Our Professional Team
Wayne G. Nielsen
President and Managing Partner
Wayne G. Nielsen
President and Managing PartnerMr. Nielsen is the Managing Partner of W.G. Nielsen & Co. and has more than 30 years of investment banking experience. Since 1996, he has specialized in providing customized mergers and acquisitions services for privately held middle-market companies.
Prior to founding W.G. Nielsen & Co., Mr. Nielsen was Executive Vice President of Kirkpatrick Pettis, a subsidiary of Mutual of Omaha, where he founded and managed the firm’s Rocky Mountain investment banking operations, including corporate and public finance, retail and institutional sales, trading activities and money management services. Before that, Mr. Nielsen managed United Bank of Denver's investment banking activities.
He began his financial career as a commercial loan analyst with Midland Bank, a Norwest Bank, and then moved to Northwestern National Life Insurance Co. as a portfolio investment analyst.
Mr. Nielsen holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Pacific Union College and an MBA from Webster University.
Ronald M. Barber
Executive Vice President
Ronald M. Barber
Executive Vice PresidentMr. Barber joined W.G. Nielsen & Co. in August 2002. Prior to joining the firm, he consulted for several clients of W.G. Nielsen & Co. Mr. Barber previously served as CEO of Corybant, Inc., a company that develops Active Information Models for enterprise applications and social networking. Prior to Corybant, he was a founder and served as Executive Vice President of Sales and International Operations for TomTec Imaging Systems, a manufacturer of medical imaging and information management systems. In addition, Mr. Barber has extensive experience in building corporate sales and marketing organizations, as well as hands-on experience in the biomedical and medical laboratory fields.
Mr. Barber received his Medical Technology degree in Pathology from Bethesda Memorial Hospital/Florida Atlantic University.
Michael Block
Senior Vice President, Western Region
Michael Block
Senior Vice President, Western Region
Mr. Block joined W. G. Nielsen & Co. in 2014. He has spent the better part of his career in mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital, mostly on behalf of ultra-high net worth families. He started his transaction and capital markets career 35 years ago as Director of Corporate Development at G.D Searle, a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company. While there, Mr. Block was part of a team that negotiated the acquisition or divestiture of companies on four continents. Shortly after the sale of that Company in 1985, he joined the Searle Family office and managed a series of venture capital funds for that family and other likeminded families for more than 20 years. In 2010, after a short stint as a commercial banker, he became Chief Investment Officer of a Denver based holding company where he raised capital from family offices for new acquisitions, and had responsibility for managing the acquisition and divestiture process. Most recently, he formed a private equity firm serving the needs of families interested in direct private equity investing.
Mr. Block holds a BS in Accounting from the University of Illinois in Chicago and was a Certified Public Accountant. He received both his MS in Taxation and his law degree from DePaul University.
Craig M. Davis
Director, Financial Services & Special Assets
Craig M. Davis
Director, Financial Services & Special Assets
Mr. Davis joined W.G. Nielsen & Co. in 2000. He began his career in 1982 working with various institutional securities firms in Chicago. His investment banking experience includes work with structured financings, private debt & equity transactions and mezzanine structures, including preferred equity and subordinated/second lien debt. His brokerage experience provided him with an in-depth understanding of corporate debt and asset-backed structures.
Mr. Davis specializes in the financial services sector with an emphasis on commercial/consumer debt and/or receivables (performing and non-performing), distressed assets, special assets, tax credits, tax liens, alternative asset classes and special situations.
Mr. Davis graduated with a degree in finance from the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle, in 1982. Prior to college, Mr. Davis served with the United States Army's 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division.
Michael D. Harris
Vice President
Michael D. Harris
Vice President
Mr. Harris joined W.G. Nielsen & Co. in July 2016. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Harris was the Controller for DataGryd Data Centers, a start-up urban data center located in TriBeCa and funded by a large, publicly-traded private equity firm. Prior to DataGryd Data Centers, Mr. Harris worked as a Senior Associate within the valuation practice of Duff & Phelps’ New York office where he advised clients on the valuation of tangible and intangible assets on a pre- and post-merger basis. He also performed investment valuations for large private equity groups and provided merger & acquisition advisory services. Additionally, Mr. Harris has investment management experience from roles at Bear Stearns and KM Capital Management. Mr. Harris has extensive financial modeling experience, having taught financial modeling to incoming investment banking analysts at several bulge bracket banks in New York while working with Training The Street. He also served as a Teaching Assistant for a graduate level valuation and finance course taught through the Harvard University Extension School.
Mr. Harris earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and his M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also completed graduate studies at Handelshögskolan (Stockholm School of Economics), and has passed the CFA Level I and Level II Exams.
Ray J. Hernandez
Managing Director, Telecommunications & Technology
Ray J. Hernandez
Managing Director, Telecommunications & Technology
Mr. Hernandez joined W.G. Nielsen & Co. in September 2011 and has over 25 years of investment banking experience. He oversees the firm's efforts in telecommunications, data networking and information technology.
Prior to joining W.G. Nielsen, Mr. Hernandez was a Managing Director at Janco Partners Inc. in Denver and Roth Capital Partners in Los Angeles, CA. Before that he founded an IP telephony business focused on the SMB market. Also, Mr. Hernandez has served as a Vice President in the Corporate Development group at Covad Communications, a broadband access and network services company. He began his investment banking career in 1990 with Falkenberg Capital Corp.
Prior to joining the investment banking industry, he was a cable television entrepreneur and served as Director of Acquisitions for Tele-Communications, Inc., formerly the largest cable television systems operator in the U.S.
Mr. Hernandez began his career as a tax and corporate attorney and is a graduate of the University of Colorado and Harvard Law School. He holds the Series 7, 24, 63 and 79 securities licenses.
J. Gregory Karsh
Director
J. Gregory Karsh
Director
Mr. Karsh joined W.G. Nielsen & Co. in December 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Karsh was a senior associate in the Dallas office of Houlihan Lokey where he was a member of the Financial Opinions & Advisory Services practice. While at Houlihan Lokey, he specialized in fairness and solvency opinions as well as enterprise valuations, tangible and intangible assets valuations, valuations of investments for large private equity groups and other advisory services.
Before Houlihan Lokey, he was a senior associate in the New York office of Standard & Poor’s (formerly PriceWaterhouseCoopers Corporate Value Consulting and currently Duff & Phelps), where he worked on enterprise valuations, valuations of tangible and intangible assets and other advisory services. Earlier, he was an associate at a boutique investment bank in Denver that focused on M&A advisory services.
Mr. Karsh earned his bachelor’s degree in finance with a concentration in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin and his MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Michael Mazer
Managing Director, Telecommunications
Michael Mazer
Managing Director, Telecommunications
Michael Mazer has been an active investment banker in the telecommunications field for more than 20 years. Since 1993, Michael has personally represented over 30 owners of minority cellular interests and represented 23 owners of privately owned local exchange carriers in the sale of their assets. We believe this number of closings is more than anyone else in the industry.
Before launching Mazer Telecommunications Advisors, Michael was Senior Vice President of another investment banking firm, where he directed the company’s efforts in the independent telephone company industry.
Prior to that, Michael held various management posts in media, marketing and financial management at TIME Magazine, HBO, and Credit Suisse Group, all based in New York City.
Michael graduated from Yale University with a BA degree in Administrative Science. He holds his Series 79 license.
Richard L. Millett, Jr.
Senior Vice President
Richard L. Millett, Jr.
Senior Vice President
Mr. Millett joined W.G. Nielsen & Co. in December 2010 and has more than 28 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions and private and public company financings. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Millett was the Chief Financial Officer of Office Source, Inc. where he acquired five regional companies to form a national office furniture wholesale company with $125 million in revenues.
Before Office Source, he served as the Vice President of Acquisitions and Corporate Development of Corporate Express, Inc., where he was responsible for 185 acquisitions completed in six years, both public and private, including 73 international acquisitions. He also practiced law at Davis, Graham & Stubbs, one of Denver's largest and oldest law firms, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, corporate securities and finance, and general corporate law.
Mr. Millett received his law degree from J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, and a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Brigham Young University. He is also a former Certified Public Accountant.
Patrick O’Keefe
Director, Telecommunications
Patrick O’Keefe
Director, Telecommunications
Patrick has more than 30 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry, with more than 23 years as an investment banker and commercial banker, and 11 years as President of a privately-owned telecommunications service company. His completed client transactions have included small-to-medium size companies that provide telephone, video and internet access services throughout the U.S.
Prior to joining W.G. Nielsen, Patrick held a variety of management and senior financial positions at telecommunications companies, investment banking firms (including Shearson Lehman and Wells Fargo), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in Chicago.
Patrick graduated from University of Denver with an MBA in Finance, and from University of Illinois with a BS in Economics. He holds a Series 79 license.
Jeff Rona
Director, Healthcare
Jeff Rona
Director, Healthcare
Mr. Rona joined W.G. Nielsen & Co. in December 2018. Prior to that, Mr. Rona was the CFO at a public diagnostics company Great Basin, where he guided the Company through its IPO and multiple complex financings. Mr. Rona has also been the CFO at three other life sciences companies, successfully selling one and taking another through an IPO.
Before his life sciences CFO positions, Mr. Rona was an investment banker at UBS and at Coopers & Lybrand Securities in NY with a focus on M&A and private capital raising. Mr. Rona started his career in the Tax department of Coopers and Lybrand.
Mr. Rona earned his bachelor's degree in accounting from Case Western Reserve University.
Rebecca Stout
Operations Manager
Rebecca Stout
Operations Manager
Ms. Stout joined W.G. Nielsen & Co. in September 2013 as an administrative assistant, and currently serves as the firm’s Operations Manager. In her role, she is responsible for overseeing the firm’s back office operations and managing W.G. Nielsen & Co.’s vendor relationships. Additionally, she manages and coordinates the firm’s private equity and family office relationships.
Ms. Stout earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of Colorado Denver.
Alex Shapiro
Associate
Alex Shapiro
Associate
Mr. Shapiro joined W.G Nielsen & CO. in April of 2019. Mr. Shapiro is highly involved in the day to day operations of the firm, working closely with deal teams to execute M&A transactions.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Shapiro began his career with Tudor, Pickering, and Holt (a subsidiary of Perella Weinberg Partners) as an investment banking analyst focused on the oil & gas markets. After completing his internship, Mr. Shapiro joined K Squared Fund, LLC, a Denver based generalist private equity fund focused on the middle market. There, Mr. Shapiro was in charge of deal teams and deal execution focusing on the Technology, Business Service, and Healthcare markets.
Mr. Shapiro holds three B.S degrees in Finance, Accounting, and Operations from the University of Colorado at Boulder Leeds School of Business.
Holly Porter
Administrative Assistant
Holly Porter
Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Porter joined W. G. Nielsen & Co. in April 2019. She works closely with our team, and supports company operations by helping maintain office systems, assisting with correspondence, managing conference rooms as well as maintaining filing systems. With a background in service and administration, Holly has extensive experience in office management and customer relations.
Mrs. Porter earned her Associates in Cosmetology from Northland Pioneer College in Show Low, Arizona.