Bryant R. Riley is Chairman of B. Riley & Co., LLC, a Southern California-based brokerage firm which he founded in 1997. The full service investment bank provides research and trading ideas primarily to institutional investors. Its Corporate Finance Group services the capital raising needs of both public and private companies and has completed over 350 engagements with more than $16 billion in aggregate transaction value, as well as numerous merger and acquisition advisory assignments.
Mr. Riley also is founder and Managing Member of Riley Investment Management LLC, an investment advisor which provides investment management services.
Mr. Riley serves on the board of directors of DDi Corporation, Great American Group, National Holdings Corporation, Strasbaugh and Trans World Entertainment.
Prior to 1997, Mr. Riley held a variety of positions in the brokerage industry, primarily as an institutional salesman and trader. From October 1993 to January 1997 he was a co-head of Equity at Dabney-Resnick, Inc., a Los Angeles-based brokerage firm. From 1991 to 1993 he was a co-founder of Huberman-Riley, a Texas-based brokerage firm.
Mr. Riley graduated from Lehigh University in 1989 with a B.S. in finance.
John Ahn is President of B. Riley and Head of Corporate Finance. Prior, he was a Managing Director in the Corporate Finance department. He is also a Principal at Riley Investment Management, the asset management affiliate of B. Riley. He joined the firm in 2004. Mr. Ahn has wide range of experience in capital raising, trading, and sales of distressed debt and equities.
Prior to joining B. Riley, Mr. Ahn was a loan trader at Security Pacific Bank in Los Angeles in the Loan Syndications group. Mr. Ahn was also a Partner at Standard Capital Group in Los Angeles, an investment-banking firm that specialized in capital raising for middle market companies. From 2003-2004, he was a Managing Director at Maxcor Financial Group in their high yield and distressed bond group. In January 2004, Mr. Ahn joined BRC as a registered representative. He has served on the board of directors of MAIR Holdings and Regent Communications.
Mr. Ahn attended Williams College and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics.
Mr. Goldston joined B. Riley in 2011 to launch the firm’s healthcare practice. Adam has been active in healthcare corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions for almost his entire career. Prior to joining B. Riley, Adam was Senior Vice President, Corporate Development for Prospect Medical Holdings, Inc. until it was sold to a private equity firm.
Prior to Prospect, Mr. Goldston spent 12 years as an investment banker, primarily serving health care companies. Mr. Goldston was Senior Vice President in Jefferies’ Healthcare Investment Banking Group, and held positions at Credit Suisse First Boston, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and BT Alex. Brown. During his tenure on Wall Street, Mr. Goldston executed virtually all types of debt and equity financings and completed numerous mergers and acquisitions and other advisory services.
Mr. Goldston has a BA from Claremont McKenna College, an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. (CFA) Mr. Goldston serves on the Executive Board of the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation.
Mr. Little joined B. Riley & Co. in 2003 as part of the firm’s merger with L.H. Friend, Weinress, Frankson & Presson, an Irvine-based investment bank and securities broker-dealer. Adam began his investment banking career in 1999 with L.H. Friend, Weinress, Frankson & Presson as an analyst responsible for the evaluation and analysis of middle market private and public companies in the information technology and industrial manufacturing industries. He is focused on the structuring, negotiation and execution of a variety of transactions, including private and public financings of both debt and equity, merger and acquisition assignments, valuation studies and fairness opinions.
Mr. Little has a successful track record of working with emerging growth and both private and public middle market companies to enhance shareholder value through various corporate finance initiatives. His experience includes engagements in the consumer products and services, Internet software and services, aerospace and defense, industrial manufacturing and transportation industries. He has served as a financial advisor on numerous successful engagements including: Universal Electronics, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Bullet Freight Systems, SDC Technologies, Autobytel, Metro Mechanical, Radius Medical, Kitty Hawk Aviation, Ready Pac Foods, DynTek, Corporate DNA, Allied Lube, Gregg Gift Company, Magnetek, Avalon Digital Marketing Systems, MindArrow Systems, DRJ Group, TCI Solutions, Marko Foam Products, Bosley Medical Institute, Group Long Distance and Laser Eye Centers.
Mr. Little received a B.S. degree in Managerial Economics from the University of California at Davis.
Adam Weidenbaum joined B. Riley & Co.’s investment banking department in 2011 as an associate. Prior to joining B. Riley, Mr. Weidenbaum was an analyst for Himelsein Mandel Advisors, a Los Angeles based hedge fund investing primarily in the longevity asset-backed lending space, where he focused on individual asset and portfolio analysis and valuation. Prior to that, Mr. Weidenbaum worked at Oppenheimer and Co., Inc. in New York in the Professionals Alliance Group where he was responsible for business development and portfolio analysis.
Mr. Weidenbaum holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Emory University (Goizueta Business School).
Brad Nii joined B Riley & Co. in 2010 as a Managing Director in the Firm’s Investment Banking Group. Prior to B Riley, Mr. Nii was Head of the West Coast Sponsor Finance Group at American Capital where he managed a team of investment professionals and a portfolio of mezzanine and minority equity investments. Prior to American Capital, Mr. Nii was a Senior Vice President in the Investment Banking Group at Lehman Brothers, where he was involved in a number of transactions and financings totaling over $100 billion in value in a variety of industry sectors.
Prior to joining Lehman Brothers, Mr. Nii was a certified public accountant with Ernst & Young for nine years.
Mr. Nii holds a Bachelors of Science in Accounting from the University of Southern California.
Mr. Ankley joined B. Riley & Co. as part of the 2003 merger with Friend & Co. He is responsible for the analysis and evaluation of middle market private and public companies in the consumer products, transportation, healthcare and information technology industries. He is routinely involved with comparative research and preparation of memorandums for corporate valuations, fairness opinions, private and public financings and merger and acquisition engagements. Prior to joining B. Riley, Mr. Ankley was with the investment banking division of RSM McGladrey, a global accounting and consulting firm, where he was responsible for the valuation of middle market companies in the transportation, healthcare and information technology industries. Chris has acted as financial advisor to many successful emerging growth and middle market companies in a variety of industries including Kitty Hawk, Inc., Discovery Partners International, Inc., netGuru, Inc., Allied Lube, Inc., Car Wash Partners, Inc., DynTek, Inc., Ready Pac Foods, Inc., Trilogy Financial Services, Inc., RoboDesign International, Inc., Vans, Inc., Computer Access Technology Corporation, Magnetek, Inc., Bosley Medical Institute, Inc., Motion Engineering, Inc. and Yard House Restaurants, LLC.
Mr. Ankley received a B.A. degree in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Mr. Thomas is responsible for providing various research, deal structuring, financial modeling, due diligence, memorandum preparation and other client transaction support to both public and private companies across an array of industries. Prior to joining B. Riley in 2007, Mr. Thomas worked at Lakepointe Capital Partners, a regional investment bank and private equity firm, where he assisted in facilitating transactions for investment banking clients as well as analyzed prospective investments for the firm’s private equity portfolio.
Mr. Thomas graduated cum laude from the University of St. Thomas with a B.A in Finance.
Mr. Hustedt joined B. Riley & Co. as an Analyst in 2009 after working for three years within the International Tax and Lead Tax divisions of Deloitte Tax LLP, a global accounting and consulting firm. His previous responsibilities included preparation and review of U.S. tax compliance for middle market and large cap companies in the retail, insurance, real estate development, restaurant and information technology industries. In addition, Mr. Hustedt was routinely involved in the tax planning and consulting services for a wide array of public and private companies. Grant also participated in the audits of quarterly and annual SEC filings for public companies on a regular basis. Mr. Hustedt has acted as a tax and financial advisor to many successful middle market and large cap companies in a variety of industries including: The First American Corporation (NYSE:FAF), True Religion Apparel, Inc. (NasdaqGS:TRLG), The Corky McMillin Companies, Quest Software, Inc. (NasdaqGS:QSFT), Penhall International Corp., CKE Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:CKR), Quiksilver, Inc. (NYSE:ZQK), Powerwave Technologies, Inc. (NasdaqGS:PWAV), and Dot Hill Systems Corp. (NasdaqGM:HILL).
At B. Riley, Mr. Hustedt is responsible for providing financial modeling, industry research, deal structuring, client services, due diligence and other transactional support services to both public and private companies. These engagements include private and public financings, M&A assignments, valuation studies and fairness opinions for middle market companies in a diverse range of industries.
Mr. Hustedt holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration, Accounting from the University of Arizona and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
Mr. Presson joined B. Riley & Co. in 2003 as Senior Managing Director as part of the firm’s merger with L.H. Friend, Weinress, Frankson & Presson, an Irvine-based investment bank and securities broker-dealer. Mr. Presson began his financial services career in 1980 as a Vice President of Corporate Finance with Emmett A. Larkin & Company, a San Francisco based private investment bank. From 1982 to 1992, he co-founded Cruttenden & Company, an Irvine based investment bank, and served as the firm’s Senior Managing Director and head of its Corporate Finance practice. From 1992 to 2003, Greg served as Senior Managing Partner and head of Corporate Finance for L.H. Friend, Weinress, Frankson & Presson, LLC.
Mr. Presson has an extensive track record of working with emerging growth and middle market companies to enhance shareholder value through the creation of strategic and corporate finance initiatives. He has served as a financial advisor on dozens of successful engagements including: SDC Technologies, Jimsair Aviation, VXI Technologies, Nupla Corporation, Level Studios, Etreby Computer Company, Trojan Battery Company, Discovery Partners International, Motion Engineering, Gregg Gift Company, Magnetek, Pro-Log, Rand Technologies, American Recreation Centers, The Kinetics Group, Athens Corporation, Zoltek Companies, Micro Technology, Future Domain, Richmond Technology, Endar Corporation and Molecular Simulations. In addition, Mr. Presson has completed successful corporate sales to high profile public corporations such as: Mitsui Chemicals, IBM, Motorola, Digital Equipment Corporation, U.S. Filter, Enesco, Adaptec, American Manufacturing and Foundry (AMF), Prime Medical and Automated Data Processing (ADP). He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Delta Financial, J.F. Weiss & Company, The Santa Ana Country Club and the Get-A-Grip Foundation.
Mr. Presson received a B.S. degree in Economics from California State University, Long Beach.
Mr. Yom joined B. Riley in July, 2011. Mr. Yom previously worked for Morgan Stanley in the Investment Banking Division covering a wide range of industries such as Consumer Products, Retail and Industrials. He also has industry experience in Business Services, TMT, Healthcare and Financial Institutions. Prior to Morgan Stanley, he worked at UBS Investment Bank in the Mergers & Acquisitions Division executing both buy and sell side M&A transactions. He began his investment banking career working with financial sponsors in the Leverage Finance Division at Bear Stearns & Co. in New York. Mr. Yom has advised clients in executing a wide range of mergers & acquisitions and corporate finance transactions for large-cap and middle market companies. Other strategic transactions include leveraged buy-outs and recaps, asset purchases and divestitures, joint ventures, strategic alliances and cross border M&A transactions.
Prior to working as an investment banker, he worked at PriceWaterhouse in the M&A due diligence group. He is also a CPA which he previously earned while working at Ernst & Young.
Mr. Yom received his M.B.A from the UCLA Anderson School of Management with a focus in finance and also graduated from undergraduate studies at UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics.
Mr. Lowell joined B. Riley & Co. as a Managing Director of Corporate Finance in 2004. Mike has over two decades of experience in investment banking, financial accounting, business development and operations management. Prior to joining B. Riley & Co., Mr. Lowell was a Managing Director with the Seidler Companies and a Director with UBS/PaineWebber’s technology banking group. In addition, Mike was an early member of Autobytel.com’s management team, where he held various executive management positions. Earlier, Mr. Lowell was the Chief Financial Officer of two publicly traded companies, where he was responsible for all corporate and regulatory filings and the successful completion of public offerings on the NASDAQ and NYSE. Prior to this Mr. Lowell worked for Pacific Diversified Capital a private equity firm focused on middle market investments.
Mr. Lowell has a successful track record of working with emerging growth and middle market companies to enhance shareholder value through strategic consultation and corporate finance initiatives. He has served as an advisor on numerous successful engagements including: VXI Technologies, Bisco industries, Hycor Biomedical, Yard House Restaurants, Autobytel, Etreby Computer Company, Baja Fresh, Empire Oil, netGuru, Interlink Electronics, Islands Restaurants, Kitty Hawk, Index Fresh, Pearlman Corporation, Ready Pac Foods, Laser Diagnostics, Medibuy, Widcomm, Claim Jumper Restaurants and Marie Callender Pie Shops.
Mr. Lowell received a B.S. degree in Finance from California State University, Long Beach and an M.B.A. from the University of San Diego.
Mr. Donnelly joined B. Riley & Co. in 2003 as part of the firm’s merger with L.H. Friend, Weinress, Frankson & Presson, an Irvine-based investment bank and securities broker-dealer. Paul has been involved in corporate finance since 1983, when he began his career with L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin. From 1984 to 1986, he was with Enterprise Management Company, a venture capital and investment banking firm. From 1986 to 1992, Paul was a Vice President with Pacific Ventures Finance, a leading venture leasing fund for institutionally backed emerging growth companies. From 1992 to 1995, he was a Senior Vice President with Ally Capital Corporation, a corporate finance and asset management firm. From 1995 to 2003, Paul was a Managing Director of Corporate Finance with L.H. Friend, Weinress, Frankson & Presson.
Mr. Donnelly has a successful track record of working with emerging growth and middle market companies to enhance shareholder value through strategic planning and corporate finance initiatives. He has served as a financial advisor on numerous successful engagements including: Trojan Battery Company, Yard House Restaurants, Strasbaugh, Radius Medical, Intercoastal Manufacturing Company, Baja Fresh, Islands Restaurants, DynTek, Motion Engineering, Iteris, Avalon Digital Marketing Systems, Rand Technology, Marko Foam Products, NetsWork, etown.com, Triton Network Systems, Comteco, Action Instruments, Continuous Computing Corporation, Meltronics, Verteq, Pro-Log, Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, Dartron, Transaction Billing Resources, Adflex Solutions, Athens Corp., Somatogenetics, Sunward Technologies and Visqus Corporation. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Practice Plus Solutions.
Mr. Donnelly received a B.S. degree in Business Administration, Finance from San Diego State University.
Ryan J. Bernath joined B. Riley & Co. in 2010 as a Managing Director in the firm’s Investment Banking department. Mr. Bernath brings to the firm over a decade of investment banking experience, having executed a wide range of mergers & acquisitions and corporate finance transactions for large-cap and middle market companies.
Previously, Mr. Bernath was a Senior Vice President in Investment Banking at Barclays Capital in Los Angeles, where he was a senior member of the firm’s Business Services investment banking group. Prior to Barclays Capital, Mr. Bernath was a Senior Vice President with Lehman Brothers, where he spent time executing transactions in the Business Services and Financial Institutions Groups. Mr. Bernath began his investment banking career in New York with Putnam Lovell Securities (now Jefferies Putnam Lovell).
Mr. Bernath received his M.B.A with Honors from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Finance.
Mr. Kamalodine joined B. Riley & Co. in 2004 as an equity analyst covering special situations and transitioned to the company’s investment banking department in 2008 to lead the creation of its public issuer advisory group. He is now primarily focused on the structuring, negotiation and execution of a variety of transactions, including private and public financings of both debt and equity, merger and acquisition assignments, valuation studies and fairness opinions.
Mr. Kamalodine has a successful track record of working with emerging growth and both private and public middle market companies to enhance shareholder value through various corporate finance initiatives. His experience includes engagements in the semiconductor, Internet software and services, and industrial manufacturing industries.
Mr. Kamalodine received a B.S. degree in Financial Economics from the University of Southern California and an M.B.A from the Wharton School.
Sebastian Hoppe has 25 years of investment experience. Sebastian has served as a Managing Director for Canyon Capital Advisors analyzing and investing in special situation debt, equity and private investment opportunities for 7 years. Sebastian has served as Senior Vice President at Jefferies in investment banking performing new issue raises, restructuring, M&A advisory and the like. Finally, Sebastian has served as a capital markets generalist at FBR and previously at Dabney Resnick. Sebastian graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Economics at University of California, Berkeley and also received both a JD and MBA from Harvard.
Steven Canup joined B. Riley in May, 2011 as a Managing Director covering the financial services industry. He has over 20 years experience in the financial services sector, working as both an advisor to and an executive in banks and non-depository financial institutions. Mr. Canup comes to B. Riley from FIG Partners where he was a Senior Vice President. Earlier, he worked at Oppenheimer & Co., NatWest Markets, and Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette. He has worked on a broad range of transactions, including public and private equity raises, high yield debt placements and M&A assignments. Mr. Canup also worked at EastWest Bancorp where he was responsible for capital market relations and issuances, mergers and acquisitions and other strategic operations and was a member of the Senior Management Committee, and headed product development efforts.
Mr. Canup holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from the University of California Los Angeles.