Bio

John Phillips has almost three decades of middle market investment banking experience, providing merger & acquisition advisory and capital raising services to his clients principally across the food & beverage, pet food & products, consumer health and consumer products & services landscapes. His clients cover the spectrum from private emerging growth companies and their family/entrepreneur owners to public strategic players; he also advises leading private equity funds who employ specific investment theses centered around the consumer. From March 2017 until re-joining BENTLEY ASSOCIATES in April 2018, Mr. Phillips provided his consumer clients with M&A advisory services through his own firm, SANKATY ASSOCIATES. Previously, he was a Managing Director in the consumer sector investment banking groups of OPPENHEIMER, BMO CAPITAL MARKETS, BENTLEY and PAINEWEBBER. Earlier in his career, he worked in the Corporate Finance Department of SMITH BARNEY, as well as in the Principal Investments Group, the Mergers & Acquisitions Department and the Corporate Finance Department of OPPENHEIMER & CO. (during which tenure he served as a Director of ArvinAir). Mr. Phillips continued his career after business school in the Investment Banking Department of DREXEL BURNHAM LAMBERT. Mr. Phillips earned his AB at COLGATE UNIVERSITY and his MBA at COLUMBIA BUSINESS SCHOOL.