Advisory Board
Venturi & Company’s strength lies in the excellence and commitment of
its professionals. The firm’s seasoned professionals combine a breadth
of corporate finance experience with demonstrated transaction success to
provide our clients with customized, effective solutions
Derek Baine
Derek has more than 13 years of experience in analyzing and valuing companies in the media sector.
Derek oversees SNL Kagan’s Entertainment and Programming practice and specializes in creating
tax-advantaged movie and TV transactions, developing business plans for cable networks and start-ups,
and preparing valuations of TV and film libraries. He monitors trends in cable networks, film, television
and video, and his book credits include authorship of Economics of Basic Cable Networks, Virtual Cable
Networks, and Cable Network Start-Up Strategies & Business Models. The analyst group under his direction
is responsible for authoring several newsletters, including Cable Program Investor, Motion Picture Investor,
as well as the company’s international research service Global Multichannel Markets. Derek has
moderated several high-profile Kagan events, including the Kagan VOD Summit and the Cable Network Start-Ups
Conference. He is regularly quoted in major publications such as Forbes, Fortune, Newsweek, New York Times,
USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. Derek holds a BS in Accounting, a MS in Finance and an MBA from
Golden Gate University and has finished all the educational requirements for a Doctorate in Business
Administration; he is currently working on his dissertation.
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Robert E. Berry
Bob is currently the Chairman of Loral Space Systems & Senior Vice
President, Loral Space & Communications. Bob focuses on developing
the company’s position in serving Defense and Homeland Security
missions. During his tenure, Loral Space Systems became a major factor
in the geostationary communications and environmental satellite industry
with annual sales of more than $800 million.
Bob has been intimately involved in the space industry since 1957.
In 2003, he received the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation’s lifetime
achievement award for his leadership in the satellite industry and his
creative engineering and management role in the design and launch of
more than 170 satellites.
In 1999 he was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics (AIAA), an honor bestowed on distinguished individuals
who have demonstrated strong leadership and made contributions to the
aerospace field.
In 1996, he received the AAIA’s Aerospace Communications Award,
presented for outstanding contributions in the field of aerospace
communications.
From 1975 to 1977, Mr. Berry was deputy director, defense research &
engineering for policy and planning, in the Office of the Secretary of
Defense, appointed by President Ford to improve development and
production of U.S. defense systems. Previously, he was Chairman and CEO
of IRT Corporation and served in senior management positions with Philco
Ford Corporation and General Electric’s Missile and Space division.
Bob is a member of the AIAA, the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers, the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics
Association, the American Defense Preparedness Association, and the
National Security Industrial Association, and has also been a member of
the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee for the U.S.
Department of Transportation, and the Space Systems Technology Advisory
Committee for NASA.
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Robert S. DeLeeuw
Robert is a seasoned real estate professional with over 17 years of experience in the industry.
Currently, Robert is a Managing Member of Zug Investments, where he has led real estate development of
over 2 million Swiss francs in transaction value. Prior to Zug Investments, Robert was Senior Vice
President of WhiteFence, a company that enables the online purchasing of household utilities and services
nationwide, where he was responsible for finance and technology. From 1998 to 2002, Robert served as
Managing Director of Tishman Speyer Properties. There, Robert was responsible for all phases of real estate
development in the central U.S. region which included acquisitions, development, dispositions, financing,
leasing, and management. He implemented a successful restructuring of the company’s largest regional office
and generated $250 million in net profits in completed real estate transactions.
Prior to Tishman Speyer Properties, Robert was Senior Vice President of Development and Strategy at PACE
Entertainment Company, where he was responsible for designing and implementing the restructuring of the
company’s largest division. He was also instrumental in the sale of the company to SFX Entertainment for
$130 million. From 1990 to 1996, Robert was Executive Vice President of Martin Fein Interests, a real
estate development company specializing in multi-family, office, and retail properties. From 1986 to 1990,
he was Vice President of Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Company and Director of Real Estate Investments at
Westchase Morgan Incorporated. Prior to this, Robert held senior roles at investment banking firms UBS
Securities and Underwood, Neuhaus & Company. Robert received both a BA degree in Economics and Managerial
Studies and an MBA degree from Rice University.
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Craig Deman
Craig has been a business development, marketing and strategic
planning executive with technology and media companies for over 25
years, including TRW and IBM.
At IBM, Craig created and led the external business development
efforts for IBM’s software developer portal DeveloperWorks,
directing the co-marketing activities between software brands and
external companies such as Ford, Intel and Sony, and managing
internal teams focused on integrating partners into IBM. Craig also
directed an initiative to evaluate, seed and license underexploited
technologies developed in IBM’s research labs.
While at TRW, Craig drove domestic and international marketing
efforts and provided long-range vision for business expansion
initiatives related to commercial communications. Craig’s efforts in
creating new business opportunities related to enabling
communication technologies, ATM based multimedia networking products
and wireless infrastructure technologies for personal communications
applications to established service providers and equipment
manufacturers. Craig was the recipient of the
1993 TRW Chairman's Award for Innovation.
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Andre Lee
Born in New York and raised in Korea, Andre has a diverse background in
business, with global experience in both industry and finance. Andre
previously worked for Lehman Brothers, where he played a pioneering role
in developing the Asian bond markets, and at Peregrine (formerly Asia's
largest regional investment bank), where he built a team of over 300
people and helped hundreds of Asian companies raise more than $50
billion in debt financing.
Andre moved to Korea in 1997 to establish a financial software company
called 01 Inc. With the backing of two of Korea's major chaebol, Hyundai
Development and the Kolon Group, 01 Inc. developed a web-based
enterprise class solution that enables companies to automate their
capital raising process online. Andre wrote the software's business
specifications and managed the development process, overseeing 70
designers and programmers.
Andre is currently the Managing Partner of Sense Korea, which advises
small and midsize Korean technology companies in the areas of finance,
marketing, product development, sales and distribution.
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Tom Lück
Based in Frankfurt, Tom provides strategic planning, operations
consulting and financial advisory services to technology companies
ranging from early-stage ventures to publicly traded corporations.
Formerly, as a Managing Director of Baring Brothers, Tom established the
Frankfurt Corporate Finance office of Baring Brothers, after serving as
a Partner with Baring Capital Investors, a leading pan-European buyout
fund. Tom began his career at BMW AG, where he eventually became the
Director of Corporate Development in the Office of the Chairman,
responsible for the Company’s strategic diversification strategy and the
supervision of BMW’s portfolio of direct investments and venture capital
holdings.
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Robert Priest-Heck
Robert Priest-Heck is a senior operating and management executive with
strong domestic and international experience. Mr. Priest-Heck joined
United Business Media's senior management team in November of 2006.
As part of UBM’s management team, and reporting to UBM’s CEO David Levin,
Bob works with UBM’s business development team in identifying and
completing global acquisitions, particularly of events and online businesses,
in anticipation of taking a leading executive role in a newly acquired business.
Mr. Priest-Heck was most recently the president and chief executive officer of
MediaLive International Inc. MediaLive (now part of CMP Technology) owns such
renowned media brands such as Interop, Business Communications Review magazine,
COMDEX, Seybold Seminars and Publishing, VoiceCon, Web 2.0, and WingateWeb
(now independently owned) an enterprise event management software company.
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Scott Wallace
Scott is a a seasoned senior executive with a proven track record of
success with experience in both public and LBO consumer packaged goods
companies. Scott has consistently developed organizations which deliver
profit, revenue and cash flow objectives in highly competitive and
diverse categories. Scott has utilized his exceptional strategic
planning and execution skills to accomplish four financial turnarounds,
two company sales and one successful start-up. Scott is currently the
Chairman, President and CEO of Gardenburger Corporation, and formerly
served the President and CEO of Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corporation.
Scott’s experience in the consumer goods industry includes positions at
E.J. Brach Corporation, Eastman Kodak and Procter and Gamble.
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Phillip J. Young - Strategic Advisor
Currently Phil is Chief Business Officer and Executive Vice President at
Insmed, Incorporated, a publicly traded company focused on the development of
recombinant and small molecule therapies for endocrine disorders and metabolic diseases.
Previously Phil served as President and Chief Operating Officer, for AGY Therapeutics,
a CNS genomics and drug discovery company. Mr. Young formerly served as Chief
Executive Officer of GanTech International, a venture backed protein technology company
in the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining GanTech International, Mr. Young served
for over four years at Neurex Corporation (acquired by Elan Corporation, plc) first as
Vice President of Sales and Marketing and later promoted to Vice President and General Manger.
Before that assignment, Mr. Young worked in the Peptide Hormones Division of Pharmacia,
Inc., where he held the positions of Director of Sales and Marketing and later General Manger
and Business Unit Director. He also served as Director of Marketing at Gilead Sciences, Inc.
Additionally, Mr. Young spent seven years with Genentech, where he was the Product Manger
of Growth Hormone (Endocrine) Products. Over the course of his successful career Mr. Young
has directed the successful launch and commercialization of many therapeutics in diverse
clinical settings. In addition, he was responsible for directing the development of and
completion of numerous clinical development programs and subsequent FDA submissions.
Most recently, Mr. Young co-managed the placement of $31.3M in Series C stock for AGY.
Mr. Young earned his Bachelor of Science degree from James Madison University.
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