Laurentians in Residence October 2012
Panelist Biographies
Michael W. Arpey '85
Michael is a Managing Director with the Carlyle Group, responsible for fund formation strategy, new investor products and coordination of investor relations. Mr. Arpey is based in Washington, D.C. He joined Carlyle in November of 2010 and is a member of the Firm's Operating Committee. Formerly at Credit Suisse, he was a Managing Director in its Asset Management division and co-head of the Customized Fund Investment Group within Private Equity in Alternative Investments. He had been with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where he was a Managing Director and Head of DLJ Merchant Banking's Customized Fund Investment Group. Prior to DLJ, he worked at Prudential Global Asset Management as Global Head of Private Equity, where he was responsible for oversight of Prudential's global private equity activities and managed Prudential's fund investment group. Previously, Mr. Arpey was with the New York State Common Retirement Fund, as Director of Alternative Investments, managing a $7 billion private equity portfolio. Prior to that, Mr. Arpey was General Counsel to the State Treasurer of Pennsylvania for five years. He was appointed by the State Treasurer as her designee to both the Pennsylvania Public School Employee Retirement System and the State Employee Retirement System. He holds a J.D. degree from the Dickinson School of Law.
Craig Battle '70
Craig has spent a 40-year career as an investment banker, 30 of which have been at his own firm in Princeton, N.J., Tucker Capital Corporation. He has been a finance generalist who has specialized in advising companies, large and small, in the area of acquisitions and divestitures (M&A). He has become heavily involved in strategic advisory services as well, helping senior executives and company owners think through and evaluate growth options, both organic and external. He has been a guest speaker at NYU's Leonard Stern MBA program, talking to students on the Entrepreneurial MBA track. "Because I started a business myself in 1982, they wanted to talk about how I did it and some of the issues necessary to be successful," he explains. He describes himself as an M&A focused investment banker, a strategic adviser and an entrepreneur. He is in the Athletic Hall of Fame, inducted in 1996. He played football and lacrosse, plus one year of hockey, and was an All-American in lacrosse and all-conference in football and Most Valuable Player in my senior year.
John W. Derse JR. '78
John is a Senior Partner with Mercer. He leads the global People Strategy segment and is a member of the Human Capital business's global leadership team. The People Strategy segment, which includes strategy, strategic workforce planning and workforce analytics, provides end-to-end human capital services that combine strategic advice, design and implementation. For more than 27 years, John has partnered with organizations and been involved in innovative work for a broad range of clients across various industries, including financial services, professional services, consumer products, health care, manufacturing/ distribution and entertainment. He has been at Mercer for 23 years, holding a variety of business leadership positions, including global leader for Business Transformation Solutions, Midwest Zone Leader and Chicago Market Leader. He has also been a partner with an international management consulting firm, helping clients implement complex change programs to meet their long-term strategic objectives. John is involved in numerous civic and charitable activities in the Chicago area, and is a Trustee at the University of Chicago Cancer Research Foundation.
Sue Katzen '86
Sue is the Associate Publisher of Cosmopolitan magazine, the #1-selling magazine on newsstands in America and the #1-selling beauty/fashion magazine for women in the world. After graduating with a multifield major, she had a brief career on Wall Street. She then began her advertising career by joining the media department at Chiat/Day, was promoted to Account Manager for a variety of liquor, financial and apparel companies, and then left for a New Business Development position at Wells Rich Greene Advertising. This path provided a practical segue into advertising sales. A women's magazine specialist, she has worked on various titles for women of all ages. She first became a member of Hearst Magazines and the Cosmopolitan family as Associate Publisher of CosmoGIRL. Prior to that, Sue spent five years at Woman's Day and six years at Country Home, part of Meredith Publishing.
Sue's work in the teen/women's market has given her great marketing insight and enables her to create, develop and grow key Cosmopolitan partnerships with marketers. Her latest project is launching Cosmopolitan's new business platform for the Latina.She is a member of NYWICI, CTFA and AWNY.
Don Patrick JR. '82
President, Stewart's Shops Corporation
Don is President of Infogroup Targeting Solutions. In this role he leads the Infogroup Targeting Solutions' marketing division, which provides integrated marketing, data and technology solutions to enterprise marketers that drive and improve marketing results. He is responsible for product, marketing, go-to-market strategy, account management, service delivery, technology and business P&L. Don has over 15 years of experience in marketing services organizations and a passion for aggressively growing businesses that help clients acquire, maximize and retain their customers. Most recently, Don was Senior Vice President, Alterian, Inc., Bristol, UK leading their global Managed Services and Social Media Teams. Previously, Don held positions of Executive Vice President & Chief Operation Officer at Merkle, Inc. and Vice President at JP Morgan Capital. Don has his MBA in Finance and International Business from the University of Chicago.
Mike Reisman '80
Mike is a principal and founding partner of Team Epic. Since 1981, he has been involved with the sponsorship marketing business, except for a two-year stint with IBM's personal computer division in the mid-1980s. From 1992 to 1995, Mike was a partner in International Sports & Entertainment Strategies, where he oversaw that agency's primary business -- corporate consulting. Over that time period, Mike provided advice and counsel to such clients as FedEx, IBM, Shell Oil, MCI, Coca Cola, Kodak, Nabisco Brands, Reliant Energy, JP Morgan Chase, Charles Schwab, Samsung, et al. He has also steered the direction of the corporate consulting businesses at ISES predecessor agencies Ohlmeyer Communications (1986-1990) and Sports Partners International (1990-1992). He landed the IBM business in 1986 and the FedEx account in 1992 -- relationships the agency still enjoys today. He has also supported the marketing efforts of such properties as the United States Olympic Committee, United States Tennis Association, National Football League and Cirque du Soleil.
Mike sits on the national boards of the National Sports Marketing Network and the UJA-Federation Sports For Youth. He began his career with the Ladies Professional Golf Association.
Timothy J. Simpson '80
Timothy is Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Covanta Holding Corporation (NYSE: CVA), an internationally recognized owner and operator of large-scale energy-from-waste and renewable energy projects and a recent recipient of the Energy Innovator Award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. He has general responsibility for legal affairs affecting Covanta and its domestic and international subsidiaries, as well as oversight responsibility for Covanta's sustainability programs and risk management activities. He serves on the board of directors of several of Covanta's domestic and international subsidiaries. Prior to joining Covanta, he was in private practice with Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle in Washington, D.C, where he concentrated on alternative energy development and corporate law matters.
Mr. Simpson serves on the Board of Trustees of the Harding Land Trust, which is focused on open space and habitat preservation. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1983.