Financial Services & FinTech Advisory

Ann Degenshein

Compliance Advisor

Ann Degenshein has over thirty years of experience in securities industry compliance as a regulator, consultant, outsourced FINRA designated principal and expert witness.

At Middlemarch Securities LLC, Ann serves as the firm’s outsourced compliance consultant, working alongside the FINRA member firm’s Co-Managers and Financial and Operations Principal to support the firm’s compliance and continuing education programs, annual reviews, filings, communications surveillance, and regulatory examination support.

Ann’s career began at FINRA’s Atlanta district office, rising from Examiner to Field Supervisor, where she examined broker dealers of every type, and participated in select Enforcement Department investigations. As Compliance Director at Securian Financial Services, she developed regulatory policies and trained new compliance officers. Ann founded B/D Compliance Partners, Inc. in 2000 and serves as its President.

Ann holds a BS in Business with honors from the University of Florida and an MS in Finance from Georgia State University, is FINRA Series 7, 24, 27, 53, 66, 79 and 99 registered, and is a former FINRA arbitrator.

Carrie Powell

Senior Accountant, FinOp

Carrie has spent more than 20 years in accounting and financial services. She earned her B.S. and B.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and began her career in the audit practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she spent nearly two years as a staff auditor out of the firm’s Knoxville office.

Carrie then moved to the operating side of the ledger, spending three and a half years as a financial accountant before stepping into a controller role. In 2015 she joined Maven Strategic Solutions, where she has spent the past decade as a consulting FINOP and outsourced CFO to broker/dealers and privately held companies. Carrie holds the FINRA Series 27 (Financial and Operations Principal) and Series 11 licenses.

Alongside her broker/dealer work, Carrie served as a Senior Cost Analyst with the Cosma Group of Magna International, adding manufacturing cost accounting, budgeting, and forecasting to a skill set that already spanned audit, controllership, and regulatory finance.

Having worked both sides of the audit relationship, Carrie brings a practical, hands-on perspective to the firms she supports. She is based in the greater Orlando area.

Steven Singer

FinOp

Asset management, fintech, and manager selection

Steven has spent over 20 years in the financial services arena. After obtaining his Accounting degree, Steven successfully passed the CPA exam in New York. He then spent 3 years in the financial services audit practice of PriceWaterhouseCoopers (formerly Coopers & Lybrand). Steven spent the next 10 years working his way up the accounting and finance ladder first as an assistant controller, then as a controller, and eventually as a CFO in the securities brokerage arena. Early on in his broker/dealer years, Steven obtained his FINRA Series 27 FINOP license. Prior to starting Maven Strategic in 2004, Steven spent 2 years as the President and CEO of a subsidiary of a publicly traded company, which provides core financial services to small businesses.

In addition to a primary focus on broker-dealers, Steven also advises companies in the media publishing, human resources, and online training spaces.

Steven’s technical skills coupled with his interpersonal and communications skills makes him a unique resource to his clients. Steven resides in Palm Beach County, Florida with his wife, 2 children, and their Bernedoodle.

Work/Life Balance Interests – Steven has never met a golf course or a tennis court he didn’t like. While he is from NY, he is passionate about the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Ravens, having the honors of attending his team’s championship victories in the final game of the 2007 World Series in Colorado, 2018 World Series in Los Angeles, and Super Bowl XXXV in New Orleans. Most of his remaining free time is spent enjoying time with his family, and volunteering as treasurer of a local not-for-profit organization.

Ira Greenberg

MCP Partner

Financial services, e-commerce, impact investing, healthcare, media, and executive management

Ira Greenberg is a Partner of Middlemarch Capital Partners where he currently serves as a General Partner of the Veransa Investment. He has spent his 40 year career as an accounting professional, an investment banker, and a venture capital investor of fast-growing technology-enabled ventures and infrastructure companies.

Currently, Mr. Greenberg focuses on environmental services companies and infrastructure companies that address the energy, renewable resources, and business services needs in North America.

Previously, Mr. Greenberg has spent time as an investment banker and advisor at HCFP Capital Markets where he worked on a combination of private and public company investments. Before HCFP, he was active at Oxford Advisors, NorthWinds Advisors, and Twenty First Securities as an investor and advisor supporting buy-side mandates and facilitating tax arbitrage transactions.

Mr. Greenberg graduated from Baruch College, with a BS in Accounting. He is also a CPA who advises on complex tax strategies.

Paul Inouye

Partner

M&A for software (e.g., enterprise, vertical applications, and data services) and business services companies

With over 35 years of West Coast technology banking experience, Mr. Inouye has advised founders and entrepreneurs through some of the most consequential decisions of their professional lives. His career includes senior investment banking roles at Robertson Stephens, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, Perella Weinberg, and Moelis & Company. These work experiences have provided him with a buyer network and deal instinct that few advisors at the lower middle market level can match.

Mr. Inouye focuses exclusively on sell-side mandates and growth financings, working with a small number of clients at any given time to ensure every founder gets his direct, senior-level attention from first conversation to close.

Outside of work, Mr. Inouye is an endurance athlete who has completed multiple Ironman and half Ironman triathlons.

Mr. Inouye holds a BA from UC Berkeley and an MBA from The Wharton School. He holds Series 7, 79, and 63 FINRA registrations.

Platform acquisition to accelerate growth and exploit market dislocation.

Strategy

Advised Phoenix to pursue the acquisition of Sonic Funding to take advantage of the fragmented UK developer financing market

Diligence

Evaluated and documented the underwriting performance of Phoenix to demonstrate historical track record

Outreach

Identified best fit acquirer candidates for market dislocation investment opportunity

Structure

Negotiated company investment, employee contracts, and ongoing economic interest for Middlemarch Partners

Selection

Secured investor with deep experience in UK-based real estate transactions

Execution

Sourced platform investment from Arena Investors, LP to scale Phoenix and has more than doubled its portfolio since Arena’s investment

Platform formation and growth buyout investment.

Strategy

Worked with deal sponsors to design a platform strategy, combining two yard waste recycling businesses into a scaled, integrated waste-to-renewables company, Veransa

Diligence

Quantified operational synergies between the acquisitions to support the platform investment thesis

Outreach

Leveraged proprietary relationships to identify and engage RFE Investment Partners as lead sponsor, aligned with the transaction strategy

Structure

Negotiated key elements of the transaction, including the integration of acquisitions and participation by co-investors

Selection

Secured a lead investor and supporting co-investors, including participation from Middlemarch Capital Partners, aligned with the company’s growth and acquisition strategy

Execution

Advised on the $30M investment, structured across debt and equity

Scaling a proven concept through a buyout transaction.

Strategy

Positioned Channel Partners as a differentiated SMB lender, highlighting embedded finance origination channels, lower customer acquisition costs, and resulting above market credit performance

Diligence

Developed additional underwriting analysis to demonstrate the durability of borrower performance

Outreach

Generated multiple LOIs from private equity sponsors and strategic buyers

Structure

Negotiated a control investment with governance terms that preserved operational flexibility for management

Selection

Identified and secured investor Elliott Investment Management which was aligned with the company’s long-term growth objectives

Execution

Advised on the $45 million transaction through closing, managing process dynamics, and driving resolution of key issues

Eric Hoerdemann

Senior Advisor

Asset management, fintech, and manager selection

Eric Hoerdemann is a member of Convergency Partners and a Senior Advisor to Middlemarch Partners. During his two decades plus career Eric Hoerdemann has reviewed thousands of strategies across all asset classes. A primary focus throughout his career has been identifying early-stage investment talent and building a business around them. Mr. Hoerdemann was the first institutional capital into a number of highly successful multi-billion dollar teams. He has played an instrumental role in business development and capital raising particularly at the manager’s early lifecycle. He has a professional and personal passion for technology and built manager due diligence analytical tools used at his prior firms. He also founded an online marketplace in 2000 and advises technology-oriented venture capital firms including Cambium Capital.

Most recently, for the last eight years Mr. Hoerdemann was a partner with Stride Capital, a seeding firm based in Stamford CT where he was responsible for identifying and taking strategic stakes in early- stage asset managers.

Prior to joining Stride, he spent seven years as Senior Portfolio Manager and leader of the small cap equity team at SEI, responsible for directing $5 billion in investments to 25 external managers. He was also a rotating member of SEI’s firmwide investment committee, which oversaw over $100B of invested capital.

Prior to SEI, Mr. Hoerdemann spent five years at Goldman Sachs where he was a Vice President responsible for over $10B invested in non-U.S. and global equity managers. He began his investment career in the asset allocation team at SEI.

Mr.Hoerdemann graduated magna cum laude from Lehigh University and is a CFA Charterholder.

Dave Schrohe

Senior Advisor

Asset management, wealth management, fintech, and executive management

Dave Schrohe is a member of Convergency Partners and a Senior Advisor to Middlemarch Partners. He has assembled over 25 years of wealth management industry experience in leadership roles at both RIAs and larger institutions. His passion has been to drive growth through an unrivaled focus on the client, a dedication to the development and evolution of advisors and staff, and a commitment to taking advantage of technology and innovation to improve everyone’s experience.

Most recently, Mr.Schrohe was President of Lenox Wealth Advisors(LWA), leading a talented team of professionals in the development and execution of an innovative client – focused strategy across financial planning, investments, business development, relationship management, and operations. This resulted in 4X organic AUM growth in under five years. He was also responsible for leading an aggressive inorganic growth plan with deep support from LWA’s parent company, NFP. Prior to this role, he ran the Private Wealth Management business for Lenox Advisors, which was integrated into LWA in 2018, under his leadership.

Before joining Lenox, he was Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Wealth Management Solutions at UBS, where he also served on the firm’s Management Committee.

Prior to UBS, he was Managing Director and Head of the Institutional Client Segment at Morgan Stanley where he also served on the Management Committee. He came to Morgan Stanley through a merger after 16 years at Citigroup where he led Global Wealth Management’s institutional and corporate business lines generating over $650 million in annual revenue. Early in his career at Citi, he led efforts to develop and deploy industry-leading web-based platforms used by over 6 million clients.

Dave Schrohe holds a Masters of Business Administration from the Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jeff Miller

Senior Advisor

Wealth management, asset management, fintech, and executive management

Jeff Miller is a member of Convergency Partners and a Senior Advisor to Middlemarch Partners. He has had a 30-year career spanning law, wealth management, asset management, consulting, outsourcing, and wealth tech. His career started as a lawyer in Washington DC, where he specialized in ERISA fiduciary responsibility. He left the law and joined wealth management firm Shearson Lehman Hutton, where he became Head of Retirement Plan Services and part of the firm’s Consulting Services Group. He was part of the team that launched the industry’s first wrap fee mutual fund program and was responsible for the industry’s first advisory service for 401k plan participants.

Mr.Miller joined Putnam investments in the mid – 1990s where he launched its 401k business for Advisors and its variable annuity and sub- advisory businesses, ultimately driving Putnam to become the industry leader at that time in both advisor – sold 401k and variable annuity asset management. He was recruited by PE investors to turn – around and sell a troubled fintech firm that they owned. He then joined Mercer as President of its Global Outsourcing business, President of Mercer Trust, and Executive Committee member, driving the business unit from $450M in revenues to nearly $900M while in this role.

Following that, Mr.Miller joined UBS as the head of Advice and Platforms, which included all fee – based products and tech, mutual funds, ETFs, financial planning, discretionary model management, manager research, and retirement accounts.

After leaving UBS, he worked on a number of early stage wealthtech firms as an investor, board member, and operator, including Capital Preferences and Truelytics. He also joined the board of SharesPost, the leading marketplace for private share transactions. As part of the recently announced merger with Forge Global, Mr.Miller will remain as both an advisor and shareholder of the combined company.

Frank Porcelli

Senior Advisor

Asset management, wealth management, distribution, and executive management

Frank Porcelli is a member of Convergency Partners and a Senior Advisor to Middlemarch Partners. He is the retired Chairman of BlackRock’s U.S. Wealth Advisory business and brings over 30 years of distinguished experience in asset and wealth management. He is widely known through the industry as an exceptional leader with an open and collaborative leadership style. Mr.Porcelli has an extensive network of contacts throughout the industry and has access to virtually all organizational levels within nearly every major firm.

Mr. Porcelli recently retired from BlackRock after 14 years and remains as a senior advisor to the firm, serving as a member of the board of iCapital, an alternative investment-focused turnkey asset management program. Mr. Porcelli joined BlackRock through its acquisition of Merrill Lynch’s investment management division in 2006. Under his leadership, BlackRock’s US wealth advisory business grew from $250 billion to nearly $1 trillion in assets under management. More recently as the chairman of US Wealth Advisory, he primarily focused on the firm’s digital wealth business, bringing Aladdin wealthtech products to the US markets, developing and distributing BlackRock’s retirement platform iRetire, as well as serving as an advisor to and board member of iCapital.

Prior to joining BlackRock, Mr. Porcelli served as the managing director of institutional sales and consultant relations at Putnam Investments for six years and director of corporate asset management services at Goldman Sachs for three years. Previously, he held various roles at Smith Barney, including director of retirement services, head of unit investment trusts, chief operating officer of Smith Barney Mutual Funds and manager of strategic planning.Mr. Grutman received an MBA from the Wharton School where he majored in Finance. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Italy where he pursued independent research on Dante. He graduated from Yale University magna cum laude with a BA in Humanities. He holds Series 7, 63, 79, 24 and 65 FINRA registrations.

Alex Kim

Senior Advisor

Natural resources, electronic financial services, transaction processing, SaaS businesses, and technology-enabled business services

Mr. Kim is the founder of Architech March, a global advisory firm that works with private equity owners and emerging growth companies on issues of strategy, business development, and investment. Architech March is a strategic partner and affiliate of Middlemarch Partners.

Mr. Kim is a Senior Advisor to Middlemarch Partners and has over 30 years of experience advising, investing, consulting, and managing high-growth companies in technology, natural resources, and financial services.

Previously, Mr. Kim’s professional experiences include leading numerous strategic consulting projects at McKinsey & Company in Asia, Europe, the United States and the Middle East as well as at McKinsey Global Institute, which is McKinsey’s think tank.

Mr. Kim also served as an executive at Eversant Corporation, the non-regulated acquisition and investment arm of a public energy company, where Mr. Kim focused on renewable and green tech opportunities and at 101 Fab, a venture funded software company focused on business intelligence and knowledge capture and automation of the semiconductor industry.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Kim worked as an investment professional at First Analysis Venture Capital, a US-based venture capital firm that focused on software, business services, and environmental services investments. Mr. Kim began his career as an investment banking analyst at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

Mr. Kim received an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree with distinction from McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia. He holds a Series 7 FINRA registration.

David Tanzer

MCP Partner

Financial services, e-commerce, impact investing, healthcare, media, and executive management

David Tanzer is a Partner of Middlemarch Capital Partners and a board observer of portfolio company Veransa.

Mr. Tanzer has spent his 35-year career as a venture capital investor, a CEO of multiple private-equity-sponsored companies, and as a board member of fast-growing technology-enabled ventures.

Currently, Mr. Tanzer also operates Mercury FundingCo, LLC where he sources, develops, and provides funding to investments across a diverse range of sectors. As part of his efforts, he has led a $28M equity funding in Humanigen, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGEN) to help fund the Phase III trial of its anti-human GM-CSF monoclonal antibody medication Lenzilumab. He also led a $7.5M seed round for ecommerce personalization provider XGen.ai, where Mr. Tanzer serves as Executive Chairman. He has also made early-stage investments in companies involved with payment processing, cloud storage, ecommerce, B2B software, mental health, and NFTs.

Over the course of his career, Mr. Tanzer has been a strategic operating and business development executive specializing in transforming and accelerating the growth of media, direct marketing, healthcare services, and education companies using the latest digital technology and innovative marketing partnerships. Mr. Tanzer has a diverse professional experience, including roles as CEO or President of eight companies, in industries including healthcare information, interactive commerce, digital advertising, educational technology, magazines, and home security. He has served on ten company boards and consulted to numerous private equity firms and corporate clients.

Mr. Tanzer graduated Harvard College, magna cum laude in Economics, and Harvard Business School, where he was a George F. Baker Scholar.

Torjus Berge

Partner

Maritime assets, transportation, and logistics infrastructure

Torjus Berge is a member of Middlemarch Securities. He has 25 years of investment banking experience working in New York and Houston and has experience in debt and equity capital markets as well as M&A advisory.

Over the last several years Mr. Berge has originated and structured infrastructure financing projects across both the US and Europe, assisting in raising in excess of $3.0B for various energy transition, maritime infrastructure and transportation assets.

He has throughout his career originated and executed capital markets and M&A transaction for clients in the United States and Europe.

Prior to joining Middlemarch Securities, Mr. Berge was a Partner at Pareto Securities, a Nordic broker dealer.

Torjus holds a BSBA in Finance and Economics from the University of Denver and an MBA from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He holds the Series 7, 63 and 79 FINRA Registrations.

Peder Hanssen

Partner

Maritime assets, transportation, and logistics infrastructure

Peder E. Hanssen is a member of Middlemarch Securities. He has spent the last 15 years working in the financial services industry, mainly focusing on asset-based financings in the infrastructure, maritime, and energy sectors.

Over the last several years Mr. Hanssen has originated, structured and syndicated major financings for infrastructure projects in Europe and North America, assisting in raising in excess of $3B for various projects and companies, including for wind farms, maritime vessels, storage terminals, and road tunnels.

Prior to joining Middlemarch Securities, Mr. Hanssen was a Partner at Pareto Securities, a Nordic broker-dealer, where he worked for 9 years and focused mainly on fixed income products for the infrastructure sector.

Prior to Pareto Securities, he worked for DNB Bank, a Nordic maritime bank, where he focused on lending and debt capital markets origination and syndication.

Mr. Hanssen was educated at Royal Holloway, University of London (BSc), the London School of Economics (MSc), and has an MBA from INSEAD. He holds the Series 7, 63 and 79 FINRA Registrations.

Demetris Papademetriou

Partner

Alternative finance, electronic financial services, transaction processing, and technology-enabled business services

Mr. Papademetriou is a founder of Middlemarch Partners and co-leads the firm’s merchant banking and investing efforts. He has spent over 30 years investing, advising, and operating high-growth financial business services companies across the payments, specialty lending, capital markets, and insurance sectors.

Mr. Papademetriou is an active investor and advisor to financial services companies with a particular focus on financial technology opportunities, having raised over $2.0B for clients. Because of his operating and financial experience, he also serves as a board member for multiple Middlemarch Capital Partners’ portfolio companies. Prior to founding Middlemarch, he was a Director at Knight Capital Group, a global trading firm, where he was responsible for originating, evaluating, and executing strategic investment opportunities and M&A with the mortgage-backed securities, equities, foreign exchange, and derivatives desks both in the US and in Europe.

He also served as the Head of Strategy and Corporate Development for CashEdge, Inc., a financial services transaction and risk management software company, where he focused on capital raising, M&A, and new product development. CashEdge was sold to Fiserv (FISV) for $465M in 2011. Earlier in his career, Mr. Papademetriou worked for Swiss Re Capital Partners, the $5B AUM Merchant Banking and Private Equity division of Swiss Re.

Mr. Papademetriou graduated from the Honors Program in Engineering and Management, receiving both a BS in Engineering from Northwestern University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. He holds Series 7, 63, 79, 24 and 65 FINRA registrations.

Sasha Grutman

Partner

Alternative finance, electronic financial services, transaction processing, technology-enabled business services, and renewable resources businesses

Mr. Grutman is a founder of Middlemarch Partners and co-leads the firm’s merchant banking and investing efforts. He has spent his entire 35-year career investing in and advising high-growth financial services and enterprise solutions companies that leverage technology to create sustainable advantage.

At Middlemarch, Mr. Grutman advises clients on business and capital strategy issues, has sourced over $2.0B of capital for clients and has served as a board member for several Middlemarch clients and Middlemarch Capital Partners portfolio companies. Active with both private and public companies, he has participated in over $4.5B of transactions over the course of his career as a merchant banker and private equity investor.

Prior to founding Middlemarch Partners, Mr. Grutman served as a Partner at TH Lee Putnam Ventures, a $1B growth equity fund, where he co-led the firm’s financial services investments in specialty finance, insurance services, and electronic capital markets investments. Previously, he was a Managing Director at Citigroup where he oversaw the firm’s on-balance sheet financial services private equity holdings as well as managed the bank’s $6B private equity fund-of-funds business. He has also held private equity investment roles at Goldman Sachs and Frontline Capital. He began his career at The Boston Consulting Group in its Financial Services and e-Commerce Practices.

Mr. Grutman received an MBA from the Wharton School where he majored in Finance. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Italy where he pursued independent research on Dante. He graduated from Yale University magna cum laude with a BA in Humanities. He holds Series 7, 63, 79, 24 and 65 FINRA registrations.

Financial Services and FinTech

Deep domain expertise coupled with creative capital solutions for fast-growing financial services firms.

Contact

OUR OFFICE

60 East 42nd Street, Suite 3130New York, NY 10165

OFFICE NUMBER

(212) 913-9660

Strategy

Diligence

Outreach

Structure

Selection

Execution

Strategy

Diligence

Outreach

Structure

Selection

Execution

Strategy

Diligence

Outreach

Structure

Selection

Execution

60 East 42nd Street, Suite 3130
New York, NY 10165