Nia Stefany, Chairman of the board

Ms. Stefany advises and assists clients in going public transactions, acquisitions and sales of businesses, in obtaining private equity and venture capital, and in corporate structuring, planning and transactions. She also provides business and financial advisory services, including evaluating investment opportunities, developing business models, and improving business operations. She also manages the Xnergy Capital Fund I bridge fund.

Ms. Stefany has completed a wide variety of investment banking transactions for clients over a broad range of industries. She has managed or participated in over 50 acquisition, merger and disposition transactions valued at more than $200 million.

Throughout her career, Ms. Stefany has successfully formed, acquired, managed, developed and sold several companies in the consumer products, technology, and specialty services industries and a national franchise business. As chief executive officer and director of these companies, she has been responsible for management of all aspects of businesses, including strategic planning, structuring, finance, operations, product development, and marketing.

Ms. Stefany has held several senior management and board of director positions in both public and private companies and was a senior executive in the mergers and acquisitions department of a New York Stock Exchange listed company.

Prior to forming Xnergy, Ms. Stefany was a mergers and acquisitions, securities, and corporate attorney with a major Beverly Hills, California law firm, where she was responsible for negotiating, structuring, documenting, and closing mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, dispositions, public and private equity and debt financings, and franchising. She also worked on numerous public and private offerings.

Ms. Stefany has been an adjunct professor at Santa Monica College and at Loyola University, where she taught classes on business and legal subjects.

Education:

Nia Stefany attended Loyola University School of Law where she received a J.D. degree in 1994. Subsequently, she attended the University Of San Diego School Of Law where she received a Masters of Laws in Taxation, with a specialty in complex corporate transactions.

Organized Affiliations:

Ms. Stefany is a member of the California State Bar, and the Beverly Hills and Los Angeles County Bar Associations. She is a member and sponsor of the National Investment Bankers Association, the Association for Corporate Growth, the Los Angeles Venture Association. She is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Pasadena Angels, the Tech Coast Venture Group, the Small Cap Investors Association, the Keiretsu Forum and many other professional, charitable and civic organizations.

Panels and Speaking Engagements:

Ms. Stefany is a panelist and speaker at the Annual Harvard Business School Conferences, the Entrepreneur Conference, the Growth Capital Conferences, the Continuing Education of the Bar and she is a popular speaker at many other professional conferences, conventions and seminars on investment banking, IPOs, angel investing and venture capital.

Community Service:

Through her involvement with the Pasadena Angels and the Keiretsu Forum, Ms. Stefany mentors many entrepreneurs and start-up businesses. She also has invested in several promising early-stage companies, and she provides business and financial guidance to them at no cost. She serves on the boards of directors of several private companies and nonprofit organizations.

Awards and Honors:

Ms. Stefany was recognized nationally for her contribution to the American economy and to small and medium size businesses and awarded the prestigious “Keeping America Strong” Award by Rear Admiral Kevin Delanney and featured on the show “Heatbeat of America” , hosted by William Shatner. Her firm, Xnergy, has been named one of the top 10 investment banking firms by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. Ms. Stefany is also a published tax-planning author.

Paul Bloom, CEO

In his early career years, Paul became well versed in the communications, software, computer services, and general technology industries (and related small cap companies) working as a sell-side/buy-side analyst at Goldman Sachs and Citicorp/J.P. Morgan in New York City. From 1984-1989, he facilitated vertical market coverage of the nascent transaction services industry while helping to build an institutional brokerage business from start-up at Johnson Lane.

Migrating out West, Paul joined Volpe Brown Whelan & Company, LLC in San Francisco in 1989. While helping grow Volpe’s investment banking/research business from near start-up of 25 employees to over 150, over the space of nine years, Paul partnered with its investment bankers on 38 small-cap transactions in computer services, vertical market applications, infrastructure software, software development tools and special situations, focusing exclusively on funding small capitalization companies. As a result of these deals, Paul developed an impressive knowledge base in vertical market application software, application integration and advanced software technologies. Subsequently, Paul participated in seven financing transactions for a range of software/related technology small cap companies at Roth Capital Partners.

As Executive Vice-President of Corporate Development at AremisSoft-Softbrands in Minneapolis from 2000-2003, Paul helped execute a consolidation strategy of vertical market software companies and managed two acquisitions for $70M, adding $70M of revenue for the company. In addition, Paul supervised all corporate communications to Wall Street and served as its President and Board Member during a transition period. Returning to Roth Capital Partners as a Managing Director of Investment Banking in 2004, Paul participated in a range of technology, advanced materials, and energy relatd transactions.

Paul has been an independent financial advisor in New York City since 2007 working with Jesteda Partners, consulting on financial transactions for public and private companies in nano materials, oil/gas drilling services, bio-renewable feed, advanced video processing, and industrial materials.

Paul holds Series 24, 7 and 63 licenses and is a licensed broker in New York State and California. He holds a B.S. in Physics from CUNY and a Master’s/Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from the Belfer Graduate School of Science at Yeshiva University. He currently resides in New York City.

Don Johnson, Director

Mr. Johnson focuses primarily on mergers and acquisitions and finance transactions. He advises and assists clients in structuring, negotiating, documenting, and closing acquisitions, mergers and dispositions, including regulatory compliance. He also assists clients in structuring, negotiating, documenting and executing finance transactions, including private equity, angel and venture capital, public transactions and debt financing. Mr. Johnson also assists public-company clients in continuing regulatory, reporting and qualification requirements. He is also available to assist clients in business and financial planning, evaluation of investment opportunities, preparation of business plans, and general business and corporate matters.

Prior to joining Xnergy, Mr. Johnson was a member of Richman, Mann, Chizever, Philips and Duboff, Beverly Hills, California, Loeb and Loeb, Los Angeles, California, and Mulvaney, Kahan and Barry, San Diego, California.

Mr. Johnson is a member of the State Bar of California and the bars of the U. S. Supreme Court, U. S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, U. S. District Court, Southern District of California, and U. S. Tax Court. He is active in a number of professional, charitable and civic organizations.
Education:
Mr. Johnson earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Iowa.

Mr. Timmerman’s professional experience includes more than 25 years in leadership roles, as CEO, CFO, and investment banker with entrepreneurial, small and middle market companies, both private and public, in the US, Europe, and the Third World.

He has advised on hundreds of transactions and completed over two dozen small and middle market M&A deals in a myriad of industries including aerospace & defense, manufacturing, high tech, software, IT, engineering, construction, Clean Tech, and leisure. In addition he has completed joint ventures with US and European companies.

For small and middle market companies he has raised over $350 million in equity and all forms of debt from the public markets via IPOs and secondary financings, institutional investors, banks, private equity funds, venture capitalists, and private high net worth individuals.

He has turned three businesses around through sound operational management and restructuring debt. He successfully guided one company in and out of Chapter XI in less than 90 days, culminating in a “363 asset purchase” by the management group.

He began his career with JP Morgan Chase where he held various positions including Vice President and County Manager of the Ivory Coast, Vice President Commercial Banking in Paris, France.

Mr. Timmerman is on the Board of Directors of Pointivity, an IT services (Software as a Service) company. He is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth, San Diego CommNexus Clean Tech Special Interest Group, and a past member of the Executive Committee of the San Diego MIT Enterprise Forum. His past Board memberships include a European construction company, an engineering company, a manufacturing company, and an oil importer & distributor.

Mr. Timmerman received his BA in Philosophy & European History from Washington & Lee University and his MBA in International Economics from New York University. He holds a Certificate d’賵des from L’Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Paris, France. He is fluent in French.

Blaise Heid, Investment Banker

Mr. Blaise Heid is a partner with Xnergy and brings more than 25 years experience in corporate and investment banking.  Prior to joining Xnergy, Mr. Heid built a boutique investment banking firm, Tortugas Capital, which he ran for 3 years.  At Tortugas, Mr. Heid provided advisory and investment banking services primarily to growth-based healthcare companies.  Prior to Tortugas, Mr. Heid was with ABN AMRO, where he built and ran the global structured finance team for more than 10 years.  Mr. Heid’s unit included more than 70 advisors in 12 countries and specialized in the structuring and placement of equity and hybrid investments.  Mr. Heid also co-managed the bank’s global corporate finance activities.  He has expertise in healthcare, IT, power and project finance, as well as hybrid securities and other unique forms of corporate financing.  Mr. Heid holds a BA in Accounting from the University of Washington and an MBA from New York University.

Jay Bartelstone , Investment Banker

Mr.Bartelstone is currently the Managing Director of The Private Financing Group, an Investment Banking Advisory Company. The Private Financing Group, assists their clients in the strategic assessment of their business, and engages in strategic planning, capital strategy and formulation, transmittal document and preliminary due diligence activities and operating capital attainment Mr. Bartelstone has a broad and diverse operating management background having held a number of Senior Executive positions in the financial services industry.

Included in these Senior Executive capacities was the supervision of domestic and international banking operations at Citicorp, New York. While at Citicorp, Mr. Bartelstone was responsible for the Bank’s national expansion efforts through his project oversight for major acquisitions, involving many of the Bank’s diverse financial service offerings. While stationed in New York, Jay was responsible for the overall operating management of the large branch offices in New York City as well as the Bank’s check processing clearing operations with the Federal Reserve of New York. In his last position at Citibank, Jay was project manager for the Bank’s acquisition and consolidation of Diners Club and Carte Blanche which resulted in the Bank’s acquisition of these two companies. After the acquisition of these two companies, Jay was involved in the on going international marketing and operations for the Carte Blanche and Diners Club franchises.

At Union Bank, in Los Angeles, Ca. as Group Sector Executive, Mr. Bartelstone was responsible for strategic planning, the management of the investment management, trust, real estate, private banking and small business lending operations. Upon leaving Union Bank, upon the sale of Union Bank to the Bank of Tokyo, Jay went on to hold the Senior Executive positions of President/CEO and Vice Chairman/Chief Operating Officer of Columbia Bank and the Bank of Los Angeles respectively.

He holds a Bachelors degree from the University of Connecticut and a Masters Degree in Finance from Fordham University, in New York. Jay is  a licensed Mortgage Broker. Jay also holds a Series 63 and 65 Securities License. Mr. Bartelstone is a member of North Ranch Country Club.Jay currently lives in Westlake Village, Ca. with his family. 

Stephen W. Fillet

Mr. Fillet an Investment Banker at Xnergy Financial LLC. Mr. Fillet served as a senior Managing Director of Investment Banking at Roth Capital Partners, the United States' #1 full-service investment bank focusing on small and micro-cap companies, in the firm's headquarters office. Prior to this, Mr. Fillet was Executive Director and Head of CIBC's Technology Investment Banking practice in Los Angeles. Prior to joining CIBC, Mr. Fillet was a senior banker at Roth Capital Partners (formerly Cruttenden Roth), where he served as a Vice President and, later, as a Principal in the firm's technology investment banking practice.

Prior to this, Mr. Fillet spent over six years as Vice President of a West Coast-based boutique investment banking firm specializing in initial and follow-on public offerings, buy- and sell-side merger and acquisition advisory assignments, private placements of both debt and equity and strategic financial feasibility studies.Prior to this, Mr. Fillet was a member of Oppenheimer's West Coast Investment Banking Group and an analyst at Banque Paribas, in the firm's New York office, in both the large corporate and leveraged capital groups.

Mr. Fillet entered the field of investment banking with experience gained as a corporate banking officer and management associate at Bank of America as well as a marketing professional and systems engineering assistant at IBM. Mr. Fillet earned his B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and his MBA, Summa Cum Laude, from the Stern School of Business at New York University. While in business school, Mr. Fillet was the first place winner of the Charles Lazarus National Entrepreneurship Award for a technology business that he founded.

Mr. Fillet has a strong educational background, having received degrees from two of America's top academic institutions. His hard work and achievement in this regard has been critically recognized with lifetime memberships to the California Scholarship Federation and Beta Gamma Sigma, the national honor society for Business School students.

Applying his education and drive, Mr. Fillet has a history of working in major corporations, including IBM, Bank of America, Banque Paribas and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, where he worked closely with both the senior decision-makers of these institutions as well as the corporations to which they catered.

Mr. Fillet also has a history of working in various entrepreneurial environments, a key attribute to any client or organization. In connection with this, Mr. Fillet's history includes winning a national business plan competition, starting a business upon which this plan was based, and providing high value-added advice and services to entrepreneurial corporations and their principals, Boards of Directors and stakeholders.

Robert Whyte, Investment Banker

Robert K. Whyte is a Founding Partner of Diamond Capital Partners. His focus is; media and entertainment, consumer products, manufacturing and aerospace. Robert’s clients include both private and public firms looking to grow or acquire assets or expand by acquiring their competition. Prior to Diamond, Robert was a Managing Director at Mosaic Capital Securities. In 2002, he founded the Los Angeles office of Morgan Joseph & Co. as Managing Director and member of the media entertainment, and consumer products groups. Robert continues at Diamond to specialize in growth financing, acting as agent for mergers or acquisitions together with sourcing funding for middle market companies using SPAC’s, PIPE’s, high yield debt, institutional private equity or IPO’s.

Before moving to Los Angeles, Robert was a partner in the Media and Broadcast Group of Daniels and Associates based in New York City. His investment banking transactions within this sector assisted companies expand their asset base and enter new areas of revenue. His projects included working with television groups, radio groups, cable networks, mobile broadband and outdoor advertising. Additionally, he acted as agent in media and broadcast M&A transactions.

Prior to this, Robert acted as a merchant banker in Toronto and New York where he specialized in a wide range of sectors including communication, media and consumer products financing. During the early 90's, he completed various radio, cable and print projects in Canada, the United States, Mexico and China.

Historically, Mr. Whyte was one of the founding partners in the Canadian affiliate of Home Shopping Network and, in 1986, led the company as its COO through its Initial Public Offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

In 1981, Mr. Whyte founded a new FM radio station in Calgary, Canada, after securing regulatory approval and completing its financing. This operation became the hub for two radio networks providing seven formats to over 360 radio stations across the United States and Canada. Robert was the youngest applicant ever granted a broadcast license by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

Outside of his investment banking practice, Robert assists companies in dispute resolution. Working along side partners or families with aligned corporate interests to find a mediated solution for disputes that arise. Having attended the world respected Pepperdine University Center for Dispute Resolution, Robert's aim is to create a solution that both sides can accept thereby saving time and painful years in court.

Since moving to Los Angeles, Robert has been involved with a number of community projects. He is the co founder of the now famous MeatEaters Ball, a networking event that serves over 1,000 people old fashioned Bar B Q while raising funds for the Santa Monica Boys and Girls Club and BizWorld Foundation. As the Past President of Los Angele's oldest business non for profit organization, the Los Angeles Venture Association (LAVA), he is also active with; ACG, NAB, NATPE, CAB, AOPA and Rotary 5.

Robert is a multiengine IFR pilot and enjoys fly fishing in remote locations. He attended Sir George Williams University, Bachelor of Commerce.

David Herman, Banker

David is a Founding Partner of Diamond Capital Partners. His career has given him the experience to complete transactions in almost any industry and under the most diverse circumstances. After graduating with his B.A. from Washington University (St. Louis), David worked for three political campaigns (mayor, senator, and congressman) while attending New York University Law School. He passed the New York Bar and started working in his family’s auto parts manufacturing business in New Jersey founded by his grandfather in 1940.

After seven years he left the business and traveled to Los Angeles and became a successful professional photographer. His father said “enough already” and made him a deal he couldn’t refuse. He returned to New York with his new wife to run the business as President, for the next eight years. The family was approached by a buyer and decided to sell just before the market changed for the worst. David managed the transaction and his father…an experience that has enabled him to effectively navigate the particular dynamics of closing deals in the mid market.

David arrived in Los Angeles looking to buy a business but instead found himself involved in deal making for others. He and his partner founded Chelsea Capital, a boutique investment banking firm. They sold the firm to Houlihan Lokey Howard and Zukin and David became a Director in the Investment Banking Division. After David left Houlihan he bought a cosmetics company. He added new management, upgraded the products, and eventually sold it to a larger cosmetic company.

Prior to founding Diamond, David was a Managing Director at Mosaic Capital a mid market investment banking firm.

David’s operational and transactional experience enables him to generate better than market valuations for his clients because he understands the value drivers that attract buyers. Owning and selling two businesses gives David the insight to effectively moderate one of the most challenging times in a business owner’s career.

David has been a member of the Water Buffalo Club, a children’s charity, for the past 17 years. Besides being a photographer (see link), he is also an avid tennis player, and will be representing the United States at the Maccabi Games (Israel’s version of the Summer Olympics, held every four years) in Israel this summer. David lives in Los Angeles, has been married for 26 years and has two grown daughters.

Mark Ross, Investment Banker

Mark R. Ross is a Founding Partner of Diamond Capital Partners. Previously, he was a Managing Director of Mosaic Capital, which he had joined in 2006. Mark has over 30 years of hands-on experience, both as an entrepreneur and as a banker, leading companies to unprecedented growth. He is the current Vice-Chairman of Autobytel, Inc. [NASDAQ: "ABTL"], where he also serves as a member of the Board's Audit Committee. He was also the founding investor and senior board member of AutoWeb [NASDAQ: "AWEB"], and spearheaded its merger in 2001 with Autobytel.

In 2001, Mark founded Cogito Capital, a corporate advisory firm working with rapidly growing, emerging technology companies on their scalability, infrastructure and media/convergence strategies. Mr. Ross was also a Managing Director of Chatsworth Securities from 1997 until 2006, when he joined Mosaic. While at Chatsworth, Mark was the senior banker and advisor on over 25 transactions, with a combined value of over $500 million. Mr. Ross also served on the boards of advisors of many of these early stage growth companies, such as iCastle.com, Salon, Inc. [NASDAQ: "SALNC"], MoreDirect, Inc. and Mediaplex, Inc. [NASDAQ: "MPLX"].

As Founder (1983) and Chairman of On Word Information, a pioneering database/imaging company, he worked with such Fortune 500 companies as Motorola, Hewlett Packard, PACCAR and The World Bank. In 1995 Mr. Ross sold On Word to Motorola.

Mr. Ross received a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA and pursued his graduate studies in education at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA and at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. Mr. Ross holds a Permanent Teacher's Credential from the State of New York as well as his NASD Series 7 and Series 63 licenses.

Mark is married to Roni Weisberg-Ross, a Los Angeles-based psychologist. They have one child, a daughter, Caroline. Mark’s passions, other than his family, are photography (feel free to click the link to his photo site), skiing (non-expert, but great fun) and cooking for friends and family.

Robert Smith, Investment Banker

Robert Smith is a founding partner of Diamond Capital Partners. He is a former Director with Mosaic Capital where he successfully completed a series of M&A transactions and other investment banking engagements. Previously, Robert was a Principal at Hankin & Co. where he completed buy-side M&A, financing and sell-side M&A transactions in the diversified manufacturing, retail, distribution, and service sectors.

Prior to this, Robert was engaged in the practice of law at Prindle, Decker & Amaro where he participated in complex litigation and business and real estate transactions.

Mr. Smith began his career as a technology consultant to the transportation industry where he directed the design and production of enterprise software systems.

Mr. Smith earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Southern California Law School and his B.A. Degree (with honors) in Economics from California State University, Long Beach.

He is an outdoor adventurer, aggressive skier, avid football fan, restorer of classic cars, movie and music aficionado, and cooking enthusiast.