professional biography

Brian's background includes a distinguished business career.  He has written several articles for The Wall Street Journal and other periodicals on global capital markets, and is frequently interviewed by the US and foreign press.  He has appeared on CNN and Fox News with market commentary.  As a public speaker, he has addressed the Investment Company Institute, American Bankers Association, KPMG Partners Conference on Globalization of Equity Capital, Central American Bank for Economic Integration, and other US and international venues.
 
Brian is Founder and CEO of Grace Business Advisers Inc., a private investment banking firm with offices in Memphis, Atlanta, Houston, Raleigh, and Washington DC.  He is also a retained consultant to law firms and financial institutions in the US, Europe, and Latin America on cross-border mergers and acquisitions.

Previously, he was President & CEO of New York Life Investments at its headquarters in New York, NY.  Prior to that, he was President of Deutsche Bank private banking in New York, with overall responsibility for the US, Canada, and Latin America.  Earlier, he was an Executive Vice President with Merrill Lynch at its headquarters in Princeton, NJ.

Brian is an alumnus of the University of Utah, and completed graduate studies at Washington University in St. Louis.  He is fluent in both German and French.  He serves on the Board of Directors of Paul Newman's camp for children with life-threatening illnesses (boggycreek.org), and is active with the fund-raising arm of St. Jude Children's Hospital (stjude.org).  He is a member of Mensa.  Originally from Tennessee, he relocated there recently from the New York area.