We are pleased to announce the continued growth of our merchant banking platform with the addition of two new senior team members. David Barnett has joined the investment banking effort at Columbia West Capital as a Managing Director, and will primarily focus on assisting real estate development clients access the capital markets, especially valuable in this turbulent and dislocated real estate market. Scott Lavinia has been added as a Partner to the team at Cave Creek Capital Management, our affiliated private equity group, and will focus on sourcing and executing middle market private equity transactions in a broad range of industries. Their respective bios follow:
David J. Barnett, Managing Director
Mr. Barnett brings more than 15 years experience in investments, asset management, real estate zoning and regulatory issues, and endowment management policy to Columbia West Capital. Previously, he was a Director of Equity Capital at International Capital Partners ("ICP") where he was responsible for raising equity capital, sourcing debt financing, and negotiating complex US and international operating and development agreements. His commercial real estate experience at ICP involved successfully structuring 15 transactions in a $450 million commercial real estate and development portfolio throughout the Western US . Prior to that, he was an Associate Vice President at Morgan Stanley where he developed and managed high net worth and endowment portfolios.
He currently is a City of Scottsdale Planning Commissioner , Trustee and past Treasurer of the Desert Botanical Garden , Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC) International Leadership Committee member and is also involved in numerous other volunteer organizations. Mr. Barnett has a B.S. in Political Science from Arizona State University , and a Masters of Public Policy - Regulatory Affairs from the College of William and Mary.
Scott R. Lavinia, Partner
Prior to joining Cave Creek Capital Management in October 2007, Mr. Lavinia spent the majority of his career in the hedge fund industry specializing in the energy sector. He spent four years as a commodity and foreign currency trader at The Millburn Corporation, a hedge fund managing over $1.5 billion. Mr. Lavinia also previously worked as a consultant at Accenture. He co-founded Saugatuck Energy LLC in 2002. Saugatuck Energy is an energy- based derivative trading hedge fund. Over four years, Saugatuck generated significant returns to its investors. Mr. Lavinia decided to leave Saugatuck Energy in 2005 to invest his personal and family capital in selected private businesses.
Mr. Lavinia graduated from the Boston College Carroll School of Management in 1995 with a marketing degree. He received his MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California in 2001 with a concentration in finance. He currently serves on the Board of Directors at Liberty Distribution Company, LLC.