Senior Team

Displaying: New York

Senior Team

Alan Aberg
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 3843

Alan Aberg is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where he specializes in advising clients on transactions involving Special Purpose Acquisition Companies and in the Gaming, Real Estate, Hospitality and Leisure industries.  Alan has executed a broad range of transactions, including M&A, SPAC initial business combinations, initial public offerings, and debt and equity financings.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Alan held roles in the Real Estate, Gaming, Lodging and Leisure group at Deutsche Bank. Alan holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Yale University, a J.D. from the New York University School of Law and an M.B.A. from The Stern School of Business at New York University.

Senior Team

Chrystalle Anstett
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 3510

Chrystalle Anstett is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where she leads the advisory and management of global fundraises for the Firm’s Private Funds Advisory Group. Chrystalle has over 20 years of experience in investment management, fund operations and business development working with investment managers across all asset classes, including private equity, private credit, real estate, and natural resources.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Chrystalle was the Head of Capital Formation and Co-Chief Operating Officer at Sound Mark Partners. Before that, she held several leadership roles at Eaton Partners including Head of Direct Investments and Co-Head of Private Credit. Chrystalle also held roles in asset management and business development at Quantitative Financial Strategies, Goldman Sachs, and Lazard.

Chrystalle holds a B.S. in Economics and International Business from the Stern School of Business at New York University, where she graduated cum laude and was a Stern Scholar. She is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Senior Team

Ben Axelrod
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 4552

Ben Axelrod is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where he specializes in M&A advisory. Ben has over 15 years of investment banking experience, executing public and private buy-side, sell-side and special committee assignments across a broad range of industries. He has advised clients on numerous high-profile, strategic M&A transactions with an emphasis on the healthcare sector, namely the medtech, biotech and pharmaceuticals industries.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Ben worked in the M&A Group at UBS. In 2018, he was named one of Business Insider’s Rising Stars on Wall Street. Ben graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Senior Team

Azad Badakhsh
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 3590

Azad Badakhsh is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where he advises clients in the aerospace and defense sectors. Azad has over 15 years of investment banking experience advising industrial and aerospace & defense clients on buy-side and sell-side transactions and a variety of other corporate finance matters.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Azad was a Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at UBS Investment Bank. He holds a B.S. in Economics with concentrations in Finance and Accounting from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Senior Team

Georgi Balinov
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 880 4277

Georgi Balinov is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company, where he advises clients in the financial technology sector. He has nearly 20 years of investment banking experience, advising clients on a wide range of mergers, acquisitions and capital raises across the payments, financial software, capital markets tech and data sectors.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Georgi was a Senior Managing Director at SVB Securities. Georgi previously held leadership roles as Managing Director and Head of Global PayTech Banking at Barclays and Head of FinTech Banking for the Americas at BofA Merrill Lynch. He started his career as an analyst on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.

Georgi holds a B.S. in Finance and Accounting from the Stern Undergraduate College at New York University. He is a member of the Board of Advisors at Single Step Bulgaria, an organization whose mission is to empower the LGBTI community through enhanced visibility and representation in his birth country.

Senior Team

Ryan Bell
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 3664

Ryan Bell is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company, where he specializes in advising clients in the healthcare sector. Ryan has extensive experience originating and executing a wide variety of corporate finance transactions including M&A, leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations and other debt and equity transactions.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Ryan held roles in the Global Healthcare Investment Banking Group and the Leveraged Finance Group at Citi. Ryan holds a B.A. from the University of Western Ontario and an M.B.A., with Distinction, from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

Senior Team

Bruno Brandao
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 907 6055

Bruno Brandao is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company, where he provides strategic and financial advice to healthcare clients. Bruno has extensive investment banking experience, having originated and executed M&A and other financial transactions for corporates and financial sponsors across life science tools, services and diagnostics.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Bruno was part of the Healthcare Investment Banking group at Morgan Stanley. Before his investment banking career, Bruno worked as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group.

Bruno holds an M.Sc. in Engineering Physics from Instituto Superior Técnico and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Senior Team

James Butcher
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 3890

James Butcher is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where he advises clients in the media and technology sectors, specializing in digital media, internet and information services for corporates and sponsors. His expertise spans a broad range of transactions including M&A, divestitures, leveraged buyouts, equity and debt financing and restructurings, with experience across the U.S. and Europe.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, James was an Associate Director at Close Brothers Corporate Finance in London. He holds a B.A. from University College London and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Senior Team

Chris Callesano
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 3820

Chris Callesano is a Managing Director, Principal Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller at Moelis & Company. Chris has over 20 years of finance and accounting experience, primarily within the financial services industry.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, he was Senior Managing Director of Financial Reporting and Policy at NASDAQ OMX where he was responsible for preparing the annual and quarterly financial statements filed with the SEC. Before that, Chris was the Director of Corporate Reporting Merrill Lynch and began his career as an auditor at Ernst & Young.

Chris holds a B.S. in Accounting from Penn State University, an M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business at New York University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Senior Team

Thane W. Carlston
Managing Director
Global Co-Head of Capital Structure Advisory
New York

T: +1 212 883 3530

Thane Carlston is a Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Capital Structure Advisory at Moelis & Company. Since co-founding the group in 2008, it has become a recognized market leader globally, advising on hundreds of matters representing over $1 trillion in value. Thane has worked in the investment banking industry for 30 years, with a specialized focus on capital structure advisory. He has extensive expertise in the distressed advisory sector working with companies, corporate boards, creditor groups, sponsors and corporate parents of troubled subsidiaries.

Thane has structured and led numerous out-of-court transactions utilizing exchange offers, consent solicitations, and negotiations with lenders to secure bank amendments and waivers. He also has extensive experience in distressed M&A, debt financing and advising on matters that involve pre-packaged, pre-arranged and unplanned Chapter 11 reorganizations.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Thane co-headed the Recapitalization & Restructuring Group at Jefferies. He holds an M.B.A. from UCLA Anderson School of Management and earned a B.A. from the University of Utah, where he serves on the advisory board for the Eccles School of Business.

Senior Team

Amy Chen
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 4016

Amy Chen is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where she leads the Firm’s healthcare technology franchise. Amy has extensive investment banking experience with a focus on M&A and capital markets advisory in healthcare IT and services.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, she was an investment banker at Citigroup in the Global Financial Institutions Group. In 2022, Amy was named among the Rising Stars of Wall Street by Business Insider. She graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. from Harvard University and holds a M. Fin. from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Senior Team

Yatin Choksey
Managing Director
Chief Information Security Officer
New York

T: +1 212 883 3586

Yatin Choksey is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Moelis & Company, where he leads the Firm’s global information security strategy and program. He is responsible for establishing and maintaining global information security controls and protection of Moelis’ information assets and technologies.

Yatin has 30 years of IT experience, with over 20 years of experience in developing and implementing cybersecurity protocols and programs for a broad range of global corporations, including in the financial, legal, and manufacturing industries. Prior to joining Moelis & Company, he served as the Enterprise Security Manager at Shearman & Sterling LLP. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from Shivaji University.

Senior Team

John Colella
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 4215

John Colella is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where he focuses on transactions in the power and utility sectors. John has been in the investment banking industry for over 20 years and has advised some of the largest global power and utility clients on critical strategic and capital raising transactions as well as M&A, capital markets, restructuring and bankruptcy transactions. His expertise in the energy sector includes electric, water and gas utilities as well as independent power producers and renewable energy companies.

Previously, John was a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan covering power and utility clients and a member of the Global Utilities Group at UBS Investment Bank. He holds a B.A. from Rutgers College and an M.B.A. from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, where he was a Park Leadership Fellow.

Senior Team

Ashish Contractor
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 3675

Ashish Contractor is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where he advises specialty, generic pharmaceutical and biotech clients. Ashish has more than 20 years of experience advising companies, primarily across the pharmaceutical and biotech space, on a broad spectrum of corporate finance matters including M&A, debt and equity financings, hostile takeovers, corporate defense, and private placements.

Previously, he was a Managing Director at Greenhill & Co., leading the firm’s Life Sciences coverage. Prior to Greenhill & Co., Ashish worked in Lehman Brothers’ Private Equity Group. He began his career in the Financial Institutions Group at Lehman Brothers.

Ashish graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Finance and International Business from New York University’s Stern School of Business and holds an M.B.A with honors from Harvard Business School.

Senior Team

Michael Cortese
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 8353

Michael Cortese is a Managing Director and Global Head of Compliance where he is responsible for planning and implementing the Firm’s compliance risk management program. Mike has over 25 years of experience as a strategic business partner in the financial services industry.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Mike was a Managing Director and Global Head of Investment and Corporate Banking Compliance and Operational Risk at J.P. Morgan, and a Managing Director and Global Head of Corporate Client Solutions, Research and Control Room Compliance and Operational Risk Control at UBS.

Mike holds a B.S. in Business Administration from West Virginia University and an M.B.A from the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University.