The Team

John has had a long career in finance and asset management beginning in London in the early 1990s with Morgan Grenfell. Mr. Gallagher proceeded to run the alternative investment division for Bank of America and Deutsche Bank where he developed and raised more than $1 billion in new AUM. He later served as the Senior Director business development at Gartmore, a leading European asset manager affiliated with Nationwide. In 2005, he joined George Weiss Associates, where he re-established a multi-billion-dollar hedge fund management business. At George Weiss Associates and Gartmore Riverview John developed and raised more than $2.3 billion in AUM.

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John most recently served as CEO for Validate Capital Markets which specialized in venture capital, private equity, and merchant banking for the neuromusculoskeletal industry companies founded on surgeon-developed innovation to address unmet clinical needs uniquely focused on life-changing neuromusculoskeletal technologies. In his role as Chief Executive, John represented the interests of a Single-Family Office, which, through its affiliates, and its partnerships have generated more than $2.2 billion in exit value on behalf of their shareholders and investor base.

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John holds degrees from Princeton University and MLitt from Oxford University.

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John currently holds FINRA Series 7, 24, 63 and 79 licenses.

David Mack is the co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Fort Ghent Brokerage, LLC (now League Capital Markets LLC), and President of League Capital Markets, LLC. He is responsible for the overall supervision and management of the Firm.

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David attended Cornell where he graduated with a BA degree in government and history. He also served for two years in the United States Army. After his graduation from Cornell, David spent a few years working in the family retail drug store business.

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David's financial securities career began at Newburger, Loeb and Co., specializing in fixed income securities, municipal bonds, preferred stocks and low P/E, high book value securities. He then served as the fixed income and municipal bond manager at Carter, Berlind, Weill and Levitt.

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David and two associates started their own NYSE firm, Mack, Bushnell & Edelman, dealing in institutional sales of bonds and securities. He eventually left the firm and followed his interests in raising money for startup companies with new types of businesses and techniques, involving computers and engineering.

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In 1991, David launched Compliance Matters, LLC, helping associates start securities businesses involving stocks, bonds, options and other types of securities around the U.S. David helped many firms apply for membership in NASD/FINRA, working with local offices of the regulatory agencies around the country.

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Mr. Mack currently holds FINRA Series 7, 14, 24, 27, 63, 79, and 99 licenses.

Jean Urquiola is co-founder of Fort Ghent Brokerage, LLC (now League Capital Markets) and the Chief Compliance Officer of League Capital Markets, LLC. She created the firm’s comprehensive compliance framework in accordance with FINRA, BSA and SEC regulations. Jean’s actively involved in all facets of the firm’s investment banking and private placement business focusing on project management and due diligence.

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Jean has 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, beginning her career working on Wall Street at Georgeson & Co and later holding wealth management positions at Dreyfus, Chase and GE Financial. Jean has served as a supervisory principal in several Broker/Dealers. As the Managing Principal of Compliance Matters, LLC she has provided overall compliance consulting, business direction, supervisory services and regulatory guidance to many firms. She has successfully directed firms through the FINRA application process.

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In addition to her responsibilities at League Capital Markets, she is currently the CEO and Chief Compliance Officer of Validate Capital Markets, LLC and a Compliance Consultant of York Stockbrokers, Inc., both located in New York. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from C.W. Post, LI University in New York.

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Ms. Urquiola currently holds FINRA Series 7, 14, 24, 51, 79, and 99 licenses.

Dorothy Dausend has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. She is employed at League Capital Markets in the capacity of Supervisory Principal.

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Knowledgeable and experienced in AML, FINRA and SEC regulations, Ms. Dausend was the Office Manager and an acting Supervisory Principal of Peter R. Mack & Co., Inc., a retail broker-dealer located in CT. She was responsible for the daily monitoring of operations including on boarding of new clients, margin calls, fixed income, equity and options trading. She has worked at several other broker-dealers including Merrill Lynch and Shearson Lehman Brothers as an International Operations Manager.

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Ms. Dausend currently holds FINRA Series 7, 24, 63, 79, and 99 licenses.

Ms. Geller was Deputy General Counsel at MLV & Co. LLC, a boutique investment bank, headquartered in New York, New York, until August 2015. Prior to joining MLV & Co. in 2011, Ms. Geller was an associate at the global law firm DLA Piper (US) LLP in the corporate and securities group. Ms. Geller has a broad range of experience in capital markets transactions, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and private equity transactions, and general corporate law.

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Ms. Geller’s capital markets experience focuses on representing financial institutions in connection with public and private securities offerings. Ms. Geller has previously acted as underwriter's counsel to more than 6 investment banks.

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In addition to her capital markets experience, Ms. Geller continues to represent issuers and investors in a variety of venture capital and private equity transactions, and she acts as general securities counsel to various issuers subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

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Ms. Geller has a variety of experience in all areas of general corporate law, including entity formation, corporate record maintenance, and general contract review.

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Ms. Geller has a Bachelor of the Arts from Temple University, and a Juris Doctorate from Temple University Beasley School of Law.

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Ms. Geller is admitted to the California, New York and Pennsylvania state bars.

Ray Mendez has over thirty years of investment banking experience, with expertise in all aspects of the capital raising process. Ray joined Brittany Capital in 1999 from Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., where he was a Managing Director. Prior to Bear Stearns, Ray was a vice president at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

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Mr. Mendez graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Business School.

 

Mr. Mendez currently holds FINRA Series 7 and 24 licenses.

Nicola is a Chief Operating Officer of independent film production company, M.Y.R.A. Entertainment, LLC in New York. Prior to joining M.Y.R.A., Nicola was a Vice President in wealth management specializing on art financing, most notably at Alliance Bernstein, JP Morgan and Jeffries.

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She lectured extensively on this subject at, among others, NYU and the Brooklyn College and participated in panel discussions at the Appraisers Association of America, the German American Chamber of Commerce and Phillips Auction House. An architect by training, she began her career working for Parish Hadley Associates, Kohn Pedersen Fox and Zaha Hadid. Her work was featured in Interiors and Architectures magazines and showcased across the United States. For select customers, she designs bespoke light sculptures and indoor fountains through her boutique company, Nicola Walter Design & Décor.

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Nicola holds an M.A. in Architecture from Princeton University and a B.A. in Environmental Design from Parsons School of Design. She has furthermore completed programs at the Sorbonne in Paris and Christie’s, Inc. in London. Nicola is a member of the American Council on Germany in New York, a Young Leader of Atlantik-Brücke in Berlin, and belongs to the New York Women in Film and Television, the Hamilton Rotary Club in Bermuda and the Amateur Comedy Club in New York. Having lived in Stuttgart, Paris, London and Milan, she now resides in New York.

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Ms. Walter currently holds FINRA Series 7, 31, 63, 65, and 66 licenses.

After a very successful ten year career as an options trader/market-maker and portfolio manager for his own firm from 1999-2009, Damon Rein successfully transitioned to the fundraising side of the business in 2010. Since that time, he has worked with a handful of outstanding, niche oriented hedge funds, private equity funds in the volatility arbitrage, equity long/short, real estate and credit spaces. Damon was also responsible for raising the Series A financing for Tactual Labs Co.-- an innovator in human-to-computer sensing and processing technology. His contact list includes some of the largest and best-known institutional investors in the world. Since 2014, Damon has become much more involved in the Cannabis space and was responsible for raising all the Series A financing for Hypur, Inc.--the payment processing solution for the Cannabis space and other cash intensive businesses. In addition, Damon was responsible for raising all the financing for a fully, vertically integrated Cannabis business in Boulder, Colorado. In 2018, Damon took on the role of fundraiser and Investment Advisor for Green Line Boston. Green Line has plans to be Boston's first recreational cultivation and processing facility and expects to break ground on a state-of-the-art facility in 2019.

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In 2019 Damon was proud to help raise a $20m fund to finance Native American infrastructure projects for GamePlan Tribal Ventures, helping Native American tribes facilitate projects such as: Solar facilities, hospitals, long-term care facilities, and others.

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Mr. Rein currently holds FINRA Series 7 and 66 licenses.

Sam's career has spanned investment banking, consulting, commercial banking and not for profit leadership. Mr. Ticknor has unique experience, allowing him to cover markets both regionally, with a particular emphasis on the Upstate New York market, and internationally, given his international investment banking background. He was a Vice President at Corporate Fuel Partners and with Bergen Capital, that was acquired by BB&T Capital Markets. Mr. Ticknor also spent over a decade working in international markets with the Provident Group, and before that, with International Executive Service Corps, where he was a Vice President for the Latin America and Caribbean region and Country Manager for Turkey. Previously, Mr. Ticknor was employed by Lehn & Fink (part of Sterling Drug). Mr. Ticknor received an M.B.A. from University of Rochester, William E. Simon Graduate School of Business and a B.A. in Economics from Bucknell University. Sam, is a Director of Upstate Venture Association of New York, Inc.

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Mr. Ticknor currently holds FINRA Series 7, 63, and 79 licenses.