Partners

Brendan is the founder and a managing partner at Riparian Partners, LLC. in Providence, Rhode Island, where he established the mergers and acquisitions advisory firm in 1993.   Brendan has concentrated his efforts in the investment-banking field with mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and the private placement of both debt and equity for privately held companies.  Throughout his career, he has managed approximately 100 principal engagement responsibilities with greater than $1 billion in transaction value.
  
Before founding Riparian Partners, Brendan served as a Principal at a local regional investment banking firm, DWQ Associates. Previously, he was a Senior Lender in the Commercial Banking Group of Bank of Boston/Rhode Island Hospital Trust National Bank.  While at Bank of Boston, he specialized in structured financing, leveraged buyouts, ESOP’s and tax-exempt financing.  From 1984-1986, Brendan helped to provide lease financing to both government and private sector organizations across the nation in the Specialized Lending Department at Old Stone Bank. He is an active board member of several privately held companies and has served on the board of several dozen charitable and civic organizations.  
 
He is a Series 63 and 79 Registered Securities Representative with BML Securities LLC. Brendan received an MBA from Babson College, specializing in Finance, and earned a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire.

Rob is a veteran of the financial services industry for over thirty years. He was most recently Group Head and Managing Director, leading the Financial Institutions and Real Estate Investment Banking practice at Oppenheimer and Co in Boston. Before joining Oppenheimer in 2013, Rob headed the Boston branch investment banking practice of RBC Capital Markets and led the firm’s national specialty finance investment banking practice since RBC entered the U.S. in 2001 through the acquisition of his predecessor firm, Tucker Anthony Sutro. His middle market investment banking expertise includes all forms of equity capital raising, including ipos, private placements, follow-on offerings, convertible and preferred securities, as well as deep merger and acquisition/strategic advisory experience. Rob is Series 7 and Series 24 licensed.   Prior to joining Tucker Anthony Sutro, Rob was a Vice President and Team leader in a unit of Citicorp’s middle market banking effort. A graduate of Bates College, where he played varsity basketball, Rob has also earned an M.A. from Middlebury College (’85) and an M.B.A. from Stern School of Business at NYU (’92).
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A former Klingenstein Scholar at Teachers College at Columbia University, Rob has been teaching part time at Boston College’s Carroll School of Business for the last six years as an adjunct instructor in its Finance Department. As a Bates College Key member and Alumni in Admissions volunteer, Rob remains very active in Bates College. He was a member of the Alumni Council, former co-Chairman of the Mount David Society and winner of the Bruce Stangle and Bates Best awards.

Tom brings more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry with an expertise in distribution business advisory as a partner at Riparian. 

Prior to joining Riparian, Tom served as President of the Eagle Electric Supply Division of Sonepar Distribution US, Inc.  In 1996, he was elected President and COO of the company after ten years with Eagle Electric.  Previously, Tom was a Commercial Lending Officer in the National Division at Shawmut Bank, N.A. in Boston where his clients included Fortune 500 companies.  His banking career began at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co. in New York with lending responsibilities to middle market companies in the Midwest. Additionally, Tom is the director of several privately held corporations.  

He is a Series 63 and 79 Registered Securities Representative with BML Securities LLC.  Tom received a B.A. in Economics from Williams College in 1982. ​

Bob is a former C-suite financial services executive with deep commercial banking expertise and a record of delivering value and industry-leading returns in competitive markets. An analytic and action-oriented leader, Bob is known for applying insight and sound judgment in starting, growing or exiting businesses, diversifying revenue streams, and building effective regulatory frameworks. He’s an experienced communicator and talent magnet, adept at building diverse and inclusive teams backed by effective incentive and performance standards.

In senior roles at CIT Bank, Santander Bank, and Citizens Financial over the last 13 years, Bob has been instrumental in transforming businesses, executing strategic acquisitions and divestitures, remediating longstanding regulatory issues, and delivering share growth with high, sustainable returns. Since leaving CIT Group in 2020, he has been a Managing Partner at Riparian Partners, a leading middle market M&A advisory firm in Providence, RI.

As President of top U.S. banks, Bob actively employed M&A and divestiture activity to add scale, accelerate efficiencies, obtain critical new channels, products and capabilities, and exit non-strategic or capital inefficient businesses. Bob is a series 24, 7, 79 and 63 registered securities representative. Bob received a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Providence College and a Master’s Degree in Economics from the London School of Economics.