Mr. Barnett brings more than 15 years experience in both public and private sector investments to Columbia West Capital. Previously, he spent more than 8 years at Morgan Stanley as an Associate Vice President working mainly with owners and operators of closely held businesses. Additionally, 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. He has been involved in successfully structuring 16 transactions with a combined value of $500 million in both the corporate and commercial real estate arena.

Previous to his finance roles, Mr. Barnett was an entrepreneur, involved in Strategic Planning and Governmental Affairs for a large hospital and multi-state home health care firm during significant divestitures, and worked in the U.S. Senate on healthcare legislation. He is past Chairman of the City of Scottsdale Planning Commission, 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. Mr. Barnett is registered with FINRA (formerly NASD) and has a series 7 and 63 securities license.

Mr. Farr was previously with Honeywell Aerospace’s Mergers & Acquisitions team making acquisitions in the commercial and business aviation and defense markets. Additionally, Mr. Farr was the Finance Manager for a $500 million Aftermarket division and served within a $350 million business aviation OEM division.

Previously he worked with PNC Equity Management, a $1 billion private equity group engaged in growth equity, leveraged buyout, and mezzanine loan investing primarily in manufacturing, distribution, and services businesses. Mr. Farr began his investment banking career in New York where he worked as an Analyst and Associate with the Private Placement team at Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown. He originated, structured, and placed investment grade and mezzanine loan transactions for a variety of industries.

Mr. Farr earned a BA in Economics and Business Administration from Vanderbilt University in 1996 and an MBA with concentrations in Finance, Accounting, and Strategy from the Kellogg School of Management in 2002. Mr. Farr is registered with FINRA (formerly NASD) and has a series 7 and 63 securities license.

Carter Harned joined Leeds Equity Partners in 2005 as a Managing Director. Leeds Equity is a New York based private equity firm focused on investments in the education, training and information and business services industries (“Knowledge Industries”). Leeds Equity is currently investing its fifth private equity fund, which is the largest fund focused exclusively on the Knowledge Industries, a $1.3 trillion domestic market.

Previously, Mr. Harned was a Managing Director in the Financial Sponsor and Leveraged Finance Group at CIBC World Markets. Mr. Harned was an investment banker for 11 years, working in Los Angeles and New York. During that time, he provided capital raising and advisory services for companies in nearly every industry with particular emphasis on the media, business services, consumer products, gaming and lodging sectors.

Mr. Harned's areas of responsibility at Leeds Equity include sourcing new opportunities, maintaining relationships with investment banks and other brokers, directing due diligence, negotiating and financing transactions and monitoring investments. Mr. Harned serves as a director of eInstruction Corporation, Nobel Learning Communities, Sagus International, Inc. and SeatonCorp and is actively involved with Education Management Corporation (NASDAQ: EDMC).

Mr. Harned graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a B.A. degree in Economics and Accounting.

Prior to joining Columbia West, Mr. Nelson was an analyst at Credit Suisse. Mr. Nelson worked on a wide variety of transactions ranging in product and industry. Mr. Nelson has experience in mergers and acquisition, leveraged finance, private placements and equities in industries such as Energy, Gaming, Real Estate, Engineering & Construction and Media - Telecom.

Mr. Nelson earned a BA in Business Management with an emphasis in Finance from Brigham Young University in 2007. Mr. Nelson is registered with FINRA (formerly NASD) and has a series 7 and 63 securities license.

Chris Peifer has more than 15 years of experience in corporate business development and eCommerce with public and private companies. He specializes in partner management; tactical sales management; digital, mobile and social strategy; management of cross functional teams; merger integration; driving execution through collaboration; and thriving in a complex, rapidly evolving industry. Mr. Peifer joined Barnes & Noble in 2009 and currently serves there as Vice President of Digital Business Development. At Barnes & Noble he has established mobile application distribution partnerships with such companies as Samsung, Vizio, Motorola, HP, Acer, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Best Buy; created a partnership framework which includes revenue share, slotting fees, and advertising allowance; negotiated and managed partnerships with Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Staples, Office Depot, Office Max, and more; created a third party retail distribution channel that encompasses more than 12,000 storefronts; partnered with marketing to devise pricing and promotional strategy; and collaborated with the mobile application development team on feature prioritization and partner tracking requirements. 

Prior to Barnes & Noble, Mr. Peifer co-founded S.O.E. Software and served as its Vice President of Business Development. Mr. Peifer also co-founded iLIANT, which was acquired by Med3000 in 2006.  At iLIANT, he helped grow the business to a recurring revenue base in excess of $40 million.  He co-authored the business plan and private placement memorandum to raise $5 million, and led due diligence on two cornerstone acquisitions representing combined revenues of $18 million. 

Mr. Peifer holds a B.A. in Communications and Psychology from Vanderbilt University.

Mr. Schembs has more than 25 years of experience in executive management and as a business owner and entrepreneur. His career has involved organizing businesses, building organizations, overseeing technology development, raising financing, and developing markets. Mr. Schembs’ background includes turnarounds of divisions of Fortune 500 and smaller technology companies, startups, and sales of companies.

Mr. Schembs was most recently CEO and Principal of Triple Point Laboratories. Prior to Triple Point, Mr. Schembs was President and Principal of Cedrite Technologies, CEO and Co-Founder of Concept Technologies, CEO and Principal of Flight Dynamics, and a General Manager at Boise Cascade Corporation.. His resume includes public and private companies, corporate governance and diverse global business experience.

Mr. Schembs holds a B.S. in Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Mr. Sheridan is currently Chief Executive Officer and Chief Consultant of HR Solutions, Inc. Prior to founding HR Solutions, Mr. Sheridan spent four years with the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City, London, and Japan and directed Chase's business relationships with 37 Japanese banks and trading companies and eight Australian banks; financial arrangements with these organizations exceeded $10 billion. He also reviewed the Bank's $60 billion loan portfolio on a global basis, which included work in more than 40 countries. Mr. Sheridan also worked for Goldman, Sachs & Co. in the Fixed Income Sales & Trading Division and for the firm's Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Sheridan has done consulting for some of the world's largest corporations and has earned several distinctive awards and honors. He is a frequent speaker at national and international conventions, and his work has appeared in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, American Banker, Business Insurance Magazine, Modern Healthcare, The Chicago Tribune, and Entrepreneur Magazine.

Mr. Sheridan earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, with Honors, at Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin and has a Masters in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.

Jim Ward joined Alsop Louie Partners in 2008 as a Venture Partner. Alsop Louie is a San Francisco based venture capital firm focused on early stage internet and technology investments.  

Previously, Mr. Ward served as the President of LucasArts, the video game development group of Lucasfilm Ltd., where he was responsible for the overall leadership and development of interactive video-game entertainment, such as the popular Star Wars Galaxies and Knights of the Old Republic.  Additionally, he served as the Senior Vice President of marketing and distribution at Lucasfilm where he oversaw the planning, development, and execution of global marketing programs for all motion picture, television, and video properties. Mr. Ward joined Lucasfilm in 1997 as head of its newly formed Marketing Division where he oversaw all aspects of the marketing and publicity campaigns for the global theatrical and video launches of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. He also served as an Executive Producer of the DVD version of the Indiana Jones trilogy.  

Before joining Lucasfilm in 1997, Mr. Ward spent his career in advertising where he worked closely with Apple Computer, Microsoft, and then Nike over a period of 15 years.  

Mr. Ward holds a B.A. in Political Science from Hanover College and a Masters in International Marketing from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Mr. Williams has more than 20 years of Broker Dealer management experience, and is responsible for FINRA and SEC reporting requirements for the firm. Mr. Williams holds a B.A. Degree in Business Management from the University of Maryland and an MBA in Accounting from Golden Gate University. Mr. Williams is a licensed CPA and is registered with FINRA (formerly NASD) and has a series 7, 63, 27 and 24 securities license.