Meet Our Team
Paul Pignataro
Founder, CEO, and teacher at New York School of Finance
Mr. Pignataro has over 15 years of experience in Investment Banking and Private Equity in business mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, asset divestitures, asset acquisitions, and debt and equity transactions covering the oil, gas, power and utility, internet and technology, real estate, defense, travel, banking and service industries. Mr. Pignataro worked at TH Lee Putnam Ventures, a $1 billion Private Equity firm affiliated with buyout giant Thomas H. Lee Partners. Prior to TH Lee, Mr. Pignataro was at Morgan Stanley, where he worked on various transactions in the technology, energy, transportation and business services industries. Some of the transactions included the $33.3 Billion merger of BP Amoco and ARCO, the $7.6 billion sale of American Water Works to RWE (German water company), the sale of two subsidiaries of Citizens Communications, a $3.0 billion communications company and the sale of a $100 million propane distribution subsidiary of a $3 billion electric utility. He graduated from New York University with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a bachelor’s degree in computer science. His areas of expertise include financial analysis, valuation, corporate finance, mergers/acquisitions and LBO modeling over many industries.
Nate Kline
Teacher at New York School of Finance
Nate Kline has taught the NYSF curriculum to undergraduate and graduate students, professionals, executives and professors in New York, Miami, Ankara and Shanghai. Nate’s significant finance, strategy and marketing expertise across a variety of industries was gained through his work on large transactions as both an advisor and a principal and as a consultant to small businesses and startups. Formerly, at Fortress Investment Group, he specialized in evaluating, acquiring and managing the groups’ transportation/infrastructure investments (5 deals worth over $9 billion). Before this, he worked on mergers & acquisitions at Merrill Lynch, completing several domestic and international transactions worth a total of $15 billion. Nate graduated concurrently with a B.S. in Finance and a B.A. in Economics with Honors as a Schreyer Scholar from Pennsylvania State University in 2003. In 2008, Nate co-founded the Lions on Wall Street Alumni Society and serves on its Board of Directors.
Henry McCusker
Senior lecturer at New York School of Finance
Henry McCusker is also Founder and Director of Research at Scimitar Equity. Prior to Scimitar, Henry was Vice President – Strategic Planning and Communication at Curis, Inc. (2001-2002) where he was responsible for the first restructuring and the second realignment. Henry worked with Hambrecht and Quist Capital Management (HQCM) focusing on healthcare investments (NYSE:HQH/HQL) from 1985 through 2001. He also founded LifeScience Economics, a healthcare research and analytics firm with offices in Boston, MA and Palo Alto, CA. Additional past experiences include manager/director at Thermo Electron, and Stone and Webster following five years at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A former military officer, Henry has been an adjunct professor at Boston University and Golden Gate University where he taught courses in venture capital, corporate finance and strategic development in the universities’ graduate business schools.
His areas of expertise include equity research, advisory, corporate finance, and valuation.
Julio Marquez
Senior lecturer at New York School of Finance
Julio Marquez has 25+ years of experience in cross-border principal investments and M&A, having previously worked at institutions such as Global Emerging Markets Group (Managing Director), Violy Byorum & Partners (Director and Head of Analytics), Wasserstein Perella (Vice President-International), Citibank (Associate) and Morgan Stanley (Analyst). He has developed particular expertise in structuring foreign investments in the Western Hemisphere in industries as diverse as media/telecom, manufacturing, retailing, energy, oil & gas, plastics and steel. Julio’s functional areas of expertise include M&A advisory, corporate finance and valuation in emerging markets. Julio regularly consults for leading international M&A institutions such as Perella Weinberg and Violy & Company. He is currently Managing Director for Latin America at Young America Capital, a NY-based broker-dealer.
Julio holds an MBA from Harvard Business School (1990), a master’s degree with honors in systems engineering from the University of Pennsylvania (1985) and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1984). He holds FINRA licenses Series 7, 24, 27, 63, 82 and 99. He was born and raised in Mexico City and is a dual US-Mexico citizen.
Julio co-created Nymex Capital, LLC when he recognized an underserved M&A market emerging in Latin America. He leverages his extensive network of top government and corporate decision makers in the region to help facilitate deal flows that are otherwise challenged without a knowledgeable intermediary.