FOUNDER & MANAGING PARTNER
Cyril Jones - cyril@rkjpartners.com
Cyril Jones possesses more than 26 years of professional experience. Mr. Jones is the Founder and Managing Partner of RKJ Partners, LLC. In addition to his responsibilities at RKJ, Jones served as interim Chief Financial Officer for Advanced Engineering Design, Inc., ProParts Distribution Cooperative, LLC & Frontline Selling, LLC. Prior to forming RKJ, Jones operated as a strategic consultant for two southeast based private equity firms: Brighton Partners, LLC and Five Paces Ventures. As a strategic consultant, Jones advised Brighton and Five Paces on acquisitions in the transportation/logistics industry segment. Prior to the consultancy engagements, Jones operated as President and Founding Partner of Jones + Ingram Logistics, an asset-based truckload carrier and freight brokerage company. Jones successfully merged Jones + Ingram's operations with Orbis Transportation, LLC , an Atlanta based asset-based freight carrier. Prior to forming Jones + Ingram, Jones operated as an investment banker with Wachovia Securities, Inc. As an investment banker, Jones was involved in leadership roles with various investment banking transactions which totaled more than $3 billion in transaction value: buy-side and sell-side M&A, fairness opinions, recapitalizations, capital raises - debt/equity/mezzanine. Transactional experience at Wachovia spanned a diverse set of industries: transportation/logistics, business services, internet, wireline and wireless telecom services, telecom equipment, textiles and media. Before joining Wachovia Securities, Jones served in similar positions with BancAmerica Securities and Wheat First Union Securities.
Education
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY (BABCOCK GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT)
Masters of Business Administration, 1998, Recipient, NationsBank Scholarship
HOWARD UNIVERSITY
Bachelor of Business Administration, 1992
MANAGING PARTNER
Gregory Ficklin - greg@rkjpartners.com
Gregory Ficklin is a Managing Partner at RKJ Partners. Ficklin brings more than 26 years of in-depth knowledge and transaction experience gained delivering relevant advice, guidance and insights to senior executives of entities ranging from established Fortune 100 corporations to growing, middle market businesses to talented entrepreneurs with early stage startups. Ficklin’s diverse business expertise is highlighted by his work with clients across multiple industries, including business services, specialty retail, technology, government services, healthcare, IT services, transportation and logistics, light manufacturing and wholesale supply and distribution.
In his current role with RKJ, Ficklin manages engagements and provides executive decision support to clients experiencing or seeking growth, transactions, or transitions, and which require guidance, particularly in the areas of corporate development, strategy execution, business and financial analytics, due diligence, deal structuring and capital sourcing. One of his highlighted engagements was his work with Coca-Cola’s Business Accelerator program, a corporate initiative that focused on investing in promising start-up companies in high growth markets founded by entrepreneurs from around the globe, including Rio De Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Sydney, Singapore, Bangalore, Shanghai, Tel Aviv, Berlin, London, Mexico City and San Francisco. Ficklin served on a cross-functional team of advisors assembled to provide guidance to participating start-ups in a variety of critical areas, including market timing, opportunity sizing, business model validation, financial projections and enterprise value implications.
Prior to joining RKJ, Ficklin served in several leadership and advisory roles at The Home Depot providing executive-level guidance on Mergers & Acquisitions, Capital Strategy, Corporate Finance and serving as Head of the Economic & Market Analysis team during his tenure at the company. Prior to joining The Home Depot, Ficklin served as Principal and interim CFO for Gyre Capital Management (formerly Vision Fuel Capital), an Atlanta-based firm that provided research, consulting and advisory services to early stage, emerging growth companies seeking venture capital and private equity funding.
Ficklin possesses both bulge bracket and middle-market investment banking experience, starting his career as a banker with Salomon Brothers' High Yield Capital Markets and Syndications group in New York City, then moving on to the Mergers & Acquisition group with regional investment bank Wachovia Securities (now Wells Fargo) in Atlanta. At Wachovia, Ficklin's focus was middle-market transactions including both buy-side and sell-side acquisitions, divestitures, valuations and various strategic advisory engagements.
Education
HARVARD UNIVERSITY (HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL)
Masters of Business Administration, 1998
HOWARD UNIVERSITY
Bachelors of Business Administration, 19