The CERES Team
Linda Smith, ASA, NACD.DC
President
Linda has more than 30 years experience in merger & acquisition advisory, strategic marketing, product management, sales, engineering, and business valuation. She founded CERES in 2005 to serve photonics technology companies that were underserved by generalist investment banks.
At CERES, Linda sources and leads buy and sell side M & A advisory engagements with clients spanning a full spectrum of photonics enabled markets – from multi billion dollar corporations and private equity firms to entrepreneur-operated privately held companies. She sourced and led more than 15 acquisitions and financings valued from $5 to $85million and advised on $1.5billion buy-side transaction and multiple sell-side transactions. Linda completed the FINRA Series 79 Registered Investment Banking Representative exam and is an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) specializing in the valuation of privately held businesses with core photonics technology. She is NACD Directorship Certified® by the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Linda has demonstrated success in identifying market opportunities, developing new products and managing inorganic and organic growth for both public and private companies. Her operating experience crosses a wide breadth of markets – from optical components and lasers to clinical and analytical instrumentation and medical devices to pharmaceutical and semiconductor equipment. She held senior marketing and sales management positions at market leaders, Thermo Electron/Newport/Spectra Physics, and QIOPTIQ/Excelitas. She also held executive marketing positions at emerging, venture capital funded companies commercializing silicon based integrated optics and MEMS technologies.
Linda is a recognized leader in the photonics community. She is Fellow of SPIE, the International Society of Optics and Photonics, having chaired technical conferences in biophotonics and supporting many photonics industry programs, including the PRISM Awards and SPIE StartUp Challenge. She is a frequent lecturer in technology entrepreneurship. She is a member of Optica Foundation Board of Directors. She is a member of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneurial Winning WomenTM.
B.S., University of Rochester, Optics and Mathematics
M.B.A., Babson College
Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA)
NACD Directorship Certified®
Korina McKeown
Financial Analyst
Bachelor of Business Administration with Honors – Finance, Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Korina supports M&A advisory and business valuation engagements. Her finance education coupled with hands-on management experience are key assets to CERES’ team.