Marshall Sonenshine

Marshall Sonenshine is Chairman and Managing Partner of New York investment banking firm Sonenshine Partners. Mr. Sonenshine was previously Partner in Wolfensohn & Company, the M&A boutique headed by former Salomon Brothers’ head of banking Jim Wolfensohn and US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. Mr. Sonenshine was part of the leadership team that merged Wolfensohn first into Bankers Trust, where he headed Media M & A and Aerospace/Transportation M & A, and later into Deutsche Bank, where Mr. Sonenshine was asked to serve as Global Co-Head of M & A. Mr. Sonenshine began his finance career at Salomon Brothers in New York.

Since 2016, Mr Sonenshine has served on the adjunct faculty at Harvard Law School teaching Mergers and Advanced Corporate Transactions. From 2009-15 Mr Sonenshine was Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia University Business School teaching Private Equity and Turnaround Management. Mr Sonenshine has been a global finance commentator on CNBC and Bloomberg and has published widely in the New York Times, Financial Times, Institutional Investor, Merrill Datasite, Harvard Law and Business Schools and Columbia Business School.

Mr. Sonenshine holds a BA, magna cum laude, from Brown University and a JD from Harvard Law School, where he served as Editor of the Harvard Law Review. He studied at L’Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris and, while at law school, he served as a Teaching Fellow in International Relations at Harvard University’s Government Department, and an Instructor in Legal Methods and in the International Tax Program at the Law School. Following Harvard he became law clerk to Hon. Lawrence Pierce of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York, where he worked on major corporate, securities and M&A federal cases.

Mr. Sonenshine counsels numerous leading companies globally including in the United States, Canada, Europe, Israel, China, Japan and Australia, and has advised on numerous major transactions worldwide, including the Disney/ABC merger, the merger of International Lease Finance Corporation into America International Group, the global restructuring of GPA Group plc with General Electric, the restructuring of Daimler Benz’s AEG industrial group, the Sony/Columbia Pictures and Guber Peters Entertainment merger, the sale of GE affiliated Genesis Lease to AerCap, the sale of Structural Dynamics to EDS and Simulia to Dassault Systemes, the proxy battle and hostile defense of The United States Shoe Corporation, the mergers of Chancellor Media, Capstar and Clear Channel, the sale of Simulia to Dassault Systèmes, the recapitalization of KKR-and-Wachovia backed New South Communications (later Nuvox), the representation of Alcoa in several global divestitures, the restructurings and sales in Chapter 11 of Riverstone Networks to Alcatel, of Hear USA to Siemens, and of the Philadelphia Inquirer and News to an Investor Group.

In Asia Mr Sonenshine and Sonenshine Partners has represented numerous companies including two of China’s leading publicly traded manufacturers (Nine Dragons and Sirio Pharma) in their first North American acquisitions. Earlier, Mr Sonenshine was Senior Investment Banker in Fuji Wolfensohn, representing major Japanese companies in cross border Mergers.

Mr Sonenshine is Trustee of Hunter College where he has served on the Executive Committee as Chairman of Endowment. He has also served as Chairman of the Harvard Law School Fund and as Co-Chair of the Center for Law Brain and Behavior at Harvard and Mass General. He has also served as Trustee, Executive Committee Member and Chairman of Development for Jazz at Lincoln Center and the International Center of Photography, as Member of the Brown University Annual Fund Executive Committee, and as Vice Chairman of ArtsConnection. He is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and has served as member of the Corporate Boards of the Institute for New Economic Thinking and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and as Member of the Democratic National Committee New York Tri State Finance Committee.

Mr Sonenshine has also served as Chairman of RosettaBooks and as Executive Producer to three leading political and legal documentary films on HBO, including Loving Story, for which he holds Emmy and Peabody awards.

Elliott K. Slade III

Elliott K. Slade III is a Senior Managing Director at Sonenshine Partners. He was formerly the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Imperator Capital, a hedge fund that invested in a relatively concentrated portfolio of small / mid-capitalization public companies, and he was responsible for portfolio strategy, management, and analytics. Mr. Slade has extensive professional experience in investment banking and corporate finance, both domestic and international. Prior to the founding of Imperator Capital, he spent over 20 years as an adviser to some of the world’s largest and most prestigious corporations in mergers and acquisitions, financial advisory, restructurings and reorganizations, defensive and value enhancement assignments and special committee work.

Mr. Slade was a Senior Partner at Wolfensohn & Co., a private investment bank founded by James D. Wolfensohn in 1981. He became a Founding Partner in BT Wolfensohn, the mergers and acquisitions department of Bankers Trust established by the Bank’s acquisition of Wolfensohn in 1996. At Bankers Trust, Mr. Slade served as a Partner and Senior Managing Director of BT Wolfensohn, and headed the firm’s consumer and retail merger and acquisition practices as part of the Bank’s global investment banking arm, BT Alex. Brown, and its successor organization, Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. Mr. Slade has broad experience in a variety of sectors, including aviation, consumer products, manufacturing, publishing, real estate and shopping centers, retail, shipping and financial services. Mr. Slade has advised on leading M&A transactions globally, having consummated transactions in over a dozen countries. Mr. Slade was a member of the advisory board of Sandy Alexander, Inc., one of the nation’s largest and most respected high-end commercial printing companies. Mr. Slade served as a director to Westfield America Trust’s predecessor entity, currently the second largest shopping center owner and developer in the United States.

Mr. Slade received an M.B.A. from The Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College and a B.A. from Colgate University.

Neil P. Benedict

Neil P. Benedict is a Senior Managing Director at Sonenshine Partners. Mr. Benedict was previously a Managing Director at Salomon Brothers where he served as founder and head of the Worldwide Currency Swap Group, head of Investment Banking for the Asian Pacific Rim, and head of International Capital Markets. Mr. Benedict has extensive experience in international transactions, having worked in investment banking in New York and Tokyo. Mr. Benedict was also a Managing Director at Dillon, Read & Company, where he focused on International and Media clients. Mr. Benedict has broad experience in a variety of sectors including Media and Telecom, Consumer Products, Publishing, Real Estate, Retail, and Financial Services – both domestically in the US and internationally. These include both M&A and Capital Markets transactions.

Mr. Benedict is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He is a non-executive Board Director of the Gulf Investment Fund, a Senior Advisor to the London-based Europa Partners, and also a Senior Advisor to the Beijing/Shanghai based Vermilion Partners. Mr. Benedict is a past New York Board Member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and is a Trustee of the Birch Wathen Lenox School in Manhattan.

Wilder Fulford

Dr. Wilder Fulford has advised on healthcare transactions in Europe and the US for over 25 years. He has carried out over 100 financing and M&A transactions with a notional value of over $100 billion.

The Rockefeller University, PhD, Molecular Biology (1986) University of Toronto, BSc, Biochem and English (1980)

Adam Greenberg

Adam Greenberg is a Managing Director at Sonenshine Partners and has more than 20 years of investment banking experience. Mr. Greenberg started his investment banking career at Kidder, Peabody & Co. and later was a member of the M&A groups at UBS Securities and Merrill Lynch. Prior to joining Sonenshine Partners, he was a senior investment banker at media and entertainment M&A boutique AGM Partners, where he spent 13 years advising on a wide range of transactions for media company and financial sponsor clients.

Mr. Greenberg has significant transaction experience having executed numerous M&A transactions totaling in excess of $20 billion. Illustrative transitions include advising 21^st Century Fox on the $3.5 billion merger of Shine Group with Apollo Management portfolio companies Endemol and CORE Media; the $3.3 billion sale of Warner Music Group to Access Industries; the $820 million sale of NEP Broadcasting by American Securities; the $570 million acquisition of CKx by Apollo Management; the $450 million Dune Entertainment film slate financing for Warner Brothers; the $900 million acquisition of DreamWorks film library by Dune Capital Management; and the sale of film finance company RatPac-Dune Entertainment to Warner Bros.

Mr. Greenberg holds a BA in Economics and Politics from New York University and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the Columbia Business School.

Jeff Klein

Jeff has advised on and helped to execute 39 transactions with a notional value in excess of $11 billion. Jeff also has significant experience in equity and debt capital markets.

Columbia University, BA, Economics-Mathematics (2002)

Jake Hanly

Jake Hanly is a Senior Associate at Sonenshine Partners, working with the firm’s clients in the media, technology, consumer, and healthcare industries.

Mr. Hanly has over 10 years of experience as an entertainment industry executive, working at the forefront of digital content distribution and film finance. He was the Vice President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions at Gunpowder & Sky, the independent studio founded by former Viacom Music Networks President Van Toffler, and backed by AT&T’s Warner Media and The Chernin Group. While at Gunpowder & Sky, Mr. Hanly completed millions of dollars of film and television investments, and debuted projects at all major film festivals, including Sundance, Cannes, and Toronto. He also handled sales and licensing to major broadcast and streaming platforms including HBO, Hulu and Netflix, as well as advised on business and corporate development initiatives. Prior to Gunpowder & Sky, Mr. Hanly was Head of Content at FilmBuff, an industry-leader in digital rights monetization.

He is a 2021 graduate of Columbia Business School, where he received an MBA, and holds a BA from the School of Visual Arts. He is a member of the National Board of Review, Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), and on the advisory board of Serving The People, a non-profit arts organization.

George Tagaris

Kevin Luo

Kevin Luo is an Analyst at Sonenshine Partners. Mr. Luo holds a BS in Business with concentrations in Finance and Data Science from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Brandon Yuen

Brandon Yuen is an Analyst at Sonenshine Partners. Mr. Yuen holds a BS in Business with concentrations in Finance and Management from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Mr. Yuen also earned an MBA from the School of Management at Binghamton University and was elected to receive a lifetime membership in Beta Gamma Sigma International Honor Society for Collegiate Schools of Business.

Samarth Baral

Samarth Baral is an Analyst at Sonenshine Partners. Mr. Baral holds a BSc in Business with concentrations in Finance and Statistics from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Alexander Hazel

Alexander Hazel is an Analyst at Sonenshine Partners.  Mr. Hazel first joined the firm as an Intern Analyst in January 2020, while finishing his coursework at Washington University’s Olin Business School.  At the Olin Business School, Mr. Hazel holds a BSBA with concentrations in Finance and Economics & Strategy as well as a Minor in Business Analytics.

Akio Katsuragi

Before co-founding Crosspoint Advisors, Akio Katsuragi was the President of Lehman Brothers Japan Inc. He joined Lehman Brothers Japan Inc. in 2001 and was appointed to the firm’s Asia Executive Committee in 2004.

Prior to Lehman Brothers, he was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Japan (1998-2001), where he served as the Head of Corporate Finance Department in the Investment Banking Division and a member of the Tokyo Operating Committee. Prior to Morgan Stanley, he was at Goldman Sachs (1993-1998), where he was responsible for covering Japanese financial institutions and corporations out of New York, and later retuned to Tokyo to become the Head of Financial Institutions Group in Japan.

Mr. Katsuragi started his career in 1977 at the Industrial Bank of Japan, Ltd.

He received his LL.B. degree from the University of Tokyo, Master of Law from University of Washington, and Fellowship/Master degree from the Law School at University of Pennsylvania.

Kay Koplovitz

Kay Koplovitz is currently a principal of Koplovitz & Co. LLC, a media investment firm. Ms. Koplovitz was the founder of USA Networks, an international cable television programming company, and served as its Chief Executive Officer and Chairman from 1977 to 1998. Ms. Koplovitz also created Springboard Enterprises, a national organization that promotes venture capital investments in women-led high growth businesses.

Among the non-profit boards on which she serves are the Partnership for New York City, the Central Park Conservancy, the Museum of Television and Radio, Springboard Enterprises and the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Ms. Koplovitz was previously the Chairman of Liz Claiborne. Ms. Koplovitz is a founding board member of Boldcap Ventures, a managed fund, and is a Senior Managing Director at Brock Capital Group.

Ms. Koplovitz is also a Director of Broadway Television Network, a producer and multi-media distributor of recordings of Broadway shows. Ms. Koplovitz serves as a Director of Instinet Group, an electronic brokerage services provider, and serves as a Member of Audit Committee. Ms. Koplovitz is also the Independent Non Executive Chairman of Liz Claiborne (NYSE:LIZ). She serves as Director of CA, Inc. (NasdaqGS:CA) and served as Director of Oracle (NasdaqGS:ORCL). Ms. Koplovitz is a Graduate of the University of Wisconsin and holds a Master’s Degree from Michigan State University.

Gerald M. Ostrov

Mr. Gerald M. Ostrov, also known as Jerry, currently serves as an Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs in the Specialty Care Business Unit at Pfizer, Inc., the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company. Mr. Ostrov also serves as an Advisor of Cozi Group, Inc. and is a Consultant of Bausch & Lomb Incorporated where he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from January 2008 to March 2010.

Mr. Ostrov serves as the Chairman of the Board of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. and of the Board of Trustees of Middlesex County College (NJ). He served as Group Chairman of Worldwide Vision Care at Johnson & Johnson from 1998 to 2006 and served as its Director, where he led its global Vision Care businesses from 1998 through 2006. He has been Director of Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. since September 24, 2012, NuLens Ltd. since February 2007. He serves as a Member of the Board of Trustees at the Garden State Arts Foundation (NJ). He served as a Director of PixelOptics, Inc. and Johnson & Johnson. He served as a Director of Bausch & Lomb Incorporated from January 2008 to March 2010 and OraSure Technologies Inc. from November 10, 2011 to November 11, 2014. He served as a Member of the Cornell University Council, and he has served as Board Member of the Non-Prescription Drug Manufacturers Association.

Mr. Ostrov earned a B.S., in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, from Cornell University and holds an M.B.A from Harvard University.

Harry Durrity

Harry Durity is a Senior Advisor at New Mountain Capital. From 1994 to 2005, Mr. Durity was the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Business Development, Head of Merger and Acquisitions group, and a Member of Executive Committee at Automatic Data Processing (NYSE: ADP).

Prior to ADP, Mr. Durity worked for Revlon Consumer Products Company as a Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, where he also served as a Member of the Executive Committee at the company. From January 1990 to January 1993, Mr. Durity was president of the Highlands Group, a boutique mergers and acquisitions advisory firm. Prior thereto, he served as a Vice President/Corporate Development for RJR Nabisco, a consumer products company, from October 1980 to December 1989. He also served as a Senior Consultant at Arthur D. Little in their Managerial Economics department and started his career at Firestone Tire & Rubber Company as the Chief Economist.

Mr. Durity was a Director of National Medical Health Card Systems (NASDAQ: NMHC) and is a Director of OrthAlliance Inc. (NYSE: OCA). Mr. Durity holds a B.A. from Western Maryland College with additional studies in Merger and Acquisition at the Darden School, University of Virginia and obtained a Master’s degree from Washington State University.

Arthur Laffer

Arthur B. Laffer is the founder and chairman of Laffer Associates, an economic research and consulting firm that provides global investment-research services to institutional asset managers, pension funds, financial institutions, and corporations.

Dr. Laffer is also a founding member of the Congressional Policy Advisory Board, a select group of advisors who assist in shaping legislative policies for the 105th, 106th and 107th United States Congress. He was a member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board for both of his two terms, a member of the executive committee of the Reagan/Bush Finance Committee, and a founding member of the Reagan executive advisory committee for the presidential race of 1980.From 1972 to 1977, Dr. Laffer was a consultant to Secretary of the Treasury William Simon, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Secretary of the Treasury George Shultz. He was the first to hold the title of Chief Economist at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under Mr. Shultz from October 1970 to July 1972.

Dr. Laffer has received two Graham and Dodd Awards from the Financial Analyst Federation for outstanding feature articles published in the Financial Analysts Journal; the Distinguished Service Award by the National Association of Investment Clubs; the Adam Smith Award for his insights and contributions to the Wealth of Nations; and the Daniel Webster Award for public speaking by the International Platform Association. Dr. Laffer received a B.A. in Economics from Yale University in 1963. He received a MBA and a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University in 1965 and 1971 respectively.

Barry Frey

Previously Managing Director of International Sales and New Business Development at MCA Universal, Viacom, USA Networks.

Om Bhatia

Former Senior Managing Director of Commodities and Financial Markets at Macquarie Group; Former Director at Barclays, Former VP of Commodities at Goldman Sachs

MS Miami University, MBA University of Notre Dame