Kirk Rostron is a Director at Merrill Lynch within the Hedge Fund Development and Management Group where he focuses on private placements of alternative investments on a global basis. Rostron rejoined Merrill Lynch from Hovde Capital Advisors, where he served as COO and Executive Vice President. Mr. Rostron assisted with the growth of the hedge fund business as well as the launch of the firm’s private equity business on a global basis. Prior to Hovde, Rostron was Director and Head of U.S. Capital Introduction in the Global Equity Finance and Services Group at Merrill Lynch. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Rostron founded and later sold HedgeCall.com, a service of Investor Broadcast Network which was seeded by Intel Capital Group and PaineWebber.
Mr. Rostron holds a B.A. in International Affairs and Economics from Florida State University and a Masters in International Economic Integration from the University of Birmingham (U.K.). Kirk and his wife Joy have been married for over 11 years and have three children, Carter, Alexander, & Isabella.
Pete Bilden is an Associate at Goldman Sachs within the Industrials Investment Banking Division, where he advises industrial clients and financial sponsors on strategic alternatives including M&A, leveraged buyouts, asset acquisitions/divestitures, and capital markets transactions. He is based in New York.
Before joining Goldman Sachs, Mr. Bilden served the nation as an Army officer and aviator, commanding company and platoon-level scout aviation units in Korea, Egypt, and various stateside assignments. Additionally, he led a special operations aviation training cell at the United States Army Special Operations Command headquarters (USASOC) at Fort Bragg, NC. Mr. Bilden’s awards and qualifications include the Army Aviator badge, Airborne badge, Global War On Terror badge, Multinational Forces and Observers badge, Meritorious Service Medal, and Army Commendation Medal. He was commissioned through Duke University’s Army ROTC program in 1994.
Mr. Bilden holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a BA in History from Duke University. He and his wife Samara, also a Duke undergraduate and business school graduate, have a son Benjamin.
Eugene Sullivan is a Senior Associate at Howrey LLP specializing in Intellectual Property matters, particularly litigation under Section 1337 of the Tariff Act of 1930. Before joining Howrey, Mr. Sullivan worked in the London office of a major international law firm, acting for a number of major multinationals in disputes relating to infringement of intellectual property rights, protection of confidential information and licensing.
Mr. Sullivan’s litigation practice has covered a wide range of technologies, including cellular baseband chips, data storage, and wireless communications. He has extensive experience in matters before the International Trade Commission and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Mr. Sullivan has written articles on topics such as the different approaches taken by the US and EU towards Internet Service Provider liability and privacy and the protection of personal data in electronic communications.
Mr. Sullivan has clerked for Chief Judge H.R. Mayer , United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, from 1999 to 2000, the Honorable Graham Boal Q.C. , Old Bailey, from 1997 to 1998, and Master Michael McKenzie , Royal Court of Appeal, 1997 to 1998.
Mr. Sullivan holds an LLM from Columbia Law School, an LLB in Law (upper-second class honors) from The London School of Economics, and a BA in Political Science and History from Duke University.
Mr. Sullivan and his wife Melissa live in Washington, DC.
Eugene R. Sullivan is a retired Federal Judge in Washington D.C. Nominated by President Reagan and confirmed by the Senate, Judge Sullivan was installed as a Federal Judge in 1986. In 1990, President Bush named him the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (Armed Forces), a position he held for five years.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Judge Sullivan graduated from the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, where he was a member of the Cadet Honor Committee and the varsity lacrosse team. Following graduation, he served in the Army for five years and qualified as a tanker, an Airborne Ranger, a Ranger Instructor and a Jumpmaster. He was awarded the Bronze Star, the Air Medal and other decorations in Vietnam. In 2006, Judge Sullivan was installed as a Distinguished Member of the US Army Ranger Training Brigade.
After the Army, Judge Sullivan attended and graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, serving as an editor of the Georgetown Law Journal in his senior year. Following graduation from law school, Judge Sullivan clerked for Chief Judge M.C. Matthes of the United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit) and was in private law practice with the Patton Boggs law firm in Washington, DC.
Judge Sullivan served in the White House on the legal defense team of President Nixon during the Watergate investigation in 1974. From 1974 to 1982, he was a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. From 1982 until he became a Federal Judge in 1986, Judge Sullivan served in the Pentagon as the General Counsel of the U.S. Air Force after serving initially as the Deputy General Counsel. He was awarded the Air Force Exceptional Civilian Service Medal for his achievements.
From 1982 until 1986, concurrent with his Air Force duties, Judge Sullivan functioned as the General Counsel of the National Reconnaissance Office (“NRO”-a then super-secret U.S. intelligence organization). In addition, in 1984-1986, he served as the Governor of Wake Island, an U.S. possession in the Pacific. In 1988 and 1989, Judge Sullivan served on the Federal Commission to review the West Point Honor Code. He was the founding Chair of the Ethics Committee of the Board of Trustees (Association of Graduates) of West Point and serves on the Executive Board of the Duke Law School Center for Law, Ethics and National Security.
Judge Sullivan has given many lectures on American law to visiting international judges and lawyers. For many years, he was the chair of three annual conferences: the International Judicial Conference (Criminal Law), the Great Debate (a debate on judicial reform) between the USA and England, and the International Diplomatic Conference (an educational program for ambassadors). For his career in promoting the rule of law, Judge Sullivan has been awarded the Medal of Justice from Romania, the First Class Medal of Defense from Hungary, the Defense Minister’s Citation of Merit from the Republic of China, an honorary Doctor of Law degree from New England School of Law, the Medal for Distinguished Public Service from the U.S. Department of Defense, and the 2001 Castle Award from the West Point Society (DC). The Castle Award is given to one West Point graduate each year – a past recipient was Brent Scowcroft.
Judge Sullivan’s first novel, The Majority Rules, was published in 2005. He has written a second legal thriller, soon to be published. Judge Sullivan is married to Lis Sullivan from Denmark who is an artist and a collector of Chinese art. Their Daughter, Kim, is a graduate of Columbia University, attended graduate school at Columbia University, and works as a senior photo editor in New York City; Eugene II, their son, works as an IP litigator in Washington DC and is a graduate of Duke University, The London School of Economics, and Columbia Law.
Paul McKellips is a 20-year veteran of the motion picture and television industry and long-time business partner with NFL Hall of Fame athlete, the late Reggie White of the Green Bay Packers. Partnered with White, McKellips has written, directed and produced five family movies and numerous TV shows.
After 9/11, McKellips "retired" from the entertainment industry and moved to Washington where he has worked as a national television correspondent covering the Pentagon and State Department and at Voice of America covering the Middle East.
McKellips recently returned from a one year assignment as a war correspondent and global outreach officer for the State Department in Iraq. He is currently the vice president of the Foundation for Biomedical Research in Washington.
Andrew Daniels is a senior consultant with Bearing Point where he provides acquisition expertise to the Department of Defense, Human Resources in the office of the Secretary of Defense. He is a native of and based in Washington, DC.
Prior to joining Bearing Point, Mr. Daniels provided business management and acquisition consulting services to the US Navy and to the US Joint Forces Command with Alion Science and Technology.
Mr. Daniels holds a BA in History from the University of Maryland. He and his fiancée, Nichole, are planning to be married in the autumn of 2008.
Chip Grace is a Managing Director with Wynnchurch Capital, Ltd., a Chicago-based private equity investment firm. Mr. Grace has 15 years of private equity, corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions experience having joined Wynnchurch at the firm’s founding in 2000 following a career in investment banking with Salomon Smith Barney and A.G. Edwards & Sons.
Mr. Grace serves on the Boards of Directors of several privately held companies including Calyx Transportation Group, Inc., Highway Technologies, Inc. and Webex, Inc.
Mr. Grace holds a BA from Duke University and a MBA from The University of Chicago. Mr. Grace and his wife Emily live in Chicago, Illinois with their daughter Elizabeth.