VIKRAM PANDIT - CHAIRMAN & CEO
Mr. Pandit spent his career in financial services and has been a participant in and a catalyst for some of the tremendous changes the industry has experienced over the last several decades. He joined Morgan Stanley in 1983 and ultimately became President and Chief Operating Officer of the company's institutional securities and investment banking businesses. Mr. Pandit left Morgan Stanley to become a founding member and chairman of the members committee of Old Lane, LP. When Old Lane was acquired by Citigroup in 2007, Mr. Pandit became Chairman and CEO of Citi Alternative Investments and later led Citi's Institutional Clients Group. He became CEO of Citigroup in December 2007 and led the company during the most challenging economic and financial crisis since the Great Depression, successfully recapitalizing, restructuring, and revitalizing the company before he left in October 2012. Mr. Pandit is a member of the Board of Directors of ExlService Holdings, Inc., Ardán Inc., AgentHome LLC, Brillio, and JM Financial Credit Solutions Ltd. Mr. Pandit is a member of the Board of Overseers of Columbia Business School and a member of the Board of Visitors of Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Mr. Pandit earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in engineering from Columbia University and received his Ph.D. in finance from Columbia in 1986.
RUCHI MADAN - MANAGING DIRECTOR
Ruchi Madan has 25 years of experience in financial services, having served in operational, investment and advisory roles. Before joining The Orogen Group, she was the head of strategy at Citigroup where she was responsible for key strategic and value creation initiatives. During the financial crisis, Ms. Madan worked closely with Mr. Pandit to evaluate the performance and value of Citi's component parts. She was instrumental in the creation of Citi Holdings, the non-core assets and businesses of Citigroup, and in setting the strategy for Citi's core businesses. In addition, Ms. Madan spent more than 16 years as an equity research analyst, primarily at Citigroup, covering financial services, including commercial and investment banks. As a top-ranked research analyst, Ms. Madan performed due diligence on all aspects of a company's operations, including its strategy, management team, financials, and risks, through which she developed investment theses and recommendations. Ms. Madan also spent time as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, advising financial services companies. Ms. Madan is a member of the Board of Directors of Ardán Inc. and AgentHome LLC. She received her MBA from New York University and a B.A. in Economics from Baruch College.
SHANNON BELL - MANAGING DIRECTOR
Since 2014 Shannon Bell has worked with Vikram Pandit to help build and manage his portfolio of early stage investments in new financial and data services companies. She has more than 20 years of experience in communications and has spent the majority of her career in financial services where she has developed expertise in reputation and crisis management, brand building and corporate communications. Ms. Bell started her career at APCO Associates, a global public affairs firm, where she built grassroots and grass tops campaigns for some of the country's largest companies and trade associations. In 1997, she joined Standard & Poor's, serving as a director of media relations for its debt ratings business. In 2000, Ms. Bell became director of public relations for Zurich Financial Services where she was responsible for directing Zurich's corporate communications strategy in North America. She joined Citigroup in 2003 and ultimately became director of corporate communications and corporate spokesperson. At Citi, she was responsible for developing integrated communications strategies for corporate announcements including acquisitions and divestitures, capital planning, management changes and financial results. She received her B.A. from Emory University.
KEVIN WONG - PRINCIPAL
Kevin Wong is an investment and strategy professional with 20 years of experience in financial services across many subsectors. Mr. Wong joins The Orogen Group from Citigroup where he held multiple positions in corporate strategy, country strategy, and risk management. At Citi, he helped the company develop new business initiatives, improve performance measurement and resource allocation, and respond to regulatory issues. Before joining Citi, Mr. Wong was a Vice President in Goldman Sachs Principal Strategies, where he was responsible for long/short equity investments primarily in global financials. Prior to Goldman Sachs, he spent over 6 years at McKinsey & Company in the financial services practice, advising companies on strategy and operations. Mr. Wong also worked at Three Cities Research, where he evaluated new transactions and monitored existing investments in middle market companies. Mr. Wong received his MBA from Harvard University and his B.S. in Economics from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
ZACHARY YEZZI - PRINCIPAL
Zac Yezzi joined The Orogen Group from Barclays where he was an Investment Banking Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group. In this role, Mr. Yezzi focused on mergers and acquisitions as well as debt and equity financings for financial services clients, with a particular focus on Financial Technology, Insurance and Asset Management. Prior to joining the Financial Institutions Group, Mr. Yezzi worked on Barclays’ Structured Products desk, where he focused on the origination and structuring of cross-asset derivative products to institutional clients. Mr. Yezzi graduated with a B.S. in Finance from the University of Richmond. He is a CFA charterholder.
JACK CARECCIA – SENIOR ASSOCIATE
Jack Careccia joined The Orogen Group from Heartwood Partners where he was a private equity associate. In this role, Mr. Careccia evaluated leveraged private investments across various industries. Prior to Heartwood Partners, Mr. Careccia worked as an investment banking analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods where he focused on mergers and acquisitions as well as debt and equity financings for financial services clients. Mr. Careccia also spent a year in wealth management at Treasury Partners. Mr. Careccia graduated with a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Mathematics and Economics from Bucknell University. He is a CFA charterholder.