2025 Mid-Year Business Outlook

Moderated by
J. Eustis Corrigan, Jr. | CBIZ

John Bobango | Phelps

John Bobango advises private companies, private equity firms and venture capital firms, including their portfolio companies, in a wide range of industries. He also has broad experience in representing startups, later-stage and established companies. Clients trust and rely on John’s practical and strategic counsel through every phase of the business’s lifecycle, from formation, capital raise, strategic alliances and business operations to mergers and acquisitions.

John has significant experience designing capital and advantageous tax structures that leverage the clients’ financial position and growth opportunities

David Waddell | Waddell & Associates

David is W&A’s fearless leader. As the firm’s CEO and Chief Investment Strategist, David chairs the W&A investment committee and, pulling from over 20 years of experience, combines macro-economic forecasting, macro market analysis and macro risk assessments to design portfolio strategies for clients utilizing public market securities worldwide.

David is gifted with the ability to take complex topics and ideas and present them in a compelling manner that everyone can understand. He essentially cuts through the fog, hence the moniker “The Fog Cutter,” and encourages his team to push the standards of what it means to be a financial planner. David has been featured as a global economics and investment thought leader in national media outlets such as CNBC, Bloomberg, Business Insider and Barron’s. He also continues to speak at various clubs and organizations in the Nashville and Memphis areas.

Ginna Word | VACO

Ginna is a CPA and former Big 4 auditor with a background in corporate accounting. She leverages this experience and her network in the Memphis area to help ...

Mark Baran | CBIZ

Mark is a Managing Director at CBIZ's National Tax Office. He has more than 25 years of tax, transactional and legal experience advising publicly-traded and private companies, regulated financial institutions, investors, high net worth individuals, and government agencies.

Mark’s practice areas include providing tax consulting and transactional services to a broad spectrum of clients and industries including the public sector. He routinely provides tax opinions on the tax implications of proposed transactions, products, services and initiatives, and serves as a firm resource in the areas of financial services and products, regulatory compliance and planning, lending transactions and payment obligations, tax information reporting, expert witness support, asset management and tax controversies. Mark also advises governments in developing countries on the design and implementation of tax and fiscal reform programs. Areas of expertise include M&A planning and due diligence, corporate reorganizations and dissolution, financing transactions, S corporations, tax and policy administration, and cross border transactions.

John Bobango | Phelps

John Bobango advises private companies, private equity firms and venture capital firms, including their portfolio companies, in a wide range of industries. He also has broad experience in representing startups, later-stage and established companies. Clients trust and rely on John’s practical and strategic counsel through every phase of the business’s lifecycle, from formation, capital raise, strategic alliances and business operations to mergers and acquisitions.

John has significant experience designing capital and advantageous tax structures that leverage the clients’ financial position and growth opportunities.

David Waddell | Waddell & Associates

David is W&A’s fearless leader. As the firm’s CEO and Chief Investment Strategist, David chairs the W&A investment committee and, pulling from over 20 years of experience, combines macro-economic forecasting, macro market analysis and macro risk assessments to design portfolio strategies for clients utilizing public market securities worldwide.

David is gifted with the ability to take complex topics and ideas and present them in a compelling manner that everyone can understand. He essentially cuts through the fog, hence the moniker “The Fog Cutter,” and encourages his team to push the standards of what it means to be a financial planner. David has been featured as a global economics and investment thought leader in national media outlets such as CNBC, Bloomberg, Business Insider and Barron’s. He also continues to speak at various clubs and organizations in the Nashville and Memphis areas.

Ginna Word | VACO

Ginna serves as Managing Director, Accounting & Finance Talent Solutions at Vaco, where she combines strategy, talent, and execution with a collaborative, client-first approach to create practical solutions tailored to an organization’s needs. She specializes in identifying top talent for her clients, from entry-level to executive positions, in the areas of corporate accounting, financial reporting, operational accounting, financial planning & analysis, tax, internal audit, SOX compliance, public accounting, and treasury. Ginna is a CPA with a background in public and corporate accounting prior to joining Vaco.