Team
Paul Pignataro is founder, CEO, and teacher of New York School of Finance. Mr. Pignataro has over 12 years of experience in Investment Banking and Private Equity in business mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, asset divestitures, asset acquisitions, and debt and equity transactions covering the oil, gas, power and utility, internet and technology, real estate, defense, travel, banking and service industries. Mr. Pignataro worked at TH Lee Putnam Ventures, a $1 billion Private Equity firm affiliated with buyout giant Thomas H. Lee Partners. Prior to TH Lee, Mr. Pignataro was at Morgan Stanley, where he worked on various transactions in the technology, energy, transportation and business services industries. Some of the transactions included the $33.3 Billion merger of BP Amoco and ARCO, the $7.6 billion sale of American Water Works to RWE (German water company), the sale of two subsidiaries of Citizens Communications, a $3.0 billion communications company and the sale of a $100 million propane distribution subsidiary of a $3 billion electric utility. He graduated from New York University with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a bachelor’s degree in computer science. His areas of expertise include financial analysis, valuation, corporate finance, mergers/acquisitions and LBO modeling over many industries.
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Nate Kline is a teacher at New York School of Finance. He has taught the NYSF curriculum to undergraduate and graduate students, professionals, executives and professors in New York, Miami, Ankara and Shanghai. Nate's significant finance, strategy and marketing expertise across a variety of industries was gained through his work on large transactions as both an advisor and a principal and as a consultant to small businesses and startups. Formerly, at Fortress Investment Group, he specialized in evaluating, acquiring and managing the groups' transportation/infrastructure investments (5 deals worth over $9 billion). Before this, he worked on mergers & acquisitions at Merrill Lynch, completing several domestic and international transactions worth a total of $15 billion. Nate graduated concurrently with a B.S. in Finance and a B.A. in Economics with Honors as a Schreyer Scholar from Pennsylvania State University in 2003. In 2008, Nate co-founded the Lions on Wall Street Alumni Society and serves on its Board of Directors.
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Henry McCusker is a senior lecturer at New York School of Finance. He is also Founder and Director of Research at Scimitar Equity. Prior to Scimitar, Henry was Vice President - Strategic Planning and Communication at Curis, Inc. (2001-2002) where he was responsible for the first restructuring and the second realignment. Henry worked with Hambrecht and Quist Capital Management (HQCM) focusing on healthcare investments (NYSE:HQH/HQL) from 1985 through 2001. He also founded LifeScience Economics, a healthcare research and analytics firm with offices in Boston, MA and Palo Alto, CA. Additional past experiences include manager/director at Thermo Electron, and Stone and Webster following five years at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A former military officer, Henry has been an adjunct professor at Boston University and Golden Gate University where he taught courses in venture capital, corporate finance and strategic development in the universities' graduate business schools.
His areas of expertise include equity research, advisory, corporate finance, and valuation.
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Obed Cepeda is a senior lecturer at New York School of Finance. He is also partner at Green Coast Capital, LLC, a New York City-based asset management and equity research firm where he leads the Biotechnology and Healthcare Division. Prior to joining Green Coast Capital in 2007, Cepeda was an equity analyst at Bank of America covering the pharmaceutical sector. In addition, he was an equity analyst at J.P. Morgan specializing in the biotechnology sector. Not only does he have 10 years of experience in finance, but also holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Cornell University. He completed a prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellowship at the Yale University School of Medicine and has published extensively in leading journals discussing Molecular Genetics and Gene Cloning. His areas of expertise include equity research, biotech, healthcare, financial analysis, and valuation.
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Julio Marquez is a senior lecturer at New York School of Finance. He is president of Gottbetter Capital Markets LLC, a registered broker-dealer based in New York. Julio has 25+ years of experience in principal investments and M&A, having previously worked at institutions such as Global Emerging Markets Group, Violy Byorum, Prudential Securities, Wasserstein Perella, Citibank and Morgan Stanley. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a master's degree with honors in systems engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His areas of expertise include advisory, corporate finance, valuation, leveraged buyouts and Latin America.