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Gerald H. Houghton
President
Gerald H. Houghton is the founding partner of Brooks, Houghton & Company, Inc., a merchant banking firm established in 1989. Since the founding of the firm, he has been engaged in many capital markets transactions and numerous mergers and acquisitions of mid-size companies, operating in a wide variety of industries. Mr. Houghton serves as the Managing Partner of BHC Interim Funding II, L.P. and of BHC Winton Fund L.P. He is a Registered Principal of Brooks, Houghton Securities, Inc. the broker dealer arm of the Brooks, Houghton Group. Previously, Mr. Houghton was an Executive Director with Merrill Lynch & Company. He joined Merrill Lynch from Barclays Bank International where he served as Senior Vice President and Executive in charge of the bank's New York-based Corporate Banking Division. He also directed Barclays' Financial Institutions Group, which served clients in the insurance, commercial finance, brokerage and investment banking industries. Mr. Houghton served as the bank's North American Chief Credit Officer during his twenty-year career with the Barclays Group.
Mr. Houghton was born in South Africa, and was educated both there and in the United Kingdom. He is also a graduate from the Executive Program at the Harvard Business School.
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John Adler
Senior Advisor
Mr. Adler is a Senior Advisor to Brooks Houghton and Company, Inc providing expertise on debt financing assignments for a variety of specialty finance companies, for the purchase of consumer and commercial loan portfolios, and for other niche markets. Mr. Adler also focuses on new business development opportunities.
He has over 30 years experience in finance, business development and mergers and acquisitions. He has a solid record of achievement in the financing of a variety of companies, in a cross section of industries, that include companies in manufacturing, distribution, financial services, business services, energy, gaming, restaurants, franchising and retailing industries.
Mr. Adler is the President of Adler Consulting, Inc which advises, consults and assists small and middle market companies in the restructuring of their finances and operations.
Mr. Adler holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from The University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) and a MBA from Boston College, Massachusetts.
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Kevin Centofanti, CFA
Senior Managing Director
Kevin Centofanti is a Senior Managing Director of Brooks, Houghton & Company, Inc. and a Registered Principal of Brooks, Houghton Securities, Inc. Mr. Centofanti is involved in new business origination and a variety of corporate finance assignments for the firm. Areas of particular interest to him include healthcare, technology, financial services, food and beverage. consumer and business services, and media. He is also responsible for co-managing Brooks, Houghton Securities. Before joining BHC, he was a Partner at The Nassau Group where he focused on technology and special situations for the firm, advising clients on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures/sales and on a wide range of capital raising initiatives. Previously, Mr. Centofanti was a Managing Director at WR Hambrecht + Co., a merchant and investment bank. At WR Hambrecht, Mr. Centofanti focused on advising new media, software, and special situation companies on public and private capital raising, mergers, acquisitions, and sales. Prior to WR Hambrecht, Mr. Centofanti was at Daiwa Securities America, an international investment bank. He founded that firm's private equity group, which concentrated primarily on funding emerging growth companies in the technology and healthcare industries.
Mr. Centofanti received B.S. degrees in Pharmacy and Business from SUNY at Buffalo, and an M.B.A. in Finance and International Business from Columbia University. Additionally, he holds the CFA designation.
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Zenas M.C. Colt
Managing Director
Mr. Colt is a Managing Director of Brooks, Houghton & Company, Inc. responsible for client relationships, investment banking services provided by the firm and originating transactions for BHC Interim Funding. Prior to joining Brooks, Houghton & Company, Inc., he was a Managing Director of Scott-Macon, Ltd. Mr. Colt has over 30 years of commercial and investment banking experience primarily working with both Fortune 500 and middle-market companies. He has held senior positions at Chemical Bank (now JP Morgan) and at Fleet (now Bank of America). While at Fleet, he held the position of Senior Vice President, Capital Markets Group, where his responsibilities included acquisition financing. He was a founding partner of Fleet Associates, the bank's first investment banking subsidiary. Prior to joining Scott-Macon in 1994, Mr. Colt was Director of Mergers and Acquisitions at Marine Midland Bank and a founder of Connecticut Capital Advisors, which provided corporate financial advisory services to middle market companies in New England. Mr. Colt is the Rhode Island-based market executive for Brooks, Houghton & Company
Mr. Colt is a graduate of the University of Virginia.
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David J. DiPaolo
Managing Director
Mr. DiPaolo is a Managing Director of BHC Interim Funding, L.P. and a Managing Partner of BHC Winton Fund.
Since joining the Fund in 2001, Mr. DiPaolo has been responsible for sourcing, evaluating, structuring, negotiating and closing investments, as well as monitoring and assisting portfolio companies. His industry experience includes manufacturing, distribution, business services, financial services, retail and apparel, telecommunications, and oil and gas services.
Previously, Mr. DiPaolo was an Assistant Vice President of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, an investment banking firm specializing in middle-market transactions. Mr. DiPaolo's transaction experience includes M&A, sales and divestitures, leveraged buyouts and public and private securities offerings.
Mr. DiPaolo received a BS in Business Management from the University of Maryland and his MBA with honors in Finance from Columbia Business School.
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Deane M. Driscoll
Managing Director
Mr. Driscoll is a Managing Director of BHC Interim Funding, L.P. Since joining the Fund in 2004, Mr. Driscoll has led the marketing and business origination effort and acts as the Fund’s primary contact with the banking community. In addition, Mr. Driscoll supports the underwriting and portfolio management aspects of the Fund.
Prior to joining the Fund, Mr. Driscoll was a Senior Vice-President with Hilco Capital LP, a private investment fund, where he was responsible for marketing and originating subordinated debt investments. In his career, Mr. Driscoll has focused on originating and structuring sub-debt and mezzanine transactions as well as senior secured, recapitalizations, turnarounds, debtor-in-possession and Tranche B financings in a broad range of industries for both public and private companies. Mr. Driscoll has held various positions including account management, underwriting, syndications and marketing with GE Capital, BankBoston Business Credit, The CIT Group/Business Credit, and Fleet Bank.
Mr. Driscoll earned a BA degree in economics from Villanova University.
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John Y. Freeman
Senior Managing Director
John Y. Freeman is a Senior Managing Director of Brooks, Houghton & Company, Inc. focusing on mergers & acquisitions, private placements and leveraged financings. He is also responsible for co-managing Brooks, Houghton Securities. Mr. Freeman has been engaged in investment banking for over twenty years.
He joined Brooks, Houghton from an investment banking firm specializing in small cap public market transactions where he was Managing Director responsible for mergers and acquisitions and leveraged fundings. Mr. Freeman was also a director and head of mergers & acquisitions for Tucker Anthony, a NYSE-member firm. Mr. Freeman began his investment banking career with Citicorp Investment Bank where he served as a Vice President in the mergers & acquisitions department with responsibility for various industry and geographical groups during his eight years with the bank. Previous to Citicorp, he was a consultant with Coopers & Lybrand.
Mr. Freeman is a graduate of the University of Virginia where he earned a B.S. in Business from the McIntire School and an MBA from the Darden School of Graduate Business. He is also a C.P.A.
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Thomas S. Gilbert
Senior Advisor
Mr. Gilbert has more than 40 years of private equity, investment banking, fixed income and new business formation experience. He is a Director and the Founder of Knowledge Delivery Systems, a leading provider of video-based online teacher educational programs.
Mr. Gilbert has been active in education, healthcare, venture capital, leveraged buyouts, and corporate and municipal debt financings. He was previously a Managing Director, Venture Capital, at Loeb Partners Corporation, where he originated a broad range of private equity investments, some of which generated above average returns. Prior to Loeb Partners, he was a Vice President and Manager of the Public Finance department at Allen & Company, Inc. He was previously with Dean Witter Reynolds, as Vice President, New Business, of their Public Finance department, and with their predecessor firm, Reynolds Securities, as Vice President and Manager of their Public Finance department.
Mr. Gilbert is a graduate of Phillips Andover Academy and Princeton University, with a BA from The Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs, and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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Anthony Moretti
Director
Mr. Moretti brings with him over 15 years of investment and commercial banking experience to Brooks, Houghton & Company. Mr. Moretti has spent his career assisting middle market and emerging growth companies on numerous assignments involving mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, spin-offs, debt and equity financings (public and private), general corporate finance advisory, valuations and fairness opinions. Mr. Moretti's transaction experience covers several industry sectors, including apparel & footwear, consumer electronics, digital media, filmed and interactive entertainment, personal care products and services, recreational products, retail and toys.
Prior to joining Brooks, Houghton, Mr. Moretti served as a Director at BMO Capital Markets where he provided investment and corporate banking services to a broad range of consumer and media & entertainment clients. Prior to BMO, he served as a Vice President in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at RBC Capital Markets.
Mr. Moretti received a BA in Business Economics from Brown University.
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Kevin P. Murphy
Managing Director
Mr. Murphy joined Brooks, Houghton & Co., Inc. as a Managing Director in 2008 and has over 30 years experience on both the buy/sell side of financing with a special emphasis on private high yield debt and equity financings. Prior to joining Brooks, Houghton, Mr. Murphy was a Managing Director of Dominick & Dominick LLC (member NYSE) in its Corporate Finance group for almost 10 years, responsible for numerous transactions at all levels of the capital structure as well as mergers and acquisitions.
Preceding Dominick & Dominick, Mr. Murphy was a Senior Vice President of General Electric Capital Corporation, primarily investing growth capital and financing leveraged buyouts for small and medium sized companies. Previous to GE Capital, he was a Vice President of Private Placements at PaineWebber, Incorporated. Mr. Murphy has also arranged financings while being employed with such firms as Nomura Securities International, Heller Financial, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., and E.F. Hutton.
Mr. Murphy holds a BS degree from Yale University and an MM in Finance and Accounting from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
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Michael M. O'Mara
Senior Advisor
Mr. O'Mara is a Senior Advisor to Brooks, Houghton & Company, Inc., providing guidance with respect to numerous business and economic issues on behalf of the firm and its clients.
He has over thirty years of investment banking and investment management experience. Mr. O'Mara worked for John Hancock in the Boston Marketing/Management division, where he participated in corporate acquisitions. He later founded O'Mara Financial, Inc. an investment banking and syndication firm that specializes in project equity financing. Along with securing equity and debt financing for commercial real estate acquisition/development and traditional and alternative energy sources, O'Mara Financial also provides management and construction oversight services including strategy development for real estate acquisition/development along with consulting on the structure of corporate sales and buyouts.
Mr. O'Mara is currently the President of O'Mara Financial and is the co-founder of Elm Street Partners and Elm Street Advisors, two firms delivering a range of investment advice and investment management services.
Mr. O'Mara is a graduate of the University of Arkansas.
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Dr. Domenico Pecorini
Senior Advisor
Dr. Pecorini is a Senior Advisor to Brooks Houghton & Company responsible for developing European market investment opportunities. Currently he is President of Life Episteme Group, a technology and marketing company based in Geneva (CH) and active in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, cosmeceutical and medical device industries.
Prior experience includes Chief Operating Officer of Fondazione Parco Biomedico San Raffaele of Rome (2006-2010), a science park focusing on regenerative medicine and stem cells, Executive Director of Stilbon SA (2000-2006), a Geneva-based oil and gas trading company, President and CEO Inveni Engineering, a company with patents and know-how in renewable energies and specialized in environmental studies and civil works, CEO of L'ARCOSS SpA (1996-1999), a German-Italian general contractor, and Head of Foreign Activities at ISMES SpA - ENEL Group (1987-1996), one of the largest European utilities.
Dr. Pecorini is a Member of the Board of WHT, an Italian company developing medical devices for women's health.
Dr. Pecorini holds a PhD in International Economics, with a specialty in project financing and research and technology led industrial policies, from the LUISS University of Rome. He is a registered senior lecturer in International Economics at LUISS University of Rome.
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Edward J. Rutkowski
Senior Advisor
Mr. Rutkowski is a Senior Advisor to Brooks, Houghton & Company, Inc. providing the firm with expertise in corporate and governmental matters. After serving as the District Representative to Congressman Jack Kemp in Buffalo, he served as the Erie County Executive, the largest county in upstate New York. He has also served as Director of New York State Parks. Mr. Rutkowski is the President of Domer Associates, a consulting company providing a specialized service to various industries.
Mr. Rutkowski is a graduate of Notre Dame University and a former player with the Buffalo Bills professional football team. He is a member of the Pennsylvania National Sports Hall of Fame and a recipient of the New York State Parks L.L. Huttleston Executive Award.
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Barbara B. Schoenfeld
Director
Ms. Schoenfeld is a Director of Brooks, Houghton & Company, Inc., responsible for origination and execution of the firm's investment banking business. Ms. Schoenfeld is also Managing Director of Saffron LLC, providing executive search services to private equity and financial services firms.
Ms. Schoenfeld was previously Chief Operating Officer of the Alternative Investments Group of Brown Brothers Harriman and Vice President, with responsibilities for institutional investment marketing, product development and operations. From 1993 through 1999, she was Deputy Treasurer/General Counsel for the State of Rhode Island Treasury. Previously, she practiced corporate law with the firms of Ropes & Gray and with Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge.
Ms. Schoenfeld graduated with a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, where she also earned M.C.P. and M.S.W. degrees in health policy and planning. Her J.D. is from the Boston University School of Law.
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Andrew D. Shiftan
Managing Director
Mr. Shiftan is a Managing Director of BHC Interim Funding, L.P. and Brooks, Houghton & Company. Mr. Shiftan is charged with the evaluation, structure and execution of investments undertaken by BHC Interim Funding, L.P, while also involved in the oversight of portfolio companies in which this Fund has made investments.
Previously, Mr. Shiftan served as a Managing Director within the Corporate Finance Department of Morgan Joseph & Co., where he led transactions for companies within the healthcare, industrial, and consumer products sector. Prior to Morgan Joseph, Mr. Shiftan performed in various roles at CapitalKey Advisors LLC, KPMG Corporate Finance LLC, and Janney Montgomery Scott LLC.
Mr. Shiftan received an MBA from Fordham University and earned a BA degree from the University of Virginia.
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Ryan Wilke
Associate
Mr. Wilke's responsibilities include transaction analysis, structuring and execution of investments on behalf of BHC Interim Funding, L.P. Additional functions include portfolio company related activities.
Previously, Mr. Wilke served as an Analyst within the Corporate Finance Department at Morgan Joseph & Co. where he executed a variety of M&A and financing assignments.
Mr. Wilke graduated with distinction from the University of North Carolina, earning a BS in Business Administration.
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Ian M. Winchester
Managing Partner
Mr. Winchester is a Managing Partner and Chairman of the Investment Committee of BHC Winton Fund, L.P., an investment fund which focuses on providing capital to syndicates operating in the Lloyd's of London ("Lloyd's") market. He is also Managing Director - Insurance - of Brooks, Houghton & Co. From 1985 to 2006, he was with T&H Holdings, Inc., parent of Toplis and Harding, Inc., one of the oldest independent insurance outsourced services companies in North America specializing in claims adjusting work, where he served as Chairman, President and CEO and where he continues to serve as a non-executive director. From 1970 to 1985, he was with Winchester Bowring, Ltd., a specialist reinsurance broker at Lloyd's and a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan, Inc., where he served as Managing Director from 1976 to 1985, and from 1964 to 1970 he was with Alexander Howden, Ltd., now a part of Aon Corporation, where he served as an Assistant Director from 1968 to 1970. Mr. Winchester has also been an Underwriting Member of Lloyd's since 1978.
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444 Madison Avenue • 25th Floor • New York, NY 10022 • Phone: (212) 753-1991 • Fax: (212) 753-7730 • info@brookshoughton.com |
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