Leadership Team
Mike Zafirovski
Founder, Chairman, and President
Lake Forest, IL and Naples, FL
- Chairman of TZG Portfolio Companies (ACP CreativIT and ABCO Systems), and the Zafirovski Family Foundation.
- Mike was an Executive Advisor to The Blackstone Group (2011-2021) and served on the Board of Directors of Boeing (2004-2020), Stericycle (2012-2022), Apria Healthcare (2011-2022), Nortel (2006-2009), Motorola (2002-2005), and several Blackstone portfolio and other private companies.
- During his corporate career, Mike served as President/CEO of Nortel, Motorola, and five GE businesses. In 21 years of direct P&L responsibility, he grew revenue 8% CGAR and increased the EBITDA at an average of 350bps per year.
- Co-Founder and Director, Macedonia 2025 www.macedonia2025.com
- Board of Directors, Special Olympics www.specialolympics.org
- Member of AEI www.aei.org
- Member of The CEO Forum theceoforum.org
- Member of The Chicago Council of Global Affairs www.globalaffairs.org
Robin Zafirovski
Vice Chairman
Lake Forest, IL
- Board Member for ABCO Systems.
- Trustee at Bucknell University (her alma mater).
- A Life Trustee of Lake Forest Academy.
- Senior Director of the Medical Center, a Foundation Board member, and on the Founders’ Board (Past President) of the Ann & Robert H Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
- Acolyte Head Mentor and Stewardship Co-Chair at the Church of the Holy Spirit, Lake Forest, IL.
- Robin is also the President of the Zafirovski Family Foundation, which focuses on education, mentoring, healthcare, and economic development.
- Previously with General Electric, where she completed the Financial Management Program, moving to Financial Analysis and Managerial Roles within GE Capital.
Scott Macdonald
Director, Portfolio Operations & Culture
Lake Forest, IL
- Board Member of Portfolio Companies (ACP CreativIT and ABCO Systems).
- Scott was CEO of Zondervan, a $150M publishing company; President of PeopleStrategy, an $11M HR software company; President of Lemstone, a $15M retailer; and General Manager of a $10M business for Aspect Development, a supply chain software company. Most recently, he was the Managing Director, Strategy & Operations for AUSL, a $12M not-for-profit focused on providing equity in education.
- He started his career at IBM, was a senior sales executive for a $500M ERP software company and has led sales for several smaller and start-up software companies.
- He is currently a Board Member of Makers of Disciple Makers, and Covenant Ability Network – IL, and Chair of the Board of Faith and Learning International.
Kirk Zafirovski
Vice President of Business Development,
VP Zafirovski Family Foundation
Boston, MA
- Worked as a Sales Executive at Teamworks, a software start-up built to support college and professional sports teams.
- Previously worked at Wasserman, one of the world’s largest sports and entertainment agencies, in a variety of roles: Business Development, Consulting, Golf, and Global Media.
- Received his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business (Duke), and his BA from Bucknell University.
Dimitar Popovski
CFO & Chief Information Officer,
General Manager (TZG Europe)
Skopje, North Macedonia
- More than 20 years of Sales, Business Development and Management experience in Southeastern Europe.
- Previously worked as the Managing Director for Sales in the SEE region for GE (Lighting and Industrial Solutions businesses), ABB International. and DJO Global
- Opened TZG Europe offices in Skopje in December 2021.
- B.Sc. in Economics/International Relations from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. Has completed the Executive Development Program at Kellogg’s School of Management.
Reid Cavallini
Director, Chief Investment Officer
New York, NY
- Previously interned at Morgan Stanley (private wealth management), Advantage Capital Partners (private equity impact investing) and NISA Investment Advisors (institutional asset management).
- Received his JD from The University of Chicago Law School, where he was a Rubenstein Scholar, and his BA in Economics from Vanderbilt University.
Louis Milicich
General Counsel
Lake Forest, IL
- A graduate of Northwestern University (both law school and undergraduate), he spent over 35 years at major law firms (counsel at global firms Dentons and DLA Piper, partner at national firm Jenner & Block), representing US and international companies, financial institutions, funds and private investors.
- For the past 20 years, he has concentrated on transactional work (e.g. corporate formation, mergers/acquisitions, privatizations, real estate, banking/finance, insurance) and corporate governance, compliance, data protection and privacy (e.g. global anti-corruption investigations, remediation and training). Throughout his career, his practice included corporate dispute resolution work (e.g. Illinois and US federal court litigation, alternative dispute resolution and international arbitration).
- He has worked and lived in Chicago/Lake Forest and in the Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CEE/SEE) region (Vienna, Bratislava and Belgrade). He is a founder and the present Co-Chair of the Chicago-Belgrade Sister Cities Committee (appointed by Mayors Hon. Richard M. Daley and Hon. Rahm I. Emanuel).
- He is a consultant to the Legal Committee of the Assembly of Bishops of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA and an advisor to the Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Midwestern America.
Matt Zafirovski
VP Zafirovski Family Foundation
CEO ACP CreativIT
Chicago, IL
- Joined ACP CreativIT in July 2020 as its COO, responsible for the company’s solutions and services business and its M&A function, before assuming the CEO post in October 2022. He now leads the company’s growth and evolution as a technology solutions provider, helping organizations harness technology to achieve their goals and to enable and accelerate their digital journey.
- Prior to joining ACP CreativIT, Matt held executive roles in technology and consumer businesses, including Groupon, serving as a Vice President, Groupon International and CEO of Groupon Korea, and Meadowood Associates, serving as Director of The Napa Valley Reserve. Prior to those roles, he worked at McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm.
- Matt earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
- He serves as an advisor to the Domain H. William Harlan and on the Board of Directors, as an Executive Committee Member and Strategy Chair, for the Golden Apple Foundation.
Todd Zafirovski
VP Zafirovski Family Foundation
Regional Sales Manager ACP CreativIT
Chicago, IL
- Joined ACP CreativIT in early 2018 as an account executive. Over the last several years, he has worked with some of our most important clients along with moving into a new role as Regional Sales Manager.
- Prior to joining ACP CreativIT, Todd worked in operations at Uber for 4 years, where he launched over 25 cities around the US and Canada and helped run the North American Airports business for the company.
- Todd holds an Undergraduate and Business degree from Duke University and the Fuqua School of Business at Duke. While at Duke, he played for the Men’s Basketball team and won a National Championship in 2010.
Kate Stanczak
Office Manager & Executive Assistant
Lake Forest, IL
- Prior to The Zaf Group, Kate worked as a corporate governance paralegal at ITW; previously to that as a corporate paralegal/legal assistant for Fortune Brands.
- Kate has an Associates in Legal Technology and an ABA approved paralegal certificate from Harper College. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education from Roosevelt University and graduated as a member of the Franklin Honor Society.
Original LP’s
Christopher B. Galvin
- Co-Founder and Chairman, Gore Creek Asset Management LLC; Former Chairman and CEO, Motorola; Former Chairman and co-founder, Harrison Street Real Estate Capital; Former Chairman of NAVTEQ Inc, Cleversafe Inc, and The U.S.-China Business Council
- Northwestern University’s Board of Trustees; American Enterprise Institute Board; Advisory Board of Tsinghua University; Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School
- His former roles included: Bechtel Corporation’s Board of Counselors; Member of the American Society of Corporate Executives; Director of the Rand Corporation
- High Impact Philanthropist
Dave Calhoun
- President and CEO of The Boeing Company
- Director Caterpillar Inc. and Member of the Business Roundtable
- Former Vice Chair of GE, CEO of Nielsen, Senior VP and Head of Portfolio Operations at the Blackstone Group
- Virginia Tech Director, Board of Visitors
- Co-Author of “How Companies Win”
David Blitzer
- Global Head of Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities Group
- Co-Owner of numerous sports franchises, including the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils, Crystal Palace, Real Salt Lake, NYY Railriders
- Trustee at University of Pennsylvania
- Co-Managing Partner and Co-Chairman of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainmen
- Co-founder with wife Allisson Blitzer of the Blitzer Family Foundation
Joel Hackney
- Active Investor including as a senior advisor of BayPine and Falfurrias Capital Partners
- Previously: Chairman and CEO of nThrive; CEO and Board Member of AVINTIV; and Senior Leadership Positions at Avaya, Nortel, and GE
- Board Member: Stericycle; Training the Street; and CC Capital Active participation at several philanthropic and faith-based organizations
John I. Bitove
- Owner/founder of Obelysk, an investment firm
- Founder of Toronto Raptors NBA basketball team
- President of 2008 Olympics Bid for Toronto
- Active participation in a number of philanthropic organizations, including as a Co-Founder (with Mike Z.) of Macedonia 2025
Kenneth Langone
- Founder and CEO of Invemed Associates LLC
- Investor in more than 80 companies, including Co-Founder of Home Depot
- Past Corporate Boards have included Unifi GE, Yum Brands, Choice Point and Geeknet
- Generous and high-impact philanthropist, including at Bucknell University (his alma mater) and at NYU Langone Health, where tuition-free was enabled for all medical students
- Author of “I Love Capitalism”
