Gilbert W. Harrison email

Chairman

Gilbert W. Harrison is the Founder and Chairman of Financo, Inc., a New York based investment banking firm specializing in providing merger and acquisition, financial restructuring, and other financial advisory services on a global basis to the retail, apparel and other retail and consumer goods companies.

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Mr. Harrison founded Financo in 1971 in Philadelphia, where it became one of the leading independent middle market transaction firms in the country, developing its reputation not only in the retail and consumer industries, but also across all industries in the middle market. Over the years, Financo has expanded its service offerings significantly, developing resources beyond its traditional merger and acquisition and divestiture work into consulting, principal investments, restructuring and other services relating to the retail and consumer industries sector. As one of the industry's premier dealmakers, Mr. Harrison and his team have orchestrated hundreds of merger, acquisition and divestiture deals for retail, apparel, footwear and cosmetic clients.

Mr. Harrison's other activities include creating a course on mergers and acquisitions at The Wharton School; publishing various articles and academic studies on the state of retailing and mergers and acquisitions, including a chapter in the book entitled, The Mergers and Acquisitions Handbook; and lecturing throughout the country, including moderating and participating in seminars for Retail Week, International Council of Shopping Centers, National Retail Federation, The Wharton Aresty Institute of Executive Education, The President's Association of the American Management Association, FT Business of Luxury Summit, Russia Retail Summit and the World Retail Congress.

Mr. Harrison received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania in 1962 and his Juris Doctor from The University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1965. From 1965 through 1971, he practiced corporate and securities law in New York and Philadelphia. He is admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Florida, and is a member of the American Arbitration Association.

He is a member of the Board of Advisors and Executive Committee of The Peggy Guggenheim Collection of the Solomon Guggenheim Foundation in Venice. Mr. Harrison is presently a member of the Board and the Treasurer of the Southampton Hospital Foundation. He is one of the founders of the Retail and Apparel Leadership Group of UJA-Federation of New York. Mr. Harrison is Chairman Emeritus of The Educational Foundation of the Fashion Institute of Technology. He also served the Wharton School Undergraduate Advisory Board of the University of Pennsylvania for eighteen years and was one of the founders and original member of the Board of the Penn Club of New York. Mr. Harrison also served as a member of the Board of Directors of American Apparel Footwear Association.

Colin S.A. Welch email

President & CEO

Colin S. A. Welch joined Financo in 2011 as President and CEO. Most recently, Mr. Welch was a Managing Director and Head of Europe, Middle East and Africa Retail and Luxury Goods Investment Banking Coverage at Credit Suisse Securities Europe. He was responsible for pan-European coverage of both retail corporate clients and private equity firms with retail practices. Prior to Credit Suisse, Mr. Welch was a Managing Director and Co-Head of Consumer & Retail Investment Banking, Europe and the Middle East at Lehman Brothers Europe Limited. In the US, Mr. Welch was employed with JP Morgan, Montgomery Securities and its predecessor entity as a result of acquisition, Banc of America Securities.

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During his investment banking career, Mr. Welch has closed over 70 transactions, including advising on acquisitions, mergers, equity and debt capital raisings. Prior to his investment banking career, Mr. Welch held roles as an Assistant Buyer and Department Manager as a participant in the Neiman Marcus Stores Executive Development Program.

Mr. Welch received his Masters in Business Administration from the Harvard University School of Business Administration in 1998 and his Bachelor of Business Administration, with distinction, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1992.

Karen Goodman email

COO & Managing Director

Karen Goodman is Chief Operating Officer and a Managing Director at Financo and has been with the firm since 1994. At Financo, Ms. Goodman has worked on numerous transactions including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and leveraged recapitalizations, as well as developing business plans, structuring financing and raising capital for new retail ventures.

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Prior to joining Financo, Ms. Goodman was an associate buyer and a department manager at Bloomingdale's focused on men's and children's apparel in the company's Executive Training Program. In 1993 Ms. Goodman worked at Prudential Securities, Inc. as a research associate covering the retail industry.

Ms. Goodman received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering cum laude from Tufts University and an M.B.A. in Finance from The Ohio State University.

Joel Glasky email

President, Financo Securities

Joel Glasky joined Financo in 2007 as Managing Director and head of the Firm's securities division. He brings over 30 years of investment banking experience, most recently at JPMorgan where he held a number of leadership roles, including heading the Private Placement and Ratings Advisory Groups, as well as having previously developed and managed the Firm's High Grade Capital Markets desk. He joined the Chase Securities' management team in 1991 and contributed to the growth of the capital markets businesses as the Firm evolved through mergers with Chemical Bank, JPMorgan, and Bank One. Prior to joining Chase, Mr. Glasky had been a Managing Director at Lehman Brothers where he directed its Private Placement Group. Mr. Glasky started his investment banking career at Citibank in the Corporate Finance Group.

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His expertise is centered on the capital markets where he has been engaged in the structuring and placement of a vast array of securities for a broad universe of issuers. He maintains an active dialogue with the institutional investor community that invests in privately placed securities of all types.

Mr. Glasky received his Bachelor of Science with distinction in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University and his Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Joshua Goldberg email

General Counsel & Managing Director

Joshua Goldberg, one of the founding principals of Financo following its re-establishment as an independent firm in 1989, serves as its General Counsel and a Managing Director, as well as the Chair of its Engagements Committee.

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Mr. Goldberg also serves as a founding partner, Managing Director and General Counsel at Altamont Capital Partners and at Mercantile Capital Partners – both private equity funds with portfolio investments in the consumer sector. Mercantile Capital Partners was an affiliate of Financo. Mr. Goldberg also serves as a consumer sector consultant to PEI Funds (a secondary private equity fund).

Prior to joining Financo, Mr. Goldberg worked with Shearson Lehman Brothers in its merchandising industry group between 1986 and 1989. He also served the New York law firm of Kramer, Levin, Nessen, Kamin & Frankel in mergers & acquisitions, and the Boston firm of Berman Engel P.C. in mergers & acquisitions and environmental litigation. Prior to entering the practice of law, Mr. Goldberg worked in numerous positions at The Stop & Shop Companies, Inc., a supermarket chain founded by his grandfather in 1919.

Mr. Goldberg serves as a member of the Boards of GameWear Team Sports, Imperial Headwear, Meatco Provisions and Harlem Furniture. His charitable interests include serving as a member of the Boards and the Endowment Management Committees of The Putney School and the Woods Hole Research Center, as a Trustee for The Goldberg Family Foundation and the Rabb Family Foundations; as a member of the Advisory Board of Make-a-Wish Foundation of Metro-NY; as a sponsor of City Harvest’s Kosher Initiative; and various other charitable concerns.

Mr. Goldberg received his BA, cum laude, from Harvard University and his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School (where he served as co-president of Harvard Defenders and legal advisor to Harvard Legal Services). Mr. Goldberg is a member of the Bars of New York and Massachusetts, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the Massachusetts Bar Association.

Mary Ann Domuracki email

Managing Director

Mary Ann Domuracki joined Financo in 2001, and brings 25 years of experience combining advisory and operating management services. Ms. Domuracki's industry experience includes senior management positions as President of Danskin, Inc., Executive Vice President of Kasper A.S.L., Ltd. and, most recently, Executive Vice President of Pegasus Apparel Group, Inc. She also has advisory experience with Conway, Del Genio, Gries & Co., LLC.

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Ms. Domuracki also has 11 years of experience with Ernst & Young, and is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Ms. Domuracki is a former board member of the American Apparel Manufacturers Association. She was acknowledged as an Industry Leader for the 21st century by the Apparel Industry magazine.

Transaction experience has involved developing business plans, acquisitions, divestitures, recapitalizations and restructurings in complex situations both in and out of bankruptcy court.

Ms. Domuracki has a Bachelors of Business Administration from the Pennsylvania State University with a concentration in accountancy.

Lee Helman email

Managing Director

Lee Helman joined Financo in 2006 as Managing Director. Mr. Helman has 20 years of experience in banking, direct marketing,e-commerce, retail and consumer companies. He is a frequent speaker at annual industry conferences including ACCM, shop.org and Internet Retailer. During his banking career, Mr. Helman has closed over 50 transactions, advising in acquisitions, mergers, equity and debt capital restructurings. Mr. Helman has broad experience raising private equity and debt for his clients as well as working with public companies and family owned businesses performing valuation assignments and fairness opinions.

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Mr. Helman was formerly a Managing Director at Gruppo, Levey & Co. where he was responsible for advising cataloguers, e-tailers and other direct-to-consumer companies and private equity investors in M&A, financing and private placement transactions. Previously, Mr. Helman was CFO at Polo Jeans Company, a division of Sun Apparel, Inc. and was also a senior consultant at Ernst & Young in its real estate group.

Mr. Helman earned a Masters in Business Administration from the Graduate School of Business at Boston University in 1993 and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Tufts University in 1992.

Vennette Ho email

Director

Vennette Ho joined Financo in 2004. At Financo, Ms. Ho works on a broad range of transactions including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged recapitalizations, fairness opinions and growth capital raises. Prior to Financo, Ms. Ho worked at Lazard as an equity research associate covering retail and apparel companies including Wal-Mart, Limited Brands, Jones Apparel Group, Costco, Saks, and Target. She began her career in the Bloomingdale's Executive Training Program.

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Ms. Ho graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Economics. She received her M.B.A. at Columbia Business School, graduating with beta gamma sigma honors.

David Inauen email

Vice President

David Inauen joined Financo in 2000 and has provided a broad range of financial advisory services to the retail and merchandising sectors, including sale, purchase, restructuring and private placement transactions, valuation and fairness opinions, business plan assessments, off-balance sheet financings, international franchising and joint ventures, SPAC advisory services and executive compensation negotiation. Previous clients have included American Eagle Outfitters, Blockbuster, Collective Brands, Coty, eToys, Forever 21, Gloria Vanderbilt, Gottschalks, Hudson News, Iconix, Limited Brands, Linens N' Things and Tumi. Mr. Inauen has advised both debtors-in-possession and creditors committees in bankruptcy, with the sale of Randa Luggage being hailed by the Delaware Bankruptcy Court as "a model of how you properly run and manage an insider asset sale under §363" of the United States Bankruptcy Code.

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Mr. Inauen graduated summa cum laude from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, concentrating in accounting and finance, and is Series 7, 63, 24 and 79 certified.

Scott Abrams email

CFO

Scott Abrams has over 25 years of experience in financial control and operations. Mr. Abrams joined Financo in 1995 as Controller, was promoted to VP of Finance and Systems, and then promoted to Chief Financial Officer in 2006. He is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the firm's financial operations, including corporate tax filings, financial reporting and budgets. In addition, he developed and oversees the office computer network systems, and established cost accounting policies and standards.

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Prior to joining Financo, Mr. Abrams had extensive experience in the Real Estate sector, including three years at The Solomon Organization as Controller with responsibility for the financial operation of fifteen residential and commercial properties, and four years at United Capital Corp. as Accounting Manager.

Mr. Abrams holds a BS in Business Administration from Bryant University. He is a Certified Public Accountant and has passed his FINRA series 28 exam.