A New Year, A New Team

I’m pleased to be able to announce one my first significant achievements as editor of Buyouts—getting a complete editorial team in place, including two new reporters. Let me introduce everybody:

* Erick Bergquist, associate editor: Erick joined us last month after a six-year run as reporter at American Banker, a daily newspaper and Web site where he covered the sub-prime mortgage lending and credit card markets, including the pawn-shop industry. In his new position Erick will cover deal-making and fund-raising. He received his B.A. in history and French from Johns Hopkins U., and an M.A. in French literature from Yale University; he was a Fulbright Scholar from 1994 to 1995. Reach him at Erick.bergquist@thomson.com, or 646-822-6350.

* Jeremy Harrell, associate editor: Jeremy joined us last week from Long Island Business News, where he spent the past year and a half writing about mergers, acquisitions and buyouts of Long Island, N.Y. companies as part of his finance beat. Like Erick, Jeremy will cover deal-making and fund-raising for the magazine. Jeremy earned a B.A. in English from Carleton College. Reach him at Jeremy.harrell@thomson.com, or 646-822-3039.

* Ari Nathanson, senior editor: Ari has been a reporter with Buyouts since May 2004, writing news and feature stories on all aspects of the business, and maintaining our proprietary database of deals. He was promoted to senior editor this fall. Prior to joining the magazine, Ari worked for a boutique marketing and public relations firm in Bethesda, Md.; there he helped manage the corporate accounts of law firms and other clients. Ari earned a B.S. in print and multimedia journalism from Emerson College in Boston. Reach him at ari.nathanson@thomson.com, or 646-822-3579.

* Mark Cecil, managing editor: Mark has reported on deal-making and fund-raising for Buyouts as an associate editor for the past year and a half. Following his promotion to managing editor this fall Mark switched to concentrating on institutional investors, consultants and funds of funds. In addition, he oversees day-to-day operations and production of Buyouts and its companion Web site at www.buyoutsnews.com. He continues to maintain our U.S. fund-raising database. Mark began his reporting career as a staff writer for The Pawtucket Times. He is a graduate of Brown University. Reach him at mark.cecil@thomson.com, or 646-822-3573.

Meantime, editor-at-large Dan Primack (daniel.primack@thomson.com; 508-875-1703) continues to write articles and briefs for the magazine from his perch as editor of sister Web site PEhub.com. And I plan to pitch in with regular opinion pieces on this page, as well as occasional stories on the fund-raising and institutional investor markets. We all look forward to providing unique and insightful coverage of the U.S. buyout markets in the coming months. Don’t hesitate to call any one of us with questions or comments on our work. Please participate in our upcoming readership survey.