Mr. Ekstrom has over 15 years of diverse financial services experience, including more than 10 years in investment banking specializing in sell-side mergers and acquisitions, and 5 years in public accounting, taxation and management consulting. Mr. Ekstrom has broad transactional experience in the following industries: advertising, aerospace, business services, construction, consumer products and services, distribution, entertainment, financial services, food and beverage, metals, plastics, real estate, staffing services and transportation.

Prior to joining Goldsmith Agio Helms (now Lazard Middle Market), he served as a vice president with the investment banking firm of Greif & Co., where he was integrally involved in several of the firm's most notable transactions. Previously, he was a senior accountant with the national public accounting firm of Kenneth Leventhal & Company.

Mr. Ekstrom holds a bachelor of arts degree in business economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a masters of business administration in marketing and finance from the University of Southern California, where he graduated with Beta Gamma Sigma business honors. Mr. Ekstrom is a certified public accountant.