David Endo, Director, shares how his experiences at Carl Marks Advisors have expanded his skills, why he enjoys working in a variety of sectors and what he’s looking forward to this year.
How has your investment banking career progressed during your time at Carl Marks Advisors?
Carl Marks Advisors provided me an opportunity and platform to take on more responsibility at every stage of my career, which I’ve been able to leverage all through to my current position as a Director. I joined Carl Marks Advisors in June 2011 and since then, have built a strong background in complex financial transactions. I have had the opportunity to work on all aspects of investment banking from both a debtor and creditor lens, and which has allowed me to gain a unique perspective on my deals and rounded out my skill set.
What originally attracted you to Carl Marks Advisors?
I previously worked at another middle-market investment bank focusing on companies within the specialty finance, insurance, and financial technology sub-sectors. When I was looking for an opportunity to broaden my experience, I wanted a role where I could work with companies across various industries while finding creative solutions for complex situations. After working at an investment bank with strict deal team hierarchies, I knew I wanted to find an environment where I could work alongside senior team members, and where my input and creative thinking would directly impact our clients. I found that Carl Marks Advisors was a perfect fit.
How has working on financial transactions across sectors over the past eight years shaped your skill set and expertise?
The opportunity to advise companies across a wide range of industries has exposed me to the different challenges our clients face. Many times these are unique to a specific sector, but there are also common themes among many of our distressed clients. The learning around best strategic practices and how to build my transactional expertise continues with every deal that I work on. I enjoy applying newly acquired knowledge to current and prospective mandates.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your work/current focus at Carl Marks Advisors?
Investment banking is a dynamic industry and no deal is the same. Each engagement brings a unique set of circumstances which requires us to be nimble and pivot the approach depending on new developments or shifts in the markets. It is extremely rewarding to provide a strategic path and have the opportunity to execute on that vision.
Additionally, given the tangible nature of investment banking, it’s extremely satisfying to being able to help a business turnaround and emerge in the best situation possible ‒ not only as a result of our advice but from a transaction that we implemented.
Is there any engagement in your history with CMA that you found particularly intriguing, challenging, etc.?
I had the opportunity to work on Triad Isotopes Inc., the second largest nuclear pharmacy network in the U.S. The opportunity was a multi-faceted, complex transaction that was only successful because of our unique approach and creative thinking. There were several developments throughout the engagement that required our team to alter our strategy and find new paths forward. It was a long transaction that was ultimately successful because of our team’s dedication to the client and ability to continually pivot and think through multiple scenarios.
What do you expect for 2018?
I’m looking forward to the variety of prospects we have in 2018. We’ve built a strong pipeline of complex financial transactions, and this has already been complemented by several key wins. We’re also continuing to focus on delivering the best results for our clients in challenging engagements and build on the momentum and success we’ve had over the last several months.
