Steven E. Knoop, Managing Principal
Mr. Knoop has been a mergers and acquisitions specialist throughout most of his 31 year career. Before founding First Chicago Advisors, he was Co-Group Leader and Managing Director of the U.S. Mergers and Acquisitions group at Harris Nesbitt/ BMO Capital. There he led his clients through numerous successful engagements; many of which involved complex financial and legal structures. He has been involved in many strategic public and private transactions including a number of unsolicited bid and defense engagements. Separately, Mr. Knoop has also acted as a principal in several transactions.
Prior to working at Harris Nesbitt, Mr. Knoop was Co-Group Head of Advisory Services for Merrill Lynch in Chicago. Mr. Knoop started his career at Chemical Bank (the acquirer of JP Morgan/Chase) in New York and also worked after business school in the corporate finance and M&A groups of Smith Barney and Kidder Peabody in New York.
Mr. Knoop holds a MBA degree from the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University where he had dual concentrations in finance and marketing and an undergraduate degree (Economics) from Denison University.
An avid competitive off-shore sailor , Mr. Knoop also serves as a publically elected Trustee of Barrington Hills, a member
of the Kellogg School of Management Advisory Board and the Sigma Chi – MU Chapter Foundation. Mr. Knoop also
started and ran the nationally recognized Chicago Senior Hockey League. Mr. Knoop and his wife Jackie have 4 children including identical twins.
Michael M. Bastian, Managing Partner
Mr. Bastian has over 25 years of investment banking experience advising corporate clients in the execution of mergers and acquisitions transactions and as a strategic advisor.
Prior to joining First Chicago Advisors, Mr. Bastian was a Managing Director in Bank of America
Merrill Lynch's Global Investment Banking/Mergers and Acquisitions Group. He was responsible
for leading the mergers and acquisitions advisory practice for Global Industrials Group clients in
the middle market.
Prior to joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Mr. Bastian was Head of LaSalle Corporate
Finance, the U.S. mergers and acquisition affilitate of the ABN AMRO Group. He was a member of ABN AMRO Group's North American Fairness Opinion Committee. Before he joined LaSalle Corporate Finance, Mr. Bastian was with Merrill Lynch & Co.’s Investment Banking/Middle Market M&A group. Mr. Bastian initiated and ran Merrill Lynch's Middle Market Food, Building Sector and Global Growth M&A advisory practices. Mr. Bastian
started his career in the Tax Department at Price Waterhouse & Co. in Michigan and London.
Mr. Bastian earned a MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA from Michigan State University. He is a Certified Public Accountant.
James D. Treco, Managing Partner
Mr. Treco has more than 30 years of experience, principally with Salomon Brothers and its successor, Citigroup. Based in both the United States and the United Kingdom, he has worked on a variety of projects for clients around the globe, including in the Americas (North, South and Central), in Europe (Western and Eastern as well as Russia), in Africa (principally South Africa), in greater Asia (China and India), and in Australia.
From 1996 to 2008, Mr. Treco was based in London. After being moved there by Salomon Brothers in March of 1996, he co-founded the firm’s Industrial Group in Europe, which generated peak revenues of $242mm. Jamie built lasting relationships with industrial clients and advised them on strategy, capital raising, and mergers and acquisitions.
From 1984 to 1996, Mr. Treco was based in New York City, where he gained exposure in a variety of groups at Salomon Brothers as his career developed. He worked in the Large Capitalization Group with Fortune 500 companies, in the Technology and Health Care Group with emerging companies, and in the Industrial Group with a variety of mid- and large-capitalization industrial companies ranging in size from $10 million in EBITDA to $1 billion in EBITDA. He assisted clients with the full range of investment banking products and also completed a successful restructuring of a Fortune 500 company.
Mr. Treco received a BA from Yale University in 1977 and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University in 1984.
William McDonnell, Managing Partner
Mr. McDonnell has over 20 years of corporate finance experience in both Banking and as a Chief Financial Officer. Before joining First Chicago Advisors, he was a CFO for a NYSE publicly traded company and for a private equity owned company. As a CFO he focused on aligning financial strategy with operations to improve shareholder value. He has led financial/operational turnarounds, refinancings and strategic planning.
Mr. McDonnell began his career at Swiss Bank Corporation (now UBS) and then moved to Harris Bank/Bank of Montreal. While in banking he developed relationships with clients from the middle market to the Fortune 500 across a variety of industries and provided financial advisory services and transaction execution.
Having been both a CFO and a Banker, Mr. McDonnell has the unique experience of being both the provider and client for financial advisory, capital market and banking transactions during his career.
Mr. McDonnell holds an MIM degree from Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management and an undergraduate degree (Political Science) from DePauw University.
He is a member of the Board of Directors for Lake Erie College.
Paul Johnson, Managing Director
Mr. Johnson has over 10 years of investment banking experience and focused primarily on originating and executing both sell-side and buy-side transactions for private business owners, public companies, and private equity firms. His transaction experience is across a variety of industry sectors including industrials, construction & engineering, building products, agribusiness/food, and consumer products.
Previously, Mr. Johnson was a Director with BMO Capital Markets M&A Group and was instrumental in building the U.S. M&A practice. Prior to joining BMO Capital Markets, he worked for Merrill Lynch in Advisory Services Group.
Mr. Johnson began his career with Continental Bank (now part of Bank of America) in the Japanese Corporate unit.
Mr. Johnson has an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a Bachelor of Science in finance from the University of Illinois.
