Team

Our senior professionals are the custodians of our firm’s core values: integrity, determination and character. Each brings hand-on industry knowledge and hard-won transactional experience over many deals and many years. Since 1995, The Courtney Group has earned a reputation for raising capital, completing transactions, and adding value to companies. We understand the issues business leaders face, have been on both sides of the negotiating table, and we know what it means to live with the results of one’s strategy and choices. Our pledge is to provide you with the highest level of integrity and expertise; to give you senior-level personalized attention; and to stand by our work and our word.

Tom Courtney

President / Managing Director

Tom Courtney, President and Managing Director, is an experienced private equity investor and investment banker. Mr. Courtney has advised on more than 200 transactions involving financings, acquisitions and divestitures since 1986. Since founding The Courtney Group, Incorporated in 1995, he has advised on more than 60 investment banking transactions and has completed 18 private equity investments as principal since 1999. Investment banking, including advising on private placements of securities and mergers & acquisitions, is handled through The Courtney Group, LLC, a registered broker-dealer, member FINRA and SIPC.

Mr. Courtney has deep experience finding and evaluating investment opportunities, negotiating transactions, arranging financings with relationships that are both extensive and deep. He regularly helps recruit top managers and board members so these organizations can excel. Mr. Courtney has started, bought and sold, and financed more than 20 companies.

Prior to establishing The Courtney Group, Mr. Courtney worked at Morgan Stanley & Co., Alex. Brown & Sons, Inc., James D. Wolfensohn Incorporated, and Peers & Co. Mr. Courtney received an undergraduate degree in Economics from Princeton University and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has served on many boards of directors including currently: Bastech, Santier, and the All-American Boys Chorus. He is married with four children. His passions include triathlon, tennis, tango, food, wine and travel.

Areas of Interest: Consumer, Chemicals Health Care, Technology, Manufacturing

Matt Allen

Managing Director

Matt Allen, Managing Director, has over 20 years of experience in Investment Banking. He has completed more than 50 transactions with financial services companies nationwide including mergers, acquisitions, capital raising and divestitures. Mr. Allen is also Managing Principal of Little Creek Capital where he provides consulting services to regulated depositories and specialty finance companies.

Prior to these positions, Mr. Allen was a Managing Director for Western Financial Corporation where he was head of Investment Banking, Managing Director at Milestone Advisors LLC where he led the Bank and Thrift Group, and worked for a brief period with Houlihan Lokey following its acquisition of Milestone in December 2012. Mr. Allen was a Managing Director for Hoefer & Arnett and a Senior Vice President for Hovde Financial. Mr. Allen’s responsibilities include the origination, structuring, and negotiation of merger and acquisition transactions, valuation of financial institutions, and identification and implementation of strategic alternatives for banks, thrifts and specialty finance companies. Mr. Allen is also responsible for structuring asset and liability sales, branch acquisitions and divestitures, and offerings of all types of equity and debt securities.

Mr. Allen has a BS in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Old Dominion University, and a MBA in Finance from the Mason School at the College of William and Mary.

Mr. Allen is married with a son and a daughter. He loves fishing, hiking, and tennis and all sorts of ocean activities.

Areas of Interest: Bank & Thrift Mergers & Acquisitions, Specialty Finance, Technology of payment processing and transfer payments

Brett Frantz

Vice President

Brett Frantz, Vice President, The Courtney Group, LLC, is an investment banker specializing in raising capital and mergers & acquisitions in healthcare and technology sectors. Previously he worked at Young America Capital where he assisted clients on raising capital and mergers & acquisitions. He was also a general partner in JIBE Capital, a private equity investment firm making late-state primary and direct secondary investments.

Previously, Mr. Frantz worked as a consultant to companies on performance optimization at Simple Advantage. Before that, Mr. Frantz was a strength and conditioning coach at the University of Oklahoma.

Mr. Frantz has BS from Southwestern Oklahoma State University and a Master’s in Education from the University of Oklahoma.

He enjoys skiing, golf, travel, food and wine, reading and musical arts.

Areas of Interest:  Healthcare, Energy, Technology

Laurence Levi

Managing Director

Laurence Levi, Managing Director, has over 25 years of leadership experience as a private equity investor, mergers & acquisitions advisor and transactional attorney. He has served as a board member of numerous private companies spanning technology, consumer products and business services sectors, among other industries. His affiliated firm VO2 Partners is an advisor to leading institutional investors in venture capital and private equity.

He previously served as Chief Strategy Officer for Flowr Corp (TSXV: FLWR) a publicly traded medicinal and recreational cannabis firm. He is the founder of a consumer-focused growth equity and private equity investment firm backed by the family office of the founders of Lands’ End; and previously founded Levi Littell Herbst & Co., a boutique M&A advisory firm focused on buy- and sell-side advisory services for middle market clients. Notable transactions included the sale of Patterson Capital Markets to Goldman Sachs, and buy-side representation for acquirers conducting rollups in industries including printing, business services and pharmaceutical distribution.

Mr. Levi started his career as a transactional attorney at Latham & Watkins.

Mr. Levi received a BA with honors from University of Wisconsin, and a JD from Columbia Law School.

Areas of Interest:  Technology, Consumer, Industrial, Venture Capital

Alan Macksey

Managing Director

Alan Macksey, Managing Director of The Courtney Group, Inc., has over 30 years of experience in private equity. From 1986 to 1988 and 1990 to 2018, he was with Sterling Partners where he completed over 100 investments, including platform and add-on acquisitions. At Sterling, he helped raise and invest seven institutional funds focusing on equity investments of $5M to $175M in business services, healthcare and education companies among others. He also served on the firm’s investment and operating committees.

Mr. Macksey has extensive experience partnering with founders and helping build companies and boards. As an investor, he has developed and executed successful strategies within specific market segments including industrial, maintenance, energy, testing and inspection services.

Prior to joining Sterling, he worked in equity research at Alex. Brown & Sons covering consumer growth stocks. Mr. Macksey received a BA in Economics from Yale University and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Macksey enjoys family, tennis, photography, travel, serving on the board of the Young Victorian Theatre Company, and rooting for the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, as well as the Maryland Terps.

Areas of Interest: Business Services, Healthcare Services, Consumer Goods and Services, Manufacturing

Ed McKenna, PhD.

Managing Director

Ed McKenna, PhD., Managing Director, has over 20 years of experience in starting companies, creating and leading strategic plans, making acquisitions, and advising senior management teams. At The Courtney Group, Dr. McKenna works with healthcare and technology businesses.

Dr. McKenna is also Advising President and COO of JRG Ventures, a retained firm with expertise in corporate development, product growth strategy, licensing and partnering within the life sciences, health technology, and novel disruptive technologies. JRG’s clients are global and range from start-up ventures to multinational corporations. JRG has a focus on identifying, targeting, optimizing and conquering growth opportunities. In addition, Dr. McKenna is Managing Director of Triple Ring Innovation Labs, the new business incubation program at Triple Ring Technologies, an innovative contract research and medical product development company, which partners with clients to complete complex technical projects from conceptual design through development and product launch.

Previously, Dr. McKenna was Chief Scientist and Engineer at Covidien. He is an inventor on over 100 filed patents and received five innovation awards during his time at Covidien including two time Inventor of the Year and Filed Patent of the Year. Dr. McKenna worked on many acquisitions at Covidien including Cardio Digital, Aspect Medical, Somanetics and Oridion. As a researcher he performed research in non-invasive technologies for the measurement of various physiologic parameters such as tissue hydration, non-invasive blood pressure, total hemoglobin, oximetry, tissue oxygenation, cardiac output and glucose.

Prior to Covidien, Dr. McKenna founded two technology companies while he was getting his PhD, both sold very successfully. Before that, Dr. McKenna was Chief Optical Hardware Engineer at Next Level Communications. He was the chief designer of the optical interfaces and controllers for a system that allowed telephone companies to compete with cable providers. Motorola acquired Next Level in 2002.

Dr. McKenna has BS and MS in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, and a PhD in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from University of Colorado at Boulder.

He is married with 3 children and enjoys running, cycling, classical music, surfing and playing with his kids in his spare time.

Experience: Telecom, Healthcare, Management, Business Development, Growth Strategy, Innovation, Medical Device, Technology Strategy, Technology Assessment, Technology Development, Agile Software Development, SaaS, Mobile, Cloud, Pre-clinical, Clinical Trials, Design Control, 510(k), Startups, Venture Capital, Research & Development.

Areas of Interest: Medtech, HealthCare, Technology, Energy, Technology, Cybersecurity

Richard G. Minicus

Managing Director

Rich Minicus is a finance, business development, and banking professional with over 30 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, venture capital, and entrepreneurial CFO positions. He worked for 21 years in medical technology business development with Becton Dickinson and Pfizer and started his career with nine years in corporate finance and banking at Merrill Lynch Capital Markets and J.P. Morgan. Mr. Minicus helped make venture capital investments with Becton Dickinson’s venture group and Merrill Lynch Venture Capital, with focus on companies in medical devices, diagnostics, life science, and biotechnology.

Mr. Minicus has been a leader on teams which have closed over 100 business development and financing transactions including acquisitions, divestitures, venture capital investments, technology licenses, and public and private offerings of debt and equity. He is an expert in valuations, financial analysis, and construction of operating models. In recent years, Mr. Minicus has served as Chief Financial Officer of several startup medical technology companies.

He received an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MS in Biology from Fairleigh Dickinson University, an MSE in Physiology from City University of New York, and a BA in Economics from Amherst College. He also holds a certificate in health care bioethics.

Mr. Minicus is married with one son and resides in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Outside of work, he enjoys running, biking, golf, studying philosophy and theology, and deep conversations with friends. He is an accomplished guitarist and loves bringing his Martin acoustic to singalongs.

Areas of Interest:  Areas of interest: Medical Devices, Diagnostics, Life Sciences, Health Care

Howard Turk

Managing Director

Howard Turk, Managing Director at The Courtney Group, is an investment banker who was previously a real estate attorney. He has extensive experience in the title and settlement services industry, both domestically and internationally.

Mr. Turk’s prior roles include principal of a high-volume real estate conveyancing law firm, head underwriter of First American Title’s National Lenders Advantage as well as leadership roles in national title agencies.

An accomplished best-selling author and columnist, Mr. Turk is a frequent media guest expert and commentator on issues relating to the real estate and title industry.

Mr. Turk has an undergraduate degree In Political Science from York University and a Bachelor or Laws (LL.B.) degree from the University of Ottawa.

Areas of Interest:  Financial Services, Real Estate, Title Insurance

Gene Vivino

Managing Director

Gene Vivino, Senior Advisor at The Courtney Group, has spent three decades planning for, building and managing businesses worldwide. He has extensive expertise in international and emerging markets, especially China, and has held leadership positions in finance, strategic planning, business development, and management.

From 1999 to 2015 Mr. Vivino worked at Becton Dickinson. In his most recent assignments in Asia, he led development of the company’s long-term strategic plan for China, creating a key growth driver for the company. He has also developed country level strategic plans for Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as planning and business development experience in Brazil and other Latin American countries.

As Becton Dickinson’s Director of Corporate Development and Strategic Investments, Mr. Vivino led the identification, evaluation, strategic fit, due diligence and integration for a range of acquisitions and strategic alliances. Mr. Vivino worked on the acquisitions of Clontech, Gentest and other life science tools companies. Mr. Vivino prepared and delivered investor presentations for Becton Dickinson at many conferences and analyst meetings. He has specialized in communicating a company’s entrepreneurial vision to the marketplace.

Previously, Mr. Vivino worked at Monsanto, Merck, NutraSweet, and Exxon Mobil. He has extensive experience in healthcare, biotechnology, food ingredients, specialty chemicals, and petrochemicals.

Mr. Vivino has an MBA in Finance, Marketing & Strategic Planning from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University. Mr. Vivino is married, with a son. He has lived and worked in the U.S., Asia and Latin America, is fluent in Brazilian Portuguese and has a working knowledge of Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and Italian.

Areas of Interest: Medtech, Food and Ingredients, Chemicals