Professionals

Ira Leiderman – Founder and Managing Director, Mr. Leiderman was co-head of the Healthcare Group at Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. in New York City.  He joined Ladenburg when they acquired Punk Ziegel & Company in May 2008. He joined Punk Ziegel one year prior to the Ladenburg acquisition.  At Punk Ziegel he was Head of Healthcare and sat on the Firm’s management committee. Prior to Punk Ziegel, Ira ran the strategic consulting and corporate finance practice of the Trout Group.  Prior to Trout, he was at the Palladin Group, an investment management firm where he oversaw investment transactions in public and private life sciences companies. Prior to Palladin, he was the senior healthcare banker at Gerard Klauer Mattison (now part of BMO).   Ira has served as a director of a number of private companies and currently serves on the board of several not-for-profit organizations.

Avi Kent – Vice President,  Mr. Kent has 10 years of private equity and financial advisory experience.  Prior to joining Long Trail Advisors, Mr. Kent served as a Principal with North Bay Equity Partners where he was responsible for leading transaction execution and due diligence efforts.  Prior to joining North Bay Equity Partners, Mr. Kent served as an Associate in Ladenburg Thalmann's investment banking group, working on public and private equity, private debt placements, mergers and acquisitions and restructurings through multiple industries including, Life Sciences, Technology, Telecommunications, Consumer Products and Energy.  Mr. Kent began his career working for SG Cowen’s Private Equity Group, where he participated in marketing over twenty equity financings for both private and public companies, primarily in the technology and life sciences sectors.  Mr. Kent earned his MBA from The University of Miami  and received a Bachelor of Arts from The George Washington University.

Michael Petrelli – Associate, Prior to joining Long Trail Advisors, Mr. Petrelli  served as a Healthcare Banking Analyst working at Punk Ziegel, a boutique full service Healthcare specific investment bank. The group specialized in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions for micro-cap to mid cap Life Science companies. Mr. Petrelli continued this role when Punk Ziegel was acquired by Ladenburg Thalmann in 2008. Prior to joining Punk Ziegel and Ladenburg Thalmann, Mr. Petrelli held positions at Thomson Financial in their Capital Markets Intelligence consulting group, focusing on consulting for small to large cap Biotechnology companies. Mr. Petrelli earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Trinity College.