As a Managing Director of the Benefit Capital
Companies, Richard F. Sandifer is responsible for
sourcing, negotiating, financing, and closing management and employee buyouts,
as well as other leveraged transactions. He developed his expertise from his
previous positions in private merchant banking firms and brings a time-honored
record of success in the capital markets to his position with Benefit Capital.
He has managed a private investment fund in excess of $300 million. He has been a partner of the Spectrum Group,
a private merchant banking organization based in Los
Angeles, and Tatum CFO Partners, LLP, headquartered
in Atlanta, and
has operated his own consulting and investment banking firm.
Over
the past 20 years, Mr. Sandifer has been involved in
sourcing, structuring, financing and closing successful transactions involving
companies with revenues totaling in excess of $1.5 billion and purchase prices
exceeding $750 million. Previously, Mr. Sandifer was
vice president of Union Venture Capital Corporation, Union Bank's venture
capital arm, where he structured and financed new ventures as well as worked
with those ventures needing management assistance and recapitalization. He was
also chief financial officer of an American Stock Exchange company. His earlier experience in E. F. Hutton &
Company's corporate finance department was invaluable in converting struggling
companies into viable and prosperous entities.
Mr.
Sandifer holds a B.S. in Business Administration from
the University of
Kansas and is a graduate
of Advanced Financial Training of the New York Institute of Finance. Following active duty in the U.S. Air Force
as a pilot of single-engine jets, Mr. Sandifer joined
Dun & Bradstreet and later became a partner in the securities brokerage
firm of Harris Upham & Company.
Prior
to moving to Los Angeles from Kansas City, Missouri, Mr. Sandifer
held active leadership positions at the Barstow School Board of Trustees,
served as treasurer, vice president, and president of St. Paul's Episcopal
Parish Day School, was a member of the Society of Fellows - William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Art Museum, and participated on
the board of the Youth Symphony of Kansas City, Missouri. He is a past advisory
board member of PepperdineUniversity.
In Los Angeles, he has continued his pattern of
community service through his involvement in the Los AngelesMusicCenter--as a Founder and
as a Patron of the Los Angeles Music Center Opera--and through leadership
positions with the United Fund Campaign, the Boy Scouts of America, American
Youth Soccer, and the Wilshire Baseball League. He has served as Treasurer and
Senior Warden of All Saints Episcopal Church, Beverly Hills, California,
and is a past member of the Parents Board of Harvard School.
Mr.
Sandifer's financial achievements were the subject of
a major magazine article in the Saturday Evening Post.
"The keys to
successful investment lie in planning, strategy, meticulous and objective
evaluation of both risks and opportunities, and--most importantly--a proven
track record."