I’m a start-up, why should I care about Board of Directors and Corporate Governance?

Overview

Event registration check in - 4:30pm CT 
Panel program - 5pm CT
Networking starts - 6pm CT
Official end of event - 7pm CT

A tour of mHUB is available to interested registrants at 3:30pm

The panel will discuss the “what” is a board of directors and the “why” board directors are important to start ups and early-stage businesses. What it does for a business and what it says to others about the business. There will be discussion on what are the legal considerations of setting up and having a board. Also the business aspects of having a board will be covered. In addition, the panel will include an mHUB member who will share actual experiences of having a board.

Registration

$30 Member Registration
$40 Non-Member Registration

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Panelists

Nancy is a business lawyer for smaller businesses and startups. She owns Velocity Law, a small business law firm itself, with 2 staff employees, in Homer Glen, IL (previously Downers Grove, IL), for the past 26 years. Prior to diving into entrepreneurship, Nancy worked as a corporate, securities and M&A lawyer at large
downtown Chicago law firm “BigLaw” Katten Muchin for 12 years.

She handles startups and their corporate law and business transaction agreements; Incorporations and LLC formations; Corporate Law and Corporate Governance; Operating Documents, Shareholder and Partner agreements, NDAs and Noncompete Agreements; Vendor and Customer Contracts; and the sometimes needed
“corporate clean up”.

Nancy handles Deal docs for Sale of a Business or Buying a Business from NDA to LOI to Purchase Agreement to Negotiation to Closing. She handles Deal Docs and Disclosure Docs for an emerging business raising investor capital. She helps clients prepare the business for an investor capital raise, or for a sale of the business. She assists business owners in surviving due diligence.

She handles securities law compliance, investment disclosure docs, and securities filings for issuers raising capital.

Nancy writes legal documents in Plain English! 

LEGAL PRACTICE M&A Specialist and Outside Counsel Randy Bridgeman represents businesses and their owners in sale transactions, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, and general corporate matters across a wide variety of sectors, particularly the food and beverage industry. He frequently serves as the client’s primary outside counsel, quarterbacking all its legal matters and utilization of legal resources within the firm. Randy is the former firmwide co-chair of Perkins Coie’s Corporate & Securities practice. Sell-Side Experience With more than 30 years in practice, Randy has extensive experience in representing privately held and family-owned businesses through the entirety of the sale process. He has provided owners advice on presale preparations, sale strategy, tax planning and structuring, post-sale employment and equity holdings, and family succession, in addition to taking the lead legal role in the execution of the transaction. Industry Experience: Food and Beverage Leader While Randy represents clients in various industries, he has worked extensively in the food and beverage sector, including beverage alcohol. Randy has acted as the primary outside counsel to a multinational food ingredient manufacturer for more than 20 years, and he represents several other emerging and growth-stage food companies, including acting as primary outside counsel to a leading nondiary milk manufacturer and retail brand. He is currently the chair of Perkins Coie’s firmwide Food & Beverage industry group. He is also the current chair of the board of directors of the Chicagoland Food and Beverage Network. He is recognized for his knowledge and experience in the industry and for his leadership roles in various supporting organizations in this sector. Randy also represents companies with domestic and overseas operations in such sectors as gaming, transportation and transportation services, industrial manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, waste management, and professional services.

FIRM MANAGEMENT AND OUTSIDE PROFESSIONAL ROLES Randy is also a contributing founder and former member of the board of directors of the Private Directors Association as well as a member of the board of trustees of the Lycée Français de Chicago, a K-12 French immersion school in Chicago. Active in the Chicago Bar Association, Randy is the former co-chair of its mergers and acquisitions and business and corporate law committees. He is also active in the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association. In addition to his professional leadership outside of the firm, his former role as the firmwide co-chair of the Corporate & Securities practice and his current role as chair of the firm’s Food and Beverage industry group, Randy has served on the firm’s Audit Committee (including serving as its chair) and has held and continues to contribute to various committee assignments within the firm, including its Partner Compensation Committee, Strategic Growth Working Group, and a task force charged with implementing the firm’s Strategic Plan. 

Said Al-Hallaj is the Founder and CEO of NETenergy, Chief Battery Scientist at Beam Global company (Nasdaq: BEEM, BEEMW), Co-founder and former CEO of AllCell Technologies LLC (acquired by Beam Global), and a Research Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Dr. Al-Hallaj earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Said co-authored a book entitled “Hybrid Hydrogen Systems” and has published several book chapters and numerous numbers of peer reviewed and conference journal papers with >13,000 literature citations. Said is a serial entrepreneur, and his R&D effort has led to the successful commercialization of several clean-tech technologies.

Moderator

Gail Ludewig is a proven corporate executive leading her family-owned business, TotalWorks, through multiple successful business and ownership transitions. Through many executive board and other leadership roles, brings real world business insight and operational expertise to multiple industry associations, organizations, and not-for-profit ventures. She is passionate about good governance, the value family businesses bring to the community and supporting women’s leadership development. She is an active volunteer mentor at mHUB.

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