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Executive Managers
Kevin Donlon	Brendan Stone
Founder & Managing Partner	Partner & Chief Financial Officer
Division Directors
Ricci Bender	Katharine Briggs	Wayne Fitzgerald
Managing Director Real Estate Finance and Investment	Managing Director Real Estate Finance and Investment	Managing Director Fixed Income Advisory and Analytics
Scott Joel	Kelley Poole	Greg Murphy
Managing Director Fixed Income Advisory and Analytics	Managing Director Accounting and Reporting	Managing Director Servicing and Asset Management
Julie A. Brenton
Managing Director Business Development
Operational Directors
Atul Tewari	Vijai Anandh	Amitabh Narain
Chief Executive Officer of Helix Advisors India	Vice President Operations	Assistant Vice President Finance Control & Compliance
Kapil Arora
Vice President Fixed Income Advisory and Analytics
Kevin Donlon, Founder and Managing Partner
kevin.donlon@helixfinancial.com +1 704 926 7601 Kevin Donlon is the Managing Partner of Helix Financial Group LLC. Since founding the firm in 2004, Mr. Donlon has worked to establish Helix Financial as one of the leading professional services firms in the real estate capital markets arena. The firm currently employs over 120 people in offices across two continents and serves a client base that includes major investment and commercial banks, REITS, hedge funds and private investors. Mr. Donlon is also a founder and Director of Beekman Helix India Partners LLC, a commercial real estate focused investment manager with offices in the US, India and Cyprus. To date, the company has made over $200 million in equity and mezzanine investments in Indian real estate, and has established itself as a leading capital provider for development projects in India. Mr. Donlon was formerly a Principal in the CMBS Capital Markets Group of Banc of America Securities where he managed all large loan securitizations and was a central figure in growing the platform from $800 million a year to over $12 Billion in annual originations. During his seven years with Banc of America Securities, he participated in all facets of the capital markets including deal management for over $10 billion of securities underwriting and placement, large loan origination, sale leaseback / credit tenant lease financings, credit enhanced structured transactions, seasoned loan securitizations, interest rate and credit derivatives and mergers and acquisitions. Previously, Mr. Donlon spent three years with KPMG Peat Marwick where he held the position of Manager specializing in real estate and asset backed securitization. He also worked as a Senior Accountant with Kenneth Leventhal & Co. where he performed financial audits, due diligence and real estate valuation projects. Mr. Donlon received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) in the state of Maryland. He serves on the Board of Directors for Beekman Helix India Partners LLC and Piedmont Development Company LLC. ^ back to top
Brendan Stone, Partner and Chief Financial Officer
brendan.stone@helixfinancial.com +1 704 926 7609 Brendan Stone is a Partner and Chief Financial Officer. With over 11 years of experience in bank consulting, banking and capital markets, he has had exposure to a broad range of financial disciplines. Mr. Stone was formerly a Vice President in the CMBS Finance group at Banc of America Securities LLC, where he worked on the execution of fixed and floating rate CMBS transactions in the US and Europe. As a deal manager there, he was involved in all facets of the transaction life-cycle including pricing and pool formation, underwriting, rating agency interaction, high yield investor negotiations, bond road shows and pricing and closing. He has management experience as lead and co-underwriter for multi-contributor, multibillion dollar CMBS transactions, pan European real estate securitizations and non-standard asset class securitizations, such as cell-phone towers. Mr. Stone joined Banc of America Securities in 1999 in an industry corporate finance role, having previously worked in UK Mergers and Acquisitions at Schroders in London, and in corporate finance and bank consulting at KPMG in South Africa. Mr. Stone qualifies as a Chartered Accountant in South Africa and holds Bachelor's degrees in both Science and Commerce from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. ^ back to top
Ricci Bender, Managing Director for Real Estate Finance and Investment
ricci.bender@helixfinancial.com +1 704 926 7604 Ricci Bender is a Managing Director and focuses on implementation, quality control and the delivery of our outsourcing services to real estate loan brokers, bond issuers, subordinate bond investors, attorneys, and servicers in the US and Europe. Ms. Bender was formerly a Vice President at Banc of America Securities and focused on real estate debt structuring and sales for private homebuilding companies and commercial real estate developers, including revolving lines of credit, subscription facilities and construction loans. She was responsible for structuring transactions to ensure syndication, marketing credits to investors, preparation of marketing materials, coordination of bank meetings, and negotiating with the bank group during the documentation and closing stage. While at Banc of America Securities, Ms. Bender syndicated over $2 billion of bank debt. Previously, she was a Vice President/Program Manager for the Banc of America Securities CMBS program, with a focus on underwriting and securitizing commercial real estate loans. Ms. Bender was responsible for the successful securitization of loans within her assigned commercial property types including credit due diligence, monitoring asset performance, and close interaction with rating agencies and investors to ensure a successful sale. Ms. Bender had single-signature loan approval authority up to $5 million, and she developed and maintained conduit lending policies. Prior to joining Banc of America Securities, Ms. Bender was a commercial mortgage underwriter for Bank of America and The WMF Group with experience in Fannie Mae DUS, Freddie Mac, and conduit underwriting. Ms. Bender earned a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in English from Washington & Lee University, and a Master’s of Business Administration from Queens University. ^ back to top
Katharine Briggs, Managing Director for Real Estate Finance and Investment
katharine.briggs@helixfinancial.com +1 704 926 7605 Katharine Briggs is a Managing Director and is responsible for full service underwriting of large, single asset transactions and portfolio underwriting in the US and Europe. During Ms. Briggs’ tenure at Helix Financial, the Real Estate Finance and Investment Group has analyzed over 6,000 properties worth in excess of $60 billion. Ms. Briggs was formerly the Vice President of Corporate Finance with Summit Properties, a multifamily developer and publicly traded REIT that owned 60 communities valued at over $2 billion. She was responsible for all capital markets activities, investor relations, financial forecasting and tax planning. During her tenure at Summit, she closed over $800 million of secured debt, common stock, preferred equity, tax credit and like-kind exchange transactions. Ms. Briggs’ activities in the financial forecasting arena at Summit included in-depth real estate market analysis and portfolio-level allocation recommendations. Her recommendations balanced the requirements of strong FFO growth, steady dividend growth and minimal tax impact to the REIT and its founders. Acquisition, disposition and development decisions were made based upon Ms. Briggs’ analysis and recommendations to the executive committee. Previously, Ms. Briggs worked with First Union Capital Markets underwriting conduit, bridge, mezzanine and equity investments. She closed over $300 million of highly structured transactions during her tenure. Ms. Briggs began her career as a tax consultant with PriceWaterhouse Coopers. Ms. Briggs received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Finance and Accounting from Washington & Lee University. She is a Certified Public Accountant and a licensed (inactive) real estate broker. ^ back to top
Wayne Fitzgerald, Managing Director for Fixed Income Advisory and Analytics
wayne.fitzgerald@helixfinancial.com +1 704 926 7618 Wayne Fitzgerald is a Managing Director and is responsible for the firm’s CMBS investment advisory, analytics and surveillance businesses. While at Helix Financial, Mr. Fitzgerald also served as the Managing Director for Business Development and was responsible for the sales and marketing of the firms’ service offerings, as well as new product development. Mr. Fitzgerald has over nine years of experience in capital markets, investment banking and real estate finance through various business and legal positions. He was a Vice President at Wachovia Capital Markets LLC, where he managed the issuance of approximately $9 billion of commercial mortgage-backed securities. Mr. Fitzgerald also negotiated the sale of certain private equity positions as well as various domestic and international funding arrangements. He also supervised the $40 billion renewal of the Wachovia CMBS offering shelf with the Securities and Exchange Commission and, in doing so, managed the implementation of various newly-enacted regulatory initiatives for Wachovia Securities’ commercial real estate finance group. Prior to joining Wachovia, Mr. Fitzgerald practiced law for five years with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft; Parker, Poe, Adams & Bernstein; and Wyatt Early Harris & Wheeler. While practicing law, Mr. Fitzgerald managed numerous public and private securities offerings for several large financial institutions as well as participated in numerous financings of various asset classes, including synthetic leases, aircraft loans, derivatives and synthetic offerings. His clients included investment and commercial banks as well as securities firms. Mr. Fitzgerald received a Bachelor’s of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina School of Law. Mr. Fitzgerald is a licensed North Carolina attorney. ^ back to top
Scott Joel, Managing Director for Fixed Income Advisory and Analytics
scott.joel@helixfinancial.com +1 443 270 1395 Scott Joel is a Managing Director for Fixed Income Analytics at Helix Financial and is responsible for the development, implementation, and operation of structured finance analytics for Helix Financial and its clients. Mr. Joel has over 12 years of experience in investment banking, financial software development, and risk management. Prior to joining Helix Financial, Mr. Joel acted as a structured finance technology consultant focusing on the design and delivery of proprietary structuring, pricing and risk management analytics for CDO, CMBS and RMBS issuers and investors. Previously, he was a Vice-President in the Real Estate Structuring Group at Nationsbanc Capital Markets, Inc. (now Banc of America Securities) where he managed cash flow structuring and deal analytics for the group's commercial, residential, and tax-advantaged mortgage-backed securities transactions and co-developed the group's proprietary securitization structuring model. He has also worked as a deal manager for structured finance securitizations at Nomura Securities International. Mr. Joel received a Bachelors of Science degree in Finance from the University of Georgia. ^ back to top
Kelley Poole, Managing Director for Accounting and Reporting
kelley.poole@helixfinancial.com +1 770 952 3901 Kelley Poole is the Managing Director for Financial Administration at Helix Financial and focuses on delivering Investment Fund Administration and Accounting services. Ms. Poole most recently held the position of CFO and Senior Vice President for Office Tiger Global Real Estate Services where she supervised all aspects of accounting and financial reporting. In this role, Ms. Poole also created and implemented a pricing model used for all revenue producing products. Previously, Ms. Poole was a Director with Deutsche Bank in New York, where she was the CFO of Deutsche Bank Mortgage Capital, LLC. Ms. Poole has also worked for Greystone & Company, Inc.; Gross, Collins & Cress, P.C.; and Smith & Radigan, P.C. Ms. Poole holds a Bachelors degree in Business Administration, majoring in Accounting from the University of Georgia and a Masters of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and Management from New York University. Ms. Poole is a Certified Public Accountant. ^ back to top
Greg Murphy, Managing Director for Servicing and Asset Management
greg.murphy@helixfinancial.com +1 704 926 7614 Greg Murphy is a Managing Director at Helix Financial and focuses on the third party servicing platform. Mr. Murphy has over 35 years of experience in both government and private industry servicing distressed debt. Prior to joining Helix, Mr. Murphy was with MMC Group, the largest contractor for the FDIC servicing distressed loan portfolios of failed banks. While with MMC, Mr. Murphy oversaw the servicing and credit functions for two failed real estate construction lenders, IndyMac Bank in Pasadena, CA. and Silverton Bank in Atlanta, GA. Before MMC, Mr. Murphy was an Executive Managing Director at Patriarch Partners, LLC, a New York based Asset Management Company. He was responsible for establishing their Charlotte office to service ~$600 MM of distressed and under performing loans purchased from Fleet Boston Financial. The Charlotte office grew to ~$4B under management at the time of Mr. Murphy’s departure. Prior to joining Patriarch, Mr. Murphy held the positions of Senior Credit Officer for Bank of America’s Real Estate and Commercial Special Assets (distressed) lending groups. Before that he established and managed the real estate and oil and gas distressed loan functions for a Bank of America predecessor in Texas. His tenure with BofA spanned 18 years. Previously, Mr. Murphy spent 12 years as a member of the FDIC’s Division of Liquidation with responsibilities including the reconciliation of the books and records of failed banks as well as the management, servicing and ultimate disposition of the institutions’ lease and loan portfolios. This included serving as Liquidator-in-Charge. Mr. Murphy received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Business from Northeastern University in Boston and is currently a member of the Turnaround Management Association. ^ back to top
Julie A. Brenton, Managing Director for Business Development
julie.brenton@helixfinancial.com +1 914 793 2500 Julie Brenton is a Managing Director and is responsible for the domestic and international growth of the firm’s client base as well as the development of new products and services. Mr. Brenton has over 20 years of experience in the real estate business focused on business and product development for investment advisory firms offering a wide array of products across public & private real estate debt & equity. She has worked extensively with the nation’s largest public and private institutional investors. Prior to joining Helix Financial, she was a Partner at Valencia Capital Management, a boutique real estate investment firm where she oversaw business development and investor relations and served on the Investment Committee. Previously, Ms. Brenton was a Partner & Managing Director at Guggenheim Partners, where she developed and staffed their $3 billion real estate fund of funds business, Guggenheim Real Estate Plus. Her career experience also includes a seven year tenure as a corporate plan sponsor/VP at AT&T Investment Management where she was actively involved in direct asset acquisitions, dispositions, financings and workouts involving a $4 billion real estate portfolio. Ms. Brenton also held positions as a senior business and product development professional at J.P. Morgan Investment Management and Olympus Real Estate Partners. Ms. Brenton received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Carleton College and an Masters of Business Administration in Finance & Real Estate from Columbia University. ^ back to top
Atul Tewari, Chief Executive Officer of Helix Advisors India
atul.tewari@helixfinancialindia.com +91 124 433 8503 Atul Tewari is the Chief Executive Officer of Helix Advisors India. In this capacity, he is responsible for overall implementation of Helix Financial offshore operational strategy originating from Gurgaon, India. Mr. Tewari’s 12 years of professional experience in India and the US have given him significant exposure to business development, IT, operations, finance and strategy. Prior to joining Helix Financial, Mr. Tewari served as Director and General Manager-India for the operational arm of Calibrated Group, a private equity fund that has broad investment capabilities to invest in a global network of BPO companies. After four very successful years, Mr. Tewari established two operational facilities in Gurgaon, which had a combined staff of over 450 employees serving US-based clients in the areas of healthcare, financial receivables, market research and legal process outsourcing. Additionally, he was responsible for P&L of the India operations. Prior to Calibrated Group, Mr. Tewari held the position of Business Development Executive for IT software services firms in Ohio and California, where his role included conceptualization of clients’ needs and transitioning of knowledge through coordination with the offshore software development team for successful delivery at the client site. Mr. Tewari holds a Bachelor’s of Technology degree from IIT Delhi and a Masters of Business Administration from the Weatherhead School of Management of Case Western Reserve University. ^ back to top
Vijai Anandh, Vice President of Operations
vijai.anandh@helixfinancialindia.com +91 124 433 8508 Vijai Anandh is the Vice President of Real Estate and Capital Markets for Helix Financial India. In this capacity, Vijai manages various processes including pre-screening of CMBS debt transactions, Argus valuations, loan sizing, data tape preparation, financial statement analysis, desktop underwriting, asset summary preparation, lease review and abstraction. His responsibilities include day-to-day delivery and quality control of all client related processes and procedures. Vijai has over 11 years of experience in banking and financial services sector including 7 years in US commercial mortgage operations. Prior to joining Helix, Vijai served as General Manager at an Accenture Delivery Center where his responsibilities included managing a banking process for a leading US bank from initiation to stabilized operations with 170 full time equivalent associates. Prior to Accenture, Vijai was with ABN AMRO where his responsibilities included supporting the RECM division of LaSalle Bank. He managed a team of 75 full time equivalent associates for US and UK real estate capital market operations. Prior to ABN, Vijai worked with Global Realty Outsourcing in their Capital Markets Group. Vijai holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from St. Joseph's College and an MBA Finance from Bharathiar University. ^ back to top
Amitabh Narain, Assistant Vice President of Finance Control and Compliance
amitabh.narain@helixfinancialindia.com +91 124 433 8587 Amitabh Narain is the Assistant Vice President for Finance Control and Compliance at Helix Financial. In this capacity, he heads the Financial Administration Group in India and manages the financial reporting functions for Helix Financial Group. He has over 9 years of accounting and consulting experience. Amitabh formerly worked with Agilent Technologies for the Fixed Assets and International Controller Division. In Fixed Assets Division, he was leading the Fixed Assets team for Europe region and was instrumental for managing GAAP books while working with International Controller division. He has also worked with Delphi Automotive Systems as a part of internal control division. Amitabh holds a Post Graduate in Management degree (Finance) and is a Chartered Accountant (CPA equivalent). ^ back to top
Kapil Arora, Vice President Fixed Income Advisory and Analytics
kapil.arora@helixfinancialindia.com +91 124 433 8699 Kapil Arora heads the Fixed Income Advisory and Analytics Department of Helix Financial India and is responsible for the development, implementation and operation of structured finance advisory and analytics. He has almost 10 years of progressive IT experience with a focus in fixed income structured finance software development. Kapil formerly worked as Vice President, Information systems with Princeton Advisory Group, New Jersey where he spent 4 years managing the development of sophisticated web based credit surveillance and portfolio management systems. He also established an offshore facility in India to support the development and maintenance of Princeton’s proprietary systems. Prior to Princeton, Kapil worked as a Project Lead with E*Trade Financial Global Asset Management group in Arlington, Virginia to architect their ABS credit monitoring system. He spent almost 3 years with GE Asset Management in Stamford, Connecticut in a lead role to help them design and develop mission critical business applications – BLiTS (Bid List Trading System) and SPII (Structured Products Investment Intelligence) and received recognition from top management on both products. Prior to GE, Kapil spent 2 years with Patni Computer Systems, a leading technology outsourcing company where he developed his programming and project management skills. Kapil holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Computer Science from Nagpur University and is pursuing MBA from Univ. of Connecticut. He is Six Sigma Green Belt certified. ^ back to top