About

Kevin J. Esval has served as Executive Managing Director and CCO of VelocityHealth Securities since founding the company in 2000. Mr. Esval has significant industry and investment banking experienced in most sectors of healthcare including specialty pharmaceuticals & generics, healthcare services, healthcare IT, diagnostics, biotechnology, and other sectors. With his extensive transactional and financing experience serving as a valuable resource, Mr. Esval takes an active role with all clients. Additionally, through his prior operating experience as an executive in growth oriented healthcare companies and active roles on boards of directors, Mr. Esval has developed a keen understanding of the challenges faced by middle market and growth companies. Mr. Esval has negotiated, structured, and executed various types of transactions including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and licensings; corporate and transactional financings, including equity, mezzanine and debt financings.

Previously, Mr. Esval served as a divisional SVP and COO for UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), one of the largest healthcare services companies in the world with annual revenues exceeding $240 billion. As one of the original startup executives of his division, Mr. Esval was instrumental in taking it from $0 to $400 million as of his departure. His career in healthcare began with a venture-backed startup Complete Health Services, Inc. This firm was one of Inc. Magazine’s “Fastest Growing Private Companies” in 1994. During this period, Mr. Esval was this company’s top sales executive, and managed the startup of two new divisions.
Additionally, Mr. Esval spent 5 years in sales, financial analysis, and trading roles at several financial derivatives companies, including Chicago based Rosenthal-Collins Group and R. J. O’Brien. During this period, his roles included working on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

Mr. Esval has served on the Board of Directors of multiple healthcare companies, and currently serves on the Board of Directors on several specialty pharmaceutical companies.

Mr. Esval received his BA degree from Furman University while on a football scholarship. Additionally, he studied internationally in Lausanne, Switzerland. Mr. Esval is a dual citizen of the USA and the Republic of Ireland.

Mr. Esval holds the Series 24, 79, 7, & 63 Licenses.

Mr. George serves as the CFO and FINOP of VelocityHealth Securities, and is founder and CEO of FINOP Services, LLC. Formerly, he worked as a Compliance Examiner in NASD (now FINRA) Regulation, Inc.’s Boston District office. While with NASD, he conducted routine examinations of NASD member firms, assisted in bringing new members into the Association. He was also a Senior Assistant Examiner for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Mr. George is a licensed CPA in the state of New Hampshire, and obtained his BS degree in Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire.

Mr. George holds the Series 27 & 63 Licenses.

Mr. Yakin is a Managing Director for VelocityHealth Securities, and he is focused on the life sciences sectors, including the diagnostic and pharmaceutical sectors where he is very experienced with generic and branded products. He began working with VHS in 2013 from his base in Taiwan where he maintains close ties with a network of industry contacts throughout the Asia-Pacific region and concentrates on identifying opportunities for cross-border deals.
Previously, Mr. Yakin held several positions within Novartis, the last role being Head BPA for the Diagnostics division’s APAC commercial organization based in Hong Kong. He had initially joined Novartis Vaccines in 2006 with key responsibilities in the areas of M&A valuation, partnering, strategic and capital planning just as the vaccines division entered a period of intensive renovation of its manufacturing network, expansion to new geographies, and portfolio expansion. Mr. Yakin first arrived in Asia in 2010 as a member of the Novartis integration team following an acquisition of a Chinese vaccines manufacturer. For that 2-year assignment, he concentrated on site investment planning and drove portfolio selection to maximize the value of this new asset. Mr. Yakin has routinely spoke on this subject at various conferences throughout the region. Prior work history includes extensive performance analytics and valuation within high-tech industries, and several years as an engineer focused on biological and physico-chemical process design.

Mr. Yakin earned a BA degree from the Furman University in Greenville, SC, as well as a Masters in Environmental Engineering from Clemson University and an MBA from University of Arizona.

Mr. Yakin holds the Series 79 & 63 Licenses.

Mr. Yakin served on the BIO Asia Advisory Committee in 2019.

Mr. Meyers is a Managing Director for VelocityHealth Securities, and he is focused on the capital markets in various healthcare sectors, including the pharmaceuticals. Mr. Meyers is a seasoned veteran of Wall Street, having worked in the financial securities industry for over 25 years. He most recently worked as the CFO of Legacy BioPharm, where he led the execution of their acquisition of WraSer Pharmaceuticals and Xspire Pharma. Additionally, he has worked in institutional equities at several bulge bracket Investment Banks including Bear Stearns, Credit Suisse First Boston, UBS, and Deutsche Bank. He was a partner and Managing Director at CRT Capital, a boutique investment banking firm, where he headed the equity trading desk overseeing proprietary and institutional facilitation trading, while coordinating with investment banking on IPO and follow on offerings.

Mr. Meyers has expertise in discovering, evaluating, negotiating and monetizing various types of financial assets. His capital markets experience provides comprehensive knowledge in modeling, capital raising, and structuring financial instruments.

Mr. Meyers received his BA degree from Providence College.

Mr. Meyers holds the Series 24, 55, 7 & 63 Licenses.

Mr. McTammany is a Managing Director for VelocityHealth Securities, and he is a generalist focused on financings of equity and debt. Also, Mr. McTammany is the Founder and CEO of McTammany Partner, a Florida based strategic advisory and recruiting firm that caters to the alternative investment community. He started the firm in 2009 and has over 15 years of experience placing long/short, fundamental and systematic, public equity and macro investing professionals within global hedge funds, asset managers and family offices.

Prior to launching McTammany Partners, Mr. McTammany was a founding member of CB Global Search in New York City, where he individually built and ran their Alternative Investments division. Before joining CB, Mr. McTammany worked at a single family office in Southern California that had over 5 million square feet of office, industrial and retail properties, at the time making it one of the largest single owner operators of private commercial real estate in the state of California. He was the apprentice to the CEO and General Counsel for 3 years, working on all aspects of acquisition and disposition diligence, portfolio management and operations.

Mr. McTammany graduated from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College with a BA, and played varsity golf his freshman year.

Mr. McTammany holds the Series 7 & 63 Licenses.

Ms. Jones is Vice President of Business Development for VelocityHealth Securities, and she is focused on the life sciences sectors, including pharmaceutical and medical device sectors where she is very experienced with multinational corporate clients in Europe and North America. She began working with VHS in 2015 and is focused on M&A advisory transactions, licensing deals in the life sciences, and capital raises.

Previously, Ms. Jones was Senior Account Executive at Woodruff & Associates, an Incentive Travel Company in Atlanta, Georgia, where she planned and executed corporate incentive programs throughout the world. Some of her clients include The Home Depot, Lanier Worldwide, and Coca-Cola. Destinations traveled include Ireland, British West Indies, French West Indies, Canada, Caribbean, Mexico, and many others.

Ms. Jones earned a BA degree in Health and Human Performance from Auburn University.

Ms. Jones volunteers with local schools within the Nashville area.

Cooper C. Collins is the Founder and Managing Partner of MagnaSci Ventures, which is a life science focused venture capital fund. He was the Former CEO of Pernix Therapeutic Holdings, Inc. a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the pediatric sector. During his six year career with Pernix, Mr. Collins has worked in every capacity from sales representative to the executive level. Mr. Collins has been responsible for acquiring products and assets, attracting investors and increasing the overall efficiency of the organization. As a sales representative, he improved territory sales by over 300% in the first year and quickly moved into management. While serving as President, Mr. Collins has contributed to the Company’s overall profit increasing over 100% from the year ended December 31, 2007 to the year ended December 31, 2008. Prior to joining Pernix, Mr. Collins was employed by the NFL franchise The New Orleans Saints in their media relations department for three years. He also developed and sold a small internet company while earning a B.A. and a M.B.A. on a football scholarship from Nicholls State University.

Dr. Miyawaki is an Instructor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School and an attending neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He graduated from Yale University with a degree in English Literature and from the George Washington University School of Medicine. He trained in Internal Medicine, Psychiatry and Neurology at the New England Deaconess Hospital, Massachusetts Mental Health Center and at Harvard’s Longwood Neurological Training Program. He is a former Laughlin Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists. His areas of medical interest include movement disorders and the interface of neurology and psychiatry. He has authored or co-authored more than 50 articles, book chapters and reviews in professional journals and has written on scientific subjects for general readers in periodicals such as The Atlantic Monthly, The American Scholar and The Yale Review. His first book, on Sigmund Freud and his use of literature in psychological science, is in preparation.

Dr. Miyawaki holds equity interest in diversified businesses, including his family’s health-care concern in Honolulu, Hawaii, a privately-held business financial corporation, multiple real estate investments in the US and abroad, and in professional sports, including the Cincinnati Bengals, a National Football League franchise. He currently sits or advises on several boards, including Family Health, Inc., The Japanese-American National Museum, The National Council for Harvard Medicine, and The Pembroke Hill School.

Richard Rehm MD, is a member of the original founding group of Spheris (now M*Modal) and the architect of the company strategy. Dr. Rehm served as the CEO of Spheris (then known as Total eMed) until the acquisition by Medicalogic in spring of 2000, and then became Co-CEO of the combined public company which was renamed MedScape. In August of 2001, Dr. Rehm took Total eMed back to the private sector, with financing arranged through Parthenon Capital of Boston. Dr. Rehm continues to serve as Chairman of the Board, a position he has held since the privatization. Prior to Spheris, Dr. Rehm founded an Occupational Medicine company in 1990 named OccuSystems, which was backed by venture capitalists Welsh Carson Anderson and Stowe and DLJ’s the Sprout Group. He took public through an IPO in 1995, which is now renamed Concentra, this successful company had attained a market cap of over $1billion when taken private by WCAS in 1997. Dr. Rehm’s healthcare experience includes Family Practice, Sports Medicine, and Occupational Medicine Practices, Program Director and Associate Professor of Family Practice, 6 years of an award winning, syndicated television program on health matters for ABC, and numerous healthcare publications and presentations. Dr. Rehm, a specialist in Family Practice, hold a BS degree from the University of North Dakota, a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Texas, and conducted his Family Practice Residency training at the University of Minnesota.

Prior to joining Rabo Securities USA, Mr. Briggs was Vice-Chairman and Co-Head of Investment banking for Morgan Joseph from 2001 to 2010. From May 2000 until May 2001, Mr. Briggs was a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Group of ING Barings LLC. From 1993 to 1999, Mr. Briggs held several senior management positions at SunTrust Equitable Securities Corporation and its predecessor company, where Mr. Briggs was Head of the Investment Banking Group and a member of the Board of Directors. From 1989 to 1992, Mr. Briggs was employed by Bankers Trust Co. in New York as a Managing Director in the Global Corporate Finance Group as Head of Mergers and Acquisitions for the United States and Japan. From 1978 to 1989, Mr. Briggs was a Director-Finance and one of the three founding members of the Mergers and Acquisitions Group of Salomon Brothers Inc in New York. Mr. Briggs received a B.S. from Northwestern University and upon graduation served as a Staff Auditor for Price Waterhouse until 1978.