private offerings, mergers and acquisitions totaling over $500 million in value. Before investment banking, Mr. Traylor spent fifteen years in diverse operational roles in biotechnology companies, from research and development to business development, manufacturing, program management and senior management. He began his career in biotechnology, with a position in bioprocess manufacturing at Synergen (acquired by Amgen), and then moved into R&D and process development positions at Somatogen, a company pursuing a recombinant blood substitute. After Somatogen (acquired by Baxter), he led the management of programs and development initiatives at Affymetrix (acquired by Thermo Fisher), the leading innovator in microarray technology. Mr. Traylor began his business development career at Deltagen then moved over the lead the U.S. operations for atugen AG (acquired by Silence Therapeutics), a Berlin-based functional genomics company. At Bioseek (acquired by Asterand), David led the business development efforts for one of the first systems biology companies. In 1988, Mr. Traylor was one of five Col


Jordan Youkilis
Organization: KEY Investment Partners


At KEY Investment Partners, Jordan is responsible for developing due diligence strategy, leading co-investment syndication processes, writing blog posts and driving proactive outreach for deal sourcing opportunities. Jordan has championed and led deals including Eaze (cannabis delivery), Enlighten (digital advertising) and Canndescent (premium flour brand). Jordan has spoken on several cannabis podcasts, will be speaking at the Cannabis Dealmakers Summit in Dallas, and is an expert contributor to the Leafwire social media & angel investor platform. Prior to co-founding the Investment Manager, Jordan spent four years as a member of Partners Group (USA) Inc.’s private equity team, where he was responsible for sourcing opportunities, conducting due diligence, and executing control, leveraged buyout transactions in companies with enterprise values of $500mn-$2.5bn. While at Partners Group, Jordan learned to take a “business model first” approach to sourcing deals, targeting niche market leaders providing mission-critical services with high barriers to entry. This experience has transitioned well to the cannabis industry, as the regulatory complexities and idiosyncrasies of the industry have created the need for an entire ecosystem of companies to develop and support the industry’s growth. Prior to Partners Group, Jordan spent four years with GE Antares Capital Corp and General Electric Company, working in leveraged and corporate finance. Jordan attended Indiana University as a Wells Scholar where he graduated with a degree in Economics and Political Science.