Aruda Liu is a data analyst at Advantage Capital. As a member of the data team, she is responsible for developing data systems and automations, and supporting analytics and research insights.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Aruda was at a tech startup company where she worked as a business intelligence intern.

Aruda received her master's degree in quantitative finance from Washington University in St. Louis.

Franchesca Lorio provides leadership in all aspects of the firm’s accounting and financial management. As a managing director and controller of all Advantage Capital entities, she is responsible for the preparation of the firm’s financial statements and numerous other periodic reports to investors, lenders and various regulatory authorities. Franchesca is also responsible for cash management as well as the implementation and supervision of the firm’s reporting and compliance systems. In addition, she works closely with the firm’s independent public accountants in connection with the completion of the annual audits of more than 70 Advantage Capital entities.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Franchesca practiced public accounting for five years with several leading CPA firms, where she focused on tax and financial accounting matters.

Franchesca graduated cum laude from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. She is a member of the Institute of Management Accountants, the American Society of Women Accountants and the Young Leadership Council.

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Justin Lovro is an analyst at Advantage Capital. As a member of the solar investment team, Justin is responsible for sourcing investments, performing due diligence, structuring transactions, and portfolio management.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, he interned at a boutique M&A advisory firm focused on climate-tech and energy infrastructure.

Justin received his bachelor's degree in finance from New York University.

Peter Lu is a senior associate at Advantage Capital. As a member of the firm’s investment team, he focuses on sourcing investments, performing due diligence, structuring transactions, and managing portfolio companies.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Peter was an investment banking associate covering healthcare services M&A at Guggenheim Partners.

Peter received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis.

J.P. Lynch is a vice president at Advantage Capital. As a member of the firm's investment team, he provides due diligence support and monitors portfolio companies across the Midwest.

Prior to joining Advantage, J.P. worked as an analyst at Stone Carlie, supporting its business valuation and investment banking departments.

J.P. received his bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance and general management from Boston College.

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Jessie Marquardt serves as a senior associate on the firm’s syndication group, for which she is responsible for due diligence and transaction work for our state-based Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) investments.  

Jessie brings more than 12 years of real estate and banking experience, the last 5 of which were spent working on LIHTC and affordable housing projects.  Most recently, she served as a senior multi-family portfolio analyst for Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, where she worked on all aspects of their affordable housing program from underwriting to asset management for the development of affordable housing projects which included federal and state LIHTC Tax Credits among other funding sources. Previously she was a part of the underwriting team at Wells Fargo where her duties included loan modifications and managing a team of real estate underwriters.

Jessie received her bachelor’s degree in secondary education with social studies and English endorsements from Eastern Washington University.

Briana Maxham is an executive assistant at Advantage Capital.

Briana plays a key role in the overall operations of the firm’s Hanover office. She serves as the Executive Assistant to the Managing Director and provides project management support for the Hanover team. Prior to joining Advantage Capital Briana worked for a local legal team as an Administrator and Paralegal. For the past 20 years, most of Briana’s experience as Manager and Administrator has been with the American Red Cross and AIM Healthcare. She is involved within her community as Guardian ad Litem, Chair of the Hartland Community Connections, and as an EMT/First Responder.

Briana holds a master’s degree In Health Education from the Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich Germany and is fluent in German, Bavarian, and English.

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Mary Beth Maygarden is director of state and investor reporting at Advantage Capital. In this capacity, she maintains compliance with all federal and state statutes and regulations applicable to the firm’s investment operations.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Mary Beth served as a paralegal for Deutsch, Kerrigan and Stiles, LLP in New Orleans, where she provided litigation support in both federal and state jurisdictions. She also assisted clients with economic redevelopment matters in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Mary Beth received her master’s degree in humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas and her bachelor’s degree in medieval studies and history from Newcomb College-Tulane University, where she graduated cum laude.

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Riley McCarthy is an associate at Advantage Capital. In his role, he is responsible for sourcing investments, supporting business development efforts and providing due diligence support.

Riley brings more than four years of experience in the investment consulting space to the team. Most recently, he was an analyst and business development team member at Prime Buchholz, LLC.

He holds a bachelor of science in actuarial mathematics with a minor in economics from the University of Pittsburgh, and is currently a CFA Level III candidate.

Alaina McClue serves as a Staff Accountant at Advantage Capital, contributing to diverse functions within the financial cycle. Prior to her role at Advantage Capital, Alaina gained experience as an accountant in the General Accounting department at Ochsner Health System.

Alaina holds a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from Xavier University of Louisiana and a Master's Degree in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the University of California, Irvine. She remains actively involved with her alma mater, Xavier University, volunteering for the Alumni chapter and serving as a class representative.

Nicholas McConnell is an associate at Advantage Capital. In his role, he is responsible for sourcing investments, supporting business development efforts and providing due diligence support.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Mr. McConnell was a summer analyst at Insight2Profit, as well as a private equity summer analyst at BroadTree Partners.

Nicholas holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and economics from The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.

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

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Jack was a corporate audit intern for Bank of America.

Jack received his bachelor's degree in economics from Bowdoin College.

Andrew McKinnis is a senior analyst on the investment team where he is responsible for sourcing investments and providing due diligence support.

Prior to joining the firm, he worked as a summer investment associate at Stan Johnson where he contributed to the private equity division launch and as an MBA consultant at Advanced Plastics Inc. Andrew was the PAR Chairman of the University of Tulsa Student Investment Fund and a student athlete on the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane Football Team.

Andrew received his MBA and his bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Tulsa.

Tiffany Mc Mahon is the executive assistant to the CIO at Advantage Capital. Along with providing executive support, she serves as the office manager handling day-to-day functions of the New York office.

Prior to joining the firm, Tiffany worked as an operations specialist in the staffing industry supporting fortune 500 companies. Tiffany was responsible for processing payroll, preparing audits, and managing the communication flow to operations boxes.  

Tiffany received her bachelor’s degree in political science from Buffalo State University.

David McNaught is a vice president at Advantage Capital. As a member of the firm’s investment team, he is responsible for underwriting new investments and monitoring portfolio companies. He joins Advantage Capital with more than 10 years of experience in public accounting and finance, previously holding roles of increasing responsibility at PricewaterhouseCoopers (Assurance), Ernst & Young (Transaction Advisory), and most recently, Clayton Capital Partners (M&A Advisory).

David earned his MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, a master’s in accounting from Texas A&M University, and a bachelor’s in business administration from Colorado State University where he graduated summa cum laude. Additionally, David is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA, inactive).

Emily Medakovich is a compliance administrator on the compliance team where she is responsible for underwriting, asset management and performing due diligence.

Prior to joining the firm, she was a liability adjuster at Allstate Insurance and a Claims Specialist at Nationwide Insurance, where she investigated auto claims and evaluated total loss. Emily has also worked as a financial relationship specialist at Regions Bank and a paralegal at Karr & Sherman Co.

Emily received her bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from the Ohio State University where she graduated magna cum laude.

Anna Medley is an investment analyst at Advantage Capital. As a member of the investment team, she provides due diligence supports, helps underwrite new investments, and aids in growth initiatives at the firm’s portfolio companies.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Anna was a client service manager at Moneta Group Investment Advisors where she helped manage client’s portfolios.

Anna received her bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Saint Louis University.

Arjun Mohan is a vice president at Advantage Capital. As a member of the firm’s investment team, he focuses on sourcing investments, performing due diligence, structuring transactions and portfolio management.

Prior to joining the firm, Arjun was a consultant on Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy & Analytics team. He assisted multiple Fortune 500 companies on engagements related to customer experience improvements, sales and distribution strategy and operational efficiencies.

Arjun received his MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and his bachelor’s degree in accounting and master’s in finance from Texas A&M University.

Sandra M. Moore is managing director and chief impact officer at Advantage Capital, a growth equity firm founded in 1992 with over $3.6 billion AUM.  The firm focuses on high growth and high wage business investing in communities where access to investment capital has historically been hard to find.  Sandra is a member of the Advantage Capital investment committee and a direct advisor to the diligence and structuring teams.

Sandra is also a member of the Advantage Capital fundraising team, which has brought in $225 million in capital during her four–year tenure. She has built the Advantage Capital Impact team, which creates data-driven initiatives to track and expedite portfolio growth, leads the communications and branding team and serves as the external-facing representative for Advantage Capital.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Sandra was the president of Urban Strategies, a national nonprofit corporation that works exclusively with for profit housing developers to rebuild distressed urban core communities using mix-finance, multi-family housing as the revitalization platform.

Sandra formerly served as the CEO of the Missouri Family Investment Trust, a public-private partnership entity leading Missouri’s multi-system reform efforts.  Prior to joining the Family Investment Trust, Sandra was senior vice president of St. Louis 2004, Inc., a region-wide effort, led by business, civic and political leaders, to transform the St. Louis regional economy and gear it for exponential growth in the 21st century.

She is the former director of the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DOLIR), where she served as a member of then Governor Mel Carnahan’s cabinet, and a former administrative judge with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Sandra is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, MO.  She received her J.D. from the School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Sandra is committed to the growth, development and empowerment of people and the communities where they live.  She serves on several local and national boards and committees that work to strengthen the fiber of community, and she is a sought-after speaker and thought leader on these issues.

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Grant Morhun is a senior analyst at Advantage Capital. As a member of the firm’s investment team, he focuses on sourcing investments, performing due diligence, structuring transactions and portfolio management.

Grant originally joined Advantage as an intern, supporting the sourcing team with identification of potential investments. Previously, he was an intern at First Bank of the Lake in Hanover, NH, where he underwrote Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) applications for S Corporations.

Grant received his bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire.

Biography: Justin Motika is a Senior Vice President at Advantage Capital. He leads strategic impact integrations and related operations across the organization. Accordingly, he is responsible for impact measurement and management (IMM), management information systems (MIS), and impact research and innovations. Justin was previously a founding member of the data and impact teams. He also served on the national expansion team where he did economic research and worked with investors and policy makers promoting capital formation initiatives.

Prior to joining the firm, Justin lead the NYC Private Equity & Venture Capital research and strategic projects team for GLG.

Justin was a university honors program student and provost scholar at San Diego State University where he earned a Bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in finance.

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Brian Muller is an accounting manager at Advantage Capital. In this role, he is responsible for recording activity and preparing financial statements for several of the firm's entities.

Prior to joining the firm, Brian worked as a senior accountant for both Bourgeois Bennett, LLC and Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC. In this role, he performed audit procedures, including financial statement analysis and detailed testing of accounts at the trial balance and financial statement levels.

Brian received a bachelor's degree from the University of New Orleans, where he majored in business management, and a master's degree in business administration from Loyola University New Orleans. He is a certified public accountant.

Scott Murphy rejoined Advantage Capital as a managing director and the chief investment officer after serving in the United States Congress representing New York from 2009 to 2011. He previously worked at Advantage Capital from 2001 to 2009, overseeing the firm's $88 million New York portfolio. As chief investment officer, Scott oversees the firm’s entire portfolio.

Scott is an experienced venture capitalist and highly successful entrepreneur with a robust background in public service. Prior to his tenure at Advantage Capital, he co-founded three high-tech companies, including a game company that brought fantasy football and baseball to the Internet. He also founded an online auction company that was sold to eBay and a website building company that was sold to iXL. He earlier spent two years as a structured finance associate at Bankers Trust, where he focused on the insurance industry. In addition to his time in Congress, Scott previously served in the administrations of two Missouri governors.

Scott received his bachelor’s from Harvard College and has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. As a former president of the Upstate Venture Association of New York, he maintains a strong commitment to civic affairs.

Katie Nath is an analyst on the Solar Development team at Advantage Capital. Within this group, she focuses on energy modeling, project layouts and other EPC due diligence. Prior to joining Advantage, Katie interned with Onyx Renewables as a Project Engineer on their Operations team.

Katie graduated from Williams College with a BA in Physics and Art History.

Johanna Neggie is an analyst at Advantage Capital. As a member of the investment team, Johanna is responsible for sourcing investments, performing due diligence, structuring transactions, and portfolio management.

Prior to joining Advantage, Johanna worked as an investment banking summer analyst at Credit Suisse within their Leveraged Finance Group and Bank of Montreal within their Financial Institutions Group.

Johanna received a BBA with a concentration in finance and minor in sustainability at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

Farah Neha is a project manager at Advantage Capital, where she supports the solar development team in all aspects of development, performs QA/QC and, support EPC workstream. Farah received her master's degree in Earth and Environmental Engineering from Columbia University and a bachelor's degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from North South University.

Kyle Nesselbush is a senior associate at Advantage Capital, where he focuses on renewable energy tax equity investments.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Kyle worked at Monarch Private Capital as a senior associate, where he worked on sourcing, underwriting, and closing renewable energy investments.

Kyle received his MBA from Washington University in St. Louis with an emphasis in finance and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in mathematics from the University of Missouri - Columbia.

Austin Nichols is an assistant accounting manager at Advantage Capital on the firm's accounting team.

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Austin worked at Ochsner Health as a senior accountant on their financial accounting team where he focused on shared services.

In addition to his role at Advantage Capital, Austin loves cheering on the local sports teams such as the Saints, Pelicans, and LSU Tigers. He also loves to coach and support his children in all their extracurricular activities.

Austin received his Accounting Degree from the University of New Orleans and is a State Board Certified Public Accountant.

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Colin Nickells is an associate on Advantage Capital's expansion team where he focuses on affordable housing, economic development, public policy, and public finance initiatives at the state and local levels.

Colin most recently served as the 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program manager at the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA), where he oversaw the allocation of more than $1.6 billion in tax credits. He previously served as TDHCA's senior policy analyst, and in various roles at the Texas General Land Office managing special projects related to Community Development Block Grant programs for disaster recovery and mitigation. In 2022, Colin was appointed to serve as a commissioner on the City of Austin Environmental Commission.

Colin received his Master of Arts degree with concentrations international economics and political economy from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and his bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from the University of North Texas.

Kari Niermann is a senior vice president on the investment team where she focuses on portfolio management, seeks new investment opportunities and interacts with portfolio companies to assess their current and future capital needs.  

Prior to joining Advantage Capital, Kari served as an assistant vice president in the Leveraged Finance Group at U.S. Bank, where she was responsible for analyzing, underwriting and assisting in the structuring of syndicated leveraged senior debt transactions for business mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and capital expenditure purchases, as well as the management of a $350 million portfolio comprised of more than 20 clients. Earlier in her career, Kari worked as a commercial banking officer for BMO Harris, formerly Southwest Bank, where she managed a $25 million middle market portfolio of clients in a wide range of industries within the commercial and industrial sector.

Kari received her bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance from Saint Louis University.

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