Technology, media and communications global investment bank Drake Star Partners has hired two new partners to strengthen its US senior team in both its New York and San Francisco offices.
Kevin Berry joins the firm’s San Francisco office as a Partner, Business Development. Juan Mejia joins the firm’s New York office as a Partner.
Berry has more than 25 years of experience in the investment banking and financial services industry. Prior to Drake Star, he was a Vice President in Houlihan Lokey’s Technology-Media-Telecom team, where he was responsible for originating some of the group’s marquee transactions.
Mejia brings more than 20 years of technology and media M&A advisory and IT/software consulting experience. Before joining Drake Star, Juan was a Managing Director at Peter J. Solomon Company and a member of the firm’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications advisory practice, advising global clients involved in retail technology and tech-enabled services.
These latest senior recruitments follow the recent hiring of seasoned media and Internet investment bankers Michael Metzger in the Los Angeles office and Mark Bradt in the firm’s San Francisco office, bringing the total of partner recruits in the US to four over the past 12 months and further extending Drake Star Partners’ coast-to-coast coverage. This wave of US senior recruitments at Drake Star is also mirrored in Europe with the recent hiring of Eric Ward in the firm’s London office.
Gregory Bedrosian, Managing Partner & CEO at Drake Star Partners, says: “The arrivals of Kevin and Juan exemplify both the accelerating momentum we are currently experiencing and the caliber of vertical-focused talent our firm is attracting to best serve our clients’ needs, both in the US and globally.
“Kevin and Juan bring proven experience in both deal origination and expert advice across the technology, media and communications sectors, winning and closing industry-defining transactions for clients worldwide. They will undoubtedly contribute to help us gain greater market share in the US while leveraging their local know-how to benefit our cross-border, sector-focused teams internationally.”
Berry adds: “To contribute to Drake Star’s growth through deal origination, while being based in the tech mecca that is the Bay Area makes for an exciting opportunity that I look forward to tackle head-on. Drake Star Partners has shown great pace since its San Francisco office launch back in September 2017, offering a compelling value proposition to both locally based high-growth tech companies as well as local funds and corporates actively scouting international deals.”
Mejia says: “Drake Star Partners’ sector-focused positioning is exciting and plays perfectly to my strengths given my recent track-record advising companies in specific strands of the technology sector: retail tech and tech-enabled services. I look forward to bringing clients a unique and differentiated perspective in these two areas through the global access and complementary industry knowledge of Drake Star Partners’ team members in other geographies.”
