Team

For nearly 30 years, Perry Hoffmeister has advised senior executives and Boards of Directors around the world on a range of strategic and financial issues. As an M&A banker, he worked closely with public and private companies, private equity firms and hedge funds, advising on acquisitions, financings, mergers and public and private exits. He has also built and run several businesses in financial services.

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Following graduation from Brown University in 1988, Perry joined Lehman Brothers in investment banking in media and telecom. His career also took him to London where he ran European Investment Banking and ultimately headed the firm’s European Investment Management Division. There he oversaw asset management, private equity, a hedge fund of funds, and wealth management operations for the region.

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Subsequently, at BMO Capital Markets, Perry held several senior roles, including Global Head of Investment & Corporate Banking and Head of the Investment & Corporate Banking Risk Committee. He was ultimately responsible for all of the division’s risks, including its ~$40 billion loan book, debt and equity underwriting commitments, private equity portfolio, and mezzanine loan business.

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Perry brings a deep global understanding of global capital markets, risk, M&A and private equity to the clients of Colter Lewis. Perry is a member of the Board of Trustees of Blythedale Children's Hospital, where he also serves as the Chairman of the Investment Committee. Perry is also co-Chair of the Endowment Investment Committee of Christ Church Greenwich.

Jeffrey Weiss’ thirty-five-year tenure in the financial services industry has provided him with an in-depth knowledge of trading, risk management, capital raising, capital structures, relationships with investors and businesses, and building strong management teams.

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Jeff joined Lehman Brothers in 1983 following graduation from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. During his twenty-five-year career with the firm, he sat on the firm’s Management Committee, Fixed Income Executive Committee, and Investment Bank Investment Committee. Jeff began his career in Fixed Income, where he managed risk and held various leadership roles. After spending 15 years in Fixed Income, he was given the responsibility to merge all origination businesses firmwide. The division he ultimately led, Global Finance, was responsible for creating, structuring, and distributing all financial products. Businesses that were housed inside of Global Finance included Investment Grade Debt, High Yield Debt, Bank Loans, Securitized Products, Corporate Derivatives including Foreign Exchange and all Equity origination. After leading Global Finance for five years, he was asked to create a firmwide Financial Institutions business that included Investment Banking and partnering with the firm's Principal businesses. Following Lehman Brothers, Jeff spent three years at Barclays Capital running the firm’s Global Financial Institutions Investment Banking Group.

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Jeff parlayed his decades-long experience structuring products and underwriting transactions to managing a single-family office. He specializes in investing globally across asset classes, including real estate equity and debt, mezzanine and structured debt, venture capital, and private equity. This venture led him to partner with longtime friend and colleague, Perry Hoffmeister, to found Colter Lewis.

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Jeff is the lead independent director and audit committee chair at Eagle Point Credit Company (NYSE: ECC) and Eagle Point Income Company (EIC). A committed volunteer and philanthropist, he has most recently been a member of the board of City Harvest for nearly fifteen years, holding its Treasurer position for eight. He is currently a member of the Abramson Cancer Center Innovation advisory board at Penn Medicine and has been funding immunotherapy research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital Weill Cornell and Penn Medicine. 

Michael Alpert has over 25 years of investment experience in portfolio management of public equities for institutional and high-net-worth clients. In addition, he has spent 10 years in private wealth management developing investment strategies, asset allocations, and selecting investment managers. 

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Michael was previously the Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of the Wealth Management Investment Committee of Stralem & Company, a boutique investment management firm with an internally managed large-cap equity strategy. Mr. Alpert managed a multi-billion-dollar portfolio for large institutional and family office clients while also participating on the wealth management side of the business, developing investment strategies, targeting specific asset allocations, and building portfolios using active managers and ETFs.  

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Prior to joining Stralem, Michael was the Portfolio Manager and Head of the Small Company Growth Team at J&W Seligman & Co, where he managed the multi-billion-dollar small-cap and SMID-cap institutional growth strategies. Mr. Alpert managed a team of analysts and was responsible for stock selection, portfolio construction, and risk management. Prior to becoming Portfolio Manager, Mr. Alpert was an analyst covering consumer, business services, industrials, and technology sectors.

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Michael began his career at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), where he conducted technology and strategic consulting for large telecommunications companies. Mr. Alpert was responsible for designing and implementing technology solutions and building strategic plans for former monopoly businesses to compete in a deregulated environment. 

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Michael holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Economics from the Honors Program of the University of Connecticut, where Mr. Alpert was an Honors Scholar. 

Tim Bock has over 30 years of experience in markets, investing, and risk management. Prior to joining Colter Lewis, he was a senior leader across Credit Suisse’s Investment Banking, Institutional Trading, and Private Banking Divisions.   

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Tim began his career in Capital Markets, where he advised on strategic financing and risk management transactions across markets. He became Co-Head of Global Capital Markets in 2008, with responsibility for the Firm’s financing businesses, including equity capital markets, debt capital markets, leveraged finance origination, and corporate risk management, and served on the Management and Risk Committees of the Investment Bank. During this time, CS was consistently among the top 4 capital markets platforms in the US.

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Tim went on to become Co-Head of Products in Credit Suisse’s Private Bank, with responsibility for its global investment and lending platforms, and served on the Private Bank’s Management and Risk Committees. For this role, Tim split his time between New York and Zurich and was particularly focused on delivering the Firm’s investment banking, lending, and institutional trading capabilities to the Private Bank’s ultra-high-net-worth clients.   

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Prior to these roles, Tim held leadership positions throughout global markets, including Head of Equity-Linked Origination and Head of Structured Products Origination, giving him deep domain expertise in complex markets. Early in his career, Tim was part of the 8-person founding team that launched the New York office of Credit Suisse Financial Products, which became the Firm’s global derivatives platform.

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Tim earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy from Williams College, where he is an adjunct instructor on Banking and Markets.

Laura Farrelly has been advising ultra-high-net-worth families and institutions on investment strategy (with an expertise in the private markets),estate planning, tax optimization, and philanthropy for her entire career.  

Prior to joining Colter Lewis, Laura was a Private Wealth Senior Relationship Manager with The Erdmann Group within Merrill Private Wealth Management.  In her role, Laura worked directly with senior executives, company founders, entrepreneurs, and multi-generational families to help them navigate the complexities of their financial lives. 

Laura started her career at Algonquin Advisors LLC (now part of Cerity Partners),where she evolved from Analyst to Managing Director over her tenure. As a Managing Director, she co-led the firm’s private investment due diligence & implementation process, and played a key role in forming & communicating the team’s investment strategy. She helped establish Algonquin’s Private Markets Investment Program, which built bespoke & diversified private investment portfolios for clients.

Laura earned her bachelor’s degree at Davidson College, where she majored in English and was elected by her peers to serve as their class president. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) Charterholder and a member of the CFA®Society Stamford.

Laura enjoys giving back to her community and is honored to serve on the Board for the Fairfield County Community Foundation (“FCCF”).  She also serves as the Steering Committee Chair for the FCCF Fund for Women & Girls and sits on the Professional Advisor Council for the Foundation.

Josh Neuman has over 25 years of investment experience as a CIO and a private equity professional. After graduating Summa Cum Laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics and a concentration in Finance, Josh began his career at Donaldson, Lufkin, and Jenrette (“DLJ”). At DLJ, Josh was in the Real Estate Merchant Banking Group, where he was an investment professional and was involved in the acquisition of hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate acquisitions across different property types. While at DLJ, Josh was also a member of the leveraged finance group, where he worked as an investment banker and was involved in common stock, high yield bond, bank debt, and restructuring transactions for leveraged companies in a variety of industries. 

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In 2001 Josh earned his MBA from Harvard Business School, graduating with High Distinction as a George F. Baker Scholar, and went on to join Bear Stearns Merchant Banking. Over his 10+ years with the firm (which later became Irving Place Capital), Josh diligently structured, negotiated, documented, and asset-managed a wide variety of investments across industries and developed extensive industry expertise in the consumer, industrial, and financial sectors. Josh worked with portfolio company management teams to execute business plans and served on the board of directors and board committees for various portfolio companies. After his time at Irving Place Capital, Josh was hired by The Straus Group, a single-family office, to serve as its Chief Investment Officer. There, he directed and oversaw all investment-related activities, including cash management, manager selection in both public and private investment strategies, direct investments in public securities, private corporate investments, and real estate debt and equity investments.

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In 2014, Josh transitioned to a role as Chief Investment Officer of Ironshore Insurance, where he was a founding investor in 2006. There, he managed the Company’s approximately $5 billion investment portfolio by directing asset allocation, investment due diligence, increasing and optimizing investment income and diversification, management of portfolio risk, strengthening the firm’s focus on tax structuring and fee impacts on net investment returns, and advising on numerous special projects related to capital markets, M&A, alternative capital vehicles, to meet the various goals and requirements of regulators, rating agencies, counterparties, and shareholders.

Kerry Walker has more than 15 years of experience in financial services and capital markets. Prior to joining Colter Lewis, Ms. Walker spent seven years at Cheyne Capital, an alternative asset manager based in London, England. Kerry served as Director of Research for Cheyne Capital’s convertible securities hedge fund and separate accounts. The convertible strategy sought to exploit the downside protection and upside participation offered by convertible bonds through highly convex direction and relative value positions. Kerry was responsible for investment selection and managed the strategy’s fundamental equity research and credit analysis across all sectors.

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Prior to Cheyne Capital, Ms. Walker co-founded and built a consumer e-commerce company that auctioned sports and entertainment experiences and collectibles for the benefit of various non-profit organizations. Kerry leveraged her operational experience to assist other start-up companies in refining their strategies and business plans. 

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Previously, Kerry worked at Morgan Stanley in a variety of roles, including their institutional convertible securities division and fixed-income structured products group, where she structured and marketed collateralized debt obligations. Prior to attending business school, Kerry worked in the private wealth management divisions at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. At Goldman Sachs, Kerry was part of a three-person advisory team managing over $500 million for high-net-worth clients, where she oversaw clients fixed income portfolio strategy and construction. As an analyst at Morgan Stanley, Kerry was involved with advising private clients on equity derivative transactions and single-stock risk management. Kerry received her MBA from Columbia Business School and graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.