Lightyear Capital Announces Managing Director and Vice President Appointments
David H. Cynn and Thierry F. Ho Promoted to Managing Directors
02.06.2008
New York, NY (February 6, 2008) – Lightyear Capital LLC (“Lightyear”), a New York-based private equity firm focused on financial services investing, today announced that it has promoted three investment professionals, two to Managing Director, and one to Vice President. David H. Cynn and Thierry F. Ho have each been promoted to Managing Director. Michal Petrzela has been promoted to Vice President.
Messrs. Cynn and Ho will continue to be responsible for sourcing and managing investments across a range of financial services sectors. “David and Thierry have been important contributors to Lightyear’s success to date and we are pleased to add them to our seasoned senior investment team,” said Donald B. Marron, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lightyear.
“We’ve worked together a long time – Thierry was with us at PaineWebber and was part of the original team that formed Lightyear, and David joined Lightyear shortly thereafter. Each possesses deep financial services expertise which enhances our ability to develop high-quality investment ideas and they are all valuable members of the Lightyear team,” said Mark F. Vassallo, Managing Director of Lightyear.
Mr. Cynn joined Lightyear in 2002. Mr. Cynn possesses over 15 years of financial services experience and previously held investment banking positions at Morgan Stanley and HSBC Investment Banking. Mr. Cynn received a B.S. in Applied Economics and Business Management from Cornell University and an M.B.A. with high honors from The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He represents Lightyear on the Board of Directors of BakerCorp and Neff Corp., two Lightyear portfolio companies in the leasing and rental sector.
Mr. Ho joined Lightyear in 2000, having previously worked with members of the senior Lightyear team when they were employed at PaineWebber Group Inc. (“PaineWebber”). Mr. Ho possesses over 25 years of financial services experience and previously held investment banking and other positions at PaineWebber, JP Morgan & Co., and Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Ho graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania. He is both a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Certified Management Accountant. He represents Lightyear on the Board of Directors of Argus Software, Inc., a leading financial technology solutions provider for commercial real estate asset valuation and operations management, and on the Board of Directors of affiliates of Athilon Group Holdings Corp, a triple A-rated financial guaranty company.
Mr. Petrzela re-joined Lightyear in 2005, as a Senior Associate, after working at Lightyear as a Summer Associate during the Summer of 2004. Mr. Petrzela possesses 10 years of financial services experience and previously held investment banking positions at Barclays Capital and Credit Suisse. He graduated cum laude from Syracuse University with a B.S. in Accounting and Finance and received an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
All are based out of Lightyear’s New York office.
These promotions from within the organization complement Lightyear’s efforts to bring in world-class talent from the outside. For example, recently Chris C. Casciato joined Lightyear as a Managing Director, having previously been a Managing Director at Goldman, Sachs & Co. (NYSE: GS), and John F. Shettle, Jr. joined Lightyear as a Senior Advisor, having previously been the Chief Executive Officer of the The Schinnerer Group, one of the largest underwriting managers of professional liability and specialty insurance programs in the world and a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE: MMC).
ABOUT LIGHTYEAR CAPITAL
Lightyear is a private equity investment firm providing buyout and growth capital to companies in the financial services industry. Based in New York, Lightyear, through its affiliated funds, has managed approximately $3 billion of committed capital with investments across the financial services spectrum, including asset management, banking, brokerage, financial technology, insurance, leasing and related business services, and other sectors within financial services. Lightyear brings unique strengths and discipline to its investment process, as well as operating, transaction, and strategic management experience, along with significant contacts and resources beyond capital. The senior team of professionals has an average of 20 years of financial services-related experience and includes David Glenn, Stewart Gross, Donald Marron, Richard Sterne, and Mark Vassallo.
For more information, please visit www.lycap.com.