LOS ANGELES LIVE!

Wednesday, September 20th, 5:30 - 8:00 pm PT

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

2049 Century Park East, Suite 1700

Los Angeles, CA 90067

C-Sweet members receive free admission. Non-member tickets are $49.

Meet the Moderator

Veronica Lah

Partner, Corporate and Finance

Veronica Lah is a partner in the firm’s Los Angeles office. She focuses her practice on corporate and financial transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, capital markets, corporate finance and general corporate representation.

Veronica represents clients on buy-side and sell-side acquisitions, divestitures, business combinations, restructurings and buyout transactions, public and private equity and debt offerings, including initial public offerings and SPAC transactions, and secured financings. She also provides counsel on formation, joint venture and other corporate matters. 

Meet the Panelists

Michel Narganes

Digital and Technology Transactions Partner 

Michel Narganes is a partner in Manatt’s ­­­­­San Francisco and Boston offices. She has guided venture-backed startups and other, established clients—including various technology companies, media and gaming ventures, financial institutions, health care companies and others—through licensing, technology and commercial transactions, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), financing matters, and developer and publisher agreements for more than 15 years.

Michel also works with disruptors in the growing cryptocurrency space with respect to blockchain-based technologies and transactions in the Web3 ecosystem. She was an early mover in this area, representing the platform that facilitated the highly publicized sale of an American digital artist’s nonfungible token (NFT) artwork in the first digital auction held by one of the largest global auction houses. She is sought after for her business-minded counsel on the convergence of cryptocurrency with other emerging industries, including the rise of tokenization in gaming and transactions in the nascent metaverse.

Before joining Manatt, Michel served as in-house counsel at a large technology company, where she played a key role in the growth of global strategic partnerships, M&A and corporate compliance operations. Michel is also an entrepreneur, having founded her own legal services firm, providing her firsthand experience tackling the gamut of challenges emerging companies face throughout their life cycles.

Karen E. Lutomski, CIMA®

Senior Managing Director, Co-Head of Private Wealth Advisory, Global Wealth Advisory Services

As Co-Head of Private Wealth at Nuveen, Karen is responsible for leading a team of advisor consultants across all channels to strengthen relationships with the industry’s top financial advisors, private banks and registered investment advisors. She champions strategic initiatives providing resources for learning and development within the organization for her team and their clients. Karen is part of the team that initiated Nuveen’s growth transformation exemplifying superior client service engagement. She is passionate about innovation and leading change. She also engages with senior leadership of strategic partners to deliver thought leadership and resources for education. Prior to this role, she was Western Region Manager in the US. Wealth Division and an Advisor Consultant responsible for marketing and consulting the firm’s investment solutions to the private wealth, ultra-high net worth intermediary marketplace.

Before joining the firm in 2011, Karen spent 16 1⁄2 years at Lazard Asset Management as a director in sales, marketing & client service. Her career began as an associate at Jurika & Voyles Investment Management and Acorn Asset Managment. Karen has been honored by several national financial services firms for her contributions in consultant education.

Karen graduated with a B.A. in Economics from the University of New Hampshire. She was awarded by TIAA, our parent company, an Inclusive Leaders of the Year award for 2020. She was the co-chair of the Nuveen ERG LEAD Annual Conference Committee and co-chair of MMI Women in Distribution Symposium. Karen is a member of the Investments & Wealth Institute and holds the CIMA designation.

Peri Z. Hansen

Leader, CMO Practice, North America at Korn Ferry

Having called Korn Ferry her professional home for many years, Peri Hansen remains passionate about aligning innovative consumer brands with visionary leaders and helping consumer executive teams achieve their full potential and deliver sustainable growth. Skilled in Executive Search, Organizational Leadership, CEO Succession, Top Team Development, and Leadership Assessment. Clients include consumer packaged goods companies, restaurants/foodservice, hospitality/leisure, and multi-unit consumer services, as well as private equity investors and family offices.

Peri is fortunate to have been a part of the firm's evolution to a strategic organizational consultancy and is proud of the diverse talent solutions offered including: Executive Search, RPO, Organizational Strategy, Assessment & Succession, Diversity & Inclusion, Leadership Development, and Rewards & Benefits.

Her career at Korn Ferry has been fueled by curiosity, innovation, and the ability to stretch and grow in new directions at all times. In addition to her "day job" at the firm, Peri serves as the Chair of the firm's Global Promotions process focused on nominees for senior leadership roles across all of our solutions. With a focus on the identification and development of the next generation of Korn Ferry leaders, this has been one of the most rewarding aspects of her career.

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