FourBridges Capital Advisors announced that Frank Williamson has joined the firm and will become its managing partner.
In this position, Mr. Williamson will help implement FourBridges' plan for expansion. He will focus on the firm’s strategic growth, recruitment and marketing efforts.
“Adding Frank to our team is a further extension of our dedication to providing financial advisory services based upon actual operating experience,” said Andy Stockett, a managing director with the firm. “Frank’s familiarity with the transaction process – both as an investment banker and as a senior member of management – brings additional value to our clients. He played a key role in Unum’s evolution into a Fortune 250 company, and we’re confident that his background will benefit FourBridges as we expand in the coming months.”
“The experts at FourBridges possess the skills and knowledge to provide high-quality investment banking services in our region,” Mr. Williamson said. “I’m honored to be part of this team, and I’m ready to get my hands dirty as we deepen our deal pipeline and take advantage of emerging opportunities in the M&A market.”
Mr. Williamson comes to FourBridges with experience in financial management and investment strategy. He began his career in the investment banking department of Morgan Stanley’s New York office, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions as well as public-equity offerings.
Following Morgan Stanley, he joined Provident Life & Accident Insurance Company, a Chattanooga-based life insurer, and was part of the team that grew it through mergers to be the Fortune 250 company known today as Unum. There, he worked out of corporate offices in Portland, Maine, and Chattanooga.
For virtually his entire tenure, Mr. Williamson headed Unum’s M&A, merger integration and financial restructuring efforts, which included two multi-billion dollar mergers, numerous divestitures and more than $5 billion in capital raised as public and private equity, debt, reinsurance and insurance-linked securities. From 2006 to 2008, he was senior vice president, Strategic Planning, Corporate Development and Capital Management, and from 2008-2010 he also served as chief investment officer, responsible for the company’s $40 billion portfolio.
Inspired by his experience at Unum, Mr. Williamson left the company in 2010 to pursue his true passion: collaborating with businesses that are ripe for transformation. Among other endeavors in the last two years, he was an advisor to The Company Lab, a business incubator, and Interim Chief Operating Officer of Vets First Choice, a venture capital-funded Internet retailer.
“When preparing to take a business to the next level, there’s a need for critical thinking and creativity,” Mr. Williamson said. “I enjoy being a part of that process, and it’s already underway at FourBridges. We’re expecting 2013 to be a year of exciting changes and robust deal activity.”
Mr. Williamson has joined FourBridges as an investment banker and will assume the responsibilities of managing partner over several months as regulation permits.