Category: Members (Page 10 of 27)

My wife of 41 years, Avery, and I split our time between Rowayton and Park City, UT.  Avery and I raised our children (Dan – 35 and Kelsey – 33) in Darien, having become “Darien expats” when we sold our house on Nickerson Lane in 2019.  I grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles, earned my BA in 1980 at UC Santa Barbara and, after a couple years each of living in Vail Colorado then working in commercial banking in CT, I earned my MBA in Finance in 1987 at Columbia Graduate School of Business.  

After business school I spent my career in investment management, initially at Alliance Capital Management and then at PPM America, focusing on corporate and structured finance private investments.  In 2004 I transitioned to special opportunities investment management to focus on transactions backed by distressed assets, loan pools, finance receivables, aircraft and ships.  After working at two predecessor firms, I was a partner at Atalaya Capital Management from 2011 until retiring in 2018.  I subsequently served as a senior advisor to Atalaya until 2022 and remain close to the firm. 

Outside of investing, I serve on the board of an HOA in Park City, UT and am president of an HOA in Santa Monica, CA.  Given the locale of our second home, it may come as no surprise that I love to downhill ski, but also just getting outdoors to exercise – nordic skiing, long distance running and cycling.  I struggle at golf as I have no inherent talent, and I am enthusiastic but mediocre at racquet sports.

Tom Igoe was born in St. Louis, Mo., in 1947 and grew up in the suburb of Webster Groves. He graduated from St. Louis Priory School in 1965, where he was editor-in-chief of the school newspaper and was active in intramural sports. He graduated from Yale University in 1969 with a B.A. in history and was a member of the Yale Whiffenpoofs, a storied acapella singing group dating back to 1909. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia in 1972. He joined Reid & Priest in New York as an associate and rose to chairman in 1994. In 1997, Reid & Priest merged with Thelen Marrin (a San Francisco-based law firm), and Tom became vice chairman and later chairman of the combined firm. He then became president and CEO of MPC Insurance, a captive insurer providing large national law firms with professional liability insurance coverage and related services. He served with MPC until retiring in 2017. Tom and his wife Susan have lived in Darien since 1979 and have a son who lives in New Haven. Tom is currently board chairman of Benhaven, Inc., a nonprofit serving the needs of autistic children and adults in south central Connecticut and also serves on the boards of several other nonprofit organizations. His interests include the arts, photography, reading, writing, traveling, hiking, cross-country skiing, major league baseball and UConn Huskies basketball.

Duncan Rowland was raised in Rowayton in the 40’s and 50’s. Swimming and sailing were his major sports activities and he also played the cello in various venues around the area including The Connecticut State Orchestra his junior and senior years in High School.  He was graduated from Bethany College where he started the college swim team and was Co-Captain all 4 years.  His business career began at the Hanover Bank, NYC at which time he also earned an MBA from NYU at night.  After a few years in commercial banking, Duncan moved to the Investment side of the business as an institutional Equity salesman.  He worked for Loeb Rhoades, Lehman Brothers, Prudential Bache, Brown Brothers and Alex. Brown & Sons until 2007.  He was posted for various periods in NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, and finally Greenwich. Currently he owns and manages Rowayton Investment Advisors which focuses on covered-call stock investing.

After college he married his college sweetheart and they had 2 children.  She passed away suddenly at age 41 of a brain aneurism; this happened shortly after the family moved to San Francisco because Duncan was hired to run the West Coast Institutional Equity operation of Lehman Brothers. The firm was absorbed by Shearson and Duncan moved back East to Darien. Here he met and married Kathie Gordon Ackerman.  They have been married for 36 years and together have 5 children , 10 Grandchildren and a Great Granddaughter due next February.  They have lived in Darien and Rowayton.   Duncan is a member of Wee Burn where he played golf for many years

Mike has lived his entire life in Fairfield County, initially in Redding and  the last over 30 years in Bethel. He received his bachelor’s degree in  Mechanical Engineering, magna cum laude, from the University of  Bridgeport in 1988 and an MBA in Finance from the Leonard N. Stern  School of Business at NYU in 1999. Mike worked about 10 years for the  Sikorsky Aircraft subsidiary of United Technologies Corp where he  designed and developed helicopter rotor systems. His last 25 years have  been spent in various financial and business oversight capacities  including investment banking and private equity acquisitions across a  variety of industries, in Corporate Ventures at Union Carbide, and more  recently in asset management developed a proprietary algorithmic high  frequency trading program. He currently manages a full spectrum of  family investment activities along with other financial and various responsibilities through his family office.

Mike’s late father-in-law,  Howard “Tom” Thompson was a long-time member of the DMA (then  SMA), including a former President. Mike and his wife Cynthia, who grew  up in Darien, have two children in the Boston area, their son, a biologist,  and daughter, who is currently in grad school and a New England  Patriots cheerleader since the team’s last Super Bowl win with Tom  Brady in 2018. Mike has been a member of the CT Hedge Fund  Association for a number of years and enjoys vintage and newer sports  cars, boating, and jogging with his three dogs.

Steven grew up and attended school in Manchester, England. His siblings and mother still reside in the U.K. (London area) and he tries to visit as often as practical. After a brief stint with Nat West bank in the U.K. he moved to Denmark in his mid 20’s where he began a career in banking, specifically within Foreign Exchange, trading and sales. After close to five years in the Copenhagen area an opportunity arose to take an ex-pat position in the New York office of one of the largest banks in Denmark, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The initially limited ex-pat stint led to a permanent stay in the U.S. and Steven became a proud citizen in 2010. Having moved to Darien with his wife in 1996 they raised two daughters, both of whom went through the public school system in town and are now young adults making their way in New York City.

Steven is a keen golfer playing mostly at the public courses in our area. Sailing is another interest that he has picked up later in life and the family are members of Stamford Yacht Club. Paddle tennis, Pickleball and a daily three mile brisk walk round out the regular activities, though skiing (downhill and cross-country) feature from time to time. Travel, especially to the U.K. and Scandinavia to catch up with friends and family, is always a treat.

Born in 1957, Jay was raised in the Philadelphia suburb of Gladwyne, so you’ll have to put up with his rabid support of the Eagles and Phillies. 

After graduating from the Haverford School (1975), Jay attended Princeton University, where he played varsity lacrosse and graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Political Economy (1979). More importantly, he met his future wife Mary (1981) junior year and they eventually married in 1984.  Following graduation, he entered the bank training program of Manufacturers Hanover Trust and earned his AVP title by 1983 before leaving to attend Harvard Business School (1985). 

Jay’s 2nd-year job search led him to Greenwich Associates, the leading research-based consulting firm for institutional financial services, where he subsequently spent his entire career. Working directly with the founder, Charley Ellis, Jay became a partner running the firm’s equity & investment banking sectors and consulted with the major banks/brokers in the U.S., Canada, London and Hong Kong. Upon the firms’ March 2020 sale to CRISIL/Coalition, he shifted his focus to developing a new investment management mandate pricing tool and then fully retired in July 2021.

Jay and Mary moved to Darien in 1992 and were lucky enough to have four children, all of whom attended Darien High School before heading off to college. Their two older daughters are married and have three children between them, while their son is working in NYC and their other daughter is working in Boston. 

Since retirement, Jay has been able to spend even more time with his family as well us pursue all the athletic and social opportunities afforded by Tokeneke Club and Wee Burn Country Club and commit to reading 75 books a year.  On the volunteer front, he recently completed a 6-year term as Trustee for the Darien Library and then joined Future 5 as a College Prep coach. In addition, he is an active supporter of the Norwalk Grassroots Tennis & Education program, GOBS tennis and an Africa-targeted AI-based health platform with his freshman-year college roommate.    

Bob Callahan was born and raised in Greenwich CT, where he graduated from St. Mary High School in 1963.  He earned a BA in Economics from Fairfield University in 1967, and an MBA from Columbia University in 1969.  He served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1968-1974, with active duty at Ft Bliss, Texas.  He started his business career as a financial analyst at the IBM manufacturing facility in Endicott NY, from 1969-1972.  In 1973, he joined the newly formed Xerox Latin American Group, with increasing responsibilities in Marketing direction and Operations Support to the affiliate management in each country, including South America, Central America and the Caribbean.  Following his retirement in 2006, he started a second career as a Real Estate agent in the local area.  This has proven to be a rewarding transition, finding success over the past 18 years helping and negotiating for both buyers and sellers of homes and properties.  Bob and his wife Sharon have been together since high school, moved to Darien in October of 1978, and have three sons and five grandchildren, all of whom live in Darien.  Member of the Darien Boat Club, with a 21’ center console the whole family shares and enjoys out on the Sound.

Sponsor: John Bartlett

Sponsor: Harry Bergen

Jim was raised in Dobbs Ferry, New York where he graduated from high school, and went on to attend Franklin & Marshall College and New York Law School. Jim’s first job after law school was an Assistant District Attorney in the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office. After a few years, Jim then joined the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington DC, where he met and married his wife Dee. After a successful career in sales and management at IBM, Dee retired as a Director of Strategy.

After leaving the SEC, Jim worked as in-house counsel for Paine Webber and later Morgan Stanley, where he switched careers from law to finance and worked in Morgan Stanley’s Equity Derivatives Group. Jim continued his career in finance working in equity sales for several European investment banks, including BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Oddo BHF and Kepler Chevtreux where he retired in 2018.

Since his retirement, Jim has mostly worked for non-profit organizations such as the Arthritis Foundation and the PAWS Animal Shelter in Norwalk, although he occasionally does some investor relations consulting work and serves as an arbitrator for FINRA.

Jim has two daughters, Lindsey who married a Darien resident, Scott Scholtz, and Christine who is engaged to Alex Ryan from San Anselmo, California. Lindsey and Scott live in San Francisco, and Christine and Alex live in Manhattan Beach, California.