 Team Mike Ackrell – Managing Partner Before founding Ackrell Capital, Mike was the Senior Managing Director in charge of ABN AMRO’s U.S. Technology Investment Banking Group in San Francisco. Prior to joining ABN, Mike ran Investment Banking at WR Hambrecht+Co, a San Francisco based merchant bank specializing in the technology sector. Mike previously worked for Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in New York, Menlo Park and San Francisco as a Senior Vice President in the Technology Investment Banking Group. Mike began his career with DLJ in 1988 and has significant experience in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and merchant banking. Mike holds a B.A. (summa cum laude) from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Prior to Ackrell Capital, Ezra was a Vice President with Rutberg & Company, a mobile and digital media focused investment bank. Ezra has co-founded two technology companies: Montclare Technologies, Inc., an Internet consulting and development firm where he was the CEO and Convoy Corporation (now part of Sybase) where he was the Director of Business Development. Ezra has also served as the Vice President of Business and Product development for Aircraft Technical Publishers, an aviation information services provider. Ezra is the co-host of Vator Box a show on emerging companies on Vator.tv. He is also involved with AlwaysOn as a conference emcee and selection committee member for the AlwaysOn, OnHollywood and OnMedia top 100 lists. Ezra holds M.B.A. degrees from Columbia University’s Columbia Business School (beta gamma sigma honors) and the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business (Haas community service fellow) and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California, Davis (with Minors in English and History). Ezra is the Chair of the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business Alumni Relations Council.
Prior to Ackrell Capital, Steve was a Managing Director of Investment Banking at WR Hambrecht + Co, where he helped head the firm’s China practice as founder and head of its Shanghai office. Steve was also Head of Special Execution with firm-wide responsibility for non-boilerplate transactions, such as restructurings, LBOs and SPAC transactions. Previously, Steve was a senior technology investment banker for ABN AMRO. Prior to ABN AMRO, Steve spent 7 years at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette’s Investment Banking Group. Responsibilities at DLJ varied from execution of restructurings, LBOs, M&A and equity and high yield offerings, to coverage of technology companies, and also included active involvement in several LBO and private equity investments in DLJ’s Merchant Banking funds. Prior to DLJ, Steve was an investment banker at Smith Barney and Salomon Brothers. Steve holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Economics from the University of Notre Dame.
Prior to Ackrell Capital, Eric was a Managing Director and Head of the West Coast Financial Sponsors investment banking group at Friedman Billings Ramsey. Eric managed mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions for a variety of companies in the technology sector prior to joining the Financial Sponsors Group in 2006. He has almost 15 years of investment banking experience working on more than 35 public financings, strategic advisory assignments and private placements with an aggregate transaction value over $15 billion. Prior to joining FBR, Eric was a Vice President with ABN AMRO covering Semiconductors, Semiconductor Capital Equipment and Optical Components. His previous investment banking experience includes Dillon Read, Montgomery Securities and Societe General Investment Banking. Eric has an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from the College of William & Mary.
Prior to Ackrell Capital, Awais was a Director of the Venture Capital Practice at KPMG LLP, engaged in various strategic and commercial analyses of industries to assist its institutional client’s pursuit of potential acquisition candidates, and the attractiveness of particular acquisition and investment targets. Awais is focused on Clean Energy & Energy Technology. He is contributing editor of AlwaysOn and is chair of the editorial panel to evaluate and select a yearly list of top 100 emerging cleantech firms. He is a selection committee member of the National Renewable Energy Labs Annual Growth Forum and is also on the advisory board of Cleantech Jobs Fund which is an economic development fund for companies doing business in Silicon Valley. Awais holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering with an emphasis in Computer Science and Math, and is pursuing a MBA from the London School of Economics.
Before founding Ackrell Capital, Bill was a Senior Vice President in ABN AMRO's U.S. Technology Investment Banking Group in San Francisco. Bill directed ABN AMRO's investment banking efforts for the semiconductor and semiconductor equipment sectors. Prior to joining ABN, Bill held technology investment banking positions at major Wall Street investment banks, including Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, PaineWebber and Kidder Peabody. Prior to his career in technology investment banking, Bill practiced corporate law in San Francisco, California. Bill holds a J.D. from the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law, a M.B.A from the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and a B.A. from Westmont College. Bill is a member of the State Bar of California.
Prior to Ackrell, Holt was Managing Director of Eclipse Entertainment Capital, LLC. Eclipse is a strategic advisory firm with a focus on the entertainment and digital media businesses. Additionally, Eclipse engages in the development, finance and production of feature entertainment and television. Prior to founding Eclipse, Gardiner worked with McCown De Leeuw & Co., a leveraged buyout firm based in Menlo Park, CA and New York, and at CS First Boston in the London-based International Mergers & Acquisitions Department. Holt has a broad range of financial and operating experience with a focus on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and leveraged buyouts in the entertainment, gaming, information technology, transportation, hospitality and forest and building products industries, and has served as a financial strategist to public and private companies in all of these industries. Holt has a Dual Bachelor of Arts degree in both History and Economics from Duke University (magna cum laude), where he was the President of the Economics Honor Society.
Prior to Ackrell Capital, Jonathan was a Managing Director and Head of Private Placements at ABN AMRO where he ran a PIPEs, debt and equity placements business. Jonathan was also founder and CEO of Greenridge Group, a management consulting company advising public and private companies. Prior to joining ABN, Jonathan ran East Coast Investment Banking at WR Hambrecht + Co. Previously Jonathan spent 11 years at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette’s Investment Banking Group, where he founded and ran its Middle Markets Mergers and Acquisitions Group, focused on exclusive sales of private and mid-sized public companies, and its Hedge Fund Investments Group, growing its fund of funds to over $500 million in the first year. Jonathan was also COO at SAC Capital Management, a major US hedge fund. Jonathan holds an MBA with distinction from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a Bachelors of Music from Manhattan School of Music, and a Masters in Psychology from the University of Santa Monica.
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