Ernie Panos joined the company as a Managing Director in November 2009. Mr. Panos has over 17 years of experience in financial services. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Panos was a Managing Director at HighPoint Capital Management, LLC focusing on providing debt solutions to private equity groups in the lower middle market. Mr. Panos’ responsibilities included transaction origination, due diligence, and the negotiation and structuring of financing agreements. Prior to joining HighPoint Capital, Mr. Panos was a Managing Director at NewStar Financial, Inc. where he was a direct originator of middle market leveraged finance transactions in the healthcare industry. Prior to joining NewStar, Mr. Panos spent four years with Bariston Partners, a private equity firm in Boston, where he founded and led the firm’s healthcare services group and worked on a number of management-led buyouts in the healthcare, media and communications, and business service industries. Prior to Bariston, Mr. Panos worked at Wachovia Securities, A.G. Edwards & Sons, J.P. Morgan Securities and Salomon Brothers in capital markets and M&A capacities, completing transactions that totaled approximately $7.0 billion. Mr. Panos earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BS in finance, investments and economics from Babson College.