Senior Team

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.

Senior Team

Justin Craig
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 4819

Justin Craig is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company, where he provides strategic and financial advice to consumer and retail clients with a focus on food and beverage. He has extensive investment banking experience, with expertise in advising public and private companies spanning a broad spectrum of consumer and retail sectors, including food and beverage, consumer discretionary, pet, optical and auto services. Justin has originated and executed a range of transactions throughout the corporate lifecycle and across disciplines including M&A, leveraged buyouts, IPOs, debt and equity capital raising, shareholder defense and other strategic transactions.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Justin was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, where he led the food investment banking practice. He holds a B.S. from the University of Delaware, a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School.

Senior Team

Elizabeth Crain
Co-Founder
New York

T: +1 212 883 3883

Elizabeth Crain is a Co-Founder and served as the Chief Operating Officer of Moelis & Company from 2007 to October 2023.  As COO, she led the Firm’s global strategy, infrastructure and business management functions. Elizabeth has been in the investment banking and private equity industries for almost 35 years as a banker, principal and operations executive.

Prior to Moelis & Company, Elizabeth was a Managing Director at UBS Investment Bank where she was the Manager of the Investment Bank Client Committee and held senior management roles in the UBS Investment Banking Department. Before joining UBS, Elizabeth worked in the private equity industry and began her career in investment banking at Merrill Lynch.

In 2022, Elizabeth was named one of the 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance by Barron’s Magazine. Elizabeth holds a B.S. in Economics from Arizona State University and serves on the Board of Directors of the Nokia Corporation and Exscientia Ltd.

Senior Team

Dennis Crandall
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 3525

Dennis Crandall is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company, where he specializes in advising clients in the life sciences and outsourced pharmaceutical services sectors (e.g., CDMOs, CROs and technology-enabled services). He has extensive experience in healthcare investment banking, with expertise in executing a broad range of transactions for healthcare corporations and financial sponsors.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Dennis was a Managing Director in the Healthcare Investment Banking group at Morgan Stanley. Before that, he worked on the M&A team at UBS Investment Bank and held various advisory roles at KPMG. He started his finance career at Jacobsen Capital Management.

Dennis holds a B.S. in Management from Brigham Young University and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Senior Team

Robert C. Crowley
Managing Director
Boston

T: +1 617 341 7101

Bob Crowley is a Managing Director and Head of the Boston office at Moelis & Company. He joined at the Firm’s inception and was instrumental in establishing its Boston office and leading  expansion in the homebuilding sector. Bob has over 25 years of investment banking experience advising and executing various mergers, acquisitions, restructuring, debt and equity transactions.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Bob was head of high yield capital markets at UBS and previously led top franchises in the homebuilding and environmental services sectors of UBS’s Global Industrials Group. Bob started his career at Salomon Brothers and worked at BankBoston before joining UBS. Before becoming a banker, Bob was an Institutional Investor — ranked high yield research analyst covering the homebuilding/building materials sectors. Bob was featured in Investemnt Dealers Digest’s 40 Under 40 in 2009

Bob holds a B.A. in International Politics and Economics from Middlebury College. He currently serves as Treasurer and board member of the Shady Hill School, a board member of the Franconia Ski Club and a member of the corporation of the Belmont Hill School. Bob was previously president of the Franconia Ski Club, former President of Hill House Boston and was a member of the Joint Center for Housing Studies’ Policy Advisory Board at Harvard University.

Senior Team

David Cunningham
Managing Director
Head of US Energy
Houston

T: +1 713 343 5880

David Cunningham is a Managing Director and Head of US Energy at Moelis & Company. He has over 27 years of investment banking experience advising on and executing various mergers, acquisitions, restructuring, debt, equity and asset valuation transactions.

Previously, David was a Managing Director at Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. and a Managing Director in the Global Energy Group at Credit Suisse. David holds a B.A. in Finance from Texas Christian University and an M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago.

Senior Team

Nik Dampier
Managing Director
Head of Global Business Technology
New York

T: +1 212 883 3628

Nik Dampier is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where he heads the Global Business Technology team and is responsible for the Firm’s internal technology applications, the most notable of which is the deal management platform. Nik is a proven technology professional with over 20 years of strategy and consulting experience within financial services and has worked with many of the world’s leading investment banks.

At Moelis & Company, Nik is responsible for defining the product vision, strategic direction, and implementation of the deal management platform, while architecting core business processes to maximize productivity and efficiency. He is instrumental in delivering cutting-edge tools that drive the Firm’s client relationship management strategy.

Nik holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Leicester (UK).

Senior Team

Brad Davis
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 3894

Brad Davis is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where he specializes in M&A advisory. He has extensive experience executing public and private sell-side, buy-side and special committee assignments and has advised on numerous high-profile, strategic M&A transactions across a broad range of industries.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Brad worked in the Investment Banking Division of Barclays Capital where he executed a variety of M&A and capital markets transactions and began his career as an Equity Investment Analyst at Federated Investors. Brad holds a B.S. in Finance and Economics from Tulane University and an M.B.A. from Yale School of Management.

Senior Team

Pablo de la Infiesta
Managing Director
London

T: +44 207 634 3624

Pablo de la Infiesta is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company and Head of the Private Funds Advisory (PFA) group in EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa). Pablo has over 20 years of private equity fund placement, secondary advisory and investment banking experience.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, he was a Managing Director and European Head of the Private Capital Advisory group at Lazard, focusing on fund placement and secondary advisory. Before that, Pablo worked at Campbell Lutyens & Co in London and began his career at Salomon Brothers.

Pablo holds a degree in Business Administration from the Universidad Pontificia Comillas and an M.B.A. from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

Senior Team

Edouard Debost
Managing Director
Paris

T: +33 1 83 79 06 20

Edouard Debost is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company, where he specializes in providing financial and strategic advice to clients in France and across Europe. Edouard has over 30 years of investment banking experience with expertise in originating and executing M&A mandates for private equity, pension and sovereign wealth funds, as well as corporates and private family-owned investments.

Prior to Moelis & Company, Edouard served as Head of the Strategic Investment Group for France & Benelux and Head of Private Client Advisory for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at J.P. Morgan. Before that, he was a Managing Director and Co-head of France at Hawkpoint Partners and worked in the M&A Advisory Group at Lazard.

Senior Team

Francesco Del Vecchio
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 4581

Francesco Del Vecchio is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where he specializes in Capital Structure Advisory. Francesco has over 20 years of restructuring, financing and investment management experience advising debtors, creditors, private equity sponsors and governmental entities on a wide variety of in-court and out-of-court restructurings, special situations and capital structure assignments across a broad range of transactions, industries and jurisdictions globally. Francesco has worked in the Firm’s New York and London offices.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Francesco held investment banking roles at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup in New York and London and also managed an investment portfolio at a New York-based asset manager. He began his career at Goldman Sachs.

Francesco holds a B.S. from Cornell University and a MSL from the USC Gould School of Law. He is an Advisory Group member of the Cornell Emerging Markets Institute and is active within Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Senior Team

Charles G. Denison
Managing Director
Chicago

T: +1 312 589 3035

Charlie Denison is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where he advises clients primarily in the industrials sector. Charlie has over 35 years of investment banking experience advising clients on M&A, leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations and debt and equity financings across the packaging, paper and building products industries.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Charlie managed the Chicago office of Deutsche Bank and its predecessor Bankers Trust, where he was responsible for overseeing the firm’s investment banking activities in the Midwest as well as coordinating the strategies of the private wealth and asset management businesses.

Charlie holds an A.B. in Economics and Government from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Youth Centers and the Presbyterian Homes. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and The Chicago Children’s Museum.

Senior Team

Jared Dermont
Managing Director
New York

T: +1 212 883 3875

Jared Dermont is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where he specializes in M&A and Capital Structure Advisory. Jared has over 25 years of investment banking experience advising companies, equity investors, financial vehicles, creditors and government entities across a broad range of industries and geographies. Jared has extensive financial engineering experience and has advised on over 50 SPAC transactions.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Jared was a Managing Director at Rothschild, Inc. where he focused on global M&A and restructuring transactions. Jared holds a B.A. in Economics from Tufts University.