Steven Richards

Senior Vice President

Steven Richards is a Senior Vice President 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.

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Pardis Nasseri

CEO and President

Derek Alderton

Vice Chairman

Tracy Albert

Vice Chairman

David Wolinsky

Chief Talent Officer

Stephen E. Rossi

Managing Director and
Head of Investment Banking

David M.V. Barnes

Managing Director and Head of M&A

Chris Felderman

Managing Director and
Head of Financial Due Diligence

Mitchel Nakken

Managing Director and
Head of Transitions and Transformations

Britt Terrell

Managing Director and
Head of Capital Markets

Clayton Grindle

Chief Administrative Officer

Phillip Cooper

Managing Director

Dulce Martinez

Head of Client Coverage

Vincent Nguyen

Director

Spencer Hong

Director

Nick Fedorchak

Director

Julien Nguyen Christensen

Director, Finance

M. Charles Festa

Director, Talent Acquisition

Dieema Wheaton

Director, Talent

Steven Richards

Senior Vice President

Rishi Chellani

Senior Vice President

Joseph Wade

Senior Vice President

Matt Murray

Senior Vice President

Danny Arnaout

Senior Vice President

Careers with Palm Tree

We have select positions available at all levels of our organization. Contact us for a confidential discussion about joining a firm that L.A. Business Journal named among L.A.'s most influential M&A advisors.

Exposure to projects and opportunities to work closely with clients offers Palm Tree employees lateral and progressive advancement inside the firm.

We currently have positions available within the organization for employees of top accounting and consulting firms and for recent graduates.