Team

Marc Lasry, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder

Mr. Lasry is the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and a Co-Founder of Avenue. He is also a co-founder of Amroc. Since February 2009, Mr. Lasry has assumed day-to-day investment responsibilities for the Avenue U.S. funds. Distressed investing has been the focus of his professional career for over 24 years. Prior to operating Amroc as an independent entity, Mr. Lasry managed capital for Amroc Investments, L.P., the predecessor firm associated with Robert Bass Group, Inc. Mr. Lasry and Amroc Investments, L.P. were affiliated with Acadia Partners L.P., an investment partnership whose general partners include Keystone, Inc. (an investment firm that was associated with the Robert Bass Group, Inc.), American Express Company and the Equitable Life Assurance Society of America. Prior to that, Mr. Lasry was Co-Director of the Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization Department at Cowen & Company. Prior to that time, he served as Director of the Private Debt Department at Smith Vasiliou Management Company. Mr. Lasry also clerked for the Honorable Edward Ryan, former Chief Bankruptcy Judge of the Southern District of New York. Mr. Lasry has served and will continue to serve on the board of advisors/directors of both for-profit and not-for-profit public and private companies that are not affiliated with Avenue.

Mr. Lasry received a B.A. in History from Clark University (1981) and a J.D. from New York Law School (1984).

Sonia E. Gardner, President, Managing Partner and Co-Founder

Ms. Gardner is the President, Managing Partner and a Co-Founder of Avenue. Ms. Gardner is the Partner in charge of managing Avenue. Distressed investing has been the focus of her professional career over the last 22 years. Ms. Gardner is also a co-founder of Amroc where she was Senior Portfolio Manager responsible for investing the partners’ capital. There she was active in the review and trading of the debt of hundreds of bankruptcies. Prior to operating Amroc as an independent entity, Ms. Gardner was a Senior Managing Director and General Counsel of Amroc Investments, L.P., the predecessor firm associated with the Robert Bass Group, Inc. Previously, Ms. Gardner served as Senior Attorney of the Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization Department at Cowen & Company. Ms. Gardner was the recipient of the 100 Women in Hedge Funds’ 2008 Industry Leadership Award. Ms. Gardner also serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Managed Funds Association (MFA) and the Board of Directors of 100 Women in Hedge Funds. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of The Mount Sinai Medical Center.  Ms. Gardner has served and will continue to serve on the board of advisors/directors of both for-profit and not-for-profit private companies that are not affiliated with Avenue.

Ms. Gardner received a B.A. with Honors in Philosophy from Clark University (1983) and a J.D. from the Cardozo School of Law (1986).

Rob Symington, Senior Portfolio Manager - Avenue U.S. Strategy

Mr. Symington is the Senior Portfolio Manager of the Avenue U.S. funds and is primarily responsible for managing the Avenue distressed debt team’s resources. Prior to joining Avenue in 2005, Mr. Symington was Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of the M.D. Sass Corporate Resurgence Funds of Resurgence Asset Management, L.L.C.  At Resurgence, he was responsible for analyzing and actively managing a portfolio of distressed investments in a variety of industries. Mr. Symington has extensive experience analyzing companies undergoing Chapter 7 liquidation, reorganization under Chapter 11 and the pre-bankruptcy and postbankruptcy process. Mr. Symington has also served on several creditor committees, bank debt steering committees and boards of directors. Prior to his 13 years at Resurgence, Mr. Symington was a credit analyst and loan officer at the Philadelphia National Bank.

Mr. Symington received a B.A. in English Literature from Dickinson College (1986) and an M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management (1992).

Jane Castle, Portfolio Manager - Avenue U.S. Strategy

Ms. Castle is a Portfolio Manager responsible for identifying, analyzing and modeling investment opportunities for the Avenue U.S. Funds. Prior to joining Avenue in 2008, Ms. Castle was a Managing Director and Head of U.S. Distressed Research at Lehman Brothers, Inc. covering stressed and distressed companies across numerous sectors over a ten year period. Prior to Lehman, Ms. Castle was a High Grade analyst at Citigroup Inc.

Ms. Castle received a B.A. in Economics from Yale University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude (1994) and an M.B.A. in Finance from Stanford University (1999), where she was the recipient of the Alexander Robichek Award (finance achievement award).

Michael Elkins, Portfolio Manager - Avenue U.S. Strategy

Mr. Elkins is a Portfolio Manager responsible for assisting with the direction of the investment activities of the Avenue U.S. Funds. Prior to joining Avenue in 2004, Mr. Elkins was a Portfolio Manager and Trader with ABP Investments U.S., Inc.  While at ABP, he was responsible for actively managing high yield investments using a total return-special situations overlay strategy. Prior to ABP, Mr. Elkins served as a Portfolio Manager and Trader for UBK Asset Management, after joining the company as a High Yield Credit Analyst. Previously, Mr. Elkins was a Credit Analyst for both Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. and Smith Barney, Inc.

Mr. Elkins received a B.A. in Marketing from George Washington University (1990) and an M.B.A. in Finance from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University (1994).

Shawn Foley, Portfolio Manager - Avenue U.S. Strategy

Mr. Foley is a Portfolio Manager responsible for assisting with the direction of the investment activities of the Avenue U.S. Funds. Prior to joining Avenue in 2008, Mr. Foley was a Managing Director and Co-Portfolio Manager in Merrill Lynch’s Principal Credit Group, a proprietary investing platform for the firm’s capital, where he was responsible for evaluating and managing assets in the team’s North American portfolio, including non-investment grade bank loans, stressed/distressed fixed income investments and public and private equity. Prior to helping launch Merrill Lynch’s Principal Credit Group, Mr. Foley was with Merrill Lynch’s Global Convertible Research team, where he was responsible for building a research effort centered on credit-sensitive convertible issues. Before this, Mr. Foley was a Portfolio Manager within the distressed fixed income group at Baker Nye Greenblatt, an investment advisory firm specializing in merger arbitrage and distressed fixed income investing.

Mr. Foley received a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Notre Dame (1990).

Matthew Kimble, Portfolio Manager - Avenue U.S. Strategy

Mr. Kimble is a Portfolio Manager responsible for assisting with the direction of the investment activities of the Avenue U.S. Funds. Mr. Kimble has held various positions with Avenue prior to serving as a Portfolio Manager, including as an Associate, Vice President and Senior Vice President where he was responsible for identifying, analyzing and modeling investment opportunities for the Avenue U.S. strategy. Prior to joining Avenue in 2003, Mr. Kimble was a Research Analyst with Bellport Capital Advisors, L.L.C. Previously, he served as an Investment Banking Associate for Gordian Group, L.P. Mr. Kimble was a Senior Analyst in Corporate Accounting & Finance for International Business Machines Corporation.

Mr. Kimble received a B.S. with Honors in Accounting from University of Illinois (1993) and an M.B.A. in Finance from the NYU Stern School of Business (1999).

Randal Klein, Portfolio Manager - Avenue U.S. Strategy

Mr. Klein is a Portfolio Manager responsible for directing the activities of the Trade Claims Fund.  Previously, he was a Senior Vice President of the Avenue U.S. Funds. In such capacity, Mr. Klein was responsible for conducting research and analysis and for managing restructuring activities for the Avenue U.S. Funds. Previously, he was also responsible for identifying, analyzing, structuring, modeling and recommending a range of investment opportunities in a variety of sectors including, but not limited to, automotive, gaming and certain financials. Prior to joining Avenue in 2004, Mr. Klein was a Senior Vice President at Lehman Brothers. His responsibilities at Lehman during the time from 1994 to 2004 included restructuring advisory work, financial sponsors coverage, mergers acquisitions work and corporate finance. Prior to Lehman, Mr. Klein worked from 1986 to 1992 in sales, marketing and engineering as an aerospace engineer for The Boeing Company.

Mr. Klein received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia (1986) and an M.B.A. in Finance, as a Palmer Scholar, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (1994).

Malcolm Robinson,  Senior Portfolio Manager - Avenue Asia Strategy

Mr. Robinson is responsible for directing the investment activities of the Avenue Asia Strategy. Prior to joining Avenue in 1999, Mr. Robinson was Chief Investment Officer for the Richmond Parly Investment Company, a Hong Kong based investment company that invests in the private and public equity and distressed debt obligations of Asian companies. Prior to that, Mr. Robinson was a Portfolio Manager at The Pacific Group, one of the largest hedge funds based in Hong Kong and partially owned by the U.S. based hedge fund, Tiger Management Corporation. Prior to that, Mr. Robinson was with the Prudential Investment Corporation, the investment arm of The Prudential Life Insurance Company of America. During his seven years at Prudential, Mr. Robinson was responsible for investing over $600 million while working in the Private Placement Group of Prudential and the Merchant Banking/LBO Group of PruBache, Prudential's investment banking subsidiary.

Mr. Robinson graduated with Honors with a B.S. in Business Administration from Florida A&M University (1987) and received an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (1994).

Richard Furst, Senior Portfolio Manager - Avenue Europe Strategy

Mr. Furst is responsible for directing the investment activities of the Avenue Europe Strategy. Prior to joining Avenue in 2004, he was a Portfolio Manager with Moore Capital Group, managing approximately $1.0 billion of U.S. and European distressed and high yield securities. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director and Head of U.S. Special Situations Trading group for Bank of America, managing $300 million in capital. Previously, Mr. Furst was a Vice President in the High Yield and Distressed Trading and Research department of Salomon Brothers, Inc., after serving as an Analyst in their Mergers, Acquisitions, and Restructuring group.

Mr. Furst received a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (1986) and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University (1989).

Jonathan Ford, Portfolio Manager - Avenue Europe Strategy

Mr. Ford is responsible for assisting with the direction of the investment activities of Avenue Europe Strategy. Prior to joining Avenue Capital in 2009, Mr. Ford was the Head of European Research based in London for the Distressed Products Group at Deutsche Bank, focused on European distressed and special situations investments across the capital structure. Previously, Mr. Ford was an Assistant Director in the Corporate Restructuring Group at Close Brothers, where he worked on a number of high profile European restructuring and distressed mergers and acquisitions transactions.

Mr. Ford received a B.S. in Economics from the University of Birmingham (1996).

Raul Ramirez, Portfolio Manager - Avenue Europe Strategy

Mr. Ramirez is responsible for assisting with the direction of the investment activities of the Avenue Europe Strategy. Prior to joining Avenue in 2006, Mr. Ramirez was a Portfolio Manager based in London at Goldentree Asset Management UK, focused on European investments. Previously, Mr. Ramirez was Executive Director of the Special Situations Group at Morgan Stanley, focused on the European energy sector. While at Morgan Stanley, Mr. Ramirez was also the Head of European Distressed Research. Additionally, Mr. Ramirez is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.

Mr. Ramirez received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Industrial Engineering from Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superores de Monterrey (1990) and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (1996).

Sriram Balakrishnan, Portfolio Manager - Avenue CLO Strategy

Mr. Balakrishnan is responsible for directing the investment activities of the Avenue CLO Strategy. Prior to joining Avenue in 2004, Mr. Balakrishnan was a Vice President at Indosuez Capital, which was the CLO group of Credit Agricole Indosuez. At Indosuez Capital, Mr. Balakrishnan focused on the broadcasting, media, cable, printing and publishing and telecommunications industries. Previously, Mr. Balakrishnan was a High Yield Research Analyst at U.S. Bancorp Libra focusing on telecommunication service providers. Prior to that, he was a High Yield Research Analyst specializing in telecommunications companies at UBS Warburg and also served as an Equity Research Analyst at Bear Stearns.

Mr. Balakrishnan received a B.A. in Commerce from the University of Delhi (1991) and received an M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester (1996).

Ed Gellert, Senior Portfolio Manager - Avenue Real Estate Strategy

Mr. Gellert is responsible for directing the investment activities of the Avenue Real Estate Strategy. Prior to joining Avenue in 2004, Mr. Gellert founded EDGE Partners LLC in 2001 where he was a co-managing member of joint venture entities that developed, repositioned and own over 1.2 million square feet of properties with a value in excess of $275 million. Prior to that, Mr. Gellert sourced real estate investment opportunities for Amroc Investments, Inc., its affiliates and successor entities, and was responsible for closing in excess of $1 billion of distressed debt purchases and property acquisitions. Previously, Mr. Gellert worked as an analyst and asset manager for BRT Realty Trust.

Mr. Gellert received a B.S.M. from the AB Freeman School of Business at Tulane University (1988).

Robert Russell, Senior Portfolio Manager – Multi-Manager Strategy

Mr. Russell is responsible for directing the investment activities of the Multi-Manager Strategy. Prior to joining Avenue in 2007, Mr. Russell was a Portfolio Manager in the external management group and member of the portfolio committee at Harvard Management Company, the investment manager that oversees the endowment and other assets for Harvard University. At Harvard Management Company, Mr. Russell was responsible for the management and oversight of Harvard's external hedge fund and global equity investments, a portfolio with over $10 billion in assets, including all aspects of manager sourcing, investment due diligence and structuring of investments in the portfolio. Mr. Russell also served as a Portfolio Manager for Harvard Master Trust, an ERISA pension plan with over $900 million of assets. Prior to that, Mr. Russell was a Principal and Portfolio Manager in the Fundamental International Equity Research Group at State Street Global. Prior to State Street Global, Mr. Russell was an officer at Eaton Vance Management.

Mr. Russell received a B.S. in Finance, Investments and Accounting from Babson College (1996).

Robert Ollwerther, Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Ollwerther is the Chief Operating Officer of Avenue. Mr. Ollwerther is responsible for overseeing all operational activities of the firm. Prior to joining Avenue in 2008, Mr. Ollwerther was a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch where he spent 26 years in a variety of positions, including Chief Operating Officer for the Hedge Fund Development and Management Group; Chief Financial Officer for Europe, Middle East and Africa; Chief Financial Officer for Latin America and Canada; Chief Financial Officer for Global Equities; and Head of International and Institutional Internal Audit. He also led the formation of an OTC Derivatives Dealer and the implementation of Sarbanes Oxley for the institutional business at Merrill Lynch. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Ollwerther was on the audit staff of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Mr. Ollwerther received a B.S. in Accounting from Fairfield University (1978) and an M.B.A. from NYU Stern School of Business (1991). He is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Ira Balsam, Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Balsam is the Chief Financial Officer of Avenue. Mr. Balsam is responsible for the accounting, operational and financial activities of the firm. Prior to joining Avenue in 2002, Mr. Balsam was a Partner at Goldstein Golub Kessler LLP, where he focused on audit and tax advice primarily for hedge funds, institutional funds and investment partnerships. Mr. Balsam also assisted in structuring limited partnership agreements and reviewed private placement memoranda for clients. Prior to joining Goldstein in 1992, Mr. Balsam was a Senior Accountant at Mahoney Cohen & Co., PC, where he advised clients on accounting and tax issues. He is a member of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants where he has chaired a committee and several conferences and served on various other committees.

Mr. Balsam received a B.S. in Accounting from the City University of New York, Brooklyn College (1988). He is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Mark R. Harris, Senior Managing Director – Avenue Asia Strategy

Mr. Harris is responsible for operational activities as well as the Asset Management Group for the Avenue Asia Strategy, which works with investee companies post-acquisition. Prior to joining Avenue in 2006, Mr. Harris was the Corporate Financial Controller of Hutchison Telecommunications International.  Prior to that, he was the Vice President of Finance and Financial Shared Services for VSource, a U.S. publicly-listed company in the Asia Pacific region.  Previously, Mr. Harris worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in San Jose, London, and Singapore, where he was a Manager in their Global Capital Markets Group, where he listed numerous foreign companies in the United States, which involved working with both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Stock Exchange.

Mr. Harris graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (1995) and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business (2008). He is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Joseph Peters, Chief Financial Officer - Avenue Asia Strategy

Mr. Peters is responsible for the accounting, financial, operational and reporting activities of the Avenue Asia Strategy.  Prior to joining Avenue in 2002, Mr. Peters was a Senior Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, where he focused on audits of mutual funds, hedge funds and other investment companies from 1999 to 2002.  Mr. Peters also participated in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Business Advisory Services Development Program - BAS DP, an invitation-only rotational development program where participants rotated among the PricewaterhouseCoopers service groups, including operational risk management, assurance, transaction and internal audit services.     

Mr. Peters graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting with distinction from the University of Iowa (1998).  He is also a Certified Public Accountant.   

David Croen, Chief Risk Officer

Mr. Croen is the Chief Risk Officer of Avenue. Mr. Croen is responsible for risk control across the firm’s strategies. Prior to joining Avenue in 2008, Mr. Croen was Director of the Central Valuation Group at Deutsche Bank AG, where he led a quantitative team in the development of methodologies and independent valuation of credit, securitization, equities and interest rate products for Deutsche Bank Americas. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Mr. Croen was a Principal in the Financial Services Advisory group at Ernst & Young and a Senior Manager in the Financial and Commodity Risk Consulting Group at Arthur Andersen LLP. Mr. Croen was also the Head of Risk Management at Fortis Financial Services and prior to that, he was a Vice President in the Risk Management and Compliance department at Banco Nacional de México.

Mr. Croen received a B.A. in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Rochester (1981) and an M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester (1988).

Nish Wijerathna, Chief Technology Officer

Mr. Wijerathna is the Chief Technology Officer of Avenue. Mr. Wijerathna is responsible for the firm’s global technology infrastructure. He oversees the development of new and existing infrastructure, systems, network, security and information technology policies. Prior to joining Avenue in 2002, Mr. Wijerathna served as Network Administrator for the New York City Employees Retirement System where he designed, developed and implemented the system’s technological structure, including a disaster recovery plan. He previously held the position of Lead Systems Engineer at News Digital Media: Foxsports.com, Foxnews.com and Fox.com.

Mr. Wijerathna received a B.S. in Engineering Science and Computer Science from City University of New York (1998) and an M.S. in Information Assurance from Capitol College (2010).

Todd Greenbarg, Managing Director

Mr. Greenbarg is a Managing Director and is responsible for legal matters across the firm’s strategies. Mr. Greenbarg focuses on all areas affecting the firm’s management companies and funds, including structuring new investment products, drafting all constituent documents for the funds, establishing the firm’s international offices and general contract work. Prior to joining Avenue in 2003, Mr. Greenbarg was an Associate in the Investment Funds practice at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, where he specialized in the formation, structuring and development of private equity funds, institutional funds, hedge funds and other private investment partnerships. During his time at Paul Weiss, Mr. Greenbarg was responsible for the fund formation work for the Avenue funds.

Mr. Greenbarg received a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, with Honors (1997) and a J.D. from New York University School of Law (2000).

Amy Heneghan, Managing Director, Global Head of Human Resources

Ms. Heneghan is a Managing Director and is responsible for a variety of matters in the areas of executive compensation, human resources, real estate, technology, and general commercial contracts.  Prior to joining Avenue in 2007, Ms. Heneghan was a Vice President at Amaranth Group Inc. and Goldman, Sachs & Co.  At Amaranth, in addition to covering similar areas to her role at Avenue, she advised on regulatory investigations and the disposition of Amaranth’s assets and employees globally.  At Goldman, Sachs & Co., Ms. Heneghan was responsible for negotiating technology, intellectual property, facilities, and general contracts, as well as certain regulatory filings and agreements for opening international offices.  She worked extensively on the opening of Goldman, Sachs & Co.’s offices in India and China. 

Ms. Heneghan graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Honors with a degree in Government and Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia (1994) and received a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law (1997).

Campbell Korff, Managing Director, Restructuring and Workouts - Avenue Asia Strategy

Mr. Korff is a Managing Director, focusing on restructuring and workouts, for the Avenue Asia Strategy. Prior to joining Avenue in 2005, Mr. Korff served as Partner and as joint head of the Asia Restructuring and Insolvency Group for Clifford Chance. He focused on the growing Asia distressed debt market and worked on numerous landmark deals with clients including Avenue, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank. Prior to this, Mr. Korff worked at Minter Ellison, where he specialized in large scale financial services litigation, bankruptcies and restructurings. 

Mr. Korff received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia (1995).

Eric Ross, Managing Director, Chief Compliance Officer

Mr. Ross is a Managing Director and the Chief Compliance Officer of Avenue. Mr. Ross is responsible for overseeing compliance globally across the firm’s strategies. Prior to joining Avenue in 2006, Mr. Ross was a Senior Associate at Cobb & Eisenberg LLC, Avenue’s former regulatory counsel, where he represented hedge funds, private equity funds, fund-of-funds, offshore funds, investment advisers and broker-dealers and focused on compliance, fund formation and investment adviser regulations. Prior to that, Mr. Ross was a Senior Associate at Olshan Grundman Frome Rosenzweig & Wolosky LLP, where he focused on general corporate matters. He was also an Associate General Counsel with Josephthal & Company, Inc., a NYSE and FINRA (formerly NASD) member firm.

Mr. Ross received a B.S. in Finance from Syracuse University (1991) and a J.D. from New York Law School (1995).

Stuart Sarnoff, Managing Director

Mr. Sarnoff is responsible for evaluating Avenue’s strategic alliances as well as overseeing special projects across the Firm. Prior to joining Avenue in 2007, Mr. Sarnoff spent 19 years at the international law firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius, where he was the Leader of Morgan Lewis’s Securities Litigation and Enforcement Practice, the Co-Head of the New York Litigation Section and the Deputy Managing Partner of the New York office. Prior to that, Mr. Sarnoff was with Debevoise & Plimpton, a New York law firm.

Mr. Sarnoff received a B.A. from Dartmouth College (1980) where he graduated cum laude and a J.D. from Columbia Law School (1984) where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.

Jennifer Tang, Managing Director and Head of Legal - Avenue Asia Strategy

Ms. Tang is a Managing Director and Head of Legal for the Avenue Asia Strategy.  Prior to joining Avenue in 2006, Ms. Tang was Group Senior Legal Counsel for Hutchison Telecommunications International, listed on the New York Stock Exchange and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, where she was responsible for the legal function and compliance across nine countries and territories. Prior to this, she was a Senior Associate at Blake Dawson Waldron Sydney where she was a member of the Corporate Advisory Group.

Ms. Tang received a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales (1989) and was admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales and Hong Kong (1990, 2001, respectively).

Julie Baumann, Managing Director

Ms. Baumann has worked with the Senior Principals since 1993 and is currently a Managing Director.  In such capacity, she is responsible for investor relations across the Avenue strategies. Prior to this, Ms. Baumann was a Portfolio Manager at Avenue where she was responsible for assisting in developing the investment focus of the Avenue U.S. Strategy. She also was previously Director of Research at Amroc where she directed a team of analysts conducting research of distressed and special situation securities for institutional clients. Prior to that, she was with James D. Wolfensohn, Inc., where she advised domestic and international clients on acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings and joint ventures. Prior to Wolfensohn, Ms. Baumann was with the Corporate Finance Department of Drexel Burnham Lambert.  She also served as a Certified Public Accountant at KPMG Peat Marwick. 

Ms. Baumann received a B.S. with distinction in Accounting and Business Administration from the University of Kansas (1985) and an M.B.A. in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (1989). 

John Larkin, Managing Director

Mr. Larkin is a Managing Director responsible for business development for the Avenue Multi Manager Strategy.  Prior to joining Avenue in 2010, Mr. Larkin was Head of Alternative Investments for the Americas for Deutsche Bank where he provided institutional and ultra high net worth clients expertise and guidance in various non-traditional private placement asset classes such as hedge funds, private equity and real estate.  Mr. Larkin was responsible for all operations, marketing, administration and research functions within the region.  In addition, Mr. Larkin served as a board member on various investment funds, and was responsible for providing fiduciary oversight to the Bank’s clients.  Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Mr. Larkin was Head of Private Investments Group within Merrill Lynch and later Co-Head of Third Party Alternative Investments at Citigroup.  Mr. Larkin currently is a member of the board of directors for North American Biofuels Company and an advisory board member for Amelio Solar.

Mr. Larkin is a retired Navy pilot having served in various stations around the world.  Mr. Larkin received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (1984).

Alexander Wolfman, Managing Director

Mr. Wolfman is a Managing Director of Avenue and is responsible for institutional fundraising and investor relations, as well as product and strategic development across the firm’s strategies. Prior to joining Avenue in 2004, Mr. Wolfman was an Investment Banker with Citigroup’s Private Equity Group in the financial sponsors division. Previously, Mr. Wolfman was a corporate attorney with Schulte Roth & Zabel’s Investment Management Group, where he focused on structuring and advisory work for hedge funds and private equity firms.

Mr. Wolfman received a B.A. in History (1993) and a J.D. with distinction (1997) from Emory University and served as a Managing Editor of the Emory Law Journal.