Stonehaven Forms New Investment Distribution Team

Stonehaven announced the formation of a new alternative investment distribution team.

According to the company, the newly formed team of four sales professionals and one associate bolsters Stonehaven's existing distribution capabilities and follows the firm's previously announced expansion of its management and operations team in July 2013. The additions include Gerald Brant, CAIA, <person>Matthew Mlinarich, Joseph Azzaro, CFA, and Timothy Boardman who will all manage institutional relationships and Brittany Parisi who will be integrally involved in assisting with the operation aspects of the distribution effort.

David Frank, CFA, CEO and Managing Partner said, "Stonehaven is very fortunate to have attracted such talented members to our team. We are very excited to be growing the platform to enable us to take on a new round of capital raising mandates with robust sales coverage. The new team will leverage the best practices and strong infrastructure we have developed over the last dozen years."

The addition of the new team brings Stonehaven's distribution platform, including Affiliate Partners, to a total of 18 salespeople and 7 management & operations professionals. The Firm expects to continue to expand its footprint in 2014 by establishing additional sales capabilities for specialized channels & geographies and adding additional Affiliate Partner teams.

Historically David Frank and the Affiliate Partners have raised capital for mandates originated by the Firm. Going forward the Firm will deploy the new team to provide core investor coverage while also continuing to work actively with the Affiliate Partners where coverage can be expanded. Affiliate Partners also raise capital for mandates they source directly and manage through Stonehaven's platform.

Brant is a Director on the alternative investments distribution team of Stonehaven. Brant manages institutional relationships and has more than 16 years of experience in alternative investments capital raising and research.

Prior to joining Stonehaven, Brant was a Managing Director of Tangent Capital Partners, a global boutique investment bank focused solely on alternative investments. Prior to Tangent Capital Partners, Brant was a Managing Director focused on institutional client management and business development at NewOak Capital Advisors, a firm founded by the ex-head of Structured Finance at BlackRock which specializes in advisory services for complex financial assets. Prior to NewOak, Brant was Head of Marketing at Boston based CypressTree Investment Management where he was instrumental in raising over $1B in hedge fund and leveraged finance related assets. Prior to CypressTree, Brant was a Principal at Probus Latam Advisory Group, a strategy consulting firm located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Earlier in his career, Brant was at Merrill Lynch & Co. where he supported the Global Macro Strategy Research team and conducted research on financial markets with an emphasis on asset allocation and global investment strategy.

Mlinarich is a Director on the alternative investments distribution team of Stonehaven, LLC. Mlinarich manages institutional relationships and has more than 14 years of experience in the alternative investment space in sales, research and asset allocation.

Prior to joining Stonehaven, Mlinarich was Head of Alternative Investments and a member of the Investment Committee for FCE Group, a wealth management business with approximately $1.2B in AUM. Prior to FCE Group, Mlinarich held Senior Analyst positions at multiple family and multi-family offices where he was responsible for analyzing alternative investments, assisting with portfolio construction and sourcing hedge fund and private equity investment opportunities. Mlinarich's experience overseeing alternative investments in the family office space includes time with Khronos, Heritage Fund Management and Muirfield Capital Management. Prior to his family office experience, Mlinarich was a Junior Portfolio Manager at Union Bancaire Privee Asset Management where he co- managed the firm's Global Equities product and maintained direct responsibility for the directional component of the firm's Multi- Strategy portfolios. Mlinarich began his career in alternative investments as an Associate at Ivy Asset Management where he performed both quantitative and qualitative analysis for hedge fund and FoHF portfolios.

Azzaro is a Vice President on the alternative investments distribution team of Stonehaven, LLC. Azzaro manages institutional relationships and has significant experience in credit and security analysis.

Prior to joining Stonehaven, Azzaro was an Assistant Vice President in the Credit Risk Management department of Deutsche Bank where he was the primary credit officer on a $700 million portfolio, evaluating the underlying credit risk of new transactions and monitoring credits for corporate events and overall credit risk. Previously, Azzaro was an Associate in the Leveraged Loan Portfolio group at Deutsche Bank and served as a junior portfolio manager. In this role, he was responsible for coordinating origination efforts, amendments, and refinancings among leveraged finance, capital markets, credit risk management, and the asset-based lending group.

Boardman is a Vice President on the alternative investments distribution team of Stonehaven. Boardman manages institutional relationships and has significant experience in institutional sales relationship management.

Prior to joining Stonehaven, Boardman worked on business development and marketing at MatlinPatterson, an alternative investment firm with approximately $6B in AUM. Prior to MatlinPatterson, Boardman served as an analyst for institutional client services at Goldman Sachs, where he serviced asset management, corporate, and hedge fund clients on foreign exchange trading activities. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Boardman was a Senior Associate at Guggenheim Securities, where he was responsible for institutional equity sales and trading. Boardman started his career as a junior sales trader on the institutional equity sales and trading desk at WJB Capital Group.

Parisi is an Associate of Stonehaven. She is instrumental in supporting management and the distribution team with multiple responsibilities relating to administration, operations, information technology, investment marketing, client relations, and vendor relations among various other duties.

Prior to joining Stonehaven, Parisi was a Financial Risk & Engineering Analyst at Barclays Capital where she interfaced with trading desks and senior credit officers to facilitate resolution of credit issues and specialized transactions. She served as a key coordination liaison for the prime brokerage department, senior credit risk managers and internal business units regarding the targeting and implementation of system enhancements. Prior to Barclays Capital, Parisi held analyst positions in prime brokerage and transaction services at Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch. Parisi also spent time as a Microfinance Consulting and Small Business Training intern at the Institute for the Competitiveness and Productivity of Puebla (IPPC).

Stonehaven is a global placement agent focused on hedge funds, private equity, real estate, venture capital, private placements, and long-only strategies.

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