Our Team
James B. Rybakoff, President and CEO – Mr. Rybakoff is a Co-Founder of Akin Bay. He has led Akin Bay's transaction teams since 1993, spearheading the firm's client development, origination and execution efforts for over 100 transactions. From 2003-2006, he advised a large Chinese conglomerate, based in Hong Kong, China on several buy-side acquisitions. He spent the majority of 3 years living in Kowloon, China. From 1999-2001, Mr. Rybakoff was a co-founder, equity sponsor and CFO of Ceres Capital LLC. Ceres Capital LLC managed over $1 billion in capital before it was sold in 2002. From 1990-1992, Mr. Rybakoff was associated with a merchant bank focused on mergers and acquisitions, for several of Australia's largest conglomerates. During this period, he worked on merger & acquisition and financial advisory assignments for: Pacific Dunlop, Western Mining Ltd., GNB Batteries, Office Depot and Eastman Office Products. In 1990, Mr. Rybakoff was associated with R.D. Capital, Inc. / ADCO Group, Inc, New York City, a private equity hedge fund focused on acquiring distressed real estate. At R.D. Capital he advised on several large commercial real estate acquisitions. Mr. Rybakoff is a graduate of The University of Pennsylvania /The Wharton School of Business. Mr. Rybakoff has served as a director of several private companies and a director for over 10 years of a public company.
In addition, Mr. Rybakoff is a Co-Founder and General Partner of the Capstone U.S. Buyout Fund, L.P., which invests equity and mezzanine debt investments in middle market companies, as well as purchases distressed debt portfolios. The Fund is part of the Capstone family of Funds. Capstone is one of the premier managers of distressed debt portfolios for middle market companies and has an AUM of over $450 million. The Fund is managed by investment advisor Capstone Capital Management, Inc., a SEC registered investment advisor, under the Company Act of 1940. Mr. Rybakoff serves as a director on the boards of: Tyree Holdings Corp, Inc., Universal Apparel, Inc., AMW, Inc., Monarchia International, Inc. and several other portfolio companies.
Raymond L. Manganelli, PhD., Managing Director, Special Consultant – Dr. Manganelli is responsible for new business development, strategic alliances and relationships. He has over 25 years experience in management consulting, M&A and Private Equity, with M&A transaction value exceeding $6.0 billion. He has an extensive background in the following industries: distribution, manufacturing, financial services/private equity, health care/life sciences, transportation, and professional services. Prior to joining Akin Bay, Dr. Manganelli founded The Shelter Rock Group, LLC. and co-founded Sound Capital Decisions Group LLC. Previously, he was the Senior Managing Director of the Private Equity Group at Tunnell Consulting, which works with life sciences clients in mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. Prior to that, he was a Senior Partner and a Board Director at Strategic Decisions Group – a strategy management consulting firm specializing in life sciences asset portfolio analyses. Prior to that, he was the CEO of Swiss Re Services Consulting and was previously a Principal with the Diebold Group. Dr. Manganelli was a lead author on two business books - The Reengineering Handbook, which was printed in four languages and has been used as college text and in university libraries; and Solving the Corporate Value Enigma, which was excerpted in Harvard Management Update. Dr. Manganelli has lectured at multiple universities and has been featured in corporate training videos. Dr. Manganelli holds a PhD from Columbia University, Masters' degrees from Middlebury College and from Columbia, and is a Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude graduate with a BA from Rutgers. He is also a graduate of Columbia Business School's Executive Program in Business Administration. Dr. Manganelli has also served on the Boards of Directors of several businesses as well as non-profit, academic, and charitable organizations.
Peter T. Bepler, II, Senior Vice President – Mr. Bepler is primarily responsible for all agreements, structuring documentation, interaction with all law firms and compliance with all regulatory agencies. Mr. Bepler joined Akin Bay in 1993. From 1979 to 1989, Mr. Bepler was Vice President and General C ounsel of Corporate Property Investors, New York, a privately-held equity real estate investment trust with aggregate real estate assets in excess of $3.0 billion, where he participated, among other transactions, in the acquisition of The General Motors Building in 1981 and of a number of major shopping center portfolios. Prior to 1979, Mr. Bepler was associated with the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell where he worked on, among other transactions, the first public offering in the United States by Imperial Chemical Industries Limited and the project financing of the Itaipú project in Brazil, the world's largest hydroelectric facility to date. He is a graduate of Fordham College, the University of Virginia Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and New York University School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden Scholar and an Arthur Garfield Hayes Civil Liberties Fellow.
Parag M. Kulkarni, Vice President – Mr. Kulkarni joined Akin Bay in January 2008 as an Associate in Mergers & Acquisitions and investments by Akin Bay's affiliated private equity fund, Capstone U.S. Buyout Fund, L.P. Prior to joining Akin Bay, Mr. Kulkarni was associated with Altria Group in its Corporate Technology group. For over 13 years, Mr. Kulkarni developed internal corporate systems at Altria in the areas of executive compensation, self-service portals and ERP systems. In his latest role, he was a managing member of the governance board to oversee outsourced operations. Mr. Kulkarni is an electronics engineer with a Management Graduate degree in Finance from NYU Stern School of Business. In addition, he has passed the CFA Level I exam in June 2007.