MARATHON CAPITAL - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Senior Lead Executive Assistant
Job Titles:
- Senior Managing Director & Co - Head of NYC
Job Titles:
- Director, Marketing & Communications and Co - Chair of D & I Committee
Job Titles:
- Head of Korea, Country Manager
Job Titles:
- Senior Managing Director, Head of Chicago & Co - Chair of D & I Committee
Job Titles:
- Human Resources Business Partner
Job Titles:
- Managing Director, Private Capital Advisory
Ayo Folaranmi, Associate, is responsible for creating detailed financial models, conducting due diligence, evaluating risk/return parameters, and preparing investment marketing materials in support of Marathon Capital's senior bankers in their relationship management responsibilities.
Prior to Marathon, Mr. Folaranmi worked as a Research Analyst and Geologist at IHS Markit, where he conducted technical and financial evaluations of unconventional upstream assets in the United States. Prior to IHS Markit, he worked at Ephraim Resources as a carbon utilization and commercialization consultant. In this role, he sourced and led due diligence efforts on carbon capture and utilization assets in the Southern U.S. He previously interned with Prime Impact Fund/Azolla Ventures, Rivian, and Lime Rock New Energy.
Mr. Folaranmi received his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He also holds an MS in Geology from Oklahoma State University and a BS in Geosciences from Midwestern State University. He holds Series 63 and 79 licenses.
Bob Braasch - Chief Compliance Officer
Job Titles:
- Chief Compliance Officer
- Secretary
- Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary With Overall Responsibility
Bob Braasch is Marathon Capital's Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary with overall responsibility for the company's compliance, regulatory, risk management, and legal functions. Mr. Braasch oversees the company's interactions with external legal counsel and various regulators and interacts with senior management of clients and counterparties.
Before Marathon Capital, Mr. Braasch had extensive experience in corporate finance, banking, and operations within a financial environment, particularly in risk management, funding, and capital structuring. At a series of financial companies, including LaSalle Bank, Household Finance Corporation, and several medium-sized companies, he successfully negotiated initial public offerings, domestic and international debt placements, and numerous acquisitions and divestitures. Mr. Braasch has previously held senior management positions, including Treasurer, Chief Financial Officer, and President. His Board service spans private, public, and not-for-profit entities.
Mr. Braasch is a graduate of DePaul University and holds his Series 7, 24, and 63 licenses, the Partners', Directors' and Senior Officers' Exam, and is qualified in Canada as a Dealing Representative.
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant
- Vice Chairman
Calina Costa is Executive Assistant to Vice Chairman Terry Grant. She provides high-level support in coordinating client meetings, travel, in-coming company requests, and marketing outreach.
Prior to joining Marathon, Ms. Costa worked at a reverse mortgage firm based in Orange County, California. There, she worked as part of the Compliance Department and headed the company's Special Events Committee, which focused on employee engagement.
Ms. Costa received her BA from Pepperdine's Graziadio School of Business in Santa Monica, California.
Job Titles:
- Director of Compliance and Deputy Chief Compliance Officer
Job Titles:
- Senior Managing Director & Head of European Investment Banking
Christopher Bowman, Associate, is responsible for creating detailed financial models, conducting due diligence, evaluating risk/return parameters, and preparing investment marketing materials supporting Marathon Capital's senior bankers in their relationship management responsibilities.
Prior to joining Marathon Capital, Mr. Bowman worked for RGS Energy, a national solar EPC company based in Denver. He was responsible for managing the development and implementation of the company's commercial projects.
Mr. Bowman received a BA in Political Science from Brown University before graduating from the University of Michigan's Erb Institute. He earned an MBA from the Ross School of Business and an MS from the School for Environment and Sustainability. Mr. Bowman holds his Series 63 and 79 licenses.
Job Titles:
- Senior Managing Director
- Senior Managing Director & Head of West Coast
David Kirkpatrick is a Senior Managing Director and heads Marathon's West Coast practice. He is a corporate finance, project finance, and M&A specialist with more than 25 years of experience in the cleantech and renewable energy sectors. At Marathon, Mr. Kirkpatrick advises clients on M&A buy and sell-side transactions, corporate equity capital raises, tax equity, and strategic consulting engagements. Mr. Kirkpatrick focuses on solar, energy storage, wind, e-mobility, biofuels, energy efficiency, and cleantech sectors. In addition to his client activity, he serves on Marathon's executive leadership team, manages Marathon's South Korean coverage, and leads our charitable outreach program installing solar for low to moderate-income families.
Mr. Kirkpatrick has advised on many transformative transactions such as the sale of SunPower's C&I Solutions business to TotalEnergies for up to $250 million, PosiGen's $100 million preferred equity financing led by Magnetar Capital, the sale of GroSolar to EDF, FLS Energy to Cypress Creek, Peak Clean Energy to Hep Global, Mainstreet Power to AES, the sale of Sunpower's microinverter technology to Enphase valued at over $1 billion, $75 million tax equity raise for Generate for their fuel cell project deployment, OCI's Project Ivory solar sale to DE Shaw and Samsung's GW solar development portfolio sale.
Prior to Marathon, Mr. Kirkpatrick held various executive management roles in the energy and cleantech sectors. He was an energy specialist at the Boston Consulting Group, advising Siemens, Southern, and Sempra. Mr. Kirkpatrick originated and structured $2 billion of wind-related contracts at GE Wind. While at Imperium Biofuels, he ran business development overseeing biodiesel-related contracts. At NRG Solar, Mr. Kirkpatrick ran the distributed energy solar vertical. At EDF EN, he was the North American head of M&A and started and ran the solar business unit, managing project development, venture investments, and global procurement for GW's renewable deployment.
Mr. Kirkpatrick received a BA with honors from Emory University and was chosen as a Robert T. Jones Scholar for a post-grad year at St. Andrews University. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a founding member of the Sustainable Development Society. Mr. Kirkpatrick holds his Series 24, 63, and 79 licenses.
Diego Recinos, Associate, is responsible for conducting research and due diligence, authoring marketing and offering materials, preparing financial analysis, and creating financial models supporting Marathon Capital's senior bankers.
Prior to Marathon, Mr. Recinos was an Analyst at Castalia Strategic Advisors in Washington D.C. and Bogota, Colombia. He was responsible for assessing Public-Private Partnerships' financial and economic viability for companies, governments, and multilateral organizations. He worked on assignments in the energy, water, education, and waste infrastructure sectors in Latin America and the Middle East.
Mr. Recinos completed a Master of International Finance and Energy from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. For his Capstone Project, Diego advised the oil major Equinor on the role carbon offsets will play in achieving their climate targets, for which he won the Isaac Rausch Award for Excellence in Capstone Projects. He is fluent in Spanish and French. He holds his Series 63 and 79 licenses.
Job Titles:
- Chief Human Resources Officer
Elizabeth Gaffney is Marathon Capital's Chief Human Resources Officer and oversees the Global Human Capital strategy. Ms. Gaffney brings her extensive experience to various ongoing initiatives, including talent and performance management, talent acquisition, best practices and process improvements, compensation, employee relations, and DE&I strategy.
Ms. Gaffney was most recently Managing Director, Global Human Resources Practice Leader at Ferguson Partners. Previously, she served as Managing Director and Global Head of Human Resources for Jefferies LLC, where she led the global human resources strategy for investment banking and capital markets and the campus recruiting program for the firm. Prior to Jefferies, she was Director and Regional Head of Human Resources for Credit Suisse in New York and London. Additionally, Ms. Gaffney spent several years as an Executive Coach and built a boutique search business focusing on Human Resources and Finance.
Ms. Gaffney holds a Master of Science degree in Human Resources Education and a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, both from Fordham University.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Managing Director, Is
Felipe Arrazola, Managing Director, is responsible for originating and executing M&A and private placement engagements in the renewable energy and power sectors, specifically focusing on developing wind, solar, storage, and hydrogen assets and associated platforms.
During his six years with Marathon, Mr. Arrazola has been the origination and structuring lead on various transactions, including Migdal's minority platform investment into Global Energy Generation, the formation of Vesper through Magnetar's investment into the Lendlease renewables development management team, the formation of Apricus through Osaka Gas's investment into Novi Energy, while leading asset sale transactions for development clients such as Project Resources Corporation, Middle River Power, Telios Corporation and Hexagon Energy.
Mr. Arrazola joined Marathon Capital from SoCore Energy, where he was Vice President of Project Finance and supported establishing the Company's inaugural third-party project finance program. Prior to SoCore, Mr. Arrazola worked for Wind Capital Group, where he participated in the successful closing of over $600 million in project finance commitments for utility-scale wind projects. He began his career at JPMorgan's Investment Bank in London within the bank's Securitized Products team.
Mr. Arrazola holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BA with honors from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Mr. Arrazola holds his Series 63 and 79 licenses.
Job Titles:
- Senior Managing Director & Co - Head of NYC
- Senior Managing Director and Co - Head of Marathon Capital 's New York City
Gary Greenblatt is Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Marathon Capital's New York City office. He brings a wealth of knowledge and contacts in the power and utility space.
Before joining Marathon Capital, Mr. Greenblatt was a Managing Director in the Global Power and Utilities Group for Dresdner Kleinwort, focusing on domestic and cross-border strategic advisory and mergers and acquisitions. In this capacity, he was an advisor in developing acquisition and development strategies for U.S. and foreign companies for power, gas, and related assets. As Managing Director at New Harbor, Inc., a boutique investment bank, Mr. Greenblatt worked with electric and gas utility clients advising on mergers, acquisitions, and strategy. Mr. Greenblatt also worked for Generale Bank providing advisory services to the bank's corporate clients. Subsequently, he joined American Tractebel Corporation, a company that develops, invests, owns, and operates independent power projects, as Vice President of Finance and Treasurer.
Mr. Greenblatt received his BA in Economics and Finance from Virginia Tech and his MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He holds his Series 7, 24, and 63 licenses.
Job Titles:
- Director, Tax & Structuring
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Finance & Senior Controller
Hideki Chida, Director, is responsible for executing M&A and capital raise engagements in the renewable energy and power sectors.
Prior to joining Marathon, Mr. Chida was a Senior Associate in the Latin America Project and Structured Finance Group at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in New York. He was responsible for project finance and advisory services for power and renewables, infrastructure, and natural resources.
Mr. Chida holds a BSc in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. Mr. Chida holds Series 63 and 79 licenses. He is fluent in Portuguese, Japanese, English, and Spanish.
Job Titles:
- Head of Canada, Country Manager
Job Titles:
- Managing Director, Equity Capital Markets
Jen Zhao - Chief Strategy Officer
Job Titles:
- Talent Aquisition Manager
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Managing Director, Offtake Advisory
Joan Hutchinson is Managing Director, Offtake Advisory, based out of Marathon Capital's San Francisco office. Ms. Hutchinson advises corporate clients to set and meet sustainability goals, including energy offtake agreements, carbon reduction, and energy transition strategies. She advises developers on physical and financial offtake agreements to support financing and enhance project value. Ms. Hutchinson has advised Nestlé, TC Energy, and Tokyo Gas on recent sustainability initiatives.
Ms. Hutchinson has over 25 years experience in North American energy markets and renewable energy project development. Before joining Marathon Capital, Ms. Hutchinson was Vice President of Origination & Business Development at Ørsted A/S, where she led the origination of wind, solar, and storage projects resulting in over 1600 MW of transactions in three years. Many of the transactions Ms. Hutchinson completed were power purchase agreements with first-time corporate buyers.
Prior to Ørsted, Ms. Hutchinson was SVP Origination & Marketing for Ridgeline Energy, responsible for negotiating contracts for the sale of power and renewable energy credits from renewable projects, leading solar development, and the acquisition of wind and solar projects. Ms. Hutchinson was Director of Origination at Citigroup Energy and held various origination and trading positions with Powerex, Inc.
Ms. Hutchinson received her Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from the University of Victoria in Victoria, B.C., and holds her Series 79 license.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director, Head of Debt Capital Markets
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Information Technology
Justin Blackburn is Vice President, Information Technology at Marathon Capital. He manages the firm's global information technology infrastructure including strategy, end-user experience, vendor relationships, and security.
Prior to joining Marathon, Mr. Blackburn was Director of Technical Operations at Omaze Inc in Los Angeles. He built the IT department from scratch and led a multi-million-dollar office build. He was responsible for leading an organization-wide cross-functional team addressing international compliance and regulation, and he worked directly with the executive team to develop corporate compliance and shape company culture. Prior to Omaze, Mr. Blackburn was a Technical Account Manager at Cambridge Group Technology Consultants and advised on various business sectors including Real Estate, Property Management, Healthcare, Finance, and the Entertainment Industry.
Mr. Blackburn earned a BS in Technical and Applied Studies from Kent State University and an AS in Network Administration and Security from Stark State College
Job Titles:
- Senior Human Resources Business Partner
Job Titles:
- Meeting & Events Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Director, Senior Controller of Accounting & Financial Reporting
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Operations
Maggie Allen, Vice President, Operations, works closely with all teams to build a cross-functional, global operations discipline at the firm to strategize, develop, and manage our growing footprint. She is responsible for office and facilities management, vendor relationship management, overseeing equipment and supplies procurement, and tackling various new initiatives and project management activities.
Prior to Marathon, Ms. Allen was Senior Vice President of Operations at Digitas, a global integrated advertising agency, where she spent over a decade in various operations and project management roles. She led their Automation & Efficiency workstream to improve internal ways of working across all teams, launched and managed their Innovation Center of Excellence, and oversaw the launch of 33 new offices over three years. Prior to Digitas, Ms. Allen worked with Newedge in the Project Management office. After graduation, she spent a year teaching English to French high school students in Montpellier.
Ms. Allen earned a BA in English and Creative Writing with a minor in French from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Job Titles:
- Meeting and Events Manager
Job Titles:
- Executive
- Office Assistant
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Compliance
Patrick Brandt, Vice President, is responsible for executing M&A and capital raise engagements in the renewable fuel, renewable energy, and power sectors, conducting due diligence, and supporting Marathon Capital's relationship management responsibilities.
Mr. Brandt joined Marathon Capital from Bison Water Midstream, where he was a Vice President of Bison's Water Infrastructure Division. He was responsible for over 30 saltwater disposal facilities and several hundred miles of water pipeline systems. Prior to Bison, he was the co-founder and CEO of Cobalt Environmental Solutions, an oilfield water infrastructure company that was a market leader at exit in the Anadarko Basin in Oklahoma. Cobalt was acquired by Bison Oilfield Services in 2019, producing a strong return for its private equity and high net-worth investors.
Mr. Brandt received an MBA with Beta Gamma Sigma honors from the Olin School of Business at the Washington University in St. Louis. He holds Series 63 and 79 licenses.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Offtake Advisory
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Tax Equity & Structuring
Sean Corcoran, Associate, is responsible for creating detailed financial models, conducting due diligence, evaluating risk/return parameters, and preparing investment marketing materials in support of Marathon Capital's senior bankers in their relationship management responsibilities.
Prior to Marathon, Mr. Corcoran was a Consultant for Navigant, managing the Department of Energy's Efficiency Standards Program. At Navigant, he conducted economic analysis and led stakeholder engagement for various energy technologies in multiyear regulatory processes. In previous roles, Mr. Corcoran has also worked to develop utility-scale solar projects at 7X Energy, built models to allow venture capital firms to assess portfolio companies' carbon reduction potential with Prime Coalition and Rho Impact, and conducted long-term scenario analysis of the U.S. power system at NREL and the consulting firm ICF International.
Mr. Corcoran received a BS in Economics and a BSE in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and an MS in Energy and Earth Resources and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. During graduate school, he published papers on a variety of energy topics, focusing on the deployment of renewable energy technologies and industrial carbon capture clusters under different policy futures. He holds his Series 63 and 79 licenses.
Serene Griffith joins Marathon Capital as Office Assistant in our New York Office. She supports all office operations.
Prior to Marathon, Ms. Griffith was an Executive Conference Associate & Administrative Assistant at PIMCO. She planned and coordinated meeting and conference logistics, attendees, materials, calendaring, and communications. Prior to PIMCO, Ms. Griffith was a Conference Associate for Goldman Sachs Headquarters and oversaw eight conference centers. She maintained comprehensive schedules for all speaking engagements, such as keynotes, media interviews, industry conferences, and town halls. She also organized various corporate events, off-site meetings/events, and Board meetings.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Business Development & Strategy
Job Titles:
- Executive
- Office Assistant
Job Titles:
- Managing Director, Private Capital Advisory
Thomas Holcombe joins Marathon Capital as a Vice President in our Houston office. Mr. Holcombe has over a decade of energy infrastructure experience, holding various commercial and financial positions focusing on corporate strategy and development.
Before joining Marathon, Mr. Holcombe was one of four initial members of Kinder Morgan's Energy Transition Ventures (ETV) team. The team was tasked with the development of Kinder Morgan's fifth business unit and focused exclusively on energy transition opportunities including renewable fuels, CCUS, hydrogen, and renewable power. Mr. Holcombe led the strategic and economic evaluation of all energy transition-related acquisition opportunities, successfully completing three RNG transactions resulting in $1.1 billion in capital deployment during his tenure, which included Kinetrix, Mas Ranger, and North American Natural Resources. Prior to joining the ETV team, Mr. Holcombe held various finance positions within the Kinder Morgan Terminals business unit, where he was responsible for strategic modeling, and financial planning, and led the creation of a five-year economic outlook model, the first of such for any business unit. While there, he also developed a deep-rooted knowledge of asset-level operations through an apprenticeship program where he spent eight weeks working alongside operations.
Mr. Holcombe began his career at CDM Resource Management, a gas compression company, where he held various financial and commercial roles, focusing on the development of Basin-specific pricing and M&A activity.
Mr. Holcombe holds a BSBA degree in Statistics and an MBA from the University of Denver. He holds Series 63 and 79 licenses.
Job Titles:
- Director, Tax & Structuring
Yin Peng Foo is Director, Risk Advisory at Marathon Capital and is enhancing insurance and risk advisory solutions to clients in the renewable energy space.