Saratoga Forum 2020

CEO Roundtable with Samantha Bonano

Keynote – Samantha Bonano in conversation with Andrea Vossler: Building and Exiting Buffalo Filter.

Samantha Bonano

Samantha Bonano (former CEO of Buffalo Filter) will host an intimate CEO roundtable event for CEOs and give the keynote at the Saratoga Forum this year.

Sam built Buffalo Filter, a medical device manufacturing company. As a private company, she sold a piece of it to a PE firm, and 6 years later, sold again to ConMed, a public company, for $365M, a 34x return.

Samantha Bonano stepped down from her role as Strategic Advisor to the CEO of ConMed Corporation (NYSE:CNMD) in 2020. Prior to joining ConMed in 2019, Ms. Bonano was President and CEO of Buffalo Filter, a leader in surgical safety devices. Under her leadership, Buffalo Filter grew to a $365 million enterprise value, selling first to private equity in 2013 and again to ConMed (NYSE:CNMD) in 2018.

During her time as President of Buffalo Filter, Ms. Bonano also served as President, Medical Devices of Filtration Group and President of AG Industries. From 2005 to her becoming President of Buffalo Filter in 2011, Ms. Bonano held progressive leadership roles at Buffalo Filter, including Director of International Sales, Strategic Planning Director, Vice President of Strategic Development and Chief Operating Officer.

From 2001-2005, Ms. Bonano was the President of Cynergy Products, a pharmaceutical skin care company, formulating and selling prescription skin care products to the plastic surgery and dermatology markets.

Ms. Bonano currently serves on The University at Buffalo Foundation Board and the Touchpoint, Inc Board. Ms. Bonano holds a BA in Business Administration from the University at Buffalo and a Certificate of Management Excellence (CME) from The Harvard Business School.

Andrea Vossler

Samantha’s keynote discussion will be a conversation with Andrea Vossler. Andrea is an experienced Partner in the Corporate & Securities Practice Group at Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP, where she Co-Leads the Firm’s Startup and Venture Capital Practice Groups.

She has extensive experience working with entrepreneurs, startups, later-stage companies, investors and funds across a variety of stages, sectors and geographies. Her practice experience includes advising clients on general corporate matters, capital raising and exit transactions; representing investors in equity and debt financings; representing sponsors in fund formations; and extensive M&A experience.

Investor Perspectives in 2020 with Brett Palmer, David Helgerson and Brian Model – moderated by Chuck Haviland: Private equity investors share how they’re looking at capitalizing businesses now.

Brett Palmer

Small Business Investor Alliance

David Helgerson

Hamilton Lane

Brian Model

Topmark Partners

Chuck Haviland

Whiteman Osterman & Hanna

Economic Outlook with Hugh Johnson and Susan Reese: Audience favorite Hugh Johnson will share his economic forecast for the pandemic’s short-term and long-term impacts on the economy.

Hugh Johnson

Hugh Johnson Advisors

Susan Reese

Bender Lane Advisory

Customized 1-1 networking for valuable connections. Additional networking slots are open from 8am-12pm. Start networking today!