SOLOMON PARTNERS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- MANAGING DIRECTOR
- Managing Director in Media
Adam Jaffe is a Managing Director in Media. He joined the firm in 2010.
Job Titles:
- ASSOCIATE
- Associate in the Telecommunications Group
Akash Kodandaram is an associate in the Telecommunications group at Solomon Partners. He joined the firm in 2022 as an analyst.
Al Torabi is a Vice President on our Business Services team based in Chicago. He joined Solomon Partners in 2022.
Experience
Prior to joining Solomon Partners, Al worked at Kaiser Associates, a boutique consulting firm. His experience includes advising Fortune 500 companies on growth strategies and conducting commercial due diligences for private equity clients. Prior to that, Al worked at KeyBanc, focusing on M&A, strategic advisory, and debt financings for public and private industrial companies.
Education
Al holds a MS in Finance from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis and a BA in Economics and Mathematics from Indiana University.
Alexis Keresztes is responsible for creating and formatting business presentations and graphics for the firm. She joined Solomon Partners in 2022.
Experience
Prior to Solomon Partners, Alexis spent seven years at SHI International where she held positions as both Content & Presentation Specialist and Graphic Design Specialist. She brings a fresh sense of creativity with her background in the technology industry, working closely with companies such as Google, Dell Technologies, and Cisco. Her experience in design spans from presentations to social media, physical signage, conference booth design, and more.
Education
Alexis graduated cum laude from Montclair State University with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Studio Art.
Allison Quiroz is a Marketing Associate focused on digital marketing and communications. She joined the firm in 2022.
Experience
Prior to Solomon Partners, Allison was an Event Marketing Specialist at Cushman & Wakefield where she managed and organized corporate events across the New York Tri-State Region. She handled all aspects of event planning from promotion to execution. During her time at Cushman, she also facilitated brand marketing campaigns across the department.
Education
Allison holds a BAS in Advertising & Marketing Communications and an AAS in Fashion Merchandising & Management from SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology.
She also has a certification in Software Engineering from General Assembly.
Alyssa Lam is an analyst. She joined the firm in 2022 as a summer analyst.
Anders Maxwell is a Senior Advisor in the firm's Debt Advisory & Restructuring Practice. He joined Solomon Partners in 1999.
Experience
Major clients for whom Mr. Maxwell has been financial advisor have included Mirant Corporation's Official Committee of Equity Security Holders, Six Flags, Inc.'s Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, Building Materials Holding Corporation, Debtor in its' bankruptcy reorganization, Calpine Generating Company's Indenture trustee and collateral agent, and Washington Mutual Inc.'s Official Committee of Equity Security Holders. Other engagements include Overseas Shipholding Group's Equity Committee, PMI Group, Energy Future Holdings Corporation and NewSat Limited.
Prior to joining Solomon Partners, Mr. Maxwell was in charge of GE Capital's Project Finance and Equity Capital groups. He was also head of high yield research at Smith Barney, Harris Upham and worked in high yield sales and distressed securities trading at Kidder Peabody, LF Rothchild, and Lazard Frères. Mr. Maxwell is periodically ranked among the top bankruptcy restructuring financial advisors in The Deal League Tables and writes frequently on credit markets.
Education
Mr. Maxwell earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree with Honors from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Andrew Davis is an analyst. He joined the firm in 2022 as a summer analyst.
Anna Broadbent is an Associate in the Technology group. She joined Solomon Partners in 2021.
Prior to joining Solomon Partners, Anna was an Associate at HSBC in the Leveraged and Acquisition Finance group in New York, where she worked for four years.
Anna holds a BA, cum laude, in Political Science from Columbia University. She also holds an MA in Global Thought (studies and research in Political Economics) from Columbia University.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Vice President of Recruiting
Annie Horsley is Assistant Vice President of Recruiting. She joined the firm in 2021 as a Recruiting Associate.
Experience
Prior to Solomon Partners, Annie worked at Morgan Stanley within their campus recruiting department. She recruited for the firm's Investment Banking Division and assisted in the full lifecycle recruitment of their summer analyst population. Annie also has experience supporting Corporate Treasury, Finance, Internal Audit and Operations campus recruiting efforts and summer internship programs.
Education
Annie holds a BA in Environmental Studies from Franklin & Marshall College.
Job Titles:
- MANAGING DIRECTOR
- Managing Director in Healthcare
Aryeh Sand is a Managing Director in Healthcare, focused on specialty and generic pharma, nuclear medicine, contrast media and diagnostic imaging spaces. He joined the firm in 2022.
Experience
Aryeh has 12+ years of healthcare investment banking experience and specializes in advising clients in the specialty and generic pharma, nuclear medicine, contrast media and diagnostic imaging spaces. He has advised boards of directors and special committees as well as companies on a broad range of transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged buyouts, restructurings and capital raising solutions.
Prior to joining Solomon Partners, Aryeh was a Managing Director and Head of Healthcare Investment Banking at TAP Advisors where he spent six years building the firm's healthcare effort. Prior to TAP, Aryeh was a founding member and senior banker in Mizuho's Healthcare Investment Banking group. Over the past decade, Aryeh has advised or has served as a lead financing banker on numerous key healthcare transactions with a total transaction value of over $100 billion. Aryeh has worked with leading companies such as Actavis / Allergan, Amgen, Gilead, Mallinckrodt Nuclear Medicine, Azurity Pharmaceuticals, Upsher-Smith, Alora Pharmaceuticals, and BWXT Medical.
Education
Aryeh earned an Honours B.Comm degree from the University of Toronto.
Austin May is a Vice President on our Business Services team based in Chicago. He joined Solomon Partners in 2021.
Experience
Prior to joining Solomon Partners, Austin worked at XMS Capital Partners for four and a half years, focusing on M&A, strategic advisory, and financing alternatives for public and private companies across a broad range of industries. He has completed transactions with an aggregate value of over $10B across sell and buy-side M&A and capital raising transactions. Austin began his career in J.P. Morgan's Private Bank, advising ultra-high net worth families, institutions, and endowments.
Education
Austin holds a BS, magna cum laude, in Finance and Economics, from Kansas State University.
Ben Daniel is an analyst. He joined the firm in 2022 as a summer analyst.
Job Titles:
- ASSOCIATE
- Associate in Infrastructure
Ben Koeppel is an associate in Infrastructure, Power & Renewables. He joined the firm in 2022.
Ben Zinder is a Director and joined Solomon Partners in 2008.
Benjamin Levkovich is an analyst. He joined the firm in 2022 as a summer analyst.
Benjamin Schwartz is an analyst. He joined the firm in 2022 as a summer analyst.
Blake McCann is an Analyst who joined the firm in 2021. He was a Summer Analyst in 2020.
Job Titles:
- MANAGING DIRECTOR
- Managing Director in Healthcare
Brad Hildebrand is a Managing Director in Healthcare focused on healthcare services. He joined Solomon Partners in 2023.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director in Consumer Retail
Brandon Yoshimura is a Director in Consumer Retail. He joined Solomon Partners in 2015 as an associate.
Experience
Brandon advises emerging and disruptive retail brands on M&A and capital-raising activities, representing clients including Draper James, Key Foods, Marsh Supermarkets, ModCloth, Moose Knuckles, Psycho Bunny, and PVH.
Select publicly announced advisory transactions include:
Cameron Chiarelli is an Associate who joined the firm in 2019. He was a Summer Analyst in 2018.
Caroline Applegarth leads the firm's marketing department and is responsible for the brand experience, digital strategy, and creative vision. She joined Solomon Partners in 2020.
Experience
Caroline came to Solomon Partners from Eaton Partners, a Stifel Company, where she focused on the firm's fundraising and origination marketing efforts. She brings to Solomon a strong background in design, communications, and business, with experience at the Atlantic Media Company in Washington, DC and Duke University's Athletic Development Office. Caroline began her career as a public relations intern for the US Department of State's Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, and she has been a consultant in brand development, social media, and marketing for several industries.
Education
Caroline holds a BA in Evolutionary Biology from Duke University, with minors in Sociology and Religion. She also holds a degree in Graphic Design from the Parsons School of Design.
Job Titles:
- PARTNER
- Partner / Co - Head of Consumer Retail
- Partner and Co - Head of Consumer Retail, Co
Cathy Leonhardt is a Partner and Co-Head of Consumer Retail, Co-Chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Council, and Head of the Women's Network. She joined Solomon Partners in 2003.
Experience
Regarded as an innovative thought leader with deep industry knowledge, Cathy is a trusted advisor to established and emerging retailing, consumer-branded and apparel companies. As an industry leader, Cathy regularly discusses trends in the retailing sector including for CNBC, Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance and WWD.
From visionary entrepreneurs to large public companies, she has advised a range of clients on important domestic and cross-border transactions throughout her 20-year career, including OpCapita's recent acquisition of specialty retailer maurices, Groupe Rocher's acquisition of Arbonne, PVH's acquisitions of Tommy Hilfiger and Warnaco Group, Bare Necessities on its sale to Walmart, and Athleta on its sale to The Gap.
Additionally, Cathy has advised Kering, Moose Knuckles, The Jones Group, Quicksilver, Fred's Inc. on its announced sale of 185 Store's Pharmacy Prescription Files to Walgreens, TA Associates on its investment in Dutch LLC, PPR on its sale of The Sportsman's Guide and OneStopPlus, Ariat International on its expanded partnership with the Fisher family, Deckers on its acquisition of Sanuk, PPR on its acquisition of Volcom, PVH Corp. in its acquisition of Superba Inc., Kate Spade LLC in its sale to Liz Claiborne, J. Jill in its sale to Talbots, May in its merger with Federated, Loehmann's in its sale to Crescent Capital Investments, and Barneys in its sale to Jones Apparel Group.
Prior to joining Solomon Partners, Cathy was a Vice President at Morgan Stanley, M&A Group. While there, she advised on Sears' acquisition of Land's End, Tommy Hilfiger Corporation's acquisition of Tommy Europe, Jones Apparel's acquisition of McNaughton, merger of Monsanto and Pharmacia, Georgia-Pacific's spin-off of The Timber Company to Plum Creek, and the sale of Donna Karan's beauty business to Estée Lauder. Cathy began her career at Wachovia as an officer in the US Corporate Banking Group.
Education
Cathy holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BS, summa cum laude, from the University of Alabama.
Professional Affiliations
Member, Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW)
Member, Culverhouse Board of Visitors, Culverhouse College of Commerce, University of Alabama
Chelsea Howes is Chief of Staff at Solomon Partners. She is responsible for supporting the Office of the CEO across all functional areas, in addition to working alongside senior leadership in crafting strategic presentations, financial analyses, and corporate communications. She joined Solomon Partners in 2022.
Experience
Prior to joining Solomon Partners, Chelsea worked as an Associate in Barclays' Consumer Retail Group, providing advisory services on both sell-side and buy-side M&A transactions, equity and debt financings, and strategic alternatives. Before her role in the Consumer Retail Group, Chelsea spent four years as an Analyst and Associate in Barclays' Financial Institutions Group, where she helped execute a number of successful sell-side transactions in the Specialty Finance sector.
Education
Chelsea holds a BA, magna cum laude, in Business Administration from California State University - Fullerton.
Job Titles:
- SENIOR ADVISOR
- Senior Real Estate Advisor
Job Titles:
- Member of the SENIOR LEADERSHIP Team
- PARTNER
Job Titles:
- MANAGING DIRECTOR
- Joins Solomon Partners As Managing Director in Consumer Retail Group July 11, 2023
Job Titles:
- Director of Communications
Job Titles:
- Member of the SENIOR LEADERSHIP Team
- Vice Chairman
Job Titles:
- SENIOR ADVISOR
- Senior Real Estate Advisor
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
Job Titles:
- Director of Talent & Leadership Development
Job Titles:
- Assistant Vice President of Finance
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Founder
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
Job Titles:
- Director of Recruiting and Engagement
Job Titles:
- Assistant Vice President of HR Operations
Job Titles:
- Member of the SENIOR LEADERSHIP Team
- PARTNER
Job Titles:
- Assistant General Counsel
- Vice President
Job Titles:
- Human Resources Specialist
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team