OUR PEOPLE

Ryan Brauns joined American Capital in February 2007 as a Vice President in the New York office. Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Brauns was Vice President at GE Capital. While at GE Capital, Mr. Brauns focused on senior debt and second lien transactions, sourced through equity sponsors and the bank market, for leveraged middle-market companies in a variety of sectors. Prior to GE Capital, Ryan spent five years with Lazard.

Mr. Brauns holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and holds a B.S., summa cum laude, from Salisbury University.

Jimmy Byun joined American Capital in 2007 and is currently a Vice President on the New York Buyouts team. Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Byun was an Associate at Harbourvest Partners, a Boston-based private equity investment firm, focusing on direct investments in operating companies. Previously, Mr. Byun was an Investment Banking Analyst at Citigroup in the Financial Sponsors Group. Mr. Byun currently serves on the Board of Directors of eLynx, LTD and helps monitor American Capital’s investments in SMG Holdings, Inc and Mirion Technologies, Inc.

Mr. Byun received a Bachelor of Science in Economics, cum laude, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Cerullo has 18 years of experience in the bank loan market. Before joining American Capital in 2005, he was Senior Vice President and Credit Products Officer in Bank of America’s Commercial Bank, serving mid-sized commercial and industrial companies based in New Jersey. His prior experience also includes over nine years lending to companies in the media and entertainment industries, three years lending to middle market companies located in the Upstate New York market, and two years in commercial loan work-outs, all with predecessor banks to Bank of America.

Mr. Cerullo received his MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business and BA/BS degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dan joined the Sponsor Finance Group in January 2011 and is responsible for the origination, evaluation, structuring, execution and monitoring of investments by the firm. Prior to joining the group, he spent eight years in middle-market private equity with American Capital, Richardson Capital and Brookstone Partners. Dan began his career in investment banking at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto and SG Cowen in New York. Dan is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and received a Bachelors in Commerce from Queen's University. He serves on the Board of Directors of Anomatic Corporation.

Peter Dahms joined American Capital in July of 2005 as an Associate in the New York office and was promoted to Vice President in January 2007. Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Dahms was an Associate with ABN AMRO in the U.S. Loan Syndication Group in their New York office as well. Mr. Dahms began his career with JPMorgan Chase as a Credit Analyst in August of 2000.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts with an emphasis in Economics from Lehigh University in Bethlehem Pennsylvania.

Mr. Dratch joined American Capital in November 2005 as a Vice President.  Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Dratch was employed at Merrill Lynch Capital underwriting leveraged middle market transactions that were primarily sourced through the firm's brokerage force. Prior to joining Merrill, he was employed at RBC Capital Markets' Corporate Credit group covering a portfolio of large-cap borrowers. Prior to joining RBC, Mr. Dratch underwrote and monitored leveraged transactions in the Media and Healthcare divisions of FleetBoston Financial (which was subsequently acquired by Bank of America).

Mr. Dratch holds a BA in Economics from Bates College and an MBA in Finance from Babson College. He is a CFA charterholder.

Michael Eklund joined the Syndications Group of American Capital in March of 2006. Prior to joining the Syndications Group, Mr. Eklund worked at GE Capital in various positions and most recently as a Vice President in the Capital Markets Group where he was responsible for structuring and syndicating a variety of leveraged middle market transactions. He has over 10 years experience in the leveraged finance industry.

Mr. Eklund received an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BS in Finance from the University of Illinois.

Mr. Estela joined American Capital in May of 2004 as a Treasury Senior Analyst where he focused on the structuring and administration of structured debt. Mr. Estela became an Associate in the CDO/CLO group in January 2006, where he is focused on evaluating, executing and managing CDO investments. Mr. Estela was promoted to Vice President in January 2007. Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Estela was a Credit Analyst for Citibank Colombia where his responsibilities included underwriting, and monitoring corporate credits across the Food, Beverage and Retail industries. More recently he was part of the OAS, where he evaluated and made recommendations on the budget assignments of the IACD.

Mr. Estela received his B.S. in Business Administration from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Colombia) and his MBA in Finance from The George Washington University.

Mr. Graff has served as a Senior Vice President since 2004 and as a Senior Managing Director since 2008.  From 2005 to 2008 he served as a Regional Managing Director and from 2004 to 2005 he served as a Managing Director.  Mr. Graff also served as a Vice President and Principal from 2001 to 2004.

From 2000 to 2001, he was a Principal of Odyssey Investments Partners, a private equity fund.

Mr. Graff holds a B.S. degree in Accounting from the State University of New York at Binghamton and an M.B.A. from NYU's Stern School of Business.

 Jim Gregory joined American Capital’s New York Buyouts team in 2005.  Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Gregory was with Edgeview Partners, a boutique investment bank specializing in merger and acquisition transactions, and The Carlyle Group.  Mr. Gregory currently serves on the Board of Directors of American Driveline Systems, Inc., Specialty Brands Holdings, Inc., and Lifoam Holdings, Inc.

Mr. Gregory was Phi Beta Kappa and received a BS degree, magna cum laude, with majors in Mathematics and Economics from Davidson College.

Nicholas Gugliuzza joined American Capital in 2008. Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Gugliuzza was a senior associate in the corporate practice group of Kirkland & Ellis LLP in New York, NY, where his practice focused on mergers and acquisitions, buyouts, private equity transactions and equity and debt financings. He has also regularly advised clients on corporate governance issues.

Mr. Gugliuzza received his J.D. with honors from Fordham University School of Law, and his A.B in Genetics with honors from Dartmouth College. Mr. Gugliuzza is a member of the New York Bar.

Pankaj Gupta joined American Capital in August 2006 as a Principal in our New York office. Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Gupta spent six years at Audax Group, a Boston and New York-based private equity and mezzanine firm with $4 billion under management. As a Senior Vice President with Audax, Mr. Gupta was responsible for the origination, structuring, execution and monitoring of mezzanine investments. Prior to Audax, Mr. Gupta was an Associate in the Private Equity group of Whitney & Co. Prior to Whitney, he was an Analyst in the High Yield and Merchant Banking Group of CIBC World Markets. 

Mr. Gupta received a B.A. in Economics from Dartmouth College.  He currently serves as a Director on the boards of Roadrunner Dawes and SMG.  Mr. Gupta serves as an Observer to the boards of BondDesk Group, Cinelease, Inc., Compusearch Software Systems, Hopkins Manufacturing, Infiltrator Systems and Nivel Parts and Manufacturing.

Lynn joined American Capital in October 2008 as a Vice President. Prior to joining American Capital, Lynn was a Vice President in the Leveraged Finance Group at JPMorgan where she worked on bridge loans, senior loans and high yield bonds to finance leveraged buyout transactions for private equity clients. Prior to JPMorgan, Lynn was an Associate at Latitude Capital, a Hong Kong based middle market advisory firm. Lynn began her career at Lehman Brothers where she was an Analyst in its Telecom, Media and Technology Investment Banking group. Lynn holds an M.B.A from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a B.A. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

Lucia Marin joined American Capital’s New York Buyouts team in 2006.  Prior to joining American Capital, Ms. Marin worked for Maplewood Partners LP as an Associate in the Middle Market Private Equity Fund and as an Analyst in the New York investment banking division of Merrill Lynch & Co.  She also held a Summer Associate position with Goldman Sachs & Co.’s Principal Investment Area.  Ms. Marin earned an M.B.A. from Wharton and a B.A. degree in Economics from Princeton University.

Elizabeth Masciopinto joined American Capital in 2006 as a Vice President in the Investment Committee team.   Ms. Masciopinto has 17 years of investing experience including all aspects of evaluation, structuring, financial controllership and risk management of private equity, mezzanine finance and distressed assets.  Prior to joining American Capital she spent 14 years in roles with increasing responsibility throughout General Electric including Senior Vice President in the Commercial Lending and Commercial Real Estate Groups responsible for distressed asset acquisitions.  At GE Equity she held leadership positions with the private equity investing team focused on financial services, consumer and technology companies. 

Ms. Masciopinto holds an MBA from New York University and a BBA from the University of Notre Dame.  She studied abroad at Universidad de St. Luis in Madrid.

Craig Moore joined American Capital in 2006 as a Managing Director in the Operations Department.  Craig's group works with selected American Capital portfolio companies to restructure their financial obligations and help them review strategic alternatives. Craig came to American Capital from Evercore Partners, where he was a Partner in their Restructuring Advisory Group for four years. At Evercore, he helped companies and creditors restructure their obligations both inside and outside bankruptcy. Before Evercore, Craig had been a Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase for 22 years in a variety of roles, including restructuring, loan product, real estate, and client management.  Prior to JPMorgan Chase, he was an International Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Craig has a PhD and MA in economics from Syracuse University, and a BA from Kalamazoo College.

Mark Opel joined American Capital in 2001 and currently serves as Senior Vice President of Private Fundraising. Mr. Opel manages American Capital’s worldwide marketing and strategic planning, directs the firm’s global market and economic research and oversees transaction origination from intermediaries, private equity sponsors and other sources of transactions. Mr. Opel has more than 20 years of financial and operating experience with middle market companies.

Prior to joining American Capital, he served as President of clean energy development company SunLight Power International and Chief Operating Officer at energy conservation services company SYCOM Corporation. In addition, he was a management consultant at Mercer Management consulting and, early in his career, was an investment banker at American Capital.

Mr. Opel is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School.

Mr. Pelletier is the Group Head of the CLO/CDO Team and is responsible for managing all loan and CDO investments on behalf of American Capital.  Mr. Pelletier has 22 years of investment experience.  Before joining American Capital in 2005, Mr. Pelletier was a senior portfolio manager and analyst for Flagship Capital Management, Inc. and covered the commercial, industrial and technology sectors. Flagship Capital was part of the asset management arm of Bank of America focused on managing approximately $3 billion in leveraged loans across seven CLO portfolios. Mr. Pelletier was a founding member of Flagship Capital, which commenced operations during FY 2000.

Before joining Flagship Capital at its inception in 2000, Mr. Pelletier spent three years in leveraged finance with FleetBoston, where his primary responsibilities included sourcing and analyzing syndicated loans. He also participated in managing FleetBoston’s $2 billion CDO investment portfolio, which consisted of senior, mezzanine and equity tranches of approximately 40 different CDO managers. Before joining FleetBoston in 1997 as Vice President in Leveraged Finance, Mr. Pelletier spent three years as an Investment Analyst at GE Capital, two years as a senior analyst at BankBoston, and three years as Assistant Vice President at Heller Financial in the leveraged senior debt market, underwriting, structuring, and monitoring leveraged credits.

Mr. Pelletier holds BS and MBA degrees from Northeastern University, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder.

Robert Sacks joined American Capital in July 2007 as a Principal in the firm’s Restructuring Group. In his present capacity, Mr. Sacks is responsible for the financial restructuring of existing American Capital investments. Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Sacks was a Managing Director of JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. where he held numerous credit, restructuring and client management positions during his 30 year career with that firm. Most recently, Mr. Sacks was responsible for managing the credit product and associated credit risks of a $50 Billion portfolio of leveraged and Investment grade clients domiciled in the Industrial, Consumer, Healthcare and Retail Industries.

Mr. Sacks is a graduate of Bucknell University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management.

Jeffery Schumacher joined American Capital as Senior Vice President, Group Head of Syndications in April 2005. Mr. Schumacher joined American Capital from the Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) Leveraged Syndications Group, where he was a Senior Vice President responsible for structuring and syndicating middle market leveraged transactions across a broad range of industries. Mr. Schumacher is responsible for managing American Capital debt capital market activities, including facilitating debt financings for American Capital lead buyouts, sourcing 2nd lien and 1st lien assets for American Capital managed vehicles, and distributing American Capital originated debt facilities.

Prior to joining the RBS, Mr. Schumacher held the position of Director within RBS's Leveraged Finance Group. Previously, Mr. Schumacher was a Vice President in the Syndications Group of Heller Financial and responsible for syndicating leveraged middle market transactions. Prior to joining Heller, Mr. Schumacher worked in the leveraged finance and syndication groups of NatWest Markets and Toronto Dominion. He has over 21 years of middle market leveraged finance experience. Mr. Schumacher received his BBA from Hofstra University and his MBA in finance from Fordham University.

Dustin joined American Capital in May 2004 as an Associate in the New York office. Prior to joining American Capital, Dustin was an Associate with Mezzanine Management, a $530 million mezzanine and private equity fund specializing in growth financings for middle-market companies. Prior to Mezzanine Management, Dustin was an Analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he focused on M&A transactions in the energy, consumer products and industrial sectors.

Dustin is a Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude graduate of Georgetown University with both B.S and M.S. degrees in International Relations, Economics and Business Diplomacy.

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Managing Director Profile, Sponsor Finance Team

Adam Spence joined American Capital in June 2001 in the New York office. Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Spence was with Lend Lease Real Estate Investments making equity investments in real estate development projects located in non-core areas. Prior to Lend Lease, Mr. Spence was with Berkshire Capital Corporation, a boutique investment bank specializing in merger and acquisition transactions involving investment management and securities firms.

Mr. Spence received an A.B. in History cum laude from Harvard College.

Mr. Weiss joined ACAS in January 2007 as a Vice President. Prior to joining ACAS, Mr. Weiss was employed with Deutsche Asset Management as a research analyst covering large and middle market companies operating in diversified industries including media, cable, telecommunications, business services, and food products. Prior to joining Deutsche Asset Management, he was employed with Bank of America’s CLO group as a portfolio analyst covering diversified industries. Prior to joining Bank of America, Mr. Weiss underwrote and monitored leveraged transactions in the Media and Communications division of FleetBoston Financial (which was subsequently acquired by Bank of America)

Mr. Weiss holds a B.A. from Gettysburg College and an MBA in Finance from Hofstra University.

Helen Yang joined American Capital in January 2006 as a Vice President in the New York office. Prior to joining American Capital, she was a Vice President at Lightyear Capital, a New York based private equity fund with $2 billion under management. At Lightyear, Helen evaluated and executed a variety of principal investments in the communications, energy, financial and business services sectors. Previously, she was with Bankers Trust Capital Partners focusing on middle-market investments. Helen began her career with Bear Stearns & Co. Inc., in the Health Care Investment Banking group.

Helen received a B.S. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She received an M.B.A. with honors from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.