Mr. Crowe is the President of Advanced Equities, Inc. and brings 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. He spent nine years at LaSalle Street Securities, LLC where he co-founded the Capital Markets Group. Prior to LaSalle, Mr. Crowe was Senior Vice President for Madison Securities focusing on Institutional Sales.
Mr. Rogers is responsible for all of Advanced Equities, Inc. sales channels. Mr. Rogers was previously the Managing Director of the Independent Brokerage Group and is responsible for back to back 100 percent year over year sales growth from that business. Mr. Rogers joined First Allied Securities/Advanced Equities, Inc., in February 2006. He previously was Vice President of Investments in the retail brokerage channel of Citigroup. He has over ten years' experience in the financial services industry, serving retail and institutional clients, including gaining extensive knowledge of alternative investments, private placements, and shareholder communications. He was a co-founder of Celeritas Group, where his primary focus was consulting public and private companies on effective shareholder communication strategies. He also served as Vice-President of Corporate Communications for CellPoint, Inc., a publicly traded global telecommunications company based in Sweden, where his role included overseeing worldwide marketing and investor relations.
Mr. Reynolds began at Advanced Equities as the Chief Compliance Officer, but has since become our Chief Operating Officer and continues to oversee the compliance, operations, and private equity departments. Prior to joining AEI, he was a Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer for US Fiduciary. Prior to that, Mr. Reynolds was the FINOP and Chief Compliance Officer for Rogers Casey, a premier pension consulting firm. His career in the industry began in public accounting and working with option traders on and off the trading floor. Mr. Reynolds earned his degree in accounting from Robert Morris College in Chicago.
Mark Finckle joined AEI with more than 10 years of investment banking industry experience. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Finckle served as a principal in the Media, Internet & Communications Investment Banking Division of Thomas Weisel Partners in New York. Prior to that, Mr. Finckle was a member of the telecommunications investment banking teams at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. and Paine Webber. Mr. Finckle also has held positions at Ameritech and Coopers & Lybrand. Mr. Finckle holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Iowa and an MBA degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Mr. Grudzinski is responsible for AEI’s institutional investor relationships, including fund-of-funds, sovereign and strategic funds, foreign finders and other non-retail investors. Before he joined AEI, Mr. Grudzinski was the Senior Vice President of Capital Markets for GK Development, Inc., a $500 million value-added owner and redeveloper of retail properties. In this role, he was responsible for attracting and structuring institutional, retail and individual investments for the firm’s various private real estate funds and associated acquisitions. Prior to his joining GK Development, Mr. Grudzinski was the President of InvestLinc Capital Services and InvestLinc Securities – the merchant banking and broker-dealer divisions of this boutique financial services firm. In this role, Mr. Grudzinski oversaw the syndication of over $100 million of retail funds and private equity investments across six private funds and more than a dozen structured financings for emerging growth companies. Prior to joining InvestLinc, Mr. Grudzinski served as a Principal in the Chicago offices of two strategic consulting firms – Diamond Technology Partners and Kuczmarski & Associates -- and as a Senior Vice President and member of the founding management team of DigitalWork.com – a Draper Fisher Jurvetson-backed provider of online small business services. Mr. Grudzinski is a High Honors graduate of the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and acts as a guest lecturer at both Kellogg and the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. Randy is also a graduate of DePauw University and the London School of Economics – earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics. Mr. Grudzinski is a NASD/FINRA registered representative with Series 22, 24, 28, 62 and 63 designations.
Mr. Schmidt brings more than 17 years of corporate finance and securities law experience to AEI. Previously, Mr. Schmidt was Of Counsel with the Pedersen & Houpt law firm in Chicago. Prior to that, he was a partner and co-chairman of the Corporate and Securities Group at the law firm of O'Hagan, Smith & Amundsen. Mr. Schmidt is the former chairman of the Chicago Bar Association Subcommittee on Mergers & Acquisitions and is a member of the American Bar Association’s Securities Law Committee. He graduated with honors from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and received his law degree, cum laude, from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where he was a senior member of the Loyola Law Review.
Mr. Mazzola joined the firm in May 2006 with a mission to build the office and establish an East Coast presence for the firm. He has had a distinguished 15-year career in the financial services industry at such firms as Oppenheimer, Blackrock, and First Boston with increasing focus in the private equity sector.
Mr. Lynch joined Advanced Equities in March 2007. He is a 20-year veteran of the financial services industry. Most recently, he was Executive Vice President and National Sales Manager of US Fiduciary, Inc., a boutique investment firm focused on serving ultra-high-net-worth clients. Prior to that, Mr. Lynch built Bank of America's thriving brokerage division in Chicago, as well as running several offices for Morgan Stanley throughout the Midwest. Mr. Lynch began his career with Dean Witter as a financial advisor.
Mr. Fallone brings 20 years of private wealth management and private equity investing experience to Advanced Equities, Inc. After starting his career at Merrill Lynch in 1987, Mr. Fallone became the youngest senior managing director at a private wealth management firm and was responsible for the largest wealth management team at the firm. He went on to build out their San Francisco office and bring tremendous success in just three years. Coming out of the crash of 2000, Mr. Fallone and two partners started two early-stage Private Equity/Venture Funds and invested in 14 portfolio companies. It was at this stage that Mr. Fallone made the decision to take on a leadership role in our San Francisco office.
Mr. Marderosian joined Advanced Equities in April of 2004. Prior to joining the firm, he worked at CIBC Oppenheimer focusing on institutional sales in the EMEA region. Mr. Marderosian brings extensive knowledge of both the private and public markets to the Independent Advisor Channel and spearheaded the Advanced Equities Private Equity Certification Program. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Indiana University.
Mr. Dempsey joined AEI in October, 2007 with more than 20 years of investment banking industry experience. He began his Wall Street career in the Fixed Income Division of Merrill Lynch and subsequently worked in the Investment Banking Divisions of Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns and Wachovia Securities. He has lead numerous public and private financings as well as M&A transactions, particularly in the telecommunications industry. Mr. Dempsey earned his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA degree from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
Mr. McDonnell has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Mr. McDonnell founded McDonnell, Inc. in 1985 and served as President and CEO until 2006. McDonnell, Inc. was a full-service broker/dealer and a member firm of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Prior to that, he was SVP/International Arbitrage with Drexel Burnham Lambert. Mr. McDonnell holds a Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.
Mr. Kurtyka joined the Advanced Equities Private Equity Banking Team in September of 2005 from William Blair and Co., LLC in Chicago. He is a Wall Street veteran of more than 20 years. Mr. Kurtyka served as a portfolio manager for high-net-worth clients at Drexel Burnham Lambert, Oppenheimer and Co., and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where he was fund manager for ISG Investment Partners as well. Mr. Kurtyka graduated with honors from Michigan State University in 1980 and earned his law degree at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1986.
Mr. O’Keefe joins AEI with over seven years of experience in Private Equity and M&A. Previously, Mr. O’Keefe was Director of Global Operations for a division of GE Healthcare. While in this role, he worked on due diligence and operational integration of over 20 acquisitions. Prior to that, he was an officer in the U.S. Army Armor Corps where he held various leadership positions, conducted logistical planning, and deployed 1600 troops to the Balkan Peninsula on two occasions. Mr. O’Keefe holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomechanics from Marquette University and holds an MBA in Finance and Economics from the University Of Chicago.
Mr. Anderson joined Advanced Equities in October 2006 after 17 years with NASD Dispute Resolution where he administered cases, conducted arbitrator training, and participated in a number of special projects. Prior to taking the position at the NASD he was an enforcement attorney for the Illinois Securities Department for two and a half years. He received his Bachelor’s degree from DePaul University and his law degree from The John Marshall Law School.