Chip Grayson, Executive Managing Director, Director of Investment Banking. Mr. Grayson joined Morgan Keegan 1993 and was made head of the Mergers & Acquisitions Group in 1999. Mr. Grayson was named Director of Investment Banking in 2004 and became a member of Morgan Keegan's Executive Committee. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan, he was a partner in the law firm now known as Baker Donelson, where he worked extensively in the areas of public and private securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions and venture capital financings. Mr. Grayson received a B.B.A. in finance from the University of Mississippi, graduating magna cum laude, and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Bob Glenn, Executive Managing Director. Mr. Glenn joined Morgan Keegan in 2004 as executive managing director in the Equity Capital Markets division and a member of Morgan Keegan’s executive committee. Formerly vice chairman of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, he served as a member of its executive committee and managed its corporate syndicate origination and execution efforts during his 32-year tenure. Mr. Glenn was co-chairman of the Securities Industry Association’s syndicate committee and served on the corporate financing committee of FINRA (National Association of Securities Dealers). He was a member of the board of directors of JGA Corporation. He earned a B.S. in business administration from Auburn University. He has served on the boards of trustees of The Lovett School and Darlington School and is a past member of the Board of Visitors of Emory University.
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Alper Cetingok, Managing Director. Mr. Cetingok joined Morgan Keegan in 1997. Since his arrival, he has assumed increasing levels of responsibility within the Investment Banking Group and presently serves as the director of the group’s Security & Safety practice and as a member of the investment banking management committee. Mr. Cetingok is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing private placements, public and private offerings of debt and equity and mergers and acquisitions transactions. Since joining Morgan Keegan, he has successfully completed more than 50 transactions, including several cross-border transactions in Europe and Asia. Mr. Cetingok graduated magna cum laude from Rhodes College with a B.A. in business administration and international studies. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.
Craig Decker, Managing Director. Mr. Decker joined Morgan Keegan’s transportation, logistics and marine practice in May of 2005. Throughout his career, he has completed numerous investment banking transactions involving energy services, transportation, logistics and marine companies. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan, Mr. Decker was a founding principal and head of the transportation and logistics practice at Legacy Partners Group, LLC. Prior to Legacy, he was a senior coverage officer with Credit Suisse First Boston’s transportation and logistics group and led the client coverage effort in New York. Mr. Decker also served as an associate with Credit Suisse First Boston’s M&A group and the M&A group of JPMorgan Chase. He received his B.S. in accounting from Villanova University and his M.B.A. from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business.
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Scott Garfinkel, Managing Director, Co-Head Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Sponsors. Mr. Garfinkel joined Morgan Keegan in 1993. Since 1989, he has focused his career on advising middle market clients in exclusive sale, recapitalization and private equity raise transactions. In addition to co-founding the Convenience Store & Retail Petroleum practice, he has developed a breadth of industry experience completing transactions in a number of Morgan Keegan specialty niches including building materials, business services, consumer, general industrial, insurance, real estate, restaurants and sports media. He was formerly with Bowles Hollowell Conner & Company (now Wachovia Securities), a Charlotte, North Carolina-based investment bank specializing in middle market M&A and structured financings. Mr. Garfinkel received a B.S. in business administration from the University of North Carolina and an M.B.A. from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Gamma Sigma honor societies.
Jim Hansen, Managing Director. Mr. Hansen joined Morgan Keegan in 2008 and is in its energy practice, providing public and private equity, debt and M&A advisory services to the energy sector. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan, he was head of energy investment banking at Broadpoint Capital in Houston, where he was responsible for the firm’s energy-related equity, debt and M&A advisory services. Previously, Mr. Hansen was a managing director in the energy and power group at Bank of America Securities in Houston. Prior to that, he served as a managing director of investment banking at Howell, Weil, Labouisse, Friedrichs & Co. in New Orleans, where he executed more than 50 equity and high-yield offerings and corporate advisory assignments. Mr. Hansen has also provided advisory services for W&T Offshore Company. He received a B.A. with a concentration in economics and politics from Princeton University.
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Randy Karchmer, Managing Director, Co-Head Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Sponsors. Mr. Karchmer joined Morgan Keegan in 1994 and is responsible for the firm’s M&A and Financial Sponsors practice. He has spent his entire career advising middle market public and private companies and private equity group portfolio companies in a variety of transactions in numerous industries. Since 1989, he has focused his career on advising middle-market clients in exclusive sale, recapitalization and private equity raise transactions. In addition to co-founding the Convenience Store & Retail Petroleum practice, he has developed a breadth of industry experience, completing transactions in a number of Morgan Keegan specialty niches including building materials, business services, consumer, general industrial, insurance, real estate and restaurants. Before joining Morgan Keegan, Mr. Karchmer was a corporate attorney with Much, Shelist, Denenberg, Ament & Rubenstein in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Karchmer received his B.S. with highest distinction in accounting from Indiana University, where he received the Peat Marwick Most Outstanding in Accounting Award and was named Senior Scholar at the School of Business. He received his J.D. from the Northwestern University School of Law. Mr. Karchmer is a certified public accountant (inactive) and a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society. He is a frequent speaker on M&A and private equity-related topics. He is the founder and president of the Memphis chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth and serves on the board of directors of Metal Technologies, Inc., a global metal casting company with over $500mm in sales; the La Madeleine, Inc. restaurant chain; and other civic boards.
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Mike Lederman, Managing Director. Mr. Lederman joined Morgan Keegan in 2009 and serves as the head of its Special Situations/Restructurings Group. He came to Morgan Keegan as co-founder and managing partner of The Spectrum Capital Group, LLC, an investment banking firm with a national restructuring practice. He co-founded the restructuring group at Goldman Sachs in the late 1980s and has more than 20 years of experience restructuring public and private companies. Among the transactions he led were Contel’s acquisition of Equitorial Communications, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s claims as the largest creditor of LTV Corp., Algoma Steel’s debt buy-back and the sale of the Federated Group to Atari Corporation. Mr. Lederman has completed dozens of transactions as both advisor and principal, including the first-ever unsolicited takeover of a billion dollar public company while in Chapter 11 (Allegheny International, renamed Sunbeam-Oster). He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, summa cum laude, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Lederman received his M.B.A. from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. His board memberships include The Jewish National Fund and Exprezit LLC.
Keith Meyers, Managing Director. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan in 2005, Mr. Meyers spent five years with Raymond James & Associates in the financial services and transaction processing group in Florida. Before that, he worked at Deloitte & Touche in Stamford, Connecticut, in the business advisory and assurances group. Mr. Meyers received his B.A. with a dual major in finance and accounting from Washington University in St. Louis and his M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He is a certified public accountant (inactive).
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Ken Novotny, Managing Director
. Mr. Novotny joined Morgan Keegan in 1998 and is focused on the transportation and logistics industry. He has closed more than 50 M&A transactions in that industry and has participated in numerous private equity offerings. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan, he spent nearly a decade working as a senior officer with Goldsmith, Agio, Helms and Company. He had previously held various other key finance and accounting positions in both large public and small private entities. Mr. Novotny received his B.S. in accounting, graduating with honors from St. Cloud State University, and received his M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. He is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society.
John Ockerbloom, Managing Director. Mr. Ockerbloom joined Morgan Keegan in 2009 and serves as head of the firm’s real estate investment banking practice. His transactional experience includes buy-side and sell-side assignments as well as capital raising for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), Real Estate Operating Companies (REOCs), real estate services companies, opportunity funds and other institutional real estate owners across a broad range of property types. Previously, he was a managing director with both Wachovia Securities and Banc of America Securities. Mr. Ockerbloom practiced securities and real estate syndications law for six years prior to joining Bank of America, most recently with the Boston firm of Sherburne, Powers & Needham (now Holland & Knight). He received a B.A. from Westfield State College and a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.
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Jeff Pranaitis, Managing Director. Mr. Pranaitis joined Morgan Keegan in 2008 as a member of the Security & Safety practice. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan, he was a senior coverage officer at Lehman Brothers, where he was responsible for developing and leading an investment banking practice focused on the global security industry. Mr. Pranaitis has advised on numerous merger, acquisition and capital raising assignments across a broad range of sectors, including homeland security, alarm monitoring, corrections, guarding, biometrics, access control and video surveillance. He began his career in the investment banking industry at Wasserstein Perella and previously worked as a tax consultant specializing in mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Pranaitis is a certified public accountant and a certified financial manager. He received an M.B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, where he was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma.
Joe Sands, Managing Director. Mr. Sands joined Morgan Keegan in 2009 and is a member of the Special Situations/Restructurings Group. A founding partner of The Spectrum Capital Group, he has more than 20 years of corporate finance experience with a background in mergers & acquisitions, corporate restructurings, corporate finance, strategic planning and marketing. Prior to forming Spectrum, Mr. Sands was a vice president of Fulcrum Capital Advisors LP, a financial advisory firm focused on consumer products companies. He was the treasurer and director of corporate development of a direct marketing and manufacturing company that grew from $12 million to $80 million in four years. Earlier, Mr. Sands was a CPA with Arthur Andersen and a financial associate at Merrill Lynch. Mr. Sands graduated summa cum laude from the George Washington University and attended Columbia Business School's M.B.A. program and Harvard Business School's Executive Financial Management Program. Mr. Sands is a Certified Valuation Analyst, Certified Turnaround Professional and a Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor. He has served on the board of several private companies and is currently a member of the board of directors of Exprezit Convenience Stores LLC.
Ken Taratus, Managing Director. Mr. Taratus manages the middle market debt practice at Morgan Keegan. His group structures senior and subordinate debt for corporations that are raising money for either buyouts or for growth. He also raises debt for project finance transactions. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan in 2005, Mr. Taratus was a managing director in the investment banking department at Jefferies & Company, Inc., where he led its structured finance and project finance efforts. During his 15 years at Jefferies, Mr. Taratus helped raise over $15 billion in debt and equity for a variety of clients, including Trust Company of the West, MassMutual and Cargill. Prior to Jefferies, he worked at Drexel Burnham Lambert, where he was a member of the financial institutions group. Mr. Taratus received a B.A. in economics and English from the University of North Carolina and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
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Roger Woodman, Managing Director. Mr. Woodman joined Morgan Keegan in 1998 and is primarily responsible for providing M&A, public and private equity and debt advisory services to the firm’s convenience store and restaurant clients. Throughout his career, Mr. Woodman has developed a breadth of mergers and acquisitions experience and has led many transactions in the retail, restaurant, consumer and related sectors. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan, Mr. Woodman was an attorney with Waring Cox, PLC in Memphis, Tenn., where he practiced corporate securities law. Before joining Waring Cox, Mr. Woodman practiced with Malizia, Spidi, Sloane & Fisch, PLLC, a boutique law firm in Washington, D.C., specializing in securities transactions for financial institutions. He received a B.B.A. in finance from Emory University and a J.D. from the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. In addition, Mr. Woodman earned an L.L.M. in securities and financial regulation from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Jim Apple, Senior Vice President. Mr. Apple directs the Investment Banking Group’s business development program, with specific focus on opportunities generated from the Morgan Keegan-Regions Bank network in 16 states and identifying growth opportunities for private equity platform investments. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan, Mr. Apple spent 15 years in local economic development work in Atlanta, Mobile and Memphis. Mr. Apple received his B.A. from Rhodes College in economics and international studies.
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Larry Herman, Senior Vice President. Mr. Herman joined Morgan Keegan in 2003. Since his arrival, he has assumed increasing levels of responsibility within the Investment Banking Group and presently serves as a senior banker in its equity origination effort. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan, he was in the investment banking groups of CIBC World Markets and Alex. Brown and was head of corporate development for Radiant Systems, Inc. Mr. Herman received a B.B.A. with high honors in finance from The University of Texas at Austin and an M.B.A. with honors from the Olin School of Business at Washington University.
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Steve Hunter, Senior Vice President
. Mr. Hunter joined Morgan Keegan in 2006 and has been focused on providing investment banking services to middle market clients for almost 15 years. He has extensive experience working with clients in the manufacturing, building materials, trucking, healthcare and technology sectors. He has completed a wide variety of transactions including sell-side and buy-side merger and acquisition assignments, public equity and debt offerings as well as private capital raisings. Before joining Morgan Keegan, Mr. Hunter was with The Breckenridge Group, Robertson Stephens and The Robinson-Humphrey Company. He started his career in investment banking as a financial analyst with Alex. Brown & Sons. Mr. Hunter received a B.A. in economics, graduating magna cum laude, from Bucknell University and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Will James, Senior Vice President. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan, Mr. James worked in the finance department of Mueller Industries, Inc. and in the tax group at Ernst & Young. He received a B.Acc. from the University of Mississippi. Mr. James is a certified public accountant (inactive).
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Chris Kollme, Senior Vice President. Mr. Kollme joined Morgan Keegan in 2006 and is a member of the firm's real estate and lodging investment banking practice. In this capacity, he is focused on executing public and private equity capital raises and M&A transactions on behalf of public and private real estate companies. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan, he was the vice president of acquisitions for Duke Realty, the nation’s largest publicly-traded office and industrial REIT, where he was responsible for principal investments throughout the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. Prior to joining Duke, Mr. Kollme held a similar position with Wells Real Estate Funds. Prior to Wells, he spent four years in Wachovia Securities’ real estate investment banking group. Mr. Kollme received a B.A. from Rhodes College and an M.B.A. from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University.
Ezra Lightman, Senior Vice President. Mr. Lightman joined Morgan Keegan in 2008 as a member of the Financial Sponsors practice. He came to Morgan Keegan from Jefferies & Company, Inc., where he held positions as senior vice president in the financial sponsors group and, before that, vice president in the restructuring group and investment banking associate. Lightman has 13 years of extensive experience in corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions and other financial advisory work. He earned a B.S. in business and management from Yeshiva University.
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Randy Maner, Senior Vice President. Mr. Maner joined Morgan Keegan in April 2007 and is responsible for the firm's consumer investment banking activities with a particular focus in the food, apparel, flooring, mattress, and furnishings sectors. He spent seven years as a senior investment banker with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, focusing on middle market transactions in the consumer products, retail and specialty manufacturing sectors. Deals included sales to financial and strategic buyers, sale of public and private companies, sale of portfolio companies of financial buyers, acquisition advisory services to public companies and public offering and other capital raising activities. His prior 12 years of middle market M&A experience also includes deals in the telecommunications and healthcare sectors for five years with Wachovia Securities and The Breckenridge Group. In addition, he spent four years as a certified public accountant with Arthur Andersen. Mr. Maner received a B.B.A. from The University of Georgia with a major in accounting.
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Denny Taylor, Senior Vice President. Before joining Morgan Keegan, Mr. Taylor was a director at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and spent six years in the firm’s business and technology services and healthcare services practices. He also spent two years as an associate in the business services group at SunTrust Equitable Securities. His extensive transaction experience includes a significant number of M&A transactions, public offerings and private placements. Prior to his career in investment banking, Mr. Taylor was a consulting engineer in Houston, Texas. He earned his undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt University and his M.B.A. from Rice University’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management.
Matthew Crosby, First Vice President. Mr. Crosby joined Morgan Keegan’s Security & Safety practice in 2005. Before that, he served as the senior analyst for the total return strategy practice in Morgan Keegan’s Fixed Income Capital Markets division. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan, he advised financial institutions on mergers and acquisitions and raising capital via trust preferred securities at both First Tennessee Capital Markets and First Capital Group, LLC. He also spent time at Carlisle & Company, a boutique strategy consulting firm based in Concord, Massachusetts, advising clients primarily in the auto sector on corporate strategy. Additionally, Mr. Crosby worked as an analyst in the investment banking group at Stephens, Inc. in Little Rock, Arkansas, focusing on mergers and acquisitions and on private and public capital-raising projects. Prior to his time at Stephens, Inc., he worked at First Tennessee Bank as a real estate lender. Mr. Crosby graduated cum laude from Millsaps College, earning a B.B.A. with concentrations in finance and marketing, and earned his M.B.A from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
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Harris White, First Vice President. Mr. White joined Morgan Keegan in 2006 and serves as a banker in the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions practice, advising clients in a variety of sale, recapitalization, and capital transactions. Throughout his career, Mr. White has developed experience serving hospitality, real estate, multi-unit consumer and franchising businesses. He was most recently the chief financial officer for The Wellbridge Company, one of the largest owner-operators of upscale health and wellness facilities nationwide. Prior to that, Mr. White was chief financial officer for Sage Hospitality Resources. In each of these positions, he was responsible for all aspects of corporate finance, asset management and accounting and completed a variety of financing transactions. Mr. White began his career in the corporate finance group of Hilton Hotels in Memphis in 1990. He received a B.S. in business administration from Washington and Lee University and an M.B.A. from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University.
Jim Chester, Vice President. Mr. Chester joined Morgan Keegan in 2006. He has been responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing private placements, public and private offerings of debt and equity and M&A transactions in several Morgan Keegan industry specialties including retail, restaurants, distribution and specialty finance. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan, Mr. Chester worked in New York in the investment banking divisions of Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers. Prior to Lehman Brothers, he was a commercial banker for a total of eight years with First Union and SouthTrust Bank. Mr. Chester received a B.B.A. in finance from the University of Georgia, a Master of Accounting from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Business and an M.B.A. from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.
Matt Hayden, Vice President. Mr. Hayden joined Morgan Keegan in 2003 and focuses primarily on sell-side transactions for companies in a variety of industries, including transportation and logistics, general industrial, distribution, manufacturing and business services. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan, Mr. Hayden was a senior auditor with Ernst and Young, LLP. He received both a B.S. in accountancy, graduating magna cum laude, and a M.Acc. from the University of Mississippi’s Patterson School of Accountancy. Mr. Hayden is a member of Phi Kappa Phi and is a certified public accountant (inactive).
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Mark Satisky, Vice President. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan in 2007, Mr. Satisky was a vice president in the media and telecom group at Credit Suisse in New York. Prior to Credit Suisse, he worked at Deutsche Bank in the investment banking group in New York and at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the audit and transaction services practices. He received a B.S.B.A. with dual majors in finance and accounting from Washington University in St. Louis and his M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, where he was a Rollins Scholar. Mr. Satisky is a certified public accountant.
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Michael Stockburger, Vice President. Mr. Stockburger re-joined Morgan Keegan following the completion of an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Prior to business school, he served as an associate with Morgan Keegan, working primarily on mergers, acquisitions and divestitures in a variety of industries, including transportation and logistics, distribution, manufacturing and construction services. Previous experience also includes work as an investment banking analyst with Morgan Keegan as well as The Breckenridge Group in Atlanta. Mr. Stockburger earned a B.S. in commerce with concentrations in finance and international business from the University of Virginia.
John Brooks, Associate Vice President. Mr. Brooks joined Morgan Keegan in 2005 and focuses primarily on mergers, acquisitions and divestitures in a variety of industries, including energy services, transportation and logistics and general industrial. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan, he was employed as an associate in the assurance and advisory practice of KPMG, LLP. Mr. Brooks received both a B.S. in accountancy and an M.Acc. from the University of Tennessee’s College of Business Administration. He is a certified public accountant (inactive) and a CFA charterholder.
David Corbett, Associate Vice President. Prior to joining Morgan Keegan in 2004, Mr. Corbett was employed as a senior commercial credit analyst focusing on middle market lending at Comerica Bank in Detroit. He received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and an M.B.A. from Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business.
Michael Phillips, Associate Vice President. Mr. Phillips joined Morgan Keegan’s Security & Safety practice in 2004 and focuses on mergers and acquisitions as well as public and private financings within a range of market segments. He graduated magna cum laude from Rhodes College with a B.A. in business administration. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.
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