Paul C. Hammer, Managing Partner

Mr. Hammer is the Managing Partner and Founder of Navigator Capital Group.   Mr. Hammer is an expert in M&A, capital formation and restructurings.  He serves as strategic adviser to corporate boards and CEOs, has extensive specialized experience within many industry verticals, has advised management buyout teams, formed complex corporate alliances and advised new business ventures.  He is a frequent speaker on, is frequently quoted as an industry expert on and has written articles concerning corporate finance, strategy, valuation and operations.

Mr. Hammer has also served as President of Liberty Company Financial, a private merchant bank and has been an investment banker at Morgan Stanley in New York, Waller Capital, a media and communications investment and merchant bank in New York, and Houlihan Lokey Howard and Zukin in Washington, DC.  In addition, he is a registered FINRA securities representative and compliance principal.

Mr. Hammer received his M.B.A. from Cambridge University, the Judge Institute of Management Studies, St. John’s College.  Mr. Hammer also holds a B.B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Texas at Austin.

Mr. Hammer has been interviewed for, or advisor to, various Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, Newsweek, Washington Post, CFO Magazine, Private Equity Week, The Daily Deal, Buyouts, Financial News (UK), M&A Advisor, Washington Technology, Red Herring, Washington Techway and Technology Virginia articles and Associated Press News Radio show. He has also spoken at conferences and luncheons on topics related to the financial markets, private equity investments, M&A, sourcing capital and building companies.

Jim Waugh, Partner

Mr. Waugh has over 20 years of investment banking experience, most recently as Managing Director of Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets Investment Banking Group, a global real estate company based in New York City.  Mr. Waugh is Navigator’s Head of Corporate Finance Group.  Debt product expertise includes on- and off-balance sheet financing, corporate bonds, securitizations, first mortgage bonds, credit tenant leases, as well as mezzanine and jr. subordinated debt.  Equity product expertise includes common/preferred and hybrids, sale/leaseback’s, leveraged lease transactions and tax-oriented and synthetic leases.  The placement desk maintains relationships with over 1,000 institutional investors including banks, insurance companies, specialty finance companies, hedge funds, mezzanine funds and equity providers.

Mr. Waugh has also been an investment banker and a member of the firm’s Finance Committee at Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin, focusing on debt and equity placements, leveraged buy-outs, structured real estate financings, mezzanine/subordinated debt and ESOP-driven management buy-outs.  Mr. Waugh was also at Greenwich/NatWest, where he worked on the capital markets desk, arranging 144A, traditional and below investment grade private placements, in addition to Merrill Lynch, PaineWebber and TIAA-CREF.  Mr. Waugh holds a BBS in Finance and Marketing from The American University and an MBA from Rutgers.

Junius Fielding "JF" Scarborough III, Special Advisor

Mr. Scarborough has spent the majority of his career focused on international business, specializing in corporate financial advisory, renewable energy, new venture development and deal structuring. Throughout his career Mr. Scarborough has successfully completed dozens of transactions, including company valuations, new company formations, capital raises, mergers & acquisitions and strategic alliances.

Mr. Scarborough works on structuring and developing new business ventures for clients ranging from multi-national corporations to small technology start-ups.  Mr. Scarborough has provided strategic guidance to multiple companies focused on renewable energy, including the world's leading industrial cooperative, Spain's largest solar energy company, and several significant European project developers and investment funds focused on clean energy. 

Over the past several years, Mr. Scarborough has worked closely with key stakeholders, including states, foreign governments, NGOs, multilateral institutions and private companies, to promote renewable energy as a means for economic development and the creation of green jobs.  A recognized leader in the solar sector, Mr. Scarborough has spoken publicly at many industry events and actively participates in policy discussions around the U.S, as well as internationally.

Mr. Scarborough holds an International Masters of Business Administration from the University of South Carolina, a BA in Economics and Political Science (Phi Beta Kappa, Honors) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has completed intensive Spanish language instruction at La Paz Spanish Language School in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, and has completed intensive Japanese language instruction at Kokosai Kristokyou Daigaku in Tokyo, Japan.

Joe Achenbaum, Partner

Mr. Achenbaum has broad investment banking experience and is particularly skilled in M&A and in the private placements of debt and equity capital.  Mr. Achenbaum has substantial investment banking transaction experience, having been directly involved in over 200 transactions totaling in excess of $11 billion, spanning a broad range of industries and a range of company sizes and forms of ownership. 

Mr. Achenbaum is the founder of Winston Advisors, a FINRA/SIPC licensed corporate finance boutique, and is a Senior Advisor to the Kerlin Capital Group and the Woodbridge Group, both investment banking boutiques.  Mr. Achenbaum was also a Partner, EVP and Head of the LBO Financing and Private Finance Groups at Smith Barney.  In addition, Joe started and was the Head of the Equity-Linked Financing Group for Bank of America.  Prior to that, Joe was an investment professional at Teachers Insurance and the Head of GE’s Pension Private Placement Group.

Mr. Achenbaum graduated from Union College with a BA in Economics, and received an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the University of Chicago.

Ken Steidley, Partner

Ken Steidley is the Head of Real Estate Investment Banking and relationship management in the Southwest U.S. for Navigator Capital, and has a 33 year history of real estate transactional experience.

Mr. Steidley specializes in multi-family, condo conversions, portfolio analysis, land transactions, financing and complex foreclosure and restructuring transactions. Mr. Steidley has been involved in multiple billions of dollars of transactions nationwide.  Mr. Steidley has represented some of the largest commercial real estate companies in the country, and has been responsible for several noteworthy and market-making transactions over the years.  Mr. Steidley has developed and maintains relationships with sources of capital, sources of product, developers, contractors and other key members of the real estate community.

Charles “Chuck” C. Hewitt, Partner

Mr. Hewitt has over 27 years experience in the media, communications and aerospace industries where he developed programs in marketing, distribution, training, and legislative and regulatory affairs.  For 18 years, Chuck served as the head of the SBCA (the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association).  Recent clients include the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, Liberty Media, Intelsat, DirecTV Marketing, Africast, ReachTV and Winegard.   Other accomplishments include:

·          Heading the Society for Private and Commercial Earth stations (SPACE)

·          Leading the successful passage of the Satellite Home Viewers Act

·          Led FCC decision preventing zoning restrictions on satellite dishes

·          Launching SkyResearch, “SkyReport”, and SkyForum

·          Head of corporate communications for Fairchild Industries

·          First Executive Director of the National Space Institute

·          Head of legislative affairs for American Academy of Family Physicians

·          Awards include:

o         SBCA’s “Outstanding Contributions” award

o         “5th Estater” by Broadcasting and Cable magazine

o         Mexicana De La Industria De La Television Via Satellite Award

o         Inny “Special Recognition” for legislative activities

o         Inny for “Executive of the Year”

o         SBCA Retail Council award for legislative accomplishments

o         Satellite Business News “Top three satellite executives”

o         Washingtonian top 50 most influential Association Presidents

Carlos Christensen, Partner

Carlos H. Christensen has extensive experience in private equity investment, international corporate finance and general and turnaround management.  As Senior Director of Continental Bank from 1987 to 1991 he was a pioneer in the Private Equity industry in Latin America. He was responsible for corporate finance and private equity investments in Brazil and Argentina, and part of a team that invested US$135 million in 16 companies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela. From 1996 to July 2003, Mr. Christensen was a Managing Director of TCW/Latin America Partners, LLC. In that capacity he was involved in the organization and marketing of a $225 million fund and in the origination, analysis and negotiation of investments. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of several companies in Argentina, Brazil and the U.S. He has also acted as CFO and CEO of distressed portfolio companies.

Mr. Christensen’s professional experience also includes two years as Deputy Head of the Latin America Corporate Finance Group at Banque Nationale de Paris, as well as various credit and risk management-related positions at Banco de La Nación Argentina in Chicago and New York. Mr. Christensen holds an undergraduate degree in business and an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University. 

Michael D. Frachetti, Ph.D., Partner

Mr. Frachetti specializes in strategic planning and operations consulting for projects based in developing countries. Dr. Frachetti holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and an M. Phil from Cambridge University, St. John’s College.  He has organized and directed projects in North Africa, Arctic Europe, Eastern and Western Europe, and Central and Inner Asia. Mr. Frachetti’s expertise lies in designing and trouble-shooting effective plans for foreign teams in social arenas of heightened conflict or cultural sensitivity. He is fluent in English, Russian and French, and has functional language capabilities in Italian, German, Japanese, Chinese and Kazakh.