Mr. Downing has twenty years of investment banking and financial advisory experience, including nearly a decade of major-market investment banking experience. He has successfully executed more than 70 transactions representing a total value in excess of $25 billion, including M&A advisory assignments, strategic financial advisory, IPO's, Equity Offerings, Debt Restructurings, Syndicated Bank Loans, High Yield Debt Offerings, and Investment-Grade Debt Offerings.

Prior to co-founding Columbia West Capital, Mr. Downing served as an Executive Director of CIBC World Markets (formerly Oppenheimer & Co) Investment Banking Group based in Los Angeles, primarily focused on capital raising activities and M&A advisory. Prior to that, he served in the Global Investment Banking group at BT. Alex Brown in New York, primarily working with Financial Sponsor Groups involved in structured-finance oriented MBO's and LBO's.

Additionally, Mr. Downing served a four-year tenure with the Caesars Casino and Hotel organization in various financial roles. Mr. Downing holds a B.S. in Finance from Arizona State University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Mr. Downing is registered with the FINRA (formerly NASD) and has a series 7, 63, and 24 securities license.

Prior to co-founding Columbia West Capital, Mr. Parkinson had over twenty five years of senior management experience as a CEO or CFO in high growth companies.  He has surmounted many of the challenges faced by emerging ventures and high growth companies including strategic and tactical plan implementation, cost controls and the need for growth financing.  During his career, he has successfully raised numerous rounds of venture capital funding, several bank and leasing financings, US and Canadian government fundings and public issuances.  Among other companies, he was a co-founder and CFO of Zylin Corp.  He grew Zylin to 120 employees before negotiating the sale of the company to Varian Associates, a NYSE company.  Shortly thereafter, he founded Crystalline Materials, Inc., a high performance materials company, which then purchased the Carborondum Company, located in Phoenix, from Saint-Gobain.  He and his team executed a sales and profitability turnaround at Carborondum and went on to supply products to Motorola, Phillips, and Ericsson for their cell phone businesses.

Mr. Parkinson has a background in a broad set of industries, but he has a particular expertise in semiconductor manufacturing, software and biotechnology.  Mr. Parkinson holds a BA from Stanford University and a MBA from the Columbia Business School. Mr. Parkinson is registered with the FINRA (formerly NASD) and has a series 7, 63, and 24 securities license.

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 the FINRA (formerly NASD) and has a series 7 and 63 securities license.

Mr. Cofresí is Vice President, Corporate Development for Automatic Data Processing (“ADP”), one of the largest providers of a broad range of mission-critical transaction processing and information-based business solutions with nearly $9 billion in revenues and approximately 590,000 clients worldwide.  He serves as a Board Member for ADP’s operations in Mainland China.  Previously he served as Vice President and Head of International Business Development and Vice President of Corporate Strategy & Development for ADP. Mr. Cofresí has extensive experience providing strategic and financial advice to technology companies as a Vice President of Merrill Lynch's Financial Technology Group and Salomon Smith Barney's Technology Investment Banking Group. He was a member of Salomon Smith Barney's Media, Entertainment and Telecommunications Investment Banking Group. Mr. Cofresí has executed a wide variety of transactions including equity and equity-linked offerings, corporate divestitures and buy-side and sell-side merger and acquisition assignments.

Mr. Cofresí has also worked as a Corporate Executive Fellow at Apple Computer, where his responsibilities included formulating Strategic and Business Plans and working on special projects within various departments. Prior to Apple Computer, Mr. Cofresí worked as a Device Engineer and Project Manager for Motorola Inc. in the Communications Semiconductor Products Division.

Mr. Cofresí holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering/Device Physics from Cornell University's College of Engineering and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

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 the FINRA (formerly NASD) and has a series 7 and 63 securities license.

Mr. Fernandez has 14 years of experience in corporate and investment banking, including acquisition finance, real estate finance, financial advisory and debt underwriting and distribution. Mr. Fernandez has over 11 years of gaming and lodging experience, including working with Native American tribes domestically and in Canada.

Prior to joining Columbia West Capital, Mr. Fernandez was the co-head of CIBC World Markets' West Coast Leveraged Finance and Gaming, Lodging and Leisure practices. In Mr. Fernandez' ten years at CIBC, he worked actively with numerous strategic companies and private equity firms to originate, structure and distribute high yield issues, bank financings and private placements in various industries. Prior to joining CIBC, he was a bond analyst for Trust Company of the West's High Yield Bond Group as well as a generalist in the Specialized Finance group at Union Bank of California.

Mr. Fernandez holds degrees in Economics and History from Claremont McKenna College. Mr. Fernandez is registered with the 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. 

Victor Hwang has over fifteen years of experience in private equity investing, financing and operating experience. As the founder and Managing Partner of Agile Capital Partners, Mr. Hwang has led investments in emerging leaders in their target markets.

Prior to founding Agile Capital Partners, Mr. Hwang was the CEO and Vice Chairman of ICG Asia, a Greater China-focused joint venture between ICG and Hutchison Whampoa. ICG Asia was publicly traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He joined ICG as a Managing Director, Acquisitions based in San Francisco, where he led a number of Internet Capital Group’s most successful investments in leading emerging e-commerce companies, including Centrimed, FreeBorders and Marketron.

Prior to ICG, Mr. Hwang worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, where he was instrumental in building Goldman Sachs’ Internet investment banking business. Mr. Hwang led the Initial Public Offerings for eBay, GeoCities and Yahoo!, in addition to completing financing transactions for a wide variety of technology clients which raised in excess of $1.5 billion in capital.

Mr. Hwang has a BA from Stanford University and obtained his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Mr. Latta has nearly 20 years of experience in venture capital, private equity, public offerings and mergers and acquisitions. In addition to being Senior Advisor at Columbia West, Mr. Latta is President of Campton Group, Inc., a private equity group headquartered in San Francisco.  He was formerly the Director, Business Development, head of the US office and member of the Board of Directors of global private equity fund-of-funds manager VenCap International plc.

Prior to VenCap, he was an Executive Director in the Telecommunications Investment Banking Group at Bear, Stearns & Co. and before that a Director in the Media and Telecommunications Group at CIBC World Markets. Prior to his career in investment banking, Allen was a corporate finance attorney with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and with Buchalter, Nemer, Fields & Younger, specializing in private equity and venture capital transactions, public offerings and mergers & acquisitions.

Allen received a BA in Economics from UCLA, a JD from UC Hastings College of Law, and an MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA.  Allen is a CFA Charterholder.

Mr. Martinez has 20 years of experience in the areas of operations, finance, and corporate M&A, with an extensive international component.  Most recently, he served as EVP of Business Development for Tarsadia Investments, a privately-held California company that includes investment and operations capabilities across multiple lines of business, both in the US and abroad.  Prior to that he spent more than ten years with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, where he served as Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Development, working both overseas and from the company’s headquarters in New York, and playing a key role in the company’s global growth and expansion in the luxury, lifestyle and mixed-use space.  During his tenure at Starwood, Mr. Martinez led teams that successfully completed over 100 transactions and projects in the US and abroad including hotel, resort and land acquisitions, share purchases, joint ventures, mezzanine loans, management agreements and licensing deals representing total asset value in excess of $5.0 billion. 

Prior to his tenure at Starwood, Mr. Martinez served as Director of Business Planning for ITT Sheraton Corporation, a Boston-based global lodging company that was sold to Starwood in 1998.  He also worked with GE Capital Corporation, as part of the start-up team that launched the company’s private label credit card business in Latin America.  Prior to that, Mr. Martinez practiced law as an associate in the Los Angeles office of a large, full-service law firm, focusing on complex corporate, real estate and litigation matters.

Mr. Martinez earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Utah, a law degree from the UCLA School of Law and an MBA from Stanford University.  Mr. Martinez is registered with the FINRA (formerly NASD) and has his Series 7 and 63 securities license.  He is also a member of the California State Bar (inactive).

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 the FINRA (formerly NASD) and has a series 7 and 63 securities license.

Mr. Pawlowski is CEO and Co-Founder of Capitol Q Restaurants, a multi brand and multi-unit developer of franchised Fast Casual and Full Service restaurants across the mid-Atlantic and northeast. In addition, Richard led the successful turnaround and sale of a chain of full service BBQ restaurants, as well as the acquisition and integration of a portfolio of fast casual restaurants and the extension of the company’s portfolio of concepts.

Mr. Pawlowski was formerly an executive for W Hotels and St. Regis Hotels, both wholly-owned subsidiaries of Starwood Hotels & Resorts. He was responsible for development of new restaurant, retail, bar and nightlife concepts for multiple properties, including the critically acclaimed Ame in the St. Regis San Francisco. 

Mr. Pawlowski also worked at Bain & Company in the retail and hospitality industries. Major project work included an expansive store-level profitability initiative for Starbucks, as well as working with Texas Pacific Group on their acquisition of Punch Taverns and the restructuring of their portfolio of retail outlets.

Mr. Pawlowski earned his Master of Engineering degree from the University of Oxford and his MBA from Harvard Business School. 

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. 

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 the FINRA (formerly NASD) and has a series 7, 63, 27 and 24 securities license.