Steven Richards is a Managing Director in Palm Tree’s Capital Markets group and provides transaction execution support and advisory for sell-side/buy-side mergers and acquisitions, special situations, and capital raises under various debt and equity transaction structures. Mr. Richards brings more than 15 years of total experience in Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, and Management Consulting across a wide array of industry verticals, including Automotive, Business Services, Consumer & Retail, Distribution, Food & Beverage, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Software, Technology-Enabled Services, and Telecommunications, among others.

Prior to joining Palm Tree, Mr. Richards worked for Kaufman Hall & Associates, where he provided strategic and financial advisory for a variety of healthcare organizations, including multi-state health systems, academic medical centers, and stand-alone community providers. While at Kaufman Hall, Mr. Richards focused on mergers and acquisitions, carve-outs, joint ventures, special situations, and long-range financial planning engagements. In this role, he worked extensively with executive management teams to develop detailed financial projections, quantify strategic growth initiatives, identify performance improvement opportunities, assess debt capacity, and prioritize capital investments.

Previously, Mr. Richards spent more than 12 years in the investment banking industry, serving in various roles at Madison Street Capital, Brown Gibbons Lang & Company, and Auctus Capital Partners. During this time, he advised more than 100 middle-market companies, ranging from entrepreneur-led companies and family firms to private equity portfolio companies. With more than $500 million in closed transactions, Mr. Richards has diverse transactional experience and has led or supported execution efforts spanning across various transaction types, including mergers and acquisitions, financial restructuring, dividend recapitalization, majority/minority equity recapitalization, growth equity, management buyouts, and debt capital raises.

Mr. Richards earned a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science in Business from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He is passionate about golf, American history, travel, Chicago sports, and Indiana University basketball; however, in his free time, what he enjoys most is spending quality time with his wife, two daughters, and son.