Jim D’Aquila is Managing Director, Investment Banking specializing in the Consumer sector based out of Imperial Capital’s Minneapolis office. Prior to Imperial Capital, Mr. D’Aquila was founder of The Mercanti Group, a mergers and acquisitions and capital markets advisory firm. Mr. D’Aquila is an industry veteran with over 25 years of investment and merchant banking experience with Credit Suisse First Boston, Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette (DLJ), Dain Rauscher, Drexel Burnham and E.F. Hutton.

Nicole Fry is Managing Director, Investment Banking Group in Imperial Capital’s Los Angeles office, focusing on the Consumer Industry. Prior to joining Imperial Capital, Ms. Fry was a Vice President in the Mid-Cap Investment Banking Group at Banc of America Securities where she was involved in debt and equity underwriting, syndicated financing and mergers and acquisitions advisory services for the firm's middle market clients. Prior to Banc of America, Ms. Fry was in the Investment Banking Division at Bear, Stearns & Co. and an analyst in the Financial Buyers Group at Smith Barney Inc. Ms. Fry received her B.A. in Economics and M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles and a graduate diploma in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Christy Lowe is Managing Director, Investment Banking Group in Imperial Capital’s Los Angeles office, focusing on the Consumer Industry. Ms. Lowe has over 15 years of consumer products investment banking experience. Ms. Lowe joined Imperial Capital in 2007 as part of the firm’s acquisition of certain assets from USBX Inc., an investment banking firm focused on mergers and acquisitions. She was a Managing Director and founding partner of USBX, heading up the Consumer Products Group. Before USBX, Ms. Lowe worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co., primarily focused in the consumer products arena. Prior to this, Ms. Lowe worked with the private equity firm McCown De Leeuw, focusing on consolidation plays and add-on acquisitions in various industries, including food and beverage and business services. Ms. Lowe earned her M.B.A from Stanford Business School and a B.S. in Finance from the Wharton School of Business.

Brian Wood is Managing Director, Investment Banking, based out of Imperial Capital’s Los Angeles office with a specialization in the Consumer sector. Mr. Wood has advised a diverse group of companies across a wide variety of industries with a primary specialization in the Health & Wellness industry. Prior to joining Imperial Capital, Mr. Wood was a Managing Director at The Mercanti Group (“Mercanti”), a mergers and acquisitions and capital markets advisory firm. Mr. Wood joined Mercanti in May 2007 to increase its presence in the Health & Wellness, Consumer Products and Gaming sectors. Prior to that, Mr. Wood was with Seidler Capital where he advised middle market companies on a broad range of corporate finance transactions including buy-side and sell-side M&A, private and public capital raising, debt financings and fairness opinions. Prior to Seidler, Brian worked as an Associate in Enron’s Global Finance division providing corporate development strategy and transaction structuring. Mr. Wood received a B.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University, where he graduated Beta Gamma Sigma.

Eric Groman is a Vice President in Imperial Capital’s Los Angeles office, focusing on the Consumer Products sector. Prior to joining Imperial in 2009, Mr. Groman was a Principal in the Mercanti Group’s Los Angeles office. Mr. Groman brings over eight years of investment banking experience, having advised clients across a range of sell-side and buy-side M&A transactions, equity and debt private placements, and other strategic advisory engagements. At Mercanti, Mr. Groman’s efforts were focused primarily on the Health & Wellness, Personal Care, Gaming and other consumer products sectors. Mr. Groman’s recent transaction experience has included the sale of Health Resources to Castanea Partners, the sale of NAC Marketing Co. to Baird Capital Partners, the sale of Western Money to Global Cash Access, and the recapitalization of 4Life Research by Chase Capital. Prior to joining Mercanti, Mr. Groman was a Vice President in the corporate finance group of Seidler Capital, and he began his investment banking career in the Mergers & Acquisitions groups at CIBC World Markets and Prudential Volpe Technology Group. Mr. Groman graduated cum laude from Harvard University where he received a B.A. in Economics.