Rob Winkelmann - Managing Partner & CEO
Rob is CEO of the DiBari Group where he is responsible for managing the group’s Debt Advisory Services division and the Financial Insights Learning division.

Rob joined the DiBari Group in 2006 as CEO responsible for overseeing operations of the Advisory Services Business. Since joining, Rob has helped the company restructure its business model and create a channel centric market strategy leveraging venture capital and private equity investor partners. Rob is also Co-founder of Financial Insights, a learning company focused on providing business & financial literacy training to Fortune 1000 companies and the SMB market. Financial Insights curriculum has been developed to modify the on boarding of new employees, create a differentiated way of engaging clients and channel partners, and a methodology to drive corporate cultural alignment.

Rob has spent over 19 years in the capital markets including commercial and corporate finance and venture lending. Prior to joining DiBari Group, Rob started the West Coast operations for two venture lending institutions: Charter Financial (acquired by Wells Fargo) and Oxford Finance Corporation (acquired by Sumitomo Corporation). Prior to that time, Rob worked at LaSalle National Bank/ABN AMRO in Chicago providing senior secured debt, tax-exempt bond financings and other structured finance vehicles to private, public and not-for-profit entities.

Rob has advised clients and structured debt capital financings for companies in the software, telecommunications & infrastructure, new media/multi media, healthcare and life science industry segments. Rob has lead learning seminars and sat on several industry panels for the capital markets.

Rob earned his BSBA in Finance from Washington University St Louis and completed his MBA at the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University with an emphasis in entrepreneurship and marketing.

Nicholas DiBari, Jr. - Managing Partner / Credit & Underwriting
Nick has an extensive background in equipment lease financing as well as senior secured debt financing for clients with a variety of credit profiles. In conjunction with Nick DiBari Sr., who was one of the early pioneers in the leasing industry, Nick founded The DiBari Group to leverage his expertise in equipment and structured debt financing for the benefit of his clients in navigating the constantly evolving landscape of the debt markets. Nick's initial focus was business development where he identified debt and equity opportunities for capital expenditure intensive companies in the telecommunication and technology markets. After growing the business and expanding into the venture debt markets, Nick became President of the company's Venture Lending division. Nick now manages all underwriting aspects of the business with a primary focus on loan syndications where he spends the majority of his day interfacing with various hedge funds, venture funds, commercial lenders, banks, and specialty finance companies on behalf of The DiBari Group's clients.

Nick has also been instrumental in helping various client companies with high-level strategic introductions and responsible for putting together business development teams. He has successfully opened well-known Fortune 500 accounts such as Cisco, Wal-Mart, Oracle, Tivoli, GE Power Systems and Transportation Services for some of his clients. Nick is on the advisory board of Financial Insights, a training company focused on business and financial literacy training for Fortune 1000 companies.

Nick graduated with honors from Cal State Fullerton with a BS in International Business and a concentration in Spanish.

Raj Krishnamurthy - Director International Operations - Financial Insights Division
Raj brings over 14 years of experience in business consulting and services industry and has played several leadership roles in global business development, marketing, technology and operations. He adds a global perspective in all his client engagements and plays a key role in helping our clients develop and execute global programs. His expertise includes channel marketing, sales effectiveness, customer experience and employee engagement solutions. He recently moved to Bangalore, India and supports all our global program engagements in that region.

Raj received his MBA in Marketing from ISB – a joint program with the Kellogg School of Management and The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania. He also received his M.S in Engineering from Texas Tech University and B.S in Engineering from University of Mysore.

Ryan Kovac - Executive Vice President
Ryan brings over 10 years of experience in venture equity, private equity, and debt financing having led or managed over $150 million in investments in over 40 transactions. Prior to joining DiBari Group, Ryan was an early employee and Vice President at MMV Financial providing debt capital to venture-backed companies in the technology and life science industries. While at MMV, Ryan was responsible for underwriting and originating potential lending opportunities, as well as networking with venture capitalists and other financial institutions in North America. Prior to MMV, Ryan spent 7 years working on transactions in a wide array of sectors with distinct Canadian based venture and private equity firms including Covington Capital, Ventures West, and Working Ventures Canadian Fund (now GrowthWorks Capital). Ryan’s investment experience on the buy side provides tremendous resources and insights related to advising companies on financial strategy as it pertains to growth capital and acquisitions.

Ryan has an HBA (Honours Business Administration) and MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario. Ryan is also a Chartered Financial Analyst. He is an avid soccer fan and former player, and is frequently a spectator at international soccer competitions.

Allen Karsh - Vice President Business Development
Allen brings over 10 years of sales & marketing, finance and entrepreneurial experience to the DiBari Group from tenures as founder of an online sales and marketing company as well as manager of sales and finance for a major automotive company in the United States.

Prior to joining The DiBari Group, Allen was co-founder and Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Bayshore Breakaway Corporation (online lead aggregating company) until the sale of the business in 2005. Allen's primary responsibilities at Bayshore included the development of national corporate accounts along with managing the sales department and implementing and executing marketing strategies for the company. Prior to Bayshore, Allen served as Manager of Sales and Finance for Lexus in Southern California. Prior to Lexus he served as Director with American Golf Corporation Private Country Club Division focusing on implementing marketing and sales strategies throughout the Western United States.

Prior to earning his B.A. from California State University, Long Beach, Mr. Karsh served 4 years in the United States Marine Corps including nine months with the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade in Desert Shield/Desert Storm.

David Cramer – Vice President Operations
David brings over 10 years of sales and marketing experience and operations and business management background. Additionally, David also brings over 20 years of technology experience in the areas of networks infrastructures, system design and operation, enterprise class business systems, and cutting edge computer technologies to the DiBari Group. For the past 5 years David has served as the vice president of operations and marketing for the DiBari Group. Calling on his technology experience and how it applies in business, David performs technology assessments and analysis on the various clients of the DiBari Group. Additionally, David is responsible for the DiBari Groups Information Systems infrastructure.

Prior to joining the DiBari Group, David was the VP of Business Development for EPICOR Software Corporation. He was consistently a top 10 performer in a global sales organization. Prior to joining EPICOR, David was the VP of operations for a nationwide Home Security company. David joined the group when the company only had 1 office. During his tenure there, David was instrumental in growing the company to 21 offices nationwide in less than 18 months with an additional 14 offices in incubation. Additionally he authored several programs that improved the customer retention rates to a level that was 10% better than all other home security corporations nationwide. David was consistently recognized by his peers in the industry as one who set the bar for all other home security corporations to follow.

Previously, David served 10 years in United States Marine Corp. David was a crew chief on the CH-53E helicopter and an Aviation Electronics Technician. Collaterally, David was a Division Head and also the squadrons IT Systems Manager, responsible for network systems, desktop systems, and WAN deployments across 4 separate network topologies. David routinely wore several hats while performing his duties. While a Marine David served in several conflicts including Panama, Desert Storm/Desert Shield, and Mogadishu Somalia. Additionally, David performed several humanitarian missions while in the Marines. Tsunami in Bangladesh, Mount Pinatubo Volcano in the Philippines, the Unzen Volcano in Japan, and the Loma Prieta earthquake in San Francisco.

Advisory Board

William D. Waddill – Senior Vice President & CFO – Ilypsa, Inc.
Will Waddill joined OncoMed Pharmaceuticals as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer in October, 2007. Most recently, Mr. Waddill was Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer at Ilypsa, Inc., where he was responsible for all corporate financial matters, most notably the strategic financial evaluation and implementation of a plan that led to a $420 million acquisition by Amgen, Inc. in 2007. Prior to his work at Ilypsa, he served as the principal of Square One Finance, a financial consulting business, managing the finances of 33 biotechnology companies, including eight that are currently public and six that have been acquired. Prior, Mr. Waddill held positions at Exelixis, Inc., most recently as Senior Director, Finance, and served as Chief Financial Officer of Medical Science Partners, a venture capital firm in Boston. He received a BS in accounting from the University of Illinois, and certification as a public accountant after work at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte and Touche.

Jay L. Bartelstone
Jay, as Managing Director of The Private Financing Group for the past twelve years, has a broad and diverse management background, having held a number of executive management positions in the financial services industry. Included in these executive positions were both international and domestic assignments. Jay supervised a broad array of banking operations for Citibank/Citicorp in New York and California. Subsequent to Citicorp, as a Sector Executive for Union Bank of California, he was responsible for investment management, retail banking, private banking, trust, and product management activities. Jay then held positions as President and CEO of Columbia Bank, and Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer for Bank of Los Angeles, where he had responsibility for all banking functions, including all aspects of lending and operations. He currently serves on the advisory board of a real estate investment management firm, as well as public and private technology companies. Jay is also currently the Chairman of the Business and Finance Committee at California State University Channel Islands. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and received his M.B.A with an emphasis in Finance from Fordham University in New York.

William Stowell, CPA
Bill has over ten years of experience on the financial as well as the operational side in the restaurant industry. He has over twenty years experience managing companies as CFO. He is a member of the American Restaurant Association and has past experience from the fast food industry to the high-end lounge environment. His previous restaurant clients included Las Brisas, El Torito, Gladstone's, Baxter's, Coco Restaurants, Del Taco, and smaller restaurant chains. His most recent experience included a high-end restaurant/lounge and a waterfront high-volume restaurant.

During his years at PriceWaterhouseCoopers was a restaurant industry expert. Bill also has 15 years of experience as a chief financial officer of a public company in Orange County. He is a Certified Public Accountant, and is a graduate from the University of Southern California.

Ronni Hendel-Giller
Ronni is a learning strategist, organizational development consultant, facilitator and coach—with over twenty-five years of experience in business and education. Ronni has a talent for guiding both individual leaders and teams to realize their potential. As a leader she is particularly skilled at balancing a people focus with a financial focus—and is able to skillfully guide her clients to do the same. Ronni is known for bringing new thinking from multiple disciplines and perspectives to bear on leadership and organizational issues and challenges.

Ronni knows how to listen—and to ask penetrating questions. She is able to help her clients quickly get to the root of a challenge and powerfully move towards action. Ronni recognizes that leadership involves putting one’s self on the line—and is able to help those she works with to balance the personal and professional dimensions of leadership.

Ronni is a graduate of Hebrew University in Jerusalem and holds a Masters in Instructional and Performance Technology from Boise State University. She completed the Results Coaching certification program and has been coaching corporate and private clients for almost two years.

Ronni’s client roster includes most of the major Japanese automotive companies, Cisco Sytems, and Nabisco Biscuit Company. As a project leader, she has overseen the execution of large-scale organizational change initiatives for clients. In recent years she has served as Vice President of Client Services, leading the West Coast office of Maritz Learning, a training and development company headquartered in the Mid-West. In this role she oversees a $10 to $15 million business portfolio. Under her leadership, business and profitability as well as employee satisfaction grew.

Ronni recently authored two papers exploring the application of neuroscience to both learning and business in general (available upon request.) Her approach to leadership, organizational and people development is rooted in a deep understanding of both leadership theory and the human sciences. She is committed to the idea that leadership can be learned—that people can make significant changes in their lives and their work that will improve their performance and effectiveness—and the success of the businesses they work for.