Lawrence Choy is a Director with the Corporates segment at S&P Global Market Intelligence. In his role, he focuses on the strategic and product direction of the Consumer & Retail segment. Full Bio

Lawrence Choy is a Director with the Corporates segment at S&P Global Market Intelligence. In his role, he focuses on the strategic and product direction of the Consumer & Retail segment. In addition, he oversees the Corporate Development and Corporate Finance personas across the firm.

Previously, he worked extensively in the Investment Banking product segment as a product manager focused on building value-added enhancements for the global Investment Banking user base.

Lawrence holds dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Corporate Finance and Human Resources from the University at Buffalo. Minimize

James Socas is a Managing Director in Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities Group. Mr. Socas has been involved with the firm’s investments in VectraAI, FireEye, Snowflake, Wiz, Diligent, Episerver, and Titus. Full Bio

James Socas is a Managing Director in Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities Group. Mr. Socas has been involved with the firm’s investments in VectraAI, FireEye, Snowflake, Wiz, Diligent, Episerver, and Titus.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Socas was co-managing partner of Updata, a boutique growth equity firm focused on the software industry. He earlier served as a Managing Director at Credit Suisse First Boston and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, providing mergers & acquisitions and capital raising advice to companies in the global software industry. He later joined the senior management team of one of his investment banking clients, Symantec, as Head of Corporate Development, leading its strategic acquisitions, alliances and corporate venture investing.

He has served on the board of managers of the University of Virginia Alumni Association, the board of trustees of the Potomac School, the Board of Corrections for the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is a member of the New America Alliance. He is an honors graduate of the University of Virginia and a graduate of Harvard Business School.  Minimize

Joe Mantone is the News Desk Manager for the U.S. financial institutions group and the author of Market Intelligence's quarterly white paper on M&A and equity capital markets activity. Full Bio

Joe Mantone is the News Desk Manager for the U.S. financial institutions group and the author of Market Intelligence's quarterly white paper on M&A and equity capital markets activity. He joined the U.S. FIG team in 2008 and covered investment banks for more than 10 years before moving into his current role. Joe has been working as a business journalist for nearly 20 years and previously worked for The Wall Street Journal and the Crain Communications magazine, Modern Healthcare.  Joe is based in New York.

He holds a master’s degree in journalism from Roosevelt University and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Arizona State University. Minimize

Mark Shafir is the co-head of Global Mergers & Acquisitions at Citi. Prior to joining Citi in 2008, Mark was Head of Global M&A at Lehman Brothers. He has over 36 years of experience advising clients and leading top M&A teams. Full Bio

Mark Shafir is the co-head of Global Mergers & Acquisitions at Citi. Prior to joining Citi in 2008, Mark was Head of Global M&A at Lehman Brothers. He has over 36 years of experience advising clients and leading top M&A teams. Selected recent transactions include: Dell Technologies spinoff of its stake in VMware (pending), CME on its joint venture with IHS Markit, WPX-Devon Energy, LVMH – Tiffany, Apollo – Tech Data, Broadcom – Symantec Enterprise Unit and Disney – Fox.

Mark is on the Board of Governors of Multiplying Good, the largest and most prestigious platform for public service in America and on the Board of Trustees of The Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History. He is a frequent contributor to CNBC and Bloomberg television on M&A matters.

Mr. Shafir holds a bachelor's degree from Yale University, an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania and was a Marshall Scholar at Kings College, Cambridge
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