Michelle Alen is the Head of M&A Integration at Block (formerly Square), where she leads the integration of acquired companies and helps translate acquisitions into long-term business value. Throughout her career, she has successfully led integrations ranging from early-stage startups to global public companies, navigating complex organizational, operational, and cultural transformations. Prior to Block, Michelle led M&A integrations at WeWork and previously worked at GE, where she advised senior executives on valuation, risk management, and strategic transactions. Her experience spans the full deal lifecycle—from diligence and transaction planning through post-close integration—with a focus on aligning finance, operations, technology, and people to achieve acquisition objectives.

Ben Godbout is Managing Director and Head of Strategic & Transaction Advisory at The CMA Group, with over fifteen years of financial services experience. He advises clients across the capital structure on mergers and acquisitions, financial restructurings, and debt and equity capital raises. Having served in both investment banking and principal investing roles, Ben brings a holistic, stakeholder-aligned perspective to every engagement.

Ben has led numerous in- and out-of-court restructurings, Section 363 sales, internal reorganizations, capital raises, and M&A transactions across a broad range of industries including industrials and manufacturing, transportation, energy, consumer products, and professional services.

Before rejoining CMA, Ben was a private equity and credit investor in the Special Situations group at Summit Investment Management, where he closed multiple investments across diverse sectors and executed several portfolio asset divestitures. Earlier in his career, he worked at CMA in its advisory practice.

Ben holds an MBA from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and a BA from the University of Western Ontario. He is a FINRA Registered Representative and an active member of the Secured Finance Network and the Turnaround Management Association. In 2022, he was honored as a Global M&A Network Americas Rising Star Dealmaker.

John W. Jones is a partner in the Private Equity group at Goodwin Procter LLP and a Co-Leader of the Firm’s Healthcare Private Equity practice. John focuses his practice on healthcare private equity and strategic M&A and complex federal and state health care regulatory matters. He represents financial sponsors and strategics on a wide range of corporate, M&A, regulatory, structure, governance and compliance matters. Clients with a stake in the health care industry rely on John to navigate their most important deals and complex issues.

Recognized for his significant expertise and 20+ years of experience in the health care M&A industry, John was named Health Care M&A lawyer of the year by America M&A Atlas Awards in 2019.

Patrick Mumman is Vice President of Corporate Development – Origination at CBIZ, where he leads acquisition sourcing and strategic growth initiatives. He focuses on identifying and developing M&A opportunities that support the firm’s expansion and long-term value creation.

Kison Patel is the Founder and CEO of DealRoom, an M&A lifecycle management platform recognized twice on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies list. He also founded M&A Science, a global community offering courses, events, and the top-rated M&A Science podcast, which he hosts and has surpassed 2 million downloads.

As the author of Agile M&A: Proven Techniques to Close Deals Faster and Maximize Value, Kison advocates for tech-enabled, adaptive M&A practices. His work focuses on transforming traditional deal-making with innovative tools and education, empowering teams to drive efficiency and success.