Management Development

DOUGLAS GREGORY

** **** ***** ****

Denville, NJ 07834

Cell: 973-***-**** ****.********@*****.*** LinkedIn à http://lnkd.in/yxDkrH

SUMMARY

Senior Investment Banking/M&A professional who has consummated over 50 transactions (acquisitions, divestitures and JV’s, both domestic and internationally) totaling in excess of $6 billion in value. Resourceful, decisive, proven leader in creating strategic and shareholder value through M&A transactions, most prominently as a key senior level architect in designing and executing Prudential Financial’s highly successful corporate development initiative. The resounding success of this initiative fueled a subsequent tripling in its stock price from $30-$35/per share to over $100/per share.

Current CEO leadership in a software start-up – which led to procurement of three high potential patents in content recognition and comparison – has provided complementary operational and entrepreneurial management experience.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

THE RIDERWOOD GROUP, INC., Baltimore, MD and New York, NY 2010 - present

Managing Director – Investment Banking

Partner with President of mid-sized broker dealer in transitioning firm’s activities to focus solely on middle-market investment banking and consulting:

Conducted market review with President to determine attractive sectors and service offerings in counter-cyclical environment, while continuing to leverage the firm’s longstanding niche in technology banking.

Directed effort to build re-focused organizational capability through recruitment, training and supervision of junior personnel as well as streamlining and upgrading investment banking templates and website content.

Assisted President in follow-up on legacy transactions originated within timeframe broker dealer was active.

Sourced and led/co-led new capital raising, M&A and turnaround consulting engagements in targeted sectors.

NEEDLEBOT, INC., Princeton, NJ 2007 - present

Chief Executive Officer & Founder/Investor in High Tech Start-up

Provide senior level business leadership to a group of accomplished scientists with a cutting edge search technology to guide the company to the point where it can attract an industry CEO and a corporate partner or VC funding:

Led successful effort to procure a breakthrough technology patent in content recognition and comparison, along with two follow-on patents for specific uses of the core technology in social media and online advertising.

Formulated the company’s strategic direction, oversaw financial functions and managed day-to-day operations.

Raised partner funds for a new high-end server to demonstrate the technology on larger databases.

Authored company’s external business plan (including detailed 5-year financial projections, quarterly Q1to Q8).

Initiated campaign to align the company with a corporate partner and/or raise funding from angel investors/VC’s based on an advanced prototype and preliminary applications development.

ADP INC., Roseland, NJ 2005 - 2006

Vice President - Acquisitions & Alliances, Employer Services

Partner with Employer Services (“ES”) business units under a new initiative to identify and execute acquisitions and alliances to facilitate realization of the division’s growth led strategic objectives:

Assessed economic impact for each business unit of scale acquisitions (cost synergy focused) versus adding new products and/or services to be sold to existing customers via division’s distribution channels (revenue synergy led).

Developed strategies/criteria for each business unit and researched, assessed and prioritized potential candidates.

Surfaced nearly a dozen attractive targets and commenced preliminary discussions with counterparty senior management to gauge interest in a possible transaction and confirm/distill view of strategic fit with ES objectives.

Managed transaction process (and deal teams) from LOI negotiations, due diligence, business case development and financial modeling through to corporate approval for the first ES acquisition under the new division initiative.

PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL, INC., Newark, NJ 1997 - 2004

Senior Vice President, Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions

Formulate and execute a comprehensive, objective, ongoing corporate development initiative to maximize the value (through acquisitions, divestitures or joint ventures) of each division/business unit and thereby the overall valuation of Prudential as a public company (post-demutualization). Build organizational capacity to enable the corporate M&A group to scale as appropriate and continually improve its effectiveness on a going forward basis:

Led 21 of 43 closed transactions (including 3 of the 4 transformative deals) and was a key player in the company’s highly successful corporate development initiative. The initiative’s resounding success enabled Prudential to achieve Wall Street’s ROE expectations and drove a tripling of its stock price in the years that followed.

Managed buy-side process from sourcing/screening to valuation analytics, due diligence, deal structuring, 1st & 2nd round bids, negotiation of definitive agreements and preparation of Board/gating committee memos/presentations.

Led “deep dive” review of business and financial operations for over 100 additional targets (~80% domestic/20% international) that were not consummated as a result of due diligence findings, pricing or contract related issues.

Directed deal teams (ranging in size from 13 to 77), which included M&A professionals, business unit senior/mid-level management and external accounting, actuarial, legal and (on certain occasions) investment banking advisors.

Led development of financial models to formulate 5-year projections, specify cost and revenue synergies, calculate ROE’s and IRR’s, facilitate sensitivity analysis across business case scenarios and nail post-deal accretion/dilution.

Challenged senior business unit management when appropriate to decline acquisitions that did not meet objective corporate standards or contained assumptions that were “juiced” to unrealistic levels in order to justify approval.

Managed sell-side deal teams in preparation of due diligence data rooms, offering memorandum and management presentations. Negotiated favorable terms/conditions and premium price exits for several Prudential properties.

Closed asset management JV entrees in to China, Japan, Italy and Germany with established domestic distribution partners. Led international teams of advisors and negotiated detailed corporate governance terms with JV partners.

Tasked by senior level corporate management to handle negotiation of the most difficult and thorny transactions (due to longstanding intertwined relationships with Prudential) and navigated to surprisingly favorable outcomes.

In group’s first year, laid groundwork for subsequent success by spearheading comprehensive campaign to engage business unit management to formalize acquisition strategies/criteria and develop ranked lists of potential targets.

Documented internal M&A transaction process, laying out each step in detail from initial screening to closing.

Played leading role in building strong relationships with investment banking, legal and accounting firms as well as in the recruiting process as the M&A group expanded from three to eleven professionals.

PRIOR EXPERIENCE

Progressively responsible roles in corporate development, private equity and investment banking. Highlights include:

Vice President Investment Banking, Janney Montgomery Scott - sold Frederick’s of Hollywood for nearly 100% premium on pre-announcement stock price.

M&A Director/Member, Tuxedo Industries LLC - private investment vehicle formed by Robert Mancuso, former Chairman of Merrill Lynch Capital Partners. Brought five niche manufacturers to investment committee review.

Manager Business Development, BOC Group/Airco - closed over 20 acquisitions in the industrial gas industry.

EDUCATION

MBA - Finance, University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, Chicago, IL.

BBA - Finance, Pace University, Lubin School of Business (1st in Class – GPA 3.96), Pleasantville, NY.

PROFESSIONAL NETWORK AFFILIATIONS

All The Global Leaders

Association for Corporate Growth

Financial Executives Networking Group (FENG)

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