With decades of combined experience structuring credit and equity, Velocity creatively solves any situational needs our clients bring to us. Our team is comprised of partners who have a shared history extending over two decades and have built a long-standing track record of providing value-added financings to lower- and middle-market alternative asset managers. Senior Professionals Edward Levy Founder and Managing Partner [email protected] Edward Levy Mr. Levy is a Founder and Managing Partner of Velocity Structured Solutions. Ed has approximately 30 years of experience in the credit markets. He was Chief Investment Officer of Hyde Park Value Funds, a series of middle-market direct lending credit investment funds and was responsible for all credit-related investment and portfolio decisions. Prior, he led Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s leveraged lending platform. In this capacity, Mr. Levy was responsible for senior loan, high yield and mezzanine origination, execution and placements, as well as CIBC World Markets’ below-investment-grade loan portfolio, including portfolio management. He served on the U.S. Management Committee, Global Executive Committee, and the Deals Committee, which approved all of CIBC World Markets’ U.S. corporate finance non-investment grade debt capital decisions. Mr. Levy joined CIBC World Markets in 1995 when it acquired The Argosy Group, for which he was a Founding Member and Managing Director. Founded in 1990, The Argosy Group was a middle market financing business, in which Mr. Levy and other Argosy principals raised third party capital as well as invested alongside their financial sponsor clients. Mr. Levy started his career in the mergers and acquisitions department at Drexel Burnham Lambert. Mr. Levy also has significant public company operating experience having been recruited to develop and oversee as President and CEO a comprehensive management, operating and balance sheet turnaround of one of the leading dry bulk shipping companies on the Great Lakes. Mr. Levy has sat on numerous public and private company Board of Directors. Geoffrey Chang Founder and Partner [email protected] Geoffrey Chang Mr. Chang is a Founder and Partner of Velocity Structured Solutions and has over 20 years of experience as a principal making credit investments across a broad array of asset classes, including senior and unitranche debt, with an emphasis on mezzanine securities. Mr. Chang was previously a Managing Director with ORIX Leveraged Finance in New York, where he led the direct sponsor coverage team and was responsible for originating and executing senior and junior credit investments. Prior to joining ORIX, he was most notably a founding member and partner at both PennantPark Investment Corporation and Audax Mezzanine. He began his career as an investment banker with The Argosy Group, which was later acquired and became the CIBC Leveraged Finance and Merchant Banking group. Mr. Chang graduated cum laude with an AB from the Government Department, with a focus on Political Philosophy and Economics, at Harvard University. Mr. Chang has served as an Observer to the Board of Directors of numerous private companies. Rick Spencer Senior Operating Advisor [email protected] Rick Spencer Mr. Spencer has over 30 years of experience in private debt and equity markets. As a Managing Director at Barings LLC he led the successful establishment of 3 Private Debt/Equity platforms encompassing strategic development, team construction, capital procurement, underwriting standards, direct origination, and portfolio oversight. Over his career, Mr. Spencer has been an active member of numerous Investment Committees spanning diverse asset classes and business domains including control and passive private equity, senior debt, mezzanine debt, and fund finance. He has also served as an officer for two public closed-end funds and as Managing Partner for a diverse array of private funds. Over Mr. Spencer’s career he has originated and underwritten thousands of private debt and equity opportunities and invested in hundreds of companies. Mr. Spencer earned a BS degree in Economics and History from Bucknell University and an MBA in Finance from State University of New York at Buffalo and is a CFA charterholder. Rob Kilborn Director [email protected] Rob Kilborn Mr. Kilborn has over 15 years of experience making credit investments, including broadly syndicated, stretch senior, unitranche, junior lien, and venture debt. Mr. Kilborn was previously a Director responsible for the underwriting, execution, and management of credit investments within NXT Capital, now a division of ORIX USA. Previous roles within ORIX include serving as an underwriting Director with ORIX Leveraged Finance, an independent leveraged finance Portfolio Manager, and a Deputy Portfolio Manager for ORIX Growth Capital. Prior to joining ORIX, Mr. Kilborn was a Vice President at the Bank of New York Mellon, working in various risk management roles. He has also worked as a consultant for Accenture and served as a U.S. Army officer. Mr. Kilborn earned a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from the United States Military Academy and an MBA in Finance from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, and is a CFA charterholder. Alison Schatz Director Portfolio Management, CCO [email protected] Alison Schatz Ms. Schatz has over 25 years experience in public equity portfolio management and analysis. During her career, Ms. Schatz was responsible for managing Institutional Equity Portfolios across various asset classes. She was responsible for fundamental equity analysis across industries, as well as stock selection, industry sector weightings and overall portfolio construction. Ms. Schatz started her career at Fiduciary Trust International and joined Franklin Templeton Investments upon their acquisition of Fiduciary Trust. She was lead portfolio manager on all U.S. small cap institutional equity portfolios managed out of the New York office and was responsible for reviving performance after taking over under-performing assets. Throughout her career she has been involved in several turnaround situations. Ms. Schatz received a BA from Boston University and is a CFA Charterholder. Ms. Schatz is involved in various non-profit organizations. Michelle Puissant Accounting Manager [email protected] Michelle Puissant Ms. Puissant has over 17 years of experience in accounting and bookkeeping. She has been involved with corporations, small businesses, and individuals in the NYC area. The industries she has served have ranged from entertainment, dining, designers, artists, and the medical field. Ms. Puissant earned her BA in Accounting from Baruch College. She has also volunteered her skills for several non-profits. Pat Hogan Vice President [email protected] Pat Hogan Mr. Hogan has more than 7 years of experience in financial services and was previously an investment banker advising financial institutions on a range of M&A and capital raising transactions. He was previously a Vice President at RBC Capital Markets within the Financial Institutions Group where he advised financial institutions on complex transactions in the insurance and asset management sectors. Prior to RBC, he spent 5 years in the Financial Institutions Group at Deutsche Bank. Mr. Hogan received an AB from Harvard College with a concentration in Economics and a secondary in English. He was also a co-captain of the wrestling team. Sam Fried Associate [email protected] Sam Fried Prior to joining Velocity Structured Solutions, Mr. Fried was on the business development and finance team at Mighty Buildings, a Khosla Ventures backed startup. Mr. Fried led the sale of over $10 million of 3D printed buildings and was part of a team that raised over $100 million in two funding rounds. Before Mighty Buildings, Sam was on the acquisitions team at Savanna Fund in New York City, a real estate private equity fund with assets totaling $1.5 billion under management. Sam joined the Velocity team to help expand underwriting and research capacities. Mr. Fried graduated from Washington University in St. Louis’s Olin School of Business, where he earned a degree in Economics and Statistics. Alex Czarniak Associate [email protected] Alex Czarniak Mr. Czarniak is an Associate at Velocity Structured Solutions. He is responsible for investment origination, underwriting, and monitoring. Mr. Czarniak previously worked at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia where he covered non-bank financial institutions and primarily originated subscription credit, net asset value, and hybrid facilities. Prior to joining CBA, Mr. Czarniak worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in their alternative investments practice auditing funds. Mr. Czarniak graduated from the University of Richmond with a B.S. in Accounting and Finance. Shelby Vertula Associate [email protected] Shelby Vertula Ms. Vertula is an Associate at Velocity Structured Solutions. She has more than 3 years of experience in financial services. She previously worked in Business Development at KBRA where she focused her efforts in Fund Finance. Ms. Vertula graduated from Fairfield University with a B.S. in Finance. She was also a member of the tennis team. Brandon Widger Associate [email protected] Brandon Widger Mr. Widger is an Associate at Velocity Structured Solutions. He was previously an Associate at Wells Fargo. While at Wells Fargo, Mr. Widger worked on a variety of investment banking teams, including their Coverage Management Strategy, Industrials, and Syndicated & Acquisition Finance teams. At Velocity, he focuses on investment origination, underwriting, and monitoring. Mr. Widger graduated from Wake Forest University with a B.S. in Accounting.