FEDERAL FINANCE - Key Persons


Austin Root

Job Titles:
  • DIRECTOR of BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Austin brings over 20 years of experience in the financial world to Federal Finance. He began his career in 2000 on Wall Street at Merrill Lynch's Global Markets and Investment Banking Group where he created, developed and marketed complex, structured financial products to Fortune 500 companies. Since leaving Merrill Lynch in 2007 Austin has spent the last 15 years consulting with small and medium sized businesses in business strategy and development as well as with multi-family offices, assets managers and investment funds on various types of financing opportunities across the capital stack in various asset classes including but not limited to real estate, venture capital, and private equity. At Federal Finance, Austin is focusing on the firm's business development where he is sourcing new real estate financing, acquisition and development opportunities as well as securing and managing new capital sources for the firm. Austin holds a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. Outside of work, Austin is an avid explorer of the world having traveled to over 60 countries, diving into anything related to food (eating and cooking!), the built environment, world cultures, ancient wisdom and health and wellness. He is also an Arsenal Gunners and Pittsburgh Steelers fan!

Jim Cahill

Job Titles:
  • SENIOR EXECUTIVE & CAPTIAL RAISE ADVISORY
James J. Cahill Jim has been an investment banking and management consulting professional in New York City for the past 25 years to both private and public companies from development stage to LIBERTY UNION BANK LONDON - NEW YORK multi-national corporations. He has been a principal, director and senior advisor to many domestic and international companies throughout his career. Mr. Cahill is a registered principal of the Bristol Investment Group in New York and is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Regulatory Authority - CRD #1983128. Previously, he was a registered principal of Agincourt Ltd., a Bermuda-based international advisor to multi-national corporations and institutional investors. Mr. Cahill founded McKim & Company, a diversified investment banking and asset management firm in 1998. Prior to McKim, he was a Managing Director at both MFR Securities, Inc. and Laidlaw Global Securities. Early in his career, Mr. Cahill was with TIAACREF managing a $1.5 billion portfolio of investments. Mr. Cahill started his career in the investment banking division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Cahill graduated from Boston College with a B.A., attended law school at Loyola University of Chicago and Oxford University (Magdalen College) and received a Masters in Management from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Mr. Cahill is based in New York.

Joe Gianuzzi

Job Titles:
  • SENIOR HEAD of ACQUISITIONS & CORPORATE FINANCE
Joe Giannuzzi brings 20+ years of corporate sales experience to Federal Finance. With his 6+ years' experience as a commercial and residential sales professional, Joe specializes in Single Family and Multi-family Residential Finance for new communities scaling from 10 - 500 properties. Within the firm's development arm "Federal Group Investments" Joe is our Head of Acquisitions. He focuses on all aspects of our development sites from evaluation of purchasing, profitability, and overseeing each development as project manager from ground up construction. Joe also implements maximum profitability with strategic selling exit strategies. Joe has a passion for real estate investing and how projects can be the textbook setting for financial growth and future business opportunities. Joe's 14 years of senior leadership and sales with Hilton Hotels is reflected through his dedicated customer service for all clientele. He has a very strong work ethic with a passion for helping others, and no one is more dedicated to their clients' best interests. On a personal note, Joe relocated from Pittsburgh "Go Steelers" 15+ years ago to the Central Florida area. When Joe is not working with clients, he spends time building community team-focused relationships within the health & fitness world and orchestrating intense obstacle events.

Manny Banwait

Job Titles:
  • Commercial Finance Specialist
  • SENIOR EXECUTIVE - HEAD of ORIGINATION & CANADIAN OPERATIONS MANAGER
Manny is a commercial finance specialist, having spent the past 3 years launching the Canadian office as well as expanding operations across North America. Mandeep has generated in excess of $1.5B of transactional business into the firm. His expertise within construction Loans and LP / GP equities has given him a great platform to expand Federal Finances, core models. In addition to the above, Manny is also expanding new markets for the firm both nationally and internationally.

Rakesh Gill

Rakesh Gill Seasoned professional within the Corporate Finance sector with experience in raising Equity and Debt Funding across a variety of sectors. Involved in working alongside Private Equity and Institutional Funds across the capital stack, offering the client the flexibility to structure finance in complex cases. Successful in Business Development and maintaining a principal relationship with key stakeholders and decision-makers. Prior to Federal Finance, Rakesh was involved in raising investments into listed corporate bonds via multi-channel distribution models successfully closing £20m into these asset-backed securities.

Ryan Kennedy

Job Titles:
  • BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
Ryan is a veteran in the finance industry with over 7+ years of originating and management experience. He began his career in various sales and management positions in big box residential lending institutions responsible for managing and building strong sales teams that not only thrive during good times, but also excel during tough ones as well as creating operations work flows to ensure smooth processes. Ryan has a knack for figuring out the hard stuff and getting the job done with an emphasis on client satisfaction. Ryan prides himself on his dedication to his craft and is always looking for ways to improve his processes and be better than the competition.

Steve Brigante - Managing Director

Job Titles:
  • MANAGING DIRECTOR
As a serial entrepreneur, Steve held c-suite positions to lead companies to acquisitions and extraordinary growth, including as COO of real estate sales and marketing company The Reiser Group (Inc.'s #145 of "Fastest Growing Companies" in the US). Steve has also served as a senior officer the U.S. Navy and as an executive in Fortune 100 companies. He concurrently serves as Managing Partner of a Private Investment firm; on the Board and as Executive Producer at Xenon Pictures; and as and founder and EVP at optical technology company Soliddd Corp. Steve holds a BA from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a master's degree in public policy, served as a Federal Executive Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and in a senior executive program at MIT. Steve's role as an advisory to the firm on new investment strategies and capital raises, is second to none as well as bringing new relationships to the firm.

Tan Bahia - CEO

Job Titles:
  • CEO
Tan is the CEO of Federal Finance - a UK Commercial Financier, who has now expanded his operations in the US with offices in London / New York / Orlando & Toronto. He has concluded more than $1,7Billion in transactions across both markets. Prior to Federal Finance, Tan worked in corporate banking with Barclays Bank / Santander & HSBC. With a sound understanding of the banking models, he has successfully built an international business arranging funding structures for the most complex lending scenarios for some of the world's elite developers and corporate investors. As the company grows, so do the lines of capital and now Tan has formed a Private Equity Fund to facilitate direct market lending. In addition to the above, Tan also owns Federal Group Investments, which is a development company - building large residential home communities across Florida and other select markets. Outside of work, Tan is an advent Arsenal supporter "Gooners all the way" & generally enjoys anything sports-related!