Our Team

As a company, we pride ourselves on our people.  We have a dynamic team of professionals who possess diverse but extremely relevant backgrounds.
Leadership
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Matthew Derouchie

Analyst
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Matthew Derouchie
Analyst

Matthew Derouchie is an analyst on the investment team where he is responsible for sourcing investments and providing due diligence support.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Matthew was an software development intern for Lavalle Transportation, where he focused on process improvement and software implementation.

Matthew received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics from St. Lawrence University.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Maurice Doyle

Managing Director
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Maurice Doyle
Managing Director

Maurice Doyle has extensive experience in the capital markets and investment banking industry. In his role as managing director, he has chief responsibility for the firm’s fundraising and investor relations activities and serves as the principal contact for many of the firm’s insurance industry investors.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Maurice was a senior vice president at UBS Securities, a vice president of Credit Suisse First Boston and a vice president with Winthrop Securities, where he was involved in financing large multiphase real estate development projects.

Maurice received his J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law and his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Notre Dame.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Dayna Drennan

Compliance Analyst
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Dayna Drennan
Compliance Analyst

Dayna Drennan is a compliance analyst at Advantage. As a member of the Syndication team, she is responsible for underwriting, asset management and performing due diligence.

Prior to joining the firm, Dayna spent the last four and a half years working in asset management and compliance at Sugar Creek Capital.

Dayna received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and holds a Housing Credit Certified Professional (HCCP) Certification.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Ryan Dressler

Principal
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Ryan Dressler
Principal

Ryan Dressler is a principal at Advantage Capital where he is a member of the expansion and fundraising teams.

Prior to joining the firm, Ryan was director of new site development for a national nonprofit leadership organization based in Richmond, Virginia. He has a varied background in sales, strategic growth and early-stage business formation.

Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Michael Dubansky

Vice President of Business Development
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Michael Dubansky
Vice President of Business Development

Michael Dubansky is vice president of business development at Advantage Capital, where he primarily focuses on the origination of state and federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit investments located in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Indiana.

Michael brings over two decades of tax equity investment experience to Advantage Capital. Most recently, he served as business director of MCM Company, Inc., where he developed multifamily assets throughout the midwest that utilized federal and state historic tax credits. Prior to that, he spent nine years at National Trust Community Investment Corporation where he facilitated and sourced tax equity investments largely concentrated in federal and state Historic and New Markets Tax Credits.

Michael graduated from Towson University with a bachelor of science in business administration.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Louis Dubuque

Managing Director
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Louis Dubuque
Managing Director

Louis Dubuque, a managing director, board member and chief credit officer, works on formulating investment policy, identifying and closing new investments and managing the firm's debt portfolio. He also serves on the board of the government-guaranteed lending division of Advantage Capital. During his tenure with the firm, he has been instrumental in helping raise more than $800 million in capital and has been involved with more than 50 investments totaling in excess of $300 million.

Louis joined Advantage Capital after nine years at U.S. Bank, where he served as senior vice president. At U.S. Bank, he created and managed a $400 million subordinated debt fund and directed the capital markets division’s middle market group. Louis also spent six years as a commercial loan officer for JP Morgan Chase (formerly First Chicago/NBD Bank).

Louis holds an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business administration from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. He is a certified public accountant. In recognition of his professional achievements and community involvement, he was named to the St. Louis Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list in 2003. Mr. Dubuque also serves on board of the CRUDEM Foundation.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

William Fiederlein

Vice President of Business Development
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
William Fiederlein
Vice President of Business Development

William Fiederlein is Vice President of Business Development at Advantage Capital where he primarily focuses on the origination of state and federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Investments located in South Carolina, Virginia, Nebraska and Arizona.

William brings nearly a decade of tax equity investment experience to Advantage. Most recently, he held several roles at National Trust Community Investment Corporation where he facilitated over $180MM of tax equity investments largely concentrated in federal and state Historic and New Markets Tax Credits.  Prior to this, he worked for a boutique tax credit syndication and consulting firm where he assisted project sponsors in securing equity through various federal and state tax credit programs.

William graduated from the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor of Science in Finance.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Art Florez

Executive Assistant
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Art Florez
Executive Assistant

Art Florez is an executive assistant at Advantage Capital. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Florez worked in administration for the New Orleans Saints, where he was executive assistant to the owner and executive vice president.

Art holds a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of New Orleans. He is also a past board member for the Jefferson Ballet Theatre.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Beth Fore

Senior Associate
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Beth Fore
Senior Associate

Beth Fore is a senior associate at Advantage Capital. In this role, her primary focus is asset management, where she monitors and tracks portfolios’ loan performance and compliance, prepares reports for management review and assists with new fund closings.

Immediately prior to joining the firm, Beth was a senior financial analyst for renewable energy projects at U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation. In this role, she managed and monitored over $1 billion of tax credit exposure. Beth designed policies, procedures and reporting methods to identify warning signs of potential nonperformance and presented findings to senior leadership. Prior to her five-year tenure at U.S. Bancorp, she was a commercial underwriter for Ally Bank.

Beth earned her MBA from Lindenwood University and her bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Central Missouri. She is a Big Sister through the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri and a council member of Sweet Celebrations.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Keith Freeman

Managing Director
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Keith Freeman
Managing Director

Keith Freeman is a principal at Advantage Capital where he identifies and screens potential new investment opportunities, performs due diligence, negotiates and closes transactions and manages existing investments. He is primarily focused on investments made by Advantage Capital Agribusiness Partners.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Keith served as a managing director for AGR Partners Inc, a California-based investment firm that focuses on providing capital to leading agribusinesses and food companies. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing the company’s deal originations, investment analysis procedures and transaction negotiations.

Keith received his MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and his bachelor’s degree in finance from Miami University.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Katie Fury

Servicing Manager
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Katie Fury
Servicing Manager

Katherine “Katie” Fury is a servicing manager at Advantage Capital. As a member of the government-guaranteed lending division, she is responsible for assisting with the execution of loan applications and the coordination of closing and post-closing procedures.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Katie was a loan processor with the Bank of New Orleans where she was involved with processing loans and ensuring contract deadlines were met.

Katie graduated from the University of New Orleans with a degree in business administration.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Trey Garland

Senior Associate
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Trey Garland
Senior Associate

Trey Garland is a senior associate at Advantage Capital. As a member of the investment team, he is involved in screening potential investment opportunities, performing due diligence and monitoring portfolio companies. Prior to joining the firm, Trey worked as an analyst in the Valuation and Litigation Services Group at RubinBrown LLP covering a wide range of industries including construction, M&D, real estate, professional services, agriculture and renewable energy.

Trey received his bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in finance from the University of Missouri.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Jeffrey Gentsch

Venture Partner
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Jeffrey Gentsch
Venture Partner

Jeffrey Gentsch serves as a venture partner for Advantage Capital and brings over 25 years of private equity investing experience to the firm. He is the founder of Gentsch Capital Partners, a middle market private equity firm. Previously, he was the partner responsible for the St. Louis office of Key Principal Partners, a middle market venture and growth capital equity firm, and a managing director of Harbour Group, a middle market buyout firm. Jeffrey’s early career included leverage buyout banking at Barclays Bank in New York and Continental Illinois Bank in Chicago.

Jeffrey received his MBA in finance from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis and his bachelor’s degree in Cellular Biology from the University of Kansas. His community involvement includes board roles at the Missouri Baptist Healthcare Foundation and chairman of the Washington University in St. Louis Alumni Board of Governors.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Sam Gieseler

Associate
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Sam Gieseler
Associate

Sam Gieseler is an associate on the Partner Services team. He focuses on origination, servicing, and compliance for the firm’s partner services relationships for both federal and state new market tax credit programs.

Prior to joining Advantage, Sam worked in corporate development for a New Orleans based holding company, where he managed finances and operations for the firm’s portfolio companies.

Sam received his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of New Orleans.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Caleb Gipple

Analyst
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Caleb Gipple
Analyst

Caleb Gipple is a business development analyst at Advantage Capital. As a member of the investment team, he is responsible for sourcing investment opportunities and providing due diligence supprt.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Caleb was a regional director for a national nonprofit organization based in Richmond, VA, where he was responsible for leading strategic growth for the organization.

Caleb received his bachelor's degree in public administration from University of Northern Iowa as well as an executive certificate from University of Richmond.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Jonathan Goldstein

Managing Director
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Jonathan Goldstein
Managing Director

Jonathan Goldstein is an experienced investment executive with a background in venture capital, renewable energy and urban investing. He serves as a member of Advantage Capital’s investment committee and leads the firm’s tax credit syndication group. He is also a member of both the firm’s strategy council and the clean energy investment team. Prior to joining Advantage Capital in 2010, Jonathan served on the board at McCormack Baron Salazar, the leading urban revitalization firm in the country, overseeing the Project Finance group, the various private, governmental and community funding sources. He also oversaw MBS’s New Markets Tax Credit practice, including $210 million in allocations from the U.S. Treasury.

Jonathan founded Sunwheel Energy Partners, an affiliated firm specializing in solar energy programs. Since beginning his career as an attorney, clerking for a federal appellate judge and serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the Justice Department, he also helped found Taproot Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, where he sourced and structured investments in technology companies. He serves on the boards of Advantage Capital portfolio companies Nextility and SDBIC. He is a member of the Board and Executive Committee for the New Markets Tax Credit Coalition and on the board of Rise, a regional nonprofit dedicated to housing and urban revitalization. In 2012, he was named to the “Who’s Who in Energy List” by a coalition of regional Business Journals. He holds a J.D. from Washington University, where he graduated first in his class, and a bachelor’s degree from Yale.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Jeff Grass

Vice President of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Jeff Grass
Vice President of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement

Jeff Grass is the Vice President of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement at Advantage Capital. He serves as strategic communications counselor to the leadership team and is responsible for defining, developing and deploying compelling content to educate, engage, influence and activate key stakeholders while furthering the firm’s mission.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Jeff served as a Global Director of Communications at Bayer Corporation where he led reputation management, issues management, employee engagement and marketing communications for one of the multinational life science company’s fastest-growing divisions. Before Bayer, he held several roles of increasing responsibility at Anheuser-Busch, most recently leading all business and internal communications for North America as Communications Director.

Jeff graduated from Webster University.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Pete Grum

Venture Partner
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Pete Grum
Venture Partner

Pete Grum serves as a Venture Partner for Advantage Capital and continues his career of investing in private companies. He has spent the past 25 years president, chief executive officer and director of a publicly traded investment company.

Pete received his MBA in finance from Rochester Institute of Technology and his bachelors in economics from Eisenhower College. He is currently an adjunct professor at University of Buffalo where he teaches corporate finance. His various community activities include board roles as trustee of Buffalo State College, Community Foundation, Horizon Health, 43 North and a variety of investment committees.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Jennifer Guenard

Vice President, Assistant Controller
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Jennifer Guenard
Vice President, Assistant Controller

Jennifer Jeandron is a vice president and accounting controller at Advantage Capital where she plays a key role in the firm’s accounting and financial reporting activities. As an accounting controller, she is responsible for oversight of the preparation of many of the firm’s financial statements.

Prior to joining the firm, Jennifer worked in the audit practices of KPMG, LLP and Deloitte and Touche, LLP. In that role, she served public and private clients in a variety of industries, including energy, banking, healthcare and oil and gas.

Jennifer is a certified public accountant and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Louisiana State University. She serves on the board of directors of the Young Leadership Council and is a member of the Junior League of New Orleans and the Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Rishab Gupta

Product Manager
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Rishab Gupta
Product Manager

Rishab Gupta is a product manager on the data team. In his role, Rishab works on technical solutions across the firm’s data infrastructure, systems, and products to drive stakeholder success throughout the organization.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Rishab interned with Impact Venture Capital, an AI-focused VC, where he focused on software engineering. During his undergraduate career he worked at UC Davis’s Center for Mind and Brain as a machine learning research assistant. Rishab also co-founded Edtech and blockchain startups that won pitch competitions and raise earl-stage funding.

Riihab earned his bachelor’s degrees in both Computer Science and Statistics from the University of California Davis.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Christopher Harris

Managing Director
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Christopher Harris
Managing Director

Christopher Harris is a managing director at Advantage Capital. As a member of the firm’s investment group, he is responsible for sourcing, due diligence and valuation analysis of current and prospective investments. He serves on the board of directors for several portfolio companies, including GENICON, Prioria Robotics, Beehive Industries, RepEquity, SOMS Technologies and Quoddy. Christopher also manages Advantage's investments in Veran Medical Technologies, Minimally Invasive Devices and OrderWithMe.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Christopher worked for GE Capital as an assistant vice president, where he helped establish the company’s presence in large cap leveraged finance underwriting and investing. He joined GE in the FMP program and cycled throughout various operating and finance roles before joining on with the large cap leverage finance team.

Christopher received his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Darian Z. Harris

Associate
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Darian Z. Harris
Associate

Darian Harris is an associate on Advantage Capital’s national expansion team where he focuses on the firm’s economic development, public policy and public finance initiatives at the state and local level.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Darian served as a government affairs legal intern/extern at Troutman Pepper Strategies where he collaborated with various actors in the firm to coordinate and manage meetings with the legislature and other government officials. During law school, he was a legal intern in the Appellate Division of the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office and worked as a judicial Intern for the Honorable Chief Judge Reuben M. Green.

Darian received his J.D. from Georgia State University College of Law, where he served as the Vice-Justice of Phi Alpha Delta and was a member of the Black Law Students Association, and his bachelor’s degree in political science from Reinhardt University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Matthew Hart

Vice President
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Matthew Hart
Vice President

Matthew Hart is a vice president on the solar team where he focuses on capital formation, structuring, investor reporting and expansion efforts, in addition to project sourcing and execution. He also manages a portfolio of New Markets Tax Credits, leverage loans and specialty bonds he helped value and acquire from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Matthew brings a variety of experience in fund formation, finance and corporate governance. Prior to joining the firm, he was a corporate attorney at an international law firm in Austin, Texas, where he focused on venture capital financing, initial public offerings, and mergers and acquisitions. Matthew started his career as an investment banker, where he advised growing technology companies on public offerings and mergers and acquisitions. While in school, he worked for the Honorable Judge Edith Brown Clement of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and served as an intern at Advantage Capital.

Matthew received his J.D. magna cum laude from Tulane University Law School and his bachelor’s magna cum laude in economics and financial economics from Vanderbilt University.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Joseph Henderson

Vice President
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Joseph Henderson
Vice President

Joseph Henderson is a vice president on the firm’s investment team where he provides due diligence support and monitors portfolio companies. Prior to joining the firm, he was the director of finance and analytics at Punchbowl, Inc., a venture-backed technology startup. Joseph also worked with the Maine Venture Fund where he evaluated potential investments and worked closely with portfolio companies.

Joseph received his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and his bachelor’s degree in economics from Bowdoin College.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Leah Hendricks

Senior Vice President
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Leah Hendricks
Senior Vice President

Leah Hendricks is a senior vice president on the investment team, where she focuses on portfolio management. She monitors current firm assets, seeks new investment opportunities for the firm and interacts with portfolio companies to evaluate their capital requirements.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Leah served as an assistant vice president at BMO Private Bank. Additionally, she worked in the commercial lending division of BMO at M&I Bank, where she gained valuable experience working with executive management and key financial officers in middle market companies to provide debt obligations for various operational purposes.

Leah graduated magna cum laude from the John Cook School of Business at Saint Louis University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in economics.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Stephanie Hiatt

Senior Vice President
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Stephanie Hiatt
Senior Vice President

Stephanie Hiatt joined Advantage Capital in 2018 as senior vice president. Ms. Hiatt focuses on origination, compliance and asset management of the firm’s Partner Services portfolio, which includes federal and state New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) loan funds and standalone transactions. Ms. Hiatt is a seasoned financial professional with more than 15 years of banking, investment, and finance experience, including 11 years facilitating investments in low-income communities, low-income housing, historic preservation and renewable energy.

Most recently, she was Director of Advisory Services at Dudley Ventures in Phoenix, AZ, where she led a team focused on raising and deploying capital utilizing federal tax credit programs, such as the NMTC Program, among others. During her tenure with Dudley, Ms. Hiatt was responsible for closing more than $750 million in NMTC investments in over 150 low-income community businesses. Ms. Hiatt also worked in the banking industry for Wells Fargo Bank and First Security Bank.

Ms. Hiatt received her bachelor of arts in political science from the University of Rochester, with a minor concentration in Italian language and culture.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Gregory Hulecki

Venture Partner
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Gregory Hulecki
Venture Partner

Gregory Hulecki serves as a venture partner for Advantage Capital and brings more than 30 years of private equity investing experience to the firm. Mr. Hulecki was a partner and founder of FA Technology Ventures, an independent, established venture capital firm that invests in early stage technology companies in targeted emerging technology sectors. Previously, he was a managing director and founder of Seacoast Capital, a growth equity fund. Prior to founding Seacoast, Greg managed the investment portfolio of Signal Capital. Mr. Hulecki also worked as a principal at Capital Growth Partners, a middle market private equity firm, and Venture Founders, an early stage technology venture capital firm.

Mr. Hulecki earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Kettering University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. His community involvement includes recruiting and screening entrepreneurs for Springboard Enterprises, a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to accelerating women’s access to the venture capital markets. In addition, he has worked with mentors from the MIT Venture Mentoring Service, comprised of successful entrepreneurs and investors who assist technologies and startups in spinning out of the University.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Reid Hutchins

Managing Director
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Reid Hutchins
Managing Director

Reid Hutchins is a managing director at Advantage Capital where he manages the firm’s New York investment portfolio. His responsibilities include sourcing and structuring new investments, as well as working with current portfolio companies.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Reid served as a product development engineer for Advanced Micro Devices and as an engineer and manager with IBM Microelectronics. He brings operational experience in semiconductor design, manufacturing, testing and production to the firm.

Reid currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Upstate Venture Association of New York (UVANY). He also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Northeast New York.

Reid holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from St. Lawrence University, in addition to a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s in engineering management from Dartmouth College.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Melissa Illig

Analyst
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Melissa Illig
Analyst

Melissa Illig is an analyst at Advantage Capital. As a member of the solar team, she is responsible for data analysis, supporting community outreach efforts and providing development support.

Prior to joining the firm, she held a fellowship role at Seaside Sustainability, overseeing the sustainability consulting team in research and project development.

Melissa received her bachelor's degree in environmental studies from New York University.

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community

Kelly Jacobi

Analyst
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community
Kelly Jacobi
Analyst

Kelly Jacobi is an analyst on the Partner Services team,where she focuses on asset management for Advantage Capital’s network ofpartner firms.

 

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Kelly worked as theOperations Manager at Convergence Accounting, where she supervised taxpreparation workflow, processed payroll for a variety of clients, preparedbookkeeping, and managed accounts receivable.

 

Kelly holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Filmmakingfrom Stephens College. She is currently completing a Certificate of Proficiency in Accounting with Saint Louis Community College.

Who we are

At Advantage Capital, we believe in creating a work environment where our employees feel supported, valued, and can thrive. We are smart, innovative and entrepreneurially minded. We bring the best and the brightest talent together with a standout culture, highly autonomous yet collaborative environment, and outstanding benefits.

We fundamentally believe that capital can change lives, and we hire those with the passion and drive to help us do so.

Our Offices

Advantage Capital - Investment Capital for Small Businesses - United States, Finance, Capital, Investment, wealth, local community