July 27, 2017 | By Jim Lane Then: I was working for AGP. We had built the first dedicated biodiesel plant in North America at Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, alongside our soybean crushing plant [...]
April 3, 2017 – New York investment banker Suresh Varadarajan has joined Ocean Park, helping the boutique investment bank expand its food and beverage industry expertise and giving the company a [...]
January 25, 2017 | By Bruce Comer For the second straight year, the North American biofuels industry experienced year-over-year growth in M&A transactions. In 2016, there were 12 M&A [...]
December 21, 2016 | By John Campbell While the petroleum industry remains divided over the question of moving the point of obligation for compliance with the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) from [...]
December 13, 2016 – Ocean Park is pleased to announce the launch of its new website: www.oceanpk.com. As a reminder, our firm’s email addresses have also been changed to the @oceanpk.com [...]
December 9, 2016 – Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas (“Abengoa”) closed the $48.5M sale of its cellulosic ethanol plant located in Hugoton, Kansas to Synata Bio, a renewable energy company who [...]
October 21, 2016 | By Ron Kotrba For better or worse, the U.S. biodiesel industry continues to consolidate. While 2014-’15 has been a rough period in the sector, the fallout has presented [...]
October 5, 2016 – Virent, Inc. (“Virent”) announced that it has closed on its strategic sale to Tesoro Corporation (“Tesoro”). Ocean Park acted as exclusive financial [...]
October 3, 2016 – Ocean Park is pleased to announce the launch of its own proprietary broker-dealer Ocean Park Securities, LLC. Please note that our email addresses are now @oceanpk.com, [...]
September 28, 2016 – American Airlines announced today that it has retained Ocean Park, a boutique investment bank with expertise in the renewable fuels industry, to assist with evaluating [...]
(310) 670–2595
zputlak@oceanpk.com
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Zachary Putlak is a Vice President at Ocean Park and is based in Los Angeles. Mr. Putlak has experience across a broad range of financial advisory roles, including business and intangible asset valuations, financial and strategic analysis, forecasting and transaction support.
Prior to joining Ocean Park as an Analyst, Mr. Putlak was a Consultant at FTI Consulting, where he focused on the valuation of media and entertainment assets, including film, television, and media and entertainment companies. Prior to that, Mr. Putlak was an intern at Ocean Park, where he assisted with advisory projects across a number of renewable energy, agribusiness, agricultural technology, and food and beverage sectors.
Mr. Putlak received his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Economics with a minor in Spanish from the University of California, Los Angeles.
(612) 808-9410
jpanvica@oceanpk.com
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John Panvica is an Associate at Ocean Park and is based in Minneapolis, MN. Prior to joining Ocean Park, John obtained his CPA License and began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers as an Audit Associate within PwC Private. At PwC John was exposed to a wide range of private companies across various sectors. He is also enrolled in the CFA program and has passed Level 1 in the Top 10%. John received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Accounting, Summa Cum Laude, from the Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas. He also played on the NCAA hockey team and was the Captain his Senior year.
(612) 808-9834
mfisler@oceanpk.com
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Mark Fisler is a Partner and Managing Director of Ocean Park. During the last several decades, Mark amassed significant senior leadership experience as an investment banker, a corporate financial advisor, a business executive and an owner. In addition to his extensive experience as a corporate financial advisor, Mark has experience as a C-suite executive in ag processing. He has also served on numerous boards within the ag supply chain and biofuels industries. During his eighteen-year tenure at Piper Jaffray, Mark managed the offering of over $10 billion in investment grade rated bond offerings, structured debt financings and securitizations, and led in excess of $500 million in private equity offerings for food, agribusiness and biofuels companies including placement of LP units for an Iowa-based private equity fund. Mark has appeared in numerous national conferences on agribusiness and biofuels and has had articles published several times in national periodicals. Mark received both a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics, cum laude from the University of St. Thomas.
(310) 670-7910
eouyang@oceanpk.com
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Eric Ouyang is a Managing Director at Ocean Park with nearly two decades of investment banking experience. He has successfully completed greater than $50 billion of strategic advisory and capital raising transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, initial public offerings, follow-on equity offerings, senior debt, high yield and mezzanine offerings, private placements, debtor-in-possession financings, and financial restructurings. The breadth of his sector experience includes agriculture, biofuels, business services, cleantech, consumer products, food, energy, financial institutions, industrials, technology, media, and telecommunications.
Prior to joining Ocean Park, Eric worked at Goldman Sachs as a Senior Vice President in the Investment Banking Division based in Los Angeles and New York, where he focused on financial sponsors, leveraged finance, financial institutions, and financial technology. While at Goldman, he regularly executed multi-billion dollar M&A engagements as well as debt and equity capital raises for corporations as well as private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds. Eric started his career at Deutsche Bank Securities in the industrials group with a focus on business and environmental services.
Eric received his Bachelor’s Degree, cum laude, from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and holds his Series 7, 79, and 63 licenses.
(310) 670-7911
fkim@oceanpk.com
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Frank Kim is a Managing Director at Ocean Park and has over 16 years of investment banking and corporate development experience across the renewable energy, food, agribusiness, technology, and institutional capital industries. During his career at Ocean Park and previously with Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, Mr. Kim has executed over $2 billion in M&A transactions and in excess of $500 million in capital raises. Mr. Kim also has experience advising clients on multi-billion dollar engagements and multi-million dollar restructuring assignments. Previously, Mr. Kim was a Senior Manager at Silver Spring Networks, a smart energy grid platform provider, where he drove growth in sales operations worldwide. Mr. Kim received his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and holds his Series 62, 63, and 79 licenses.
(310) 670–2093
dhunt@oceanpk.com
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Debby Hunt is the Office Manager at Ocean Park and has over 17 years of experience as an administrative professional. For the majority of her career, her focus has been in the healthcare industry where she gained a wide range of experience in academic medicine, executive level support and patient care administration.
Prior to joining Ocean Park, Ms. Hunt was the Financial Services Specialist for 3 specialty centers at Cedars Sinai Medical Center and Team Lead where she oversaw 9 administrative assistants. Ms. Hunt received a B.A. in Sociology with a Minor Degree in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles.
(612) 808-9835
aczech@oceanpk.com
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Andrew Czech is a Vice President at Ocean Park and has two decades of experience in finance, corporate development and operations. His diverse industry experience includes biofuels, waste-to-energy, financial services, software and professional services. He has directed companies through merger and acquisition transactions, private placements, senior debt originations, financial restructurings, project site developments, post-merger transitions and strategic planning. Mr. Czech received a BBA in Finance and Economics from the University of North Dakota and an MBA with a Finance concentration from the University of St. Thomas.
(612) 808-9392
asamson@oceanpk.com
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Anthony Samson is an Analyst at Ocean Park and is based in Minneapolis, MN. Before joining Ocean Park, Anthony worked at UnitedHealth Group in the Finance Development Program. At UHG he forecasted financials, managed capital investments and developed revenue systems. Anthony received his Bachelor’s Degree in both Finance and Economics from Saint John’s University, graduation Summa Cum Laude. While attending SJU, Anthony co-founded the Finance and Investment Club and worked as a Teaching Assistant in the Accounting and Finance Department.
(310) 670-2721
bruce@oceanpk.com
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Bruce Comer is the founder and a Managing Director of Ocean Park. He has decades of experience advising boards, funds, owners and lenders on capital structures, acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings and operational issues. Prior to founding Ocean Park, he was a Principal at Platinum Equity, where he played a key role in raising the firm’s $700 million fund. He also previously served as the Chairman and CEO of Allegro Biodiesel, a publicly-traded company. He has served as a senior executive at a global telecom company, a Vice President in Merrill Lynch’s telecom investment banking team, and a management consultant in the US and Southeast Asia. Bruce has published articles in industry journals, and appeared at conferences and on CNBC to discuss renewable fuels. Bruce received his Bachelor’s Degree, cum laude, from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University; a Master’s Degree with Distinction in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University; and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School.
(310) 670-2093
jcampbell@oceanpk.com
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John Campbell is a Managing Director of Ocean Park and pioneer in the renewable fuels industry. He was previously responsible for building and operating the first commercial scale biodiesel plant in North America as a Senior Vice President with Ag Processing (AGP) – a $5 billion soybean processing cooperative. John had development and P&L responsibilities for ethanol, biodiesel, and bio-based industrial products at 4 plant sites totaling nearly 200 million gallons. Under Campbell’s leadership, AGP commercialized the first purpose-built biodiesel plant in North America and was the leading U.S. biodiesel producer during his 21 year tenure. In addition, John served as Deputy Undersecretary of Agriculture for President George H.W. Bush and was responsible for formation of the President’s 1990 Farm Bill proposal. He also served as a key staff member of the House Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee and the Senate Agriculture Committee, and was instrumental in creating and maintaining federal biofuels tax incentives, USDA biofuels and EPA Renewable Fuel Standard laws and regulations. John received his Bachelor’s Degree in Animal Science from the University of Nebraska and his post graduate Diploma from the University of Sydney, Australia in Agricultural Economics.
(832) 271–2863
cartzer@oceanpk.com
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Chris Artzer is a Managing Director of Ocean Park. With over two decades of business and legal experience, Chris has amassed unique leadership experience in the energy, petrochemical and biofuels industries as a financial advisor, business executive, turnaround specialist and corporate counsel. Prior to joining Ocean Park, he spent nearly 15 years in C-suite legal and business roles – as the President, CFO and General Counsel of Inaeris Technologies (f/k/a KiOR) and the Vice President and General Counsel of TPC Group (f/k/a Texas Petrochemicals) and – where he achieved success in driving 180-degree turnarounds and growth within extremely challenging environments while achieving buy-in from executives, Boards of Directors, and stakeholders. In addition, as an financial restructuring attorney at the boutique law firm of Sheinfeld, Maley & Kay and the international law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld, Chris focused on representing debtors, unsecured creditors’ committees and secured creditors in both complex Chapter 11 cases and out-of-court workouts in a wide array of industries throughout the United States. Chris received a Bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Texas School of Law.
(346) 815–9118
ntrilli@oceanpk.com
Natasha Trilli is a Senior Analyst at Ocean Park and is based in Houston.
Natasha has experience in the energy industry where she held several roles including drilling engineer, reservoir engineer, and business development manager. She has worked on US and international oil and gas projects at Baker Hughes, Wolfgang Petroleum, and Equinor. Natasha obtained her Bachelors of Science in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University and her Masters of Business Administration focused on finance and energy from the University of Houston.
(310) 670–7908
jfermin@oceanpk.com
Jonny Fermin is an Associate at Ocean Park. Prior to joining Ocean Park, Jonny was a Senior Associate at Ernst & Young in the Transaction Advisory Services group in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Jonny received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Bachelor of Science in Accounting, both cum laude, from Loyola Marymount University.
Monica Vidal is a Senior Advisor and Registered Representative of Ocean Park Securities. Monica is a Managing Director of Lattice Capital Partners. Based in San Francisco, Monica has over 25 years of professional investment experience.
Monica was until recently in charge of business development for the US and the Americas at one of the leading Spanish Investment Bank. Previously she worked at J.P. Morgan where she was head of Alternative Investments for Latin America.
