Our Team

Jim Apostolides joined Needham & Company as a Managing Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group in 2008. He has more than 40 years of experience as an investment banker, a strategy consultant and a corporate executive, and he has completed transactions valued at well over $100 billion. Jim began his career at McKinsey & Company, helping clients develop strategies to address growth, resource allocation, turnaround and diversification issues. As an investment banker, he has worked at Salomon Brothers, Scully Brothers & Foss, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. Most of his banking career was devoted to working on large, extremely complex projects for some of the world’s most demanding clients, including GE, KKR, Accenture, GM, Hughes Aircraft, EDS, United Technologies and IBM. He also spent four years in executive roles at Accenture, Oracle and BearingPoint, executing special projects of a financial and strategic nature. Jim has a BS in Operations Research and an MBA in Finance, both from New York University. He is a frequent speaker regarding various aspects of M&A and activism at American College of Corporate Directors events and has achieved Professional Director Certification from the group.

Charles Baltic joined Needham & Company in March 2009. He has over 20 years of experience working with life sciences and healthcare companies in a significant variety of transactional contexts. Prior to joining Needham, Charles was a Managing Director and head of the Biotechnology Investment Banking practice at CRT Capital Group from 2006 to 2009. From 2001 to 2006, he served as a Managing Director in Healthcare Investment Banking at Wachovia Securities (now Wells Fargo Securities), where he founded Wachovia’s Biotechnology Investment Banking practice. Prior to Wachovia, he was with Healthcare Investment Banking at Cowen and Company from 1996 to 2001. Prior to 1996, Charles practiced corporate and securities law with Dewey Ballantine. Charles currently serves on the Boards of Directors of MEI Pharma (NASDAQ: MEIP), an oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company, and SIDIS Corp., a life sciences investment company. Charles previously served as a Director of Life Science Washington (formerly the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association), the trade association for the life sciences industry in Washington State, from 2013 – 2018, and served as a Director of Med-Vantage Inc., a health informatics company which was acquired by IMS Health in 2011. Charles is also a former member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies, serving from 2014 to 2015, and a former founding Trustee of the non-profit Hope Funds for Cancer Research, serving from 2007 to 2017 in that capacity, and remains on the Council of Advisors. He holds B.A. and J.D. degrees from Georgetown University and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Laura has over 30 years experience in high technology, business strategy and finance. As an investment banker for Needham, Laura has advised technology companies on over $30 billion of mergers, acquisitions, IPOs and other equity financings. At Needham, Laura has focused on a broad array of technologies ranging from software, IT infrastructure including storage, computing, security and data analytics technologies to industrial technologies. She previously served as head of corporate finance at Black & Company where she raised public equity capital and completed numerous M&A and strategic advisory assignments. Laura previously served as Director of M&A for TRW Avionics & Surveillance Group where she evaluated acquisition candidates, managed direct investments and divestitures, and raised venture capital to back spin-off companies. She began her career at TRW as a electronic circuit design engineer for spread spectrum communications systems. Laura earned an MS in management from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. She also holds an MSEE from Santa Clara University and a BSEE from the University of California at Davis. Laura is a Director of Viavi Solutions, a publicly traded global leader in network & service enablement and optical security & performance solutions, and Ichor Holdings, a leader in the design, engineering and manufacturing of critical fluid delivery subsystems for semiconductor capital equipment. She serves on the Audit Committee of Ichor and the Corporate Development Committee of Viavi. She served as a Director of Super Micro, a publicly traded provider of advanced computer systems, for seven years.

Steven Camp joined Needham & Company in 2007. His responsibilities include the origination and execution of public and private financings, and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Needham, Steven worked for EMC Corporation, where he held positions in corporate development, executing numerous M&A transactions as well as the VMware IPO, and as a senior analyst in the global finance organization. Steven graduated magna cum laude from the University of Cincinnati, where he studied Finance and Accounting.

Will Cass joined Needham & Company in 2008.  Will works with emerging growth technology companies and their investors and strategic partners with a focus on B2B application SaaS.  Specific application areas include sales, marketing, human capital management, finance, supply chain, procurement, e-commerce, communications, information technology, collaboration and content management as well as vertically focused industry applications for enterprises, the mid-market and SMBs.  He is responsible for originating and executing a wide range of strategic advisory and financing assignments for both public and private companies.  While at Needham, Will has completed more than 70 transactions, including sell-side and buy-side M&A, private capital growth equity raises, initial public offerings and follow-on equity and debt offerings.  He graduated from Syracuse University with degrees in Finance and Broadcast Journalism from the Whitman School of Management and the Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Matt Castrovince joined Needham & Company in 2011.  Matt focuses mainly on capital markets execution for technology issuers and their investors.  He works closely with the investment banking and institutional sales and trading teams in order to help facilitate smooth and efficient transaction execution.  He also has experience with mergers and acquisitions as well as private capital markets and has worked on more than 50 completed transactions throughout his career.  Matt graduated from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and International Business.

Samir Desai joined Needham & Company in 2002 and is the Head of New York Investment Banking as well as the Head of the Software and Services Corporate Finance team. Samir’s experience includes a wide variety of equity, debt and private placement financings and advisory assignments for a large number of technology clients over the last 20 years. At Needham & Company, he has been the lead advisor on a number of IPOs, Follow-on and Private Placement offerings, as well as buy-side and sell-side M&A transactions related to a large number of enterprise, application, network and infrastructure software as well as tech-enabled and IT Services companies. Prior to joining Needham, Samir was a Vice President in the Technology Investment Banking Group at Credit Suisse First Boston/Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where he focused on clients in the Enterprise Computing, Software and Internet Consulting Services sectors. Prior to CSFB/DLJ, he worked at Cowen & Company, where he was an Associate in Cowen’s Technology Investment Banking Group. He also worked at Salomon Brothers Inc, where he was a Financial Analyst in Salomon’s Mergers and Acquisitions Group. Samir earned an M.B.A. with Honors from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business and a B.A. in Government and Economics cum laude from Dartmouth College.

Pete Donat joined Needham & Company in 2018 to help bolster the firm’s Investment Banking capabilities in FinTech and Payments. Pete has had a 25-year career in the payment industry with a variety of senior roles at First Data, Visa and MasterCard. During that time, he worked on over 30 transactions, including several industry-transformative acquisitions, divestitures, investments and IPOs. He was SVP of New Ventures & Business Development at First Data with responsibility for managing the company’s most disruptive partnerships (such as ApplePay and PayPal) and dozens of investments, acquisitions and partnerships with early stage FinTech companies. Earlier at First Data, he was responsible for Network Innovation, eCommerce and FDC’s Durbin and Regulatory response teams. Prior to FDC, roles include Senior Leadership roles in Strategy, Finance, Product at both Visa and MasterCard. Outside of Needham & Company, Pete is a Senior Advisor at the Boston Consulting Group’s Financial Services practice, a Strategic Advisor at Earnest Research (a data and analytics firm successfully monetizing payment data), and an advisor/board member to several FinTech and security startups. Pete holds an MBA from Wharton, an M.A. in International Economics & US Foreign Policy from Johns Hopkins (SAIS), and an AB from Dartmouth College.

Ehud Eisenstein joined Needham & Company in 2010. He has taken an active role in accelerating the firm’s business in Israel, delivering the full spectrum of financing and advisory capabilities to Israeli emerging growth companies, both public and private. Prior to joining Needham, Ehud was a senior research analyst at Oscar Gruss & Son in NYC and Tel-Aviv, where he covered Israeli-based technology companies on Nasdaq – supporting U.S. and UK-based institution investors. Ehud has over 10 years of experience working with Israeli public companies achieving their financials goals in the U.S. markets. Ehud has a Masters in Business Administration from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and B.A. in Business Administration from the College of Administration, Tel Aviv.

Simon Gill was appointed Head of Needham’s Healthcare Investment Banking Group in May 2019, and has been Co-head since January 2010 when he rejoined the firm, having been at Needham 2003 – 2006. Simon was previously Co-head of U.S. Healthcare Investment Banking at RBC Capital Markets. With over 30 years of investment banking experience, he has been involved in more than 500 transactions in his career, and in the last ten years has completed over 150 transactions for life science companies. These include IPOs, Public Follow-on Offerings, CMPOs, PIPEs, M&A Advisory, Shareholder Rights Plans and Stock Buybacks. He has been a keynote speaker and panelist at numerous biotechnology industry conferences. He began his career with Credit Suisse First Boston in London. In addition to RBC and CSFB, he has worked at SBC Warburg (now called UBS), Schroders, Inc. and Prudential Securities, where he was Head of Investment Banking. Simon graduated from the University of Oxford with Masters and Undergraduate degrees.

Scott Glaid joined Needham & Company in 2006. Prior to joining Needham, Scott was a senior analyst at technology investment bank Ion Partners LLC. He possesses a Masters of Finance from the Institute of Political Studies, Paris, and graduated with highest honors from Boston College. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

Julie Harbey joined Needham & Company in 2015. She brings over 14 years of experience to the firm, having spent the majority of this time in capital markets working on all types of equity offerings across a variety of sectors and geographies. Prior to joining Needham, Julie worked at CIBC World Markets for over 10 years where she was a director of U.S. ECM and the U.S. Syndicate Manager. Ms. Harbey also serves as the President of the Women’s Syndicate Association, an organization dedicated to promoting business knowledge, sharing industry information, and cultivating valued personal and professional relationships among women across the financial services industry. She holds a B.A. in Economics from New York University.

Jack Higgins joined Needham & Company in 2007 and is a Managing Director in the Technology Investment Banking Group. He has extensive experience advising private and public semiconductor, materials and industrial technology companies on equity financings and M&A advisory assignments. Previously, Jack was a senior banker at Janney Montgomery Scott for the firm’s information technology security effort. Prior to joining Janney, he spent four years with Adams Harkness, working in the semiconductor device and communications technology banking groups. Prior to working at Adams Harkness, Jack worked at Genuity (GTE Internetworking) in product management. He graduated from Colby College and received his MBA from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.

Carolyn Horn joined Needham & Company in 2015. Prior to joining the healthcare banking team, she led the Healthcare Equity Capital Markets group for four years, and has overseen the origination and execution of all life sciences equities transactions. With a focus on emerging growth companies, Carolyn advises on both public and private financings including IPOs, follow-on offerings, convertible debt, and private placements. She has completed over 200 life sciences equity transactions over the course of her career. Previously, Carolyn was the Healthcare Specialist in Institutional Sales at JMP Securities, focusing on the biotech, medtech, and specialty pharmaceuticals sectors. Earlier in her career, she worked with a healthcare financial services firm in New York, and in the Emerging Companies group at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) in Washington DC. Carolyn earned her undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis.

Jack Iacovone joined Needham & Company in 1995 and became President of Needham & Company in 2017. He has been Head of Investment banking since 2009 and Head of Mergers & Acquisitions since 2012. While at Needham, Jack has assisted emerging growth companies complete over 100 equity financings and advisory transactions totaling over $75 billion in value in a variety of industries. He has also sponsored over 25 principal investments made through the firm’s Private Equity Partnership, Needham Capital Partners, and has sat on the board of directors or been an observer to the board of directors of six companies. Jack previously worked within the financial services line of business at KPMG Peat Marwick LLP. He received a B.S. in Accounting from Pace University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York. Jack is a member of the Metro New York Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization.

Chad Keck joined Needham & Company in 1991. He has taken an active role in developing the firm’s business in Asia and in the Alternative Energy Sector, particularly solar. Since opening the Menlo Park office in 1991, he has been involved in over 100 transactions, including 30 initial public offerings. Prior to joining Needham, he was a managing director and head of Prudential Bache’s San Francisco Investment Banking Group. Other investment banking experience includes three years in First Boston’s Technology Group, and founding and co-heading Smith Barney’s Technology Financing Group. Chad became Vice Chairman of Needham & Company in December 2005. He works with a broad cross-section of the firm’s clients, particularly in the semiconductor sector. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy and received an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Martin Keck rejoined Needham & Company in 2014. Mr. Keck focuses on Internet & SaaS companies within the Education Technology, Online Travel and Financial Technology verticals. Mr. Keck joined Needham from Expedia, Inc., the leading e-commerce travel site, where he was a director of corporate development. Prior to Expedia, Mr. Keck worked in Boston for Bain & Company focusing on private equity and growth strategy engagements. Earlier in his career, Mr. Keck worked for Silver Lake Partners and began his career at Needham as an investment banking analyst. Mr. Keck received his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a B.A. from Amherst College.

Jim King joined Needham & Company in 1993. Jim currently heads Needham’s activities related to Solar and Semiconductor Capital Equipment. While at Needham & Company, he has been responsible for the execution of over 100 equity financings and advisory transactions worth over $15 billion for technology companies. Additionally, Jim has significant technology operations and business strategy experience, working in strategic marketing at Silicon Graphics, in enterprise sales for a start-up software company, and serving for three years as CEO of a demand chain software company he founded. Jim holds an AB in Quantitative Economics and an MBA, both from Stanford University.

Mel Lavitt joined Needham & Company in 2009. Mel’s professional career in investment banking has included hundreds of capital market transactions accounting for several billion dollars of equity and debt financing. In July 2007, he was vice chairman and managing director of C.E. Unterberg, Towbin, when it was purchased by Collins Stewart, LLC. Upon completion of the transaction, he formed Lavitt Group, LLC to advise private and public companies in finding and securing financing, structuring, and negotiating investment terms and advising on investor marketing strategy, but as of January 2009, his primary business affiliation is as a Senior Advisor to Needham. Mel started his career in investment banking in 1959 at Bear Stearns and then joined C.E. Unterberg, Towbin in 1962 and continued as a general partner and administrative managing director following the merger with L.F. Rothschild in 1977 at L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin, Inc. until 1986. From June 1987 to August 1992, Mel ran his own financial advisory business, Lavitt Management Inc., before returning to C.E. Unterberg Towbin. He graduated from Brown University and serves as a Board member to several companies and institutions, including Jabil Circuit, Inc. and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, Utah.

Helen Li joined Needham & Company in 2011, with a focus on technology-focused banking and the Firm’s China practice. Since joining Needham, Helen has completed over 20 transactions, including complex M&A advisory assignments for cross-border public and private companies and public and private financings. Prior to Needham, she worked for over seven years in the semiconductor industry, serving in multiple roles, including R&D, technical marketing, and strategic sales at Micron Technology, Marvell Semiconductor and InvenSense. She also worked for top-tier China VC firms, Qiming Ventures and Gobi Partners on industry research, deal sourcing and due diligence. Ms. Li received her MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, MSEE from the University of Southern California, and B.A. from Tsinghua University.

Andrew Malik was named Chairman of Needham & Company in 2008. Prior to Needham, he spent 21 years at Lehman Brothers, where he was a partner and subsequently managing director. During his time at Lehman, Mr. Malik’s duties included serving as head of Technology Capital Markets and head of the Banking Development Group. Prior to Lehman Brothers, he ran Capital Markets and Institutional Sales for C.E. Unterberg, Towbin (which became L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin) from 1971 to 1987. Earlier in his career, Mr. Malik was a security analyst with Josephthal & Co. and a partner in charge of Institutional Sales with Muriel Siebert & Co. A well respected Wall Street veteran, he has worked on more than one thousand equity, debt, and M&A transactions. In addition, he has served on the Board of Directors of several technology companies and venture firms, including a number of years as chairman of the Audit Committee of Hummingbird, Inc. Mr. Malik also lectures extensively on college campuses on a variety of topics related to corporate finance.

Pooyan Mehdizadeh rejoined Needham & Company in September 2012. Prior to joining Needham & Company as a senior member of the M&A group, Pooyan was a managing director at ThinkEquity and has more than 19 years of investment banking experience. He has successfully represented public and private companies in over 90 completed transactions across the full spectrum of financing and advisory assignments, including acquisitions, exclusive sales, divestitures, spin-offs, take-over defense assignments and cross-border transactions. Earlier in his career, he was a consultant at Accenture plc. Pooyan earned a B.S. in Information and Computer Sciences from the University of California, Irvine.

Matt Ochsner joined Needham & Company in 2013. He is a member of Needham’s Internet & Digital Media team and focuses primarily on the advertising technology sector. Prior to joining Needham, Mr. Ochsner held various digital marketing roles at Google, AKQA, and Yahoo!. Mr. Ochsner is a graduate of Villanova University and holds an MBA from Golden Gate University.

Navdeep Saini joined Needham & Company in 2007. At Needham, his responsibilities include the origination and execution of financing and M&A transactions. Prior to Needham, Navdeep has worked with technology companies, Motorola and Freescale Semiconductor, where he held positions in engineering and chip design. In the summer of 2006, he worked with a venture capital fund, where he analyzed investment opportunities for technology companies and supported portfolio companies. Navdeep holds a BE in Electronics Engineering from PEC, India, and an MBA in Finance from Duke University.

Chris Smajdor joined Needham & Company in 2008.  In his role as a Managing Director on the investment banking team, Chris works with both private and public Internet, Digital Media and Software companies, advising across a range of capital markets and M&A transactions.  Areas of significant focus include growth equity financings, initial public offerings, public follow-on offerings and both sell-side and buy-side M&A.  Prior to joining Needham & Company, Chris worked for AllianceBernstein, a global asset management firm.

Mike Staff joined Needham & Company in 2006. His responsibilities include the origination and execution of public and private financings, and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Needham, Mike worked as a research associate for Aurora Investment Management, LLC (formerly known as Harris Alternatives, LLC), a $10 billion fund of hedge funds. He possesses a Masters in Finance from the ICMA Center at the University of Reading and graduated from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Arts in Government. He has passed Level 2 of the Chartered Financial Analyst program.

Matt Stavris joined Needham & Company in 2017. He is a member of Needham’s Software & Services group, focusing primarily on the Digital Health sector. Prior to joining Needham, Matt held various strategy, operations and partnership management roles at athenahealth, Inc., a leading cloud-based practice management and care coordination services company. He holds an AB from Princeton University and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Ryan Walters joined Needham & Company in 2011. Ryan is a member of Needham’s Mergers & Acquisitions team and focuses on the execution of a wide range of advisory assignments for growth companies both public and private. Prior to Needham, Ryan began his career at Moody’s Investors Service. Ryan graduated from the Stern School of Business at New York University with an MBA in International Finance and Banking and from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College with a BS in Management, concentrating in Finance and Marketing.

Erick Volp joined Needham & Company in 2018. He leads Needham’s Financial Sponsors coverage within the investment bank. Erick joined Needham from Crito Capital, a boutique placement agent, where he was a Director responsible for private markets fund and direct deal origination as well as institutional investor coverage. Prior to Crito, Erick was a relationship management professional at GCM Grosvenor Private Markets (formerly known as Credit Suisse Customized Fund Investment Group), a $21 billion private equity funds of funds group. He began his career at AllianceBernstein, a global asset management firm. Erick received a B.A. in Government from Hamilton College.

Jack Andrews joined Needham & Company in 2017, where he covers big data and infrastructure software companies. Jack ranked second for earnings estimating in the software sector in the 2017 Thomson Reuters Analyst Awards. Previously, he was a senior research analyst at D.A. Davidson, and led that firm’s software equity research efforts across the big data/analytics, applications, and security sectors. Prior to D.A. Davidson, Jack co-founded and co-managed a long/short equity hedge fund focused on technology. He also worked in equity research at JP Morgan and Citigroup, following software and IT services companies. Prior to his technology research experience, Jack worked at Credit Suisse as a software developer and tester. He received his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with three bachelor’s degrees.

Serge Belanger joined Needham & Company in 2009, where he covers the specialty pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals industries. Prior to Needham, Serge worked as a research associate at Fulcrum Global Partners and Susquehanna International Group covering the biotech and specialty pharma healthcare sectors. Previously, Serge joined Adolor Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, as a senior research scientist, where he was involved with the discovery and development of novel opioid receptor targeted molecules and non-opioid pain therapeutics. Serge graduated from McGill University with a BSc, Biochemistry/Pharmacology, and an MSc, Pharmacology and Therapeutics. He obtained his MBA in Finance from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Scott Berg joined Needham & Company in 2015, where he covers the SaaS, application software, and human capital management industries. Previously, he was senior research analyst at Northland Capital Markets covering enterprise/application software. Prior to Northland, he was senior research analyst with Feltl & Company and research analyst/associate with ThinkEquity, both with a focus on enterprise software. Before his Wall Street career, Scott held a variety of internal IT management positions for 10 years. He holds an MBA in Finance and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Minnesota.

Quinn Bolton has been with Needham & Company since 2004 covering communication ICs and consumer semiconductor companies. Prior to Needham, he was a senior semiconductor analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., covering large capitalization, diversified semiconductor companies. Before joining Oppenheimer, Quinn was a senior analyst at CIBC World Markets, where he covered large capitalization semiconductor, personal computer device and communication IC companies. Prior to at CIBC, he was a research associate at BT Alex. Brown and held various positions in corporate finance, equity capital markets, and equity research at Salomon Brothers. He received undergraduate degrees in Electrical Engineering and Quantitative Economics from Stanford University in 1993 and is a CFA.

Alan Carr has been with Needham & Company since 2006, covering the biotechnology industry. From 2001 to 2006 Alan worked in Yale’s technology transfer group, the Office of Cooperative Research, where he out-licensed a number of technologies and therapeutic product candidates developed in Yale labs and helped establish start-up companies in the New Haven area. Prior to that he was at J. Bush & Co., a New Haven investment firm, where he covered companies in the research tool and healthcare space. His post-doctoral work was centered on the regulation of neuronal development during embryogenesis. He earned his undergraduate degree at Albion College and earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University.

Brad Erickson joined Needham & Company, LLC in 2018 covering Internet Services. Most recently, he spent eight years with KeyBanc Capital Markets (and Pacific Crest Securities) in senior research and research associate positions covering digital markets, IoT themes, global payments, and wireless equipment. Prior to that, Brad worked in account executive and sales roles. He received his B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University in 2001.

Rajvindra Gill joined Needham & Company’s Semiconductor Research Group in August 2008. Prior to Needham, Rajvindra was an analyst at Jefferies & Company and Credit Suisse where he covered the communication equipment and IT Hardware industries, respectively. Before coming to Wall Street, Rajvindra spent five years at Lucent Technologies where he was a business development manager in the mobile applications division and CFO for the SONET optical product line. According to TipRanks.com, Rajvindra has a five-star ranking among Wall Street analysts globally and was one of the top 100 Wall Street analysts in both 2017 and 2019 (ranked 46 out of 6,000 analysts in 2019, and ranked 20 in 2017). He has been interviewed on CNBC’s Squawk Alley, Squawk on the Street, Closing Bell, Power Lunch, Fast Money, Bloomberg, Fox Business, CNBC Asia, for his insights on the semiconductor industry and is quoted extensively in leading business publications including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Forbes and Reuters. Rajvindra received a Master of Science in Finance from Babson College and undergraduate degrees in Finance and Information Technology from George Washington University.

Alex Henderson joined Needham & Company in 2012, where he covers the networking and security technology industries. Prior to joining Needham, Alex worked at Miller Tabak, Citigroup and Prudential Securities, where he worked as a senior research analyst and served as Prudential’s director of technology research. He has been a senior technology analyst for over 25 years and ranked in the Institutional Investor All-Star Poll 17 times with #1 rank 11 times. He has also been elected to the Institutional Investor Hall of Fame. Alex was ranked #1 in the 2013 FT/StarMine Analyst Awards for stock picking in the Communications Equipment category. He started his career as a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group. He received a B.A. in Physics and Applied Mathematics from Bard College and an MBA from Vanderbilt University.

Ryan MacDonald joined Needham & Company in 2018, where he covers the enterprise software market with a focus on vertical SaaS applications. Ryan joined Needham from Dougherty & Company, where he was a senior research analyst covering vertical SaaS and business services. Prior to Dougherty, he was a senior research analyst at Wunderlich Securities, an associate research analyst at Sterne, Agee & Leach, and a research analyst/associate at Northland Capital Markets, covering a number of technology subsectors. Ryan holds a B.A. in Financial Management from the University of St. Thomas.

Tom Maloney joined Needham & Company in 1999. He is a member of the firm’s Operating Committee and Investment Policy Committee. Prior to being named Director of Equity Research in 2006, he worked on the institutional sales desk at Needham, helping to disseminate the firm’s research ideas to institutional investors. Tom held similar roles at Tucker Anthony, Smith Barney, and Oppenheimer before joining Needham. His career began at Pepsi Cola as a business manager. He received a B.A. in Economics from Brown University in 1988 and also earned an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School in 1993.

Laura Martin received her B.A. from Stanford and her MBA from Harvard Business School, and she is a CFA and CMT. Martin began her career at Drexel Burnham Lambert in media investment banking, followed by Capital Research & Management, where she advised $100 billion and managed a $500 million portfolio of media stocks. She moved to Credit Suisse First Boston in 1994 as the senior media analyst, where she was nationally ranked by Institutional Investor between 1999 and 2001. In 2002, Martin moved to Paris to become EVP of Financial Strategy and Investor Relations for Vivendi Universal. In 2004, she founded Media Metrics, LLC publishing equity research on the largest entertainment, cable and Internet stocks in the U.S., where she was nationally ranked as “Best of the Independent Research Boutiques” by Institutional Investor for many years. In 2009, Martin moved to Needham & Company, where she publishes research on the largest Internet and Entertainment companies.

Mike Matson joined Needham & Company in 2013 covering medical technologies. Prior to joining Needham, Mike spent nine years covering the medical supplies and devices industry for Mizuho Securities and Wells Fargo Securities. He previously worked in the medical device industry for Stryker’s Orthopaedics and Endoscopy divisions in marketing and product development. Mike has received multiple awards for stock picking and earnings estimate accuracy. Most recently, he was ranked first for stock picking in the Health Care Equipment & Supplies sector in the 2017 Thomson Reuters Analyst Awards. He was also ranked tenth in the TipRanks Top Ten Analysts of 2016 (across all sectors), third for earnings estimate accuracy in the Health Care Equipment & Supplies sector in the 2014 Thomson Reuters Analyst Awards, first for earnings estimate accuracy in the Health Care Equipment & Supplies sector in the 2013 Thomson Reuters Analyst Awards, second for stock picking in the Health Care Equipment & Supplies sector in the 2008 Thomson Reuters Analyst Awards, and fourth in the medical device sector for stock picking in the 2007 Wall Street Journal “Best on the Street.” Mike has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University with a minor in Economics and  MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business with a concentration in Health Sector Management. Mike holds a medical device patent (U.S. patent 6,919,914).

Matt McGinley joined Needham & Company in 2019, where he covers the cannabis industry. He previously worked at Evercore ISI and Morgan Stanley covering consumer stocks where he was primarily focused on restaurants and retail. Prior to business school, he worked in brand management at Kraft Foods in the beverage category, and was an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army before leaving the military in 2004 at the rank of Captain. He holds an M.B.A. from New York University and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh.

Chad Messer joined Needham & Company in April 2012. He has over a dozen years of corporate and Wall Street experience with the biotech industry. From 2006 until joining Needham, he worked at Piper Jaffray & Co. as a research analyst covering biotechnology. In 2000, he joined Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, where he held a number of positions, including manager of corporate development. He was ranked #2 for earnings estimating in Biotechnology in the 2017 Thomson Reuters Analyst Awards. He earned his Ph.D. at Yale in Pharmacology, MBA from New York University, and undergraduate degree in Biology from Yale.

Rick Patel joined Needham & Company in 2017, where he covers the specialty retail and global brand sectors. He was previously at CLSA Americas, where he covered specialty retail, apparel, luxury, and activewear. Prior to this, he was a senior research analyst at Stephens covering the specialty retail/softlines sector. From 2007 to 2013, Rick was a senior analyst for small/mid-cap retail at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Earlier in his career, Rick was a healthcare analyst at Lehman Brothers, first as an associate on the major pharmaceuticals team and then as a senior analyst covering life science tools and diagnostics. Rick holds an MBA from NYU-Stern, and a B.S. in Finance, B.A. in Economics, and B.S. in Biology from Rutgers University.

Jim Ricchiuti joined Needham & Company’s equity research team in May 1999. Prior to joining Needham, Jim was with Lehman Brothers for over five years, where he focused on technology companies in the imaging and electronics businesses. His previous experience includes Bear Stearns from 1986 to 1993 covering a number of small-cap and mid-cap companies. He was ranked #3 for stock picking in the Electronic Equipment & Instruments sector in the 2017 Thomson Reuters Analyst Awards. He also worked at Argus Research in the mid-1980s. Jim is a graduate of St. John’s University.

Mayank Tandon joined Needham & Company in 2011, where he covers the financial technology and payments software and services industries. Previously, Mayank was a research analyst at Signal Hill covering the financial technology/IT services and BPO sectors. Prior to Signal Hill, he was the software and services equity research analyst/select portfolio manager at Fidelity Investments, where he led the software and services research effort and managed the select software and computer services fund for two years. Before joining Fidelity, Mayank spent several years at Janney Montgomery Scott as an analyst covering IT services companies with a focus on consulting and outsourcing. He was ranked #1 in the 2013 FT/StarMine Analyst Awards for earnings estimating in the IT Services category. He holds an M.A. in Economics from Northeastern and a B.A. in Economics from University of Bombay.

Richard Valera has been with Needham & Company since 1997 covering Communications Equipment and Technical Software. Prior to Needham he spent nine years in the EDA industry, most recently as a senior applications consultant at Synopsys, an industry-leading provider of logic synthesis and verification tools. Prior to Synopsys, he was employed at Viewlogic Systems and RacalRedac/HHB Systems in a variety of technical and marketing capacities. Richard has been recognized twice for his stock selection skill in The Wall Street Journal’s All-Star Analyst survey. Richard was ranked #2 in the 2013 FT/StarMine Analyst Awards for stock picking in the Communications Equipment category. He has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA in Finance from Rutgers University.

Stephen Unger joined Needham & Company, LLC in 2018 covering Life Science & Diagnostic Tools and Drug Development Services. He has over 20 years of financial and healthcare industry experience through roles in investment banking, public accounting, and industry. He is the former CFO of Quotient Limited, a diagnostics company developing a next-generation technology platform for the global blood transfusion market. From 2009 to 2012, he was a senior equity research analyst at Lazard Capital Markets, following the medical diagnostics, life science tools, pharmaceutical services, and healthcare information technology industries. From 1998 to 2008, he covered these industries at Bear Stearns & Co. He received a BBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA with Honors from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Vincent Shenghao Yu joined Needham & Company, LLC in 2018, where he covers the Chinese Technology, Media, Telecommunications industries. Prior to Needham, Vincent worked as Associate Director at Oppenheimer & Company, covering the US and China Technology, Media, Telecommunications sectors. Prior to that, he worked at 7Park Data, a leading data-driven investment research firm which was later acquired by Vista Equity Partners as a research analyst. Vincent started his career as an investment analyst at Sureview Capital, a tiger cub long short hedge fund. He graduated from China University of Political Science and Law with a Bachelor degree in Economics and obtained his Master degree in Financial Engineering from New York University.

Greg Giannakopoulos joined Needham & Company in 2015 as a member of the firm’s Operating Committee and Partnership.  He leads Needham & Company’s Institutional sales, sales trading, corporate access and corporate services units, responsible for delivering equity research, corporate access, execution services and investment banking products and services to the firm’s institutional clients. Greg has 20 years of global markets and equity capital markets experience (public and private).  Prior to joining Needham & Company, Greg spent two years at Raymond James and 14 years at Deutsche Bank in various banking, sales and leadership roles. He started his career in ECM origination, and later transitioned into important roles in equity research and prime finance sales. From 2010 to 2012, Greg led Deutsche Bank’s North American Middle Markets sales desk. During this period, Greg served as a member of Deutsche Bank’s Americas Cash Equity Executive Committee. Greg earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Richmond. While at Princeton, Greg was a three-time letter winner as a member of its Ivy Championship football team. Greg is a Life Member of the Princeton Varsity Club.

Andrew Malik was named Chairman of Needham & Company in 2008. Prior to Needham, he spent 21 years at Lehman Brothers, where he was a partner and subsequently managing director. During his time at Lehman, Mr. Malik’s duties included serving as head of Technology Capital Markets and head of the Banking Development Group. Prior to Lehman Brothers, he ran Capital Markets and Institutional Sales for C.E. Unterberg, Towbin (which became L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin) from 1971 to 1987. Earlier in his career, Mr. Malik was a security analyst with Josephthal & Co. and a partner in charge of Institutional Sales with Muriel Siebert & Co. A well respected Wall Street veteran, he has worked on more than one thousand equity, debt, and M&A transactions. In addition, he has served on the Board of Directors of several technology companies and venture firms, including a number of years as chairman of the Audit Committee of Hummingbird, Inc. Mr. Malik also lectures extensively on college campuses on a variety of topics related to corporate finance.

Kevin McGrath joined Needham & Company in 2019. He leads Needham and Company’s corporate and venture services unit, responsible for delivering Needham’s capabilities to the firm’s corporate and venture clients. Kevin has 25 years of public and private capital markets experience, most recently at JPMorgan, where he led the directed share plan team and sales for corporate sponsored 10b5-1 sales. Kevin also worked at Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney and Banc of America Securities in similar roles as a financial advisor focused on corporate services. Kevin earned his undergraduate degree from Southern Connecticut University State University.