Pandemic notwithstanding Klaros has thrived in the months since we launched in November 2019. We’re past due to commemorate that growth by welcoming some of the stellar additions to our team. 2021 is shaping up to be a busy year for fintech and financial services. The skills and experience that our new team members bring to both the advisory and investment sides of our business will enable us to help more clients accelerate their growth. I’m going to highlight three new additions in this post, and will note more additions in posts to come.
Daniel Bulaevsky joined us as Partner and General Counsel in April. Daniel is also a former colleague, having worked with Adam and me during our prior incarnations with the Promontory Financial Group, where he advised clients on operational, risk and regulatory matters, including issues posed by new technologies, such as digital assets and cloud-based platforms. In the intervening years, he picked up a law degree. He now joins us from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York, where he focused primarily on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions as well as general corporate governance and securities law matters, including proxy fights and activism preparedness and defense. Daniel’s transactional and securities law experience, together with his experience in consulting and investment banking and expertise in digital assets, will benefit Klaros and our clients alike.
Patrick Haggerty and Vincent Curotto also joined us in April, both as directors.
Patrick joined Klaros from Discover Financial Services, where he advised the company on prudential and consumer protection laws and regulations and helped to develop and maintain programs to meet evolving legal and regulatory standards across multiple agencies at both the federal and state level. At Discover, Patrick also helped to coordinate both the company’s preparation for and response to regulatory examinations and its external engagement on regulatory policy. Patrick previously spent nearly a decade in the Law Department at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, where he provided counsel to the agency’s Bank Supervision function on supervisory and enforcement matters and assisted with rulemakings and the promulgation of regulatory guidance. Patrick also advised the OCC’s Licensing staff on significant issues related to new bank formation, charter conversions, business combinations, and expansionary activities. Many of our clients have been keenly interested in bank charters. Patrick’s experience in that area, as well as his expertise in consumer protection, will serve them well.
Vince will contribute to both the consulting and investing sides of our business. Prior to Klaros, Vince led equity investments in the U.S. for Algebris Investments, a $15BB alternative asset manager focused on the financial sector. Before Algebris, he oversaw public and private investments across the capital structure of financial companies at several global multi-strategy hedge funds. Vince began his career on the sell side, covering financials at Sanford Bernstein, where he was a member of teams consistently ranked #1 by Institutional Investor and Greenwich surveys. Vince also served as an advisor to the U.S. Treasury on its TARP program. At Klaros, Vince will both assist in identifying and building out our investment commitments and lend his financial modeling and forecasting expertise to support our business planning efforts on behalf of clients pursuing banking licenses or exploring other strategic options.
As we head into the second half of 2021 with a strong economy, continuing investor interest in both fintech and financial services, and a new administration beginning to implement its policy agenda, we see a world of opportunity for the firm we are building - a firm of deeply knowledgeable professionals committed to the highest standards of integrity and professionalism, and excited about the future of financial services. If that sounds like a firm you’d like to be a part of, drop us a note at hello@klaros.com. We’re hiring.