Benjamin F. Cary
Director, Prometheus Partners
Prior to joining Prometheus partners, Cary was a Senior Vice President at Trinity Capital, an investment bank specializing in middle market mergers, acquisitions and restructurings. Cary had primary responsibility for the Paradise Bells and secondary responsibility for the Tromble & Company Taco Bell franchisee transactions, both of which were sold to Prometheus Partners and are current Prometheus portfolio companies and are known as Southeast QSR and Coastal QSR, respectively. Cary worked on sell-side and restructuring advisory engagements for franchisors, including Togo’s, Bruegger’s Bagels and Schlotsky’s, as well as for franchisees in the Burger King and Church’s Chicken systems.
Cary also brings to Prometheus three years of international experience as a finance director at Metromedia International Group. Cary’s responsibilities included the corporate finance and financial reporting functions for media broadcast businesses in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Previously, Cary was an independent consultant providing turnaround management and strategic advisory services to middle market companies, including the largest domestic direct marketer of nutritional supplements. Before assuming this role, Cary was responsible for internet and media mergers & acquisitions for Broadview International, LLC, a boutique investment bank, and held corporate finance and management positions with Goldman, Sachs & Company and Coopers & Lybrand.
Cary holds an M.B.A. with Distinction from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Southern California. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor (CIRA).
Brian Dunn
Founder and President, Aquillian
Dunn has been responsible for Aquillian's operations, deal analysis and firm strategy since the company's inception in 2001. He created Aquillian in order to bring a systematic process to a highly fragmented investment field and to facilitate the flow of capital into for-profit, scalable solutions to the world's most pressing problems.
Previously, he served as Director of Investors' Circle, a national angel investment group that has facilitated the placement of more than $120 million into hundreds of early stage companies and funds. He evaluated thousands of early stage investment opportunities and gained exposure to a tremendous network of social investment professionals. Dunn managed Investors' Circle through a key inflection point and is credited with laying the groundwork for its current success.
Dunn learned the craft of investment banking at Tennyson West, a boutique capital advisory firm in San Francisco, and has consulted for a variety of start-up financial services and technology companies. An avid traveler with 50 states and 85 countries under his belt, he spent his post-college years working in micro-finance and small enterprise development in Burkina Faso, Mozambique, South Africa, Brazil and Haiti.
Dunn has NASD Series 7, Series 63, Series 24, and Series 27 registrations, and successfully completed Level I of the CFA exam. He earned a BA from UC Berkeley, an MA in International Economics from Johns Hopkins University, and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.
E. Eric Johnson
Chairman Emeritus of TBG Financial
Prior to becoming Chairman Emeritus of TBG Financial, Johnson served as Chairman, Johnson & Higgins of California and Executive Vice President, Johnson & Higgins New York.
Johnson is the Vice President of the Southern California Tennis Associations and is a member of the Parker Police Foundation. Johnson is also a past chairman of the UCLA Medical Center and KCET Public Television.
Johnson is a graduate of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Barry J. Siegel
Executive Managing Director and Managing Partner
Provident Financial Management
On April 1, 1982, Barry Siegel was one of the founding partners of the business management firm of Siegel & Feldstein, with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Nashville, Boston and Charlottesville. In the 1990s, the firm expanded and changed its name to Provident Financial Management. In February of 1997, Provident Financial Management was acquired by American Express and subsequently by RSM McGladrey.
Today, Provident is among the largest business management firms in the United States handling the financial affairs of individuals in the entertainment and sports industries. Some of Mr. Siegel’s clients include Elvis Presley Enterprises, Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley, Lionel Richie, Barbara Orbison and the Roy Orbison estate, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, Air Supply, Tom Collins Enterprises, Dashboard Confessional, and Mike Judge (writer/animator; creator of “King of the Hill” and “Beavis & Butthead”). Mr. Siegel is also an investor in two Broadway musicals (“Jersey Boys” and “Xanadu”) and sits on the Board of Governors of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He is also the Trustee of Elvis Presley Enterprises.
Barry Siegel attended Cal State Long Beach and Woodbury University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration. He was a partner in the international CPA firm of Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman from March 1972 through March 1982.
Mr. Siegel is married, has four children and resides in Marina Del Rey, California.
