Senior Professionals
Brian M. Smith
Managing Partner, Corporate Finance
Mr. Smith brings to LCG extensive experience in corporate finance, most notably in the areas of commercial credit, underwriting, and due diligence. Mr. Smith was most recently a Vice President of Textron Financial Corporation. There he managed the structuring, underwriting, and due diligence processes for several operating divisions, including the Finance Company Services and Telecom and Energy Lending. The former, specialized in making loans to financial services firms and finance companies. There Mr. Smith completed numerous complex loans to a variety of finance businesses including asset-based lenders, factors, consumer lenders, retail lenders, and a myriad of other niche finance companies.
Mr. Smith was also appointed by executive management to lead portfolio and operations reviews of other divisions including Cessna Finance Company and TFCs resort, floor plan, and golf finance divisions. Prior, Mr. Smith was a principal and COO of Health Capital in New York; a company that specializes in providing financing to health care businesses nationwide. Early in his career he held various management positions with MediFin and Professional Factors in Tampa, Florida provided factoring, asset-based lending, and mezzanine financing. Mr. Smith was formerly the President of Association of Medical Finance Professionals and is a member of The University of Tampa’s Board of Counselors.
Mr. Smith holds Bachelors Degrees in Finance and Economics from the University of Tampa and has completed numerous industry-specific training programs. He is married with two children.
Paul I. Epstein
Managing Partner
Mr. Epstein is the Managing Partner and co-founder of LCG and is responsible for the day to day operations as well as sales and marketing.
Mr. Epstein has been instrumental in leading LCG to double digit growth for four straight years while implementing strict quality control measures. Prior to LCG, Mr. Epstein was most recently Executive Vice President of CitiFactors Financial Group, Inc. in Orlando, Florida where he was involved in developing CitiFactors into one of the leading niche commercial finance companies in the Southeast United States. He managed or was responsible for nearly all aspects of the business including the due diligence, client audits, account management, and operations. In addition to operational responsibilities, Mr. Epstein played a major role in the design and implementation of a sales and marketing plan. During Mr. Epstein’s tenure, sales increased over five hundred percent and CitiFactors was placed in the top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in Florida per a University of Florida study. While sales increased, Mr. Epstein was able to maintain credit losses to negligible levels. He trained account executives and operations personnel in both credit policies and fraud detection.
Previously, Mr. Epstein was the Credit Manager at Professional Factor’s, Inc. and Healthcare Financial Services, Inc. in Tampa, Florida where he was responsible for credit policies, and asset recovery. Mr. Epstein earned his Bachelor’s in Finance from the University of Tampa.
Mike Xenick
Managing Partner, Mergers & Acquisitions
Mr. Xenick brings over 17 years of investment banking and financial advisory experience to LCG. He was most recently a Managing Director of Atlantic American Capital Advisors, a Tampa-based investment bank and registered broker/dealer, where he led many successful corporate finance and merger and acquisition transactions across multiple industries including food and concessions, post-secondary education, manufacturing, specialty finance, software, information technology, specialty finance, telecommunications, business services and nutritional health products.
Prior to joining Atlantic American, Mr. Xenick worked at Communications Equity Associates (CEA), a boutique investment and merchant bank, where he served as a Vice President in CEA’s global investment banking practice for over eight years. After joining CEA in 1994, Mr. Xenick provided investment banking, private equity and strategic advisory services to CEA’s entertainment and new media clients in the U.S. and the Middle East, and was specifically responsible for the telecommunications, technology, Internet, and music industries, and successfully closed numerous middle-market private placements, corporate financing and merger and acquisition transactions within these industries.
Before CEA, Mr. Xenick worked for four years as an auditor for the international public accounting firm of Ernst & Young.
Mr. Xenick graduated from the University of Florida where he received both his Bachelor and Master degrees in Accounting. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American and Florida Institutes of CPAs and the Association for Corporate Growth.
John Weir
Managing Partner
John Weir brings to LCG over twenty-two years of financial services experience. Prior to joining LCG, John was a Senior Vice President of Business Development for Palm Beach Capital. Before that he was a managing director and head of southeast regional practice of Citi Capital Strategies, the middle-market investment banking division of Citigroup. During his 15-year career at Citi, John was responsible for all areas of operations for the Southeast region and led the execution of over 50 merger & acquisition transactions, ranging in size from $5MM to $200MM.
Prior to Citigroup, John was an audit and business advisory manager for Arthur Andersen, where he specialized in operational consulting, business planning and mergers & acquisitions. During this time, John evaluated, restructured and represented primarily closely held businesses with assets ranging from $20MM to $250MM.
John received his masters in Accountancy and B.S. in Accounting from the University of Florida. He also holds NASD series 7, 24 and 63 licenses.
Michael Parker
Managing Director, Corporate Finance
Michael Parker has recently joined LCG Capital as its Managing Director. Mr. Parker has over 25 years of commercial finance experience with both bank-affiliated and privately-held commercial finance companies including Bank of America, U.S. Bank, Heller Financial and First Capital Corporation. Mr. Parker has held senior management positions responsible for business origination, credit underwriting, portfolio management and loan workouts at both the corporate and regional levels. At these institutions Mr. Parker completed hundreds of loans and financings to a wide-range of middle market and lower middle market manufacturing, distribution and service companies. Most recently, Mr. Parker was Regional President and Executive Vice President with Presidential Financial Corporation where he led a team that provided asset-based loans to a variety of entrepreneurial businesses in the Southeastern U.S. Prior to his commercial finance career, Mr. Parker spent five years in various accounting positions in the healthcare and packaging industries.
Mr. Parker is a graduate of DePaul University and the CFA Wharton Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. He is actively involved in the Commercial Finance Association currently serving on its Membership Committee. He is also a past President of the CFA’s Southwest Chapter and is currently a Board Member of the Florida Chapter. Mr. Parker is also a member of the Turnaround Management Association and The Finance Forum. During his career he has written numerous articles for industry trade publications as well as speaking at various events and workshops. Mr. Parker resides in Tampa, FL.
Clint Mitchell
Managing Director, Corporate Finance
Mr. Mitchell brings more than 12 years of corporate finance experience to LCG, having worked at private equity backed finance companies, startup specialty lenders, and large diversified finance companies. For the past seven years, Mr. Mitchell has focused on providing senior and junior capital for specialty finance companies, investment funds, and niche alternative lenders.
Most recently, Mr. Mitchell was Vice President at CIT Group, in its Financial Services Group. He has also held roles in business development, credit underwriting, portfolio management, and loan workout for First Capital, Textron Financial, and DMAC. Mr. Mitchell graduated with an economics degree from DePauw University, where he was an Honors Fellow for Management and Entrepreneurship. He is actively involved in local and national chapters of the ACG and the CFA.
Joseph R. Bonora
Vice President, Capital Markets
Joseph Bonora has extensive experience in structured finance and commercial real estate lending, and is head of commercial real estate lending at LCG Capital. Prior to LCG Capital, Mr. Bonora was the CEO of Joseph Scott Financial, a mortgage and real estate investment banking firm specializing in structured finance and commercial lending.
Mr. Bonora’s daily focus is on the structuring and placement of real estate backed debt, mezzanine loans and B-notes, and equity positions in commercial and residential real estate developments. In addition to commercial real estate lending, Mr. Bonora is also active in the corporate advisory practice at LCG, working with small and mid-sized businesses with annual revenues between $10MM and $100MM.
Mr. Bonora majored in finance at International College in Fort Myers, FL, and has obtained his Life and Variable Annuity and Florida Mortgage Brokers licenses. He frequently writes for a number of industry trade publications, and is often invited to speak at industry events and workshops.
Michael Maguire
Vice President, Corporate Finance
Michael Maguire joined LCG Capital as vice president of the Mergers and Acquisitions group in 2008. Prior to LCG, Mr. Maguire worked with Hyde Park Capital and Citi Capital Strategies, Citigroup’s middle-market investment bank, where he focused on originating, executing, and advising on middle-market transactions. During that time, Mr. Maguire has executed transactions totaling over $400 million in enterprise value. He has experience in a variety of industries, including industrials and manufacturing, business services and consumer and retail. Mr. Maguire has vast experience working directly with private business owners and has gained valuable exposure to optimal capital structures, creating cash flow efficiencies, the M&A process for entire companies or non performing divisions, as well as post-liquidity planning for his clients.
Prior to joining Citi Capital Strategies, Mr. Maguire worked for Arthur Andersen, LLP and Ernst & Young, LLP as a certified public accountant in their audit and advisory service divisions. Mr. Maguire graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with his B.B.A. in Business Administration. Mr. Maguire also received his Masters of Science in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame. Mr. Maguire is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Florida (non-active) and holds NASD Series 7 and 63 licenses.
Jeremy Pawelkiewicz
Vice President, Underwriting
Prior to joining LCG Capital, Mr. Pawelkiewicz was with the Private Client Group at SunTrust Bank where he managed relationships with the bank’s highest net worth clients. In that capacity, he spearheaded a variety of financial projects for his clients including business capitalizations, asset management, and general advisory services. While he spent the majority of his career with SunTrust Bank, he gained extensive experience in retail and logistics management when he spent several years as a regional manager for the Pepsi Bottling Company.
Mr. Pawelkiewicz earned his B.A. and MBA in Finance from The University of Tampa.
Bernard Gill
Vice President
Mr. Gill brings to LCG more than 20 years of experience in commercial finance and lender finance. Prior to joining LCG, Mr. Gill was the President and founder of ABL Consultants, Inc., which provided advisory and field examination services to a variety of banks and commercial finance firms. The company’s area of expertise was in proving consultative and field exam services to larger institutional lenders that finance other smaller finance companies. While in that capacity, Mr. Gill evaluated transactions with finance companies ranging from smaller $1 million facilities to larger, more sophisticated $200+ million loans. Mr. Gill and ABL Consultants also provided best practices and capital advisory services to smaller niche lenders and middle market companies.
Prior to founding ABL Consultants, Mr. Gill served in a variety of positions with a number of very well known financial institutions. He was V.P. of Business Development and V.P. / Regional Audit Manager for Foothill Capital Corporation (a division of Wells Fargo Bank) and was a V.P. of Business Development for Guaranty Business Credit. In his business development roles, Mr. Gill evaluated loans to hundreds of companies and successfully originated loans well in excess of $250 million. Mr. Gill also worked for Bank Boston, NationsCredit Commercial Funding, and Shawmut Bank and was a staff accountant for Murphy & Company CPAs early in his career.
Mr. Gill has a Bachelors in Accountancy from Bentley College in Massachusetts.
Chuck Chiang
Vice President, New York, NY
Mr. Chiang brings to LCG eight years of due diligence experience in the asset-based lending industry and over four years of corporate accounting experience. Prior to joining LCG, Mr. Chiang was a Senior Field Examiner with a due diligence outsource firm in New Jersey, leading field examinations on both private and public companies in a wide range of industries including; manufactures and distributors, oil and gas, import/export, textiles, service-related companies, and many other industries. Prior to working for a due diligence outsource firm, Mr. Chiang worked in the accounting department of EK Success, a leading provider of scrapbooking and paper-based crafts products based in Clifton, NJ. Mr. Chiang’s responsibilities included; purchasing, inventory monitoring, inventory costing, logistics, accounts receivable, and quality control. He was instrumental in creating a program that essentially eliminated costing errors of imported inventory and streamlined the costing process. Mr. Chiang earned his B.S. degree in Marketing from the Pennsylvania State University.