BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BayBoston Managers LLC, a minority-owned private equity investment manager focused on community banks and financial services companies, announced today that it has added veteran investment banker and former community banking executive Richard W. Durkes as managing partner. BayBoston Managers LLC manages the BayBoston Capital Fund, which invests in high potential and underappreciated community banks and related financial services companies, an area where Durkes has deep expertise and experience.
“Having Rick Durkes join me as a partner is an important development for BayBoston and the investments the BayBoston Capital Fund will make in community banks,” said Carlos Garcia, BayBoston’s CEO, founder and managing partner. “Over the last 40 years Rick has led the turnaround of a community bank, built and run a highly successful practice at both a Midwestern investment banking firm and a global financial institution, become a trusted advisor to many in the industry and built a deep well of fiduciary experience.”
One of Durkes’ early successes came as a CEO charged with turning around a troubled Illinois community bank. He also conceived what is today the highly regarded Banc Funds and recruited its top manager and partner. From 1997 to 2002, Durkes was North American Head of Equities and Investment Banking for ABN Amro, which he left to then become a senior investment banker at Sandler O’Neill & Associates, a position he held for the last 12 years.
The company also announced the appointments of Erika Nakamura and Daniel Lavoie as analysts.
Nakamura joins from MFS Investment Management, where she handled regional sales in the financial institutions channel. Prior to that she was with MetLife Investors. Nakamura earned her B.A. from Middlebury College, where she was a four-year letterwoman, including winning a women’s ice hockey national championship. Prior to starting her business career, Nakamura played for the Japanese National Team that won silver in the 2005 World Championship. She is currently a candidate for her MBA from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management.
Lavoie joins BayBoston from Kamylon Capital, LLC in Wellesley, MA, where he was an origination and evaluation associate responsible for industry research and due diligence. He is a graduate of Boston College, where he is also currently pursuing both his MBA and JD.
About BayBoston
Founded on the belief that community banks have unrealized value that can be captured through growth and achieving scale, BayBoston was created in 2013 as a minority-owned firm. BayBoston is a community banking advocate and a source of capital to community banks. In addition to making meaningful, non-control investments in high potential community banks located throughout the United States, BayBoston will also make investments, including controlling interests, in financial services companies, especially in those that provide niche financial products or operate in underserved markets.
Led by a seasoned team of banking, investment management and capital markets specialists, including Carlos Garcia (CEO, founder and managing partner), Richard Durkes (managing partner), Richard Toomey and George Tsiklauri, the BayBoston team seeks to be a catalyst for rational dialogue and innovative perspective at the board level with the goal of achieving the best outcomes for all stakeholders, including community banks that may be buyers or sellers. The team draws on its C-level experience and perspective with banking and financial services companies both small and large.
BayBoston corporate headquarters are located in Massachusetts and it also has an office in Chicago.
For more information, visit www.bayboston.com.
NOTE TO EDITORS: Headshot of Mr. Durkes available upon request.
