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 advisor 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 serves as the Head of Navigator’s 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/CREFF. 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, new venture development and deal structuring, primarily within the field of renewable energy.  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. As a partner at the MAPA Group, 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 green energy. 

 

Mr. Scarborough is a Senior Advisor to the US Department of Energy, providing industry, financial and technical knowledge in support of the Renewable Energy Loan Guarantee Program.  He is also the US State Department’s Renewable Energy Expert for the Guest Speakers Program, through which he presents at multi-day programs with governments, universities, multilaterals and private companies around the globe.

 

Previously, Mr. Scarborough co-founded a technology start-up company and led the financial team in the successful sale of the company to Argentine investors. Mr. Scarborough also spent four years in South America working in the fields of private equity financing and mergers & acquisitions.  During two years in Asia, Mr. Scarborough led a research team for the US State Department, specializing in trade development research projects. 

 

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.

 

 

Ken Steidley, Partner

 

Ken Steidley is the Head of Real Estate Investment Banking and relationship management in the Southwest U.S. for Navigator, 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.

 

Stuart Weinstein-Bacal, Partner

 

Mr. Weinstein-Bacal has over 32 years of legal and business experience, with a particular focus on commercial law, construction law, bankruptcy, creditors’ rights, mediation, arbitration and litigation in all forums; he also serves as a mediator and arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association (AAA), and is an Early Neutral Evaluator for the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico. He serves as Navigator Capital’s strategic advisor for real-estate, construction and international negotiation issues.  He has worked on projects throughout the U.S., as well as in Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

 

Mr. Weinstein-Bacal is the founder and Managing Partner of Weinstein-Bacal & Miller, P.S.C., an international law firm in Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. He is an educator at the following: Adjunct Professor of (Construction) Law, University of Puerto Rico School of Law (2007 - present); Lecturer (1986-present): AAA; Associated General Contractors of America (AGC); Mechanical Contractors Association; National Business Institute (NBI); Inter-American University School of Law, and private industry.

Mr. Weinstein-Bacal’s publications include:

• Author, Fifty State Construction Lien and Bond Law, Chapter 53 (Puerto Rico), 2nd Ed. (Wolters Kluwer, 2011)
• 50 State Construction Lien and Bond Law (Puerto Rico Chapter), 2d Ed. (Aspen Publishers, 2010)
• “Construction in Puerto Rico: Navigating the Legal Quagmire,” 71 U. Puerto Rico L. Rev. (Summer 2002)
• “The Ocean Dumping Dilemma,” 10 Law. Am. Vol. 3 (1979)
• “NOTE:  The Darien Gap Case - Can Mere Words Interfere with the Sovereignty of a Foreign Nation?” 10 Law. Am. Vol. 2 (1978)
• “Just What Is Computer Law,” 3 Arlington Bar J., 1983
• Co-Author: “Puerto Rico Construction Law” (NBI, 1992-)
• “Construction Claims and Job Profitability in Puerto Rico” (NBI, 1993-)
• “Advanced Construction Law in Puerto Rico” (NBI, 1994- )
• “Fundamentals of Bankruptcy Law in Puerto Rico” (NBI, 1993-1996)
• “Fundamentals of Bankruptcy in the Virgin Islands” (NBI, 1993)

Mr. Weinstein-Bacal served honorably as a Captain in the U.S. Army Reserve. He studied at the Stanford University School of Law and obtained his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Miami.  He is admitted in the following jurisdictions:  District of Columbia (1979); Virginia (1981); U.S. Virgin Islands (1985); Puerto Rico (1988); and to practice before the U. S. Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Federal, First, Third, Fourth, and Sixth Circuits; U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia, Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia, District of the Virgin Islands, District of Puerto Rico, and Eastern District of Wisconsin; and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, U.S. Tax Court, U.S. Customs Court, and U.S. Court of International Trade  He also holds a Masters Degree in Education and a B.A. from the University of Virginia.  Mr. Weinstein-Bacal is fluent in English (native) and Spanish, and speaks some French and Mandarin Chinese.

 

Pedro Smith-Blondet, Special Advisor - Consumer, Food and Retail

 

Pedro Smith-Blondet is a marketing, advertising, communications and account management executive holding experience with several Fortune 500 and mid-sized companies, such as Young & Rubicam, Leo Burnet, PanAmSat and IBM, on both the commercial and government sides.  As a results-driven marketing executive, he applies both fundamental brand-development principles with anticipatory brand positioning for emerging trends.  Among his key achievements:

• Managed major Hyatt property advertisement accounts for Caribbean properties

• Provided complete business analysis for government-led hospitality incentive programs in Puerto Rico, to include casino privatization, Open Skies policy, hospitality property re-capitalization and Convention Bureau international business restructuring

• Launched successful satellite-based new media platform in support of established media companies such as HBO, CNN, Bravo and Univision

• Successfully helped re-position major D.C.-based restaurant under a viable thematic umbrella capturing market potential and creating and capitalizing on new “Urban Latin American Cuisine” trend

As Vice President for a leading federal small business IT contractor, he has also been responsible for business development throughout the federal landscape to include teaming and strategic alliances with primes such as BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, SAIC, IBM, and Avaya, among others.  Mr. Smith-Blondet was instrumental in formalizing the company’s Mentor-Protegé relationship with BAE Systems for the Department of Homeland Security.  Prior to joining K2Share, Mr. Smith-Blondet served as Program Manager with LGB & Associates, a Native-Hawaiian, HUB Zone, 8(a) and Woman-Owned small business based in Fairfax, VA and with operations in Honolulu, HI.  Mr. Smith-Blondet was recognized as the 2005 U.S. Department of Transportation’s “Prime Contractor of the Year” and was also part of the account team recognized by the US Department of Treasury as the 2004 “Small Business Partner of the Year”.

 

Mr. Smith-Blondet also has a background on investigative journalism, providing Spanish and English language analysis and coverage of Puerto Rico's federal and state crime-fighting efforts under its High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area’s federal designation.   He has served on the Board of Directors of the Latino Economic Development Corporation and the Executive Fundraising Committee of the Spanish Catholic Center, a part of Catholic Charities.    Mr. Smith-Blondet has a BA from Tulane University and an MBA from the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University.

 

 

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 sat 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 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.