Our Professionals
Guy Downing, Managing Director
Mr. Downing has fifteen years of investment banking and financial advisory experience, including nearly a decade of major-market investment banking experience. He has successfully executed more than 60 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.
Kaley Parkinson, Managing Director
Mr. Parkinson has over twenty 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 eight rounds of venture capital funding, numerous 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 and more than $15 million in revenue then negotiated the sale of the company to Varian Associates, a NYSE company, for over $21 million.
Mr. Parkinson has a background in a broad set of industries, but he has particular expertise in semi-conductor manufacturing, software and biotechnology. Mr. Parkinson holds a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from the Columbia Graduate School of Business. Mr. Parkinson is registered with the FINRA (formerly NASD) and has a series 7, 63, and 24 securities license.
David J. Barnett, Managing Director
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’s Private Client Division 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.
He currently is 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.
David F. Martinez, Managing Director
Mr. Martinez has 20 years of experience in the areas of finance, operations, and international transactions. Most recently, he served as EVP of Business Development for Tarsadia Hotels, a private developer-owner-operator based in Newport Beach, California. Prior to that he spent more than ten years with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, where he served as Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Development and played a key role in the company’s growth with particular focus on global expansion and mixed-use developments in the luxury and upscale arena. During his tenure at Starwood, Mr. Martinez led teams that successfully completed over 100 transactions 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 global lodging company that was sold to Starwood in 1998. Mr. Martinez also worked with GE Capital and was a member of the launch team that expanded GE’s private-label credit card business to Latin America. Prior to that he was engaged in private legal practice in Los Angeles, California, focusing on complex corporate, real estate and litigation matters. Along with his financial, operations and transactional expertise, Mr. Martinez has extensive expertise in the area of global organization and process design, and post-merger business integration.
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.
Leonardo R. Fernandez, Jr., Managing Director
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 his Series 7 and 63 securities license.
Geoffrey A. Manna, Managing Director
Prior to joining Columbia West Capital, Mr. Manna was the Founder and Managing Partner of Manna Capital Management, LLC, a long/short equities value-oriented hedge fund. Prior to founding Manna Capital, Mr. Manna worked 12 years in investment banking at several top firms including: The Royal Bank of Scotland , BNP Paribas Securities, Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Banc Alex Brown. During Mr. Manna's tenure as an investment banker, he successfully executed 75 transactions, representing $60 billion in value including high yield debt offerings, leveraged loan syndications, IPO's, secondary equity offerings, M&A and financial advisory assignments.
Prior to Mr. Manna's investment banking career, he served for three years as Director, Finance of U S WEST Capital Corporation where he directed financial management and merger & acquisition projects for the $3.5 billion financial services subsidiary of U S WEST. Prior to that Mr. Manna served for eight years as Senior Manager of KPMG Peat Marwick.
Mr. Manna earned an MBA in Finance from Columbia University in 1995 and a BS in Accounting from Villanova University in 1983. His credentials include earning General Securities Principal (Series 24, 7 and 63) and Certified Public Accountant licenses.
John Farr, Vice President
Mr. Farr was previously with Honeywell Aerospace’s Mergers & Acquisitions team making investments 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 Business in 2002. Mr. Farr is registered with the FINRA (formerly NASD) and has a series 7, and 63 securities license.
Jordan Nelson, Associate
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.
James H. Williams, Financial Operations Principal
Mr. Williams has more than 20 years of Broker Dealer management experience, and is responsible for NASD 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.
Our Senior Advisors
Manny Cofresí Jr., Senior Advisor
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.
Victor Hwang, Senior Advisor
Victor has over fifteen years of experience in private equity investing, financing and operating experience. As the founder and Managing Partner of Agile Capital Partners, Victor has led investments in emerging leaders in their target markets.
Prior to founding Agile Capital Partners, Victor 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, were 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, Victor worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, where he was instrumental in building Goldman Sachs’ Internet investment banking business. Victor 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.
Victor 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.
