Stephen Deckoff Bio

Mr. Deckoff is the Managing Principal of Black Diamond and is responsible for all portfolio management and business operations. Mr. Deckoff has held or is currently on the board of a number of Black Diamond portfolio companies, including ION Media, Werner Ladder, Bayou Steel, SmarteCarte, SunWorld and PTC Alliance, amongst others. Prior to the founding of Black Diamond in 1995, Mr. Deckoff was a Senior Vice President of Kidder, Peabody & Co. Inc. At Kidder, Mr. Deckoff was head of the Structured Finance Group. Under Mr. Deckoff’s direction, the group was responsible for new issue origination, transaction structuring and trading for all non-first mortgage-related assets. Prior to joining Kidder, Mr. Deckoff was a Managing Director in the Structured Finance Group at Bear Stearns & Co., Inc. where his responsibilities included all phases of transaction development and group management. Before joining Bear Stearns, Mr. Deckoff worked in the Structured Finance Department of Chemical Securities, Inc. and the Fixed Income Research Department at Drexel Burnham Lambert. Mr. Deckoff has a B.S. in Operations Research from the Engineering School at Cornell University.