Private Equity Forum

Mr. Hochberg joined Lee Equity in 2006 and is a Partner of the firm. Prior to joining Lee Equity, Mr. Hochberg was a Principal at Odyssey Investment Partners, LLC, and from 1997 to 2005, at Bain Capital, LLC, where he most recently held the position of Principal. At Odyssey, Mr. Hochberg was involved in the execution and monitoring of the firm’s investment in Norcross Safety Products, LLC. At Bain Capital, Mr. Hochberg was involved with the firm’s investments in Warner Music Group, Loews Cineplex Entertainment, ProSieben Sat.1 Media, and Warner Chilcott. Mr. Hochberg was also a member of the team that founded the Bain Capital Credit fixed income asset management business. Mr. Hochberg started his career in 1995 at Bain & Company as a strategy consultant where he served clients in the insurance, banking, energy, pharmaceuticals, and industrials sectors.

Mr. Hochberg serves or has served on the boards of directors of Aimbridge Hospitality, A.L.C, Ltd., APP Group, Cosmetic Solutions, Deb Shops, InterLuxe Holdings, Jason Wu, K-MAC Enterprises, The Living Company, Norcross Safety Products, Papa Murphy’s, Paragon Industries, PDR Network, Skopos Financial, The Edelman Financial Group, Unlimited Technology, and Westfall Technik. Mr. Hochberg received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and received an A.B. in Chemistry from Harvard College.

Mr. Hochberg is a 20-year rider in the Pan-Mass Challenge to benefit the Dana-Farber Cancer Center.

Brian Frank is Founder and the Managing Partner of Declaration Partners and Co-Head of Growth Equity. Brian is also a Founding Partner of BayPine, a sister investment firm focused on buyouts with a digital transformation potential. Previously, Brian was a Partner and Portfolio Manager at MSD Partners, where he invested in private and public companies in the energy and industrials sectors.

Prior to MSD Partners, Brian was a Partner and Portfolio Manager at Cumberland Associates, where he oversaw investments in aerospace, energy, industrials and transportation companies. Earlier in his career, Brian was a Director at Harman International, a Principal in growth equity at WR Hambrecht + Co focused on technology investments, and an Investment Banking Analyst at Lazard Frères

Brian graduated from Harvard College, where he studied Government and Economics, and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. Brian currently serves as a board member of Redesign Health, Vault Health, ConcertAI, and StubHub Holdings.

Outside of work, Brian is a Director of Third Way, on the Rockefeller University Council, a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and enjoys travel, live experiences, and public policy.

Michael is the Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Stonepeak and is a member of the Stonepeak Executive Committee. He has been deeply involved in all phases of the firm’s development since its founding in 2011. Today, Michael directs Stonepeak’s strategy and investment decisions, and oversees the firm’s continued expansion into new regions and product areas.

Michael has more than twenty years of experience investing in infrastructure. A longer-tenured investor in a relatively young and still maturing asset class, Michael has been a leader in infrastructure investing, successfully deploying capital across the entire landscape through economic cycles.

Prior to forming Stonepeak, Michael was a Senior Managing Director in Private Equity and Co-Head of the Infrastructure Investment group at Blackstone. Before Blackstone, Michael worked for over a decade at Macquarie, where he started his career, first in Australia and later in New York where he took on roles of increasing responsibility within the firm and ultimately held the title of Senior Managing Director.

Michael received a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce, both from the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

Arnie Fridhandler is a partner in Weil's market-leading Private Equity practice and is based in New York. He has substantial experience advising sponsors, sovereign wealth, pension and other institutional investors and their portfolio companies in connection with global-scale acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, investments and general corporate matters.

Arnie has extensive experience with buyouts, minority and structured investments, joint ventures and mergers & acquisitions, and counsels clients on corporate governance and strategic matters across numerous sectors, from consumer, to financial & business services, industrials, energy, private equity infrastructure, private equity real estate, and technology.

Prior to rejoining Weil, Arnie served as Assistant General Counsel of GIC Private Limited, a sovereign wealth fund of the Government of Singapore and one of the largest and most active private equity and credit investors globally, and uniquely, has experience navigating transactions for all of GIC’s private markets divisions – GIC Real Estate, GIC Private Equity and GIC Infrastructure. While Assistant General Counsel, he focused on real assets, logistics, hospitality and digital infrastructure investments and platforms throughout North and South America.

Arnie received his J.D. (dean’s list), from Osgoode Hall Law School, his M.B.A., with distinction, from the Schulich School of Business and his Bachelor of Engineering, with distinction, from McGill University.

Brien Wassner is a global co-leader of Sidley’s Private Equity practice and a co-leader of the New York M&A and Private Equity group. He is also recognized in Chambers USA for Private Equity: Buyouts in New York. Brien represents large cap and middle market private equity sponsors and other private capital investors and asset managers, as well as their portfolio companies, in connection with complex transactions including mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, financings and general corporate matters. He has extensive experience in domestic and cross border leveraged buyouts, take-privates, carve-outs, distressed investments, special situations and structured equity investments and joint venture transactions. In Chambers USA 2022, clients said that “[Brien] is a creative thinker and always finds a way to get to a solution even in complex situations” and describe Brien as “a tireless worker who provides solid commercial advice.”

Brien’s clients include private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, hedge funds, pension funds, venture capital funds and other sponsors and asset managers, financial institutions, public and private companies and their financial advisers.

Brien often advises clients on transactions that are multijurisdictional in nature and subject to complex regulatory regimes. Representative industries include financial services and insurance, software and technology, healthcare and life sciences, media, real estate, business services, retail and consumer products, manufacturing, logistics and transportation, telecoms, energy and infrastructure.

Prior to joining Sidley, Brien was a partner at another global law firm in the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions practice and was one of the leaders of its Private Capital Industry group.

Isaac Vinyarsh is a partner in the firm’s Business Law Department and a member of its Private Equity group.

Mr. Vinyarsh advises private equity sponsors, venture capital funds, their portfolio companies, and corporate clients on a range of complex M&A transactions, growth equity investments, and general corporate matters.

Mr. Vinyarsh has represented clients in a wide variety of domestic and cross-border transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, growth equity investments, joint ventures, and secondary transactions across a range of industries, including the technology, software, fintech, consumer services, and cybersecurity sectors.

Prior to joining Goodwin, Mr. Vinyarsh was an associate at S. Horowitz & Co. in Tel Aviv. Prior to his studies at Hebrew University, Mr. Vinyarsh served as an officer in a reconnaissance unit of the Israel Defense Forces.