What’s New in LA?
Senior Director Alex Friend is making the move from our NYC office to our LA office. Here’s why he’s excited for the transition to a new office in a new PE environment:
Q: What sparked your move from New York to LA?
The West—and LA in particular—is a huge market with a ton of opportunities for growth. It’s not like it is in New York where our legacy business was built; we’re still somewhat newcomers in LA, as we just established an office here last year. Since being in the LA space, we’ve seen that private equity and private equity portfolio companies are very active in Southern California and in the West overall. So my move to LA is really just a mix of joining a hyper-opportunistic market and jump-starting Accordion’s excitement internally about what we can accomplish out there. ”
Q: What differences does Accordion see in LA’s private equity space vs. NYC’s?
The market in New York is huge; legacy, large-scale private equity funds tend to be located there. LA is different, with a lot of new funds of varied sizes sprouting up in recent years (many of those started by well-established private equity investors). Unlike other regional markets, LA has a great overlap between sponsors and portfolio companies. And while there are some industries in LA that overlap with other markets (like industrials, business services, healthcare, and software), there are also some industries that are unique (like media and content). It’ll be a big change working in the LA space, but an exciting one. ”
Q: What are you most excited about for your new role?
I’m excited about being a fresh new face on the market; it’s going to be really fun and exciting to put myself out there as a new presence here. One of my biggest goals, both personally and professionally, is to branch out and make as many connections as possible and see where I can best serve both the private equity community on the West Coast and our internal Accordion network. ”
Q: Tell us about the culture in the LA office.
This team is hungry. We’re ready to grow, and there’s such an eagerness out here to expand the Accordion brand’s presence in LA. ”
Q: What do you want LA-based sponsors/CFOs to know about Accordion?
We’re here, and we can help. We’re the fastest-growing Accordion team on the West Coast operating in a fast-growing private equity market. We’re taking this market very seriously, and we’re going to make noise.”
Accordion in La-La Land
Learn more about Accordion’s Los Angeles office, located two blocks away from beautiful Santa Monica beach at 233 Wilshire Blvd.
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