Badgers in Finance | Chicago

Location

111 East Wacker Drive, Taft Suite 2600
Chicago, IL 60601

Schedule of Events

6–7 p.m.: Cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and networking
7–8 p.m.: Program with Q&A
8–9 p.m.: Cocktails, dessert, and networking

Thomas Chadwick (BBA ’11) is an investment partner on the Manufactured Products team for PPC. Chadwick works with Aurorium, Buckman, NAI Group, Plaskolite, and Technimark. Chadwick joined PPC in 2017 as a vice president. Prior to PPC, he was an associate at Madison Dearborn Capital Partners and an investment banking analyst at Deutsche Bank. Chadwick received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his undergraduate business degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Duncan Davis (BBA ’09) is the founder of the newly formed BDGR Capital and was previously the founder and managing partner of Breakout Capital. At Breakout, Davis deployed over $100 million of capital across more than a dozen portfolio companies spanning health care, consumer, home services, and financial services. Past investments include AIM Clinics (sold to private equity), Pattern Group (IPO in Fall 2025), Packlane (sold to private equity), Beam Benefits, Splashworks Pool Services, and others. 

Davis began his career in leveraged finance at Goldman Sachs in New York City. He went on to join the investment team at Sterling Partners where he focused on healthcare services investing. Davis grew up in Wisconsin and received his undergraduate business degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He now resides in the Chicago suburbs with his wife and three children.

Michael MacKay (BBA ’11) joined Wynnchurch Capital in 2018. He worked previously as a senior associate at Pritzker Group Private Capital, a middle-market investment firm based in Chicago, and as an analyst in Barclays Capital’s New York office, where he was a member of the industrials group. MacKay has worked on a wide range of M&A transactions, as well as equity and debt financings across the industrial landscape. He earned an undergraduate degree in finance and accounting from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Ben Riback (BBA ’97) is a managing director and leads the food and beverage sector for William Blair. He originally joined William Blair’s investment banking team in 2021. Prior to William Blair, he worked for Citigroup and BMO Capital Markets. During Ben’s 20 years in investment banking, he has led 150+ transactions across financial advisory and capital structure alternatives for public and private companies in the food and beverage spectrum. Ben earned his MBA with honors from University of Michigan and holds an undergraduate business degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.