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I have put together the following panel for the Ratafia Ventures meeting on September 12 at 4PM in Farmington, CT. Following the formal presentations, there will be questions and discussion. The event includes a reception at the opening and a wine and hors d'oeuvres reception after the program.

Please e-mail me if you would like to register. The current rate will be maintained if payment is postmarked or credit card payment is received by August 27. Note that there is a special discount for paid IACT members.

Feel free to forward this announcement to individuals who may benefit from the meeting.

I hope to see you there.

Manny Ratafia

manny@ratafias.com

203-387-7348

The presenters are:

Dan Delmar ­ President of Corporate Strategy Consulting; was Executive at IBM, VP at Carrier, Consultant at Bain and at Accenture

Andy Greenawalt ­ President of Gnostic Ventures; CEO of Continuity Engine; Founder of four companies

Will Hill ­ Angel Investor; was VP at UltraCell, VP at Stanley Works, VP at Black & Decker

Bob Lerman ­ CEO of Thermodynetics; Co-founder of Pioneer Capital

Greg Mickelson ­ CEO of The Mickelson Company; was CEO at Danner Manufacturing, President at Spectrus, President at VPI

Bill Neale ­ COO at Radiall USA; was Production Manager at Applied Engineering Products, Plant Manager at Peak Electronics

Mike Scala ­ President at Lex Products; was Manager at Beiersdorf, Manager at Alcatel

Tim Thompson ­ Director of Operations at Holo-Krome; was at Federal Mogul, Ensign Bickford, Danaher, Fastenal

Bios are provided in the announcement below.

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Improving Profit Margins and Profits
Learning from a Panel with Diverse Experiences

Panelists Relate their Experiences and Provide Advice
Wine Reception and Additional Networking Afterwards

Primary Sponsor: J.H. Cohn, LLP
Date: Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Location: J.H. Cohn, LLP
Farmington 

Pond View Corporate Center
76 Batterson Park Road
Farmington, CT 06032
Phone: 860-678-6000
Time: 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Registration, Networking and Refreshments
from 4:00 pm to 4:45 pm
Program from 4:45 pm to 6:40 pm
Wine Reception from 6:40 pm

Fee:
$60 if payment is received by August 27
$75 if payment is received by September 6
$90 if payment is received after September 6
$90 at the door by cash or check (if space is available, seating is limited)

Special:$20 Discount for Paid IACT members.

RSVP by e-mailing to manny@ratafias.com

( ) Yes, I will attend and
( ) A check is being mailed
Make check out to "Ratafia Ventures" and send to
Ratafia Ventures, 3 Penny Lane, Woodbridge, CT 06525,
along with contact information
( ) Please e-mail me an invoice for paying by
credit card online ($3 processing fee)

( ) No, I cannot attend

Name(s): ______________________________________

Affiliation:___________________________________

E-Mail: _______________________________________

Telephone: ____________________________________

Cancellation and substitution policy: We adhere
to a policy of no cancellations, no refunds, no
application of registration fees to future
events, but substitutions are welcome. To send a
substitute in your place, email us your
substitute's complete contact information by 5:00
PM 9/10.
e-mail to manny@ratafias.com

or call 203-387-7348

A Ratafia Ventures Event

The presenters are:

· Dan Delmar - President of Corporate Strategy
Consulting; was Executive at IBM, VP at Carrier,
Consultant at Bain and at Accenture

· Andy Greenawalt - President of Gnostic
Ventures; CEO of Continuity Engine; Founder of
four companies

· Will Hill - Angel Investor; was VP at
UltraCell, VP at Stanley Works, VP at Black &
Decker

· Bob Lerman - CEO of Thermodynetics; Co-founder of Pioneer Capital

· Greg Mickelson - CEO of The Mickelson Company;
was CEO at Danner Manufacturing, President at
Spectrus, President at VPI

· Bill Neale - COO at Radiall USA; was Production
Manager at Applied Engineering Products, Plant
Manager at Peak Electronics

· Mike Scala - President at Lex Products; was
Manager at Beiersdorf, Manager at Alcatel

· Tim Thompson - Director of Operations at
Holo-Krome; was at Federal Mogul, Ensign
Bickford, Danaher, Fastenal

Presenter bios:

Dan Delmar - Dan Delmar is President of Corporate
Strategy Consulting LLC, where he helps large and
small clients with profitability and growth
through strategy, marketing, new offerings and
M&A.

For six years, until 2009, Dan was an executive
in IBM's Corporate Strategy department. He led
project teams to turn around low profit
businesses, develop cross-IBM solutions for high
profit, and analyze growth opportunities for
potential profit level. Dan led teams on
IBM/competitive strategies, customer needs, and
market and industry trends. Several of these
teams presented to the CEO and Strategy Team. Dan
worked with and across all the IBM groups;
Hardware, Software and Services. IBM has improved
EPS from $1.81 in 2002 to $13.44 in 2011. IBM
expects a further $2.50 increase in earnings per
share by 2015 from margin expansion alone.

Prior to IBM, Dan was the Founder and President
of Corporate Strategy Consulting, advising senior
executives at clients such as Hitachi, Verizon,
Computer Associates, Lexis-Nexis, ITT, Aeroquip,
Alcatel, Invensys, KPG, and small companies.
Previously, Dan was the Vice President of
Strategic Planning and Corporate Development at
Carrier Corporation in Farmington, CT. He also
consulted at Accenture Strategic Services and at
Bain & Company.

Dan holds an MBA from Harvard and a BS from Yale.

Andy Greenawalt - Andy is currently the President
of Gnostic Ventures, a company that advises on
security investments, communicates on SaaS and
the creation of value, and invests in SaaS
companies. As the founder and CTO of Perimeter
eSecurity, a role he held for 10 years, Andy
invented security in the cloud and pioneered it
as a service industry. His experience at
Perimeter gave him insight into the compliance
burden that community financial institutions
face, and inspired him to develop a solution to
solve this growing problem.

As the founder and CEO of Continuity Control,
Andy has applied his passion for technology and
constructed an award-winning solution to simplify
the work of compliance. Continuity recognized
that the market was underpricing technology
services relative to their value. By
significantly increasing the price of their
offering, Continuity didn't scare potential
clients away, but reduced their skepticism by
pricing closer to their perceived value. This
increased sales and margins while reducing the
duration of sales cycles.

Andy studied philosophy and linguistics at UMass
Amherst and is an Entrepreneur Partner at CTech.

William D. Hill - Hill is a Principal of M. A.
Warren Associates LLC where he provides
consulting to companies to improve their product
creation process and increase innovation. M. A.
Warren advises Venture Capital and Private Equity
funds in two areas. The first is evaluating the
growth potential of companies. The second is to
help these companies understand their markets to
create business plans to deliver profitable sales
growth.

Most recently Will was Vice President of
Marketing & Sales for UltraCell, a start up
company that was designing, manufacturing,
marketing and selling High Power Micro Fuel Cells
to power electronic devices.

Will retired in 2005 from The Stanley Works as a
Corporate Officer and the Vice President of
Engineering and Technology. At Stanley, Will
established a customer driven new product
planning and development process and trained over
500 cross-functional leaders and team members in
its use. This resulted in new product sales
increasing from $73 million in 1996, the year
before he arrived, to $300 million in 2001 with
margins improving by $15 to $20 million annually.
Stanley1s new product sales have continued at 10
percent of total annual sales with over a 300
percent improvement in engineering productivity.
The Stanley Works received the National Hardware
Show Innovator of the Year award for three
consecutive years for the first time in its
history. The Stanley Works introduced over 700
new products under Will1s leadership. These
products have received numerous awards for
innovation including eight Business Week
Industrial Design Society of America IDEA
(Industrial Design Excellence Awards) for
outstanding product design.

Prior to Stanley, Will was at Black & Decker
Corporation for twenty four years leading product
development in positions of increasing
responsibility in engineering and marketing. He
was Vice President, Product Development, first
for North American Power Tools and then Global
Accessories. Prior to that, Will was product and
program manager for development of the Black &
Decker professional cordless power tools, one of
the fastest growing segments of the DeWalt power
tool business.

Will is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a BS in
Mechanical Engineering and an MBA-Management from
Loyola College in Maryland.

Robert A. Lerman - Bob Lerman's broad range of
experience is derived from forty years in
investment, financing and industry. His
experience includes being the CEO of companies
that manufactured heat exchangers, modular
buildings, and engine components. He concentrated
on improving operating margins, lean
manufacturing, pricing margins and obtaining
financing for operations. He specialized in start
up or emerging growth companies which were in
expansion programs. He also was the Managing
Director and Senior Investment Officer of three
investment partnerships and co-founded an
investment advisory and computerized portfolio
management company. Bob has been involved in the
full scope of portfolio evaluation, due
diligence, deal structuring, portfolio
performance monitoring and new business
development.

Bob Lerman currently is an advisor and consultant
for several companies in oil exploration, web
marketing, electrical and electronic equipment,
and manufacturing industries. He served on the
Boards of Directors of public and private
companies in the manufacturing, direct mail and
nutraceutical industries. Bob was a lecturer at
the Hartford Graduate School Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, and the University of
Connecticut graduate school, conducting courses
in advanced engineering and mathematics. He has
written papers offering new advances in the
mathematics which have been published in a number
of technical journals. He coauthored the textbook
3Nonlinear Systems Dynamics,2 Van Nostrand
Rheinhold, New York, 1992 and coauthored 3Hidden
Secrets of Negotiations2 (working title). In the
1989-90 Connecticut legislative session, he was a
member of the Governor1s Task Force to Study
Methods of Financing for Recycling Facilities in
Connecticut. Bob is active in civic and religious
organizations and has served as Trustee and
Investment Committee Chairman, as well as other
positions.

Bob Lerman holds the degrees of Bachelor of
Mechanical Engineering from College of the City
of New York, Masters of Science in Mathematics
from Adelphi University and Master of Science in
Electrical Engineering from University of
Connecticut).

P. Gregory Mickelson - Greg Mickelson leads The
Mickelson Company LLC, a business advisory
practice, founded in 2007, focused on helping
owners of small to mid-size companies realize
their dreams. Greg is a proven executive with a
track record of growing sales and profits,
implementing winning strategies, bringing value
to shareholders and building effective business
teams. His accomplishments range from running a
business unit of a Fortune 50 corporation to
leading the growth and development of several
smaller privately held companies.

Greg spent his early career with Fortune 50
companies. He developed new products for Procter
& Gamble and subsequently held various management
positions in technology, engineering, operations
and business management in General Electric1s
Silicones business. Greg then spent 13 years
helping VPI, a privately held plastics
manufacturer, grow four-fold. He joined VPI to
run its smallest division and progressed through
positions of increasing responsibility to
appointments as President, COO, and Board member,
as well as owner. He was responsible for driving
significant growth in revenue and profitability,
and eventually for the company1s successful
divestiture.

Greg subsequently led the turnaround and
divestiture of Spectrus, Inc., a manufacturer of
custom and proprietary components serving the
lighting industry, where he addressed declining
sales and margins through increased innovation,
product bundling and site rationalization. After
Spectrus, Greg was CEO of Danner Manufacturing
where he developed and implemented the strategic
vision for this privately held, market leading
manufacturer and distributor of magnetically
coupled pumps and accessories for the pond,
statuary, hydroponics and aquarium markets.

Greg is an accredited associate of the Institute
for Independent Business International. He acts
as interim CEO and coaches young CEOs of
multi-generational, family held manufacturing
firms.

Greg was awarded his MBA by the Lally School of
Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
and his BS in Chemical Engineering by the
University of Connecticut.

Bill Neale - Bill Neale is COO of Radiall USA, a
part of Radiall, a Global manufacturer of high
frequency interconnect components. Bill is
responsible for managing staff and establishing
and accomplishing business objectives for the New
Haven and part of the Mexico operations. He also
has corporate responsibility as coordinator of
the worldwide Radiall lean project.

Bill joined the Company in 1997 as Production
Manager. When the Company was purchased in 2005
by Radiall, Bill was instrumental in this
successful transition, earning him the title of
Vice President and then COO. Bill and his team
have transformed the New Haven operation from a
self-contained local company, into an integral
part of Radiall. Accomplishments include
increased profit margins through 20 percent
inventory reduction, 25 percent direct material
savings, steady 100 percent OTD ratings from
contract customers and transfer of high volume
products to Mexico for up to 50 percent direct
labor savings without loss of quality or delivery
to the customer.

Prior to joining Radiall, Bill was the Plant
Manager for Peak Electronics and held various
management positions at Circuit Wise Multilayer
Products Group.

Bill is President of the New Haven Manufacturers
Association. He holds an MBA from the School of
Management at Yale University.

Michael Scala - As President at Lex Products, Mike
Scala is responsible for the day to day
operations of the entire company spanning all
functional areas. Mike joined Lex in 2006 as
Plant Manager and was promoted to Director of
Operations then to Senior Vice President
Operations, and in June 2011, to President.
During this time, he has implemented many
planning and operating systems, resulting in a
track record of success in streamlining
operations for internal and customer facing
functions, resulting in record profit and a
doubling of gross profit margins on Lex1s top
selling system. Lex Products was featured in Inc.
Magazine1s 2011 list of fastest-growing companies
in the U.S.

Before joining Lex, Mike gained operations
experience as Distribution Manager for
Beiersdorf, a manufacturer of consumer products
such as Nivea Lotion. Prior to Beiersdorf, Mike
was Manufacturing Manager at Radio Frequency
Systems, a division of Alcatel which provides
antenna and cable systems to the wireless
telecommunications market.

He is an active member of YPO (Young Presidents
Organization), a Board of Directors member of the
Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce, and is a
member and speaker at the New Haven Manufacturers
Association.

Mike earned an MBA from Fairfield University in Connecticut.

Timothy Thompson - Tim Thompson is Director of
Operations for the Holo-Krome Company, a proud
Made in the USA manufacturer of critical
application fastener technologies. Tim's
manufacturing career spans over 16 years and
includes roles as a Manufacturing Shift
Supervisor, Value Stream Leader, Product Line
Manager, Plant Operations Manager, Continuous
Improvement Leader, Group Director of Lean
Manufacturing, and Director of Operations. Tim
has worked for Federal Mogul (TII Automotive),
Ensign Bickford (military explosives), Danaher
Tool Group (industrial hand tools), and the
Fastenal Company.

Since its formation in 1929, Holo-Krome has been
at the forefront of fastener development and
innovation. The company manufactures socket
screws by metal forming or heading rather than
machining and invented the "Cold-Forged" process
in which the metal is pre-warmed to improve its
plasticity for forming, thus producing socket
screws which are more precise, offer greater
strength and afford higher fatigue resistance.
The products are recognized for their uniformity,
and for being virtually free of defects. These
innovations as well as efficient operations and a
strong brand have allowed Holo-Krome to maintain
high profit margins.

Tim is a passionate leader and firm believer in
the principles and tools of lean manufacturing to
drive growth and profitability. Prior to joining
the manufacturing community Tim developed his
leadership skills proudly serving his country as
a commissioned officer in the United States Army,
Aviation Branch. He is a veteran of Operation
Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Tim earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from
the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Moderator and Meeting Organizer - Manny
Ratafia - Manny Ratafia is an entrepreneur,
management consultant, and angel investor. He has
founded and run ventures in a variety of
technology areas, organized meetings and
international conferences, and has consulted to
owners and senior executives of companies on a
range of management, market, and technology
issues. His educational background includes a
bachelor1s degree in Mechanical Engineering from
The Cooper Union and master1s degrees in
Mechanical Engineering from MIT and in
Engineering and Applied Physics from Harvard, and
an MBA from Dartmouth. He has served on the
boards of directors and advisory boards of
several start-up companies and non-profit
organizations. Manny Ratafia1s research and
opinions have been published and quoted in more
than 100 general, business and scientific
publications in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.

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DIRECTIONS TO J.H. Cohn, LLP
Farmington

Pond View Corporate Center
76 Batterson Park Road, Farmington, CT 06032
Phone - 860-678-6000

On-site parking. Parking spaces are available in
front of the building. If there are no visitor
parking spaces available, you can park in any of
the unmarked spots in the front or on the side of
the building.

Traveling on Interstate 84 East toward Hartford:
Take exit 37. At the end of the ramp, continue
straight onto Batterson Park Road. Turn left onto
Allstate Drive and into the Pond View Corporate
Center. Building 76 is located on the right. J.H.
Cohn in located on the third floor.

Traveling on Interstate 84 West from Hartford:
Take exit 37. Keep right at the end of the ramp.
Turn left at the light onto Batterson Park Road.
Turn left onto Allstate Drive and into the Pond
View Corporate Center. Building 76 is located on
the right. J.H. Cohn in located on the third
floor.