BANKERS
CYRIL JONES
cyril@rkjpartners.com
Cyril Jones possesses more than 15 years of professional experience. Mr. Jones is the Founder and Managing Partner of RKJ Partners, LLC. In addition to his responsibilities at RKJ, Jones served as interim CFO for Advanced Engineering Design, Inc. Prior to forming RKJ, Jones operated as a strategic consultant for two southeast based private equity firms: Brighton Partners, LLC and Five Paces Ventures. As a strategic consultant, Jones advised Brighton and Five Paces on acquisitions in the transportation/logistics industry segment. Prior to the consultancy engagements, Jones operated as President and Founding Partner of Jones + Ingram Logistics, an asset-based truckload carrier and freight brokerage company. Jones successfully merged Jones + Ingram's operations with Orbis Transportation, LLC , an Atlanta based asset-based freight carrier. Prior to forming Jones + Ingram, Jones operated as an investment banker with Wachovia Securities, Inc. As an investment banker, Jones was involved in leadership roles with various investment banking transactions which totaled more than $3 billion in transaction value: buy-side and sell-side M&A, fairness opinions, recapitalizations, capital raises - debt/equity and structuring securities - debt/equity. Transactional experience at Wachovia spanned a diverse set of industries: transportation/logistics, business services, internet, wireline and wireless telecom services, telecom equipment, textiles and media. Before joining Wachovia Securities, Jones served in similar positions with BancAmerica Securities and Wheat First Union Securities.
Jones earned a B.B.A. in Finance from Howard University in Washington, DC and an M.B.A. in Finance from The Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. Jones was also the recipient of the NationsBank (Bank of America) Scholarship at Wake Forest.
GREGORY FICKLIN
greg@rkjpartners.com
Gregory Ficklin is a Managing Partner at RKJ Partners. Ficklin's in-depth knowledge and transaction experience is highlighted by his work with diverse clients across multiple industries, including specialty retail, consumer textiles, paper and plastic products, wholesale distributors, and business services. Mr. Ficklin brings more than 15 years of professional experience advising companies through strategic related transactions and initiatives. Prior to joining RKJ, Ficklin served in several leadership and advisory roles at The Home Depot providing executive-level guidance on Mergers & Acquisitions, Capital Strategy, Economic & Market Analysis and Corporate Finance. Prior to joining The Home Depot, Ficklin served as Principal and interim CFO for Gyre Capital Management (formerly Vision Fuel Capital), an Atlanta-based firm that provided research, consulting and advisory services to early-stage, emerging growth companies seeking venture capital and private equity funding.
Ficklin possesses both bulge bracket and middle-market investment banking experience, starting his career as a banker with Salomon Brothers' High Yield Capital Markets and Syndications group in New York City, then moving on to the Mergers & Acquisition group with regional investment bank Wachovia Securities in Atlanta. At Wachovia, Ficklin's focus was middle-market transactions including both buy-side and sell-side acquisitions, divestitures, valuations and various strategic advisory assignments.
Ficklin earned a B.B.A. in Finance from Howard University in Washington, DC where he was a National Competitive Scholarship recipient. He received his M.B.A from Harvard Business School (HBS) in Boston, MA.
ADVISOR(S)
Augustine Okwu
Augustine Okwu serves as a Strategic Advisor and Board Member of RKJ Partners. Okwu has 20 years of corporate finance experience as a sell-side equity analyst, fixed income analyst and corporate banker. In his last position, Okwu was a Managing Director at DRG&E, a boutique investor relations consultancy, where he crafted, implemented and managed strategic investor relations programs for client companies. Before joining DRG&E, Okwu was a Managing Director at Integrated Corporate Relations, Inc. (ICR). Prior to ICR, Okwu was a Senior Vice President and Director in the equity research department of Wachovia Securities covering the wireless and wireline services sectors. During that time, Okwu was nominated as "Best Up-and-Comer" wireless analyst in the Institutional Investor's 2001 All-America Research Team.
Previously, Okwu was a Managing Director and Fixed Income Analyst in Fitch Inc.'s fixed income group covering debt offerings issued by U.S. and Latin American telecommunications and media industries. While at Fitch, Okwu was frequently interviewed by Reuters and Bloomberg as well as other news services. Prior to that position, Okwu held senior banking positions at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and IBJ Schroder with transactional experience that covered wireless services, cable television, radio and television broadcasting, and movie financing.
Okwu received a B.A. in International Relations and Economics from Tufts University.
Wayne Paul
Wayne Paul serves as a Strategic Advisor and Board Member of RKJ Partners. Wayne Paul is the founder of Paulway Group, LLC, a supply chain management advisory services company. He has more than 30 years of experience in transportation services and logistics management that he utilizes to help his clients improve their operational performance. Before starting Paulway Group, he was vice president of transportation for The Home Depot. Prior to his role at The Home Depot, he was Vice President of Logistics for 7-Eleven, Inc. Wayne also had a stint in the dot.com arena when he served as area vice president and general manager for Webvan Group, Inc. where he led the launch of the Internet retailer's business in Chicago. Before Webvan, Paul served as senior vice president of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. with responsibility for new business development, client relations and customer retention. During his career with J.B. Hunt, he also served as vice president of operations for the dedicated contract services division and region director and business development executive. He joined J.B. Hunt as the director of operations in Mexico leading the efforts to organize and direct start-up operations for the dedicated contract services division in Mexico. In addition, Paul served in senior management-level positions in logistics at North American Van Lines, Inc., Burnham Service Corporation. His earlier career included roles of increasing responsibility for Ryder Integrated Logistics, McLean Trucking Company and Roadway Express, Inc.
Paul has a Bachelor's Degree in Transportation from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a Master's of Business Administration degree from The Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and a Master's of Biblical Counseling degree from Luther Rice Seminary in Atlanta, GA.
Paul holds numerous professional affiliations including the American Management Association, Academy of Management, Council of Logistics Management, Who's Who in International Business, the National Defense Transportation Association, the Logistics & Supply Chain Forum Conference Advisory Board, the Northwestern University - Transportation Center - Business Advisory Committee, and the Atlanta Regional Commission's Freight Advisory Task Force.
Paul is also active in the non-profit sector serving as Director of Operations for Simon's Branch, Inc. (SBI), established in 2002(a 501(c) 3 organization) is a faith-based organization. The organization has established relationships and partnerships with a variety of organizations in both South Africa and the United States that carries out aids education, home health care and other services on the African continent. He is also an advisor to Safe Water Now, Inc., a non-profit, 501(c) 3, corporation, that is working to bring desperately needed clean and safe drinking water to the people of developing nations via a strategy to implement local and sustainable enterprises that manufacture and distribute effective and accessible point of use ceramic water filters for use in the home.