OUR PEOPLE

Andrew joined American Capital in November 2005 as a Vice President in the New York office. Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Bonanno spent over nine years with GE Capital, primarily in their private equity group GE Equity, focusing on making private equity investments in venture, growth and distressed companies. In his role at GE Equity, he was responsible for identification, evaluation, structuring, execution and monitoring of private equity transactions for the firm. During his tenure, he was responsible for 12 transactions which generated annualized returns of 183%. Prior to GE, Mr. Bonanno was a Research Associate with Lehman Brothers, where he focused on the paper, forestry products and steel sectors.

Andrew received dual BA degrees in Economics and Architectural Studies from Connecticut College, and his MBA from the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.

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.

Brady joined American Capital in November 2004 as an Associate in the New York office. Previously, he spent two years as an Associate at GTCR Golder Rauner, LLC, a Chicago-based LBO/private equity fund with more than $6 billion under management. Prior to GTCR, Mr. Busch worked as an Analyst in the investment banking department of Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., where he focused on high yield and leveraged finance transactions.

Brady earned a BBA with Distinction from the University of Michigan.  Mr. Busch also received an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Mr. Capperella joined American Capital in July 2006 in the New York office as Managing Director and head of the Second Lien Group.  Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Capperella was Senior Vice President at GE Capital Markets responsible for structuring and selling of all GE junior capital transactions.  Prior to GE, Mr. Capperella spent time at two mezzanine funds where he was responsible for originating, structuring and closing middle market deals.  Mr. Capperella began his leveraged lending career at Heller Financial where he spent 9 years underwriting, documenting, closing and monitoring asset-based and cash flow transactions.

Mr. Capperella holds a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Delaware and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Chris joined American Capital in March 2007 from Prudential Capital Group, the private placement investing area of Prudential Financial, where he was Senior Vice President. At Prudential, he ran a team that originated, underwrote and managed a portfolio of debt investments ranging from senior debt to mezzanine and equity investments. During the last five years of his nine year tenure with Prudential, Chris managed sponsor and company relationships in the Northeast with a focus on making investments in middle market manufacturing, distribution and service related businesses.

He received a B.A. in Economics and an M.B.A. from Duke University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Dan joined American Capital in June 2006 as a Vice President in the New York office. Prior to joining American Capital, he was a founding member of Brookstone Partners, a New York-based middle-market private equity firm, where he was responsible for the origination, evaluation, structuring, execution and monitoring of investments. Previously, Dan spent over 8 years in investment banking at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto and SG Cowen in New York where he was responsible for providing M&A advisory and corporate finance services to companies across a range of sectors, including industrial products, business services, healthcare, technology and communications, and consumer products and retail.

Dan is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and received a B.Comm from Queen's University.

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.

Steven Devloo joined American Capital in October 2006 as a Vice President in the New York office. Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Devloo was an Associate in the Leveraged Finance / Financial Sponsors Group at Credit Suisse First Boston where he worked on various debt financings, recapitalizations and leveraged buyout transactions for private equity clients across a range of sectors including industrials, media, healthcare, consumer products and retail. Prior to Credit Suisse and business school, Mr. Devloo was an Associate with Willamette Management Associates, a national business valuation, economic analysis, and financial advisory services firm.

Mr. Devloo holds both a B.A. in Economics and an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago.

Brett Donelan joined American Capital in August 2005 as an Associate in the New York office. Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Donelan was an Associate in the Leveraged Finance/Financial Sponsors Group at Credit Suisse. Prior to Credit Suisse and business school, Mr. Donelan was an Associate with Blue Point Capital Partners, a private equity fund specializing in leveraged buyouts of industrial companies. Mr. Donelan began his career at Morgan Stanley where he was an Analyst in its Real Estate Investment Banking Department.

Mr. Donelan holds a B.A. in Economics from Boston College and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

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 joined American Capital in July 2001 as a Principal, was promoted to Managing Director and became a member of the Investment Committee in 2004, and was promoted to Regional Managing Director in 2005. Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Graff was a Principal with Odyssey Investment Partners, a $760 million private equity fund specializing in leveraged buy-outs and growth financings for middle-market companies. Prior to Odyssey, Mr. Graff was a Senior Vice President of GE Equity, where he was responsible for direct equity investments in the form of LBOs, LBUs and growth financings. Prior to GE, Mr. Graff was a Director of Mergers & Acquisitions at Automatic Data Processing, Inc.

He started his career with Coopers & Lybrand where he worked as a Certified Public Accountant, spending six years in various corporate finance and business assurance positions that focused on middle-market companies.

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.

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 $2 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 board of American Capital portfolio companies NPC, Inc. and SMG.

Jay Heirshberg joined American Capital Strategies in 2007 as a Vice President in the CDO-CLO Group. Prior to American Capital, Jay was a Vice President in the Merchant Banking Group at BNP Paribas, where he originated, structured and executed senior financings and equity co-investments for sponsor-backed transactions. Previously, he was a Financial Analyst in Emerging Markets Research at Deutsche Bank and a Research Analyst at Cambridge Economics, Inc.

Jay received a B.A. with Honors in Economics from Brown University and an M.B.A. from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Michael Ho joined American Capital in May 2006 as an Associate in the New York office. Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Ho was an Associate in the leveraged syndicated capital markets group of Banc of America Securities, LLC, structuring leveraged cash flow and asset-based transactions. Prior to that, he was employed in the syndication group of FleetBoston Securities, Inc. and the leveraged finance group of BancBoston Robertson Stephens.

Mr. Ho received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Dartmouth College. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder and a member of the Association for Investment Management and Research and the New York Society of Securities Analysts.

Watch Video Content

Managing Director Profile, Buyout Investment Team

Robert Klein joined American Capital in January 2002 as a Principal in the New York office and was promoted to Managing Director in 2004. He has led private equity transactions involving, in the aggregate, more than $1.3 billion. Prior to joining American Capital, he was a Principal at American Securities Capital Partners. Before that, Mr. Klein spent eight years at American Industrial Partners, where he was Managing Director. He previously worked in the Mergers and Acquisitions groups of First Boston and Morgan Stanley, where he was an Associate and an Analyst, respectively, focusing on media and telecommunications projects. Mr. Klein was also a Summer Associate for Acadia Partners, L.P., the private equity affiliate of the Robert M. Bass Group. He is a Professional Fellow of the New York University Center for Law and Business.

Mr. Klein was Phi Beta Kappa and received a BA degree summa cum laude in History of Art from Yale University. He also received a JD degree with Distinction from the Stanford University Law School.

James Lau joined American Capital in 2005 as a Principal and inaugural member of the CDO/CLO team. His 15+ years of experience in financial services includes leveraged finance, middle market banking, real estate acquisitions and alternative investments. At American Capital, his focus is on evaluating and executing CDO investments for the firm, as well as investments for the firm’s actively managed CLO fund.

Previously, James was a Director at Banc of America Securities, LLC, where he managed a portfolio of principal investments in externally managed CDO funds. In prior years with various institutions, James managed portfolios of leveraged loans and private equity co-investments focused on LBO transactions with select financial sponsors, as well as traditional middle market bank loans.

James earned his bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Northeastern University, and his MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell University.

Nadim Malik joined the business development group of American Capital in the New York office in January 2003. Nadim provides research and analysis of worldwide private equity and mezzanine activity utilizing a proprietary database built and maintained by the business development group. He is also involved in the strategic development of the firm, the distribution of various economic reports, and deal origination.

Prior to joining American Capital, Nadim was with The Deal, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions research, helping build a unique database of global M&A activity. Before that, he was an Analyst with Multex, a provider of financial research. Mr. Malik graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Colgate University, and is a CFA charterholder.

Mark Opel has rejoined American Capital as a Principal in our New York office. Mark manages American Capital’s marketing and business development, which includes centralized deal generation from intermediaries, private equity groups, lenders and other sources of transactions. He was formerly President and Chief Executive Officer of American Capital portfolio company Capital.com and has more than 15 years of financial and operating experience with middle market companies. He served as President at energy development company SunLight Power International and chief operating officer at energy services company SYCOM Corporation, where he managed the financing of over $100 million of independent energy projects.

In addition, he worked as a management consultant at Strategic Planning Associates (now Mercer Management Consulting) and, early in his career, as 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 18 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.

Mr. Richert has 15 years of experience in the bank loan market. Prior to joining American Capital in 2006, Mr. Richert was a Senior Research Analyst for Sanno Point Capital Management, a credit-focused hedge fund, were he covered home builders, TMT, drug store retailers and metals & mining. Previously, he was Director – Bank Loan Unit at Metropolitan Life Insurance Company where he worked for 10 years. Mr. Richert managed a $3 billion portfolio of leveraged loans, including three separate CDO structures. He managed over 40 portfolio names of high yield bank loan issuers where he negotiated amendments and executed relative value trades.

Mr. Richert received his MBA from The University of Michigan and his BS of Business Administration degree from Southern College. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder and is a Certified Public Accountant.

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 16 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.

Watch Video Content

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.

Todd Wilson joined American Capital in July 2002 and is a Principal in the New York office. Prior to joining American Capital, he spent three years as a Principal at Wind Point Partners, a Chicago-based LBO/private equity fund with $1 billion under management. Mr. Wilson joined Wind Point after being awarded a Kauffman Fellowship - a private equity fellowship sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation. He has previously worked in the Investment Banking Groups of Montgomery Securities and Merrill Lynch, where he was an Associate and an Analyst respectively. He currently serves as a Director on the boards of American Capital portfolio companies eLynx, DelStar Technologies Inc., Ranpak Corporation, Safemark, Lifoam Industries, Global Dosimetry Solutions and Synodys.

Mr. Wilson received his bachelor's degree in finance from The Wharton School of Business, and his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke 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.

Clifton Yen joined American Capital in March 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. Yen was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company where he gained experience in a diverse portfolio of industries including retail, media, manufacturing, financial, agribusiness, and energy. Prior to joining McKinsey & Company, Mr. Yen worked as an Analyst at J.P. Morgan for 3 years.

Mr. Yen has an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts from Claremont McKenna College in Claremont California with an emphasis in Economics and P.P.E. (Politics, Philosophy and Economics).