Bret J. Carroll — MD & Head of Technology Investment Banking - Merchant Banking Division at Opus Bank

Mr. Bret J. Carroll has been Managing Director and Head of Technology Investment Banking for Merchant Banking Division at Opus Bank since January 6, 2016. Prior to joining Opus Bank, Mr. Carroll held Technology Investment Banking leadership roles at Arrowroot Advisors, Nomura and Lehman Brothers. Mr. Carroll served as a Managing Director at Arrowroot Advisors. He was a Co-founder of Arrowroot Advisors, where he provided sell-side M&A advisory, capital raising and merchant banking services to emerging growth and middle-market companies. He served as a Senior Investment Banker at Nomura's and Lehman Brothers' Technology practices. Mr. Carroll has over 18 years of experience in financial services, most recently 10 years of investment banking expertise advising on transactions in the technology sector, including companies focused on software, services and hardware. While at the firms, Mr. Carroll advised both public and private companies on a wide range of mergers and acquisitions and financing transactions. He also served as a Research Analyst at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Research Division and Barclays PLC, Research Division. Mr. Carroll was an Equity Research Analyst at Lehman Brothers where he covered the Technology sector. He served as Executive Director of Nomura Investment Banking. He served as Vice President of Lehman Brothers Investment Banking. He served as an Associate of Lehman Brothers Equity Research. Mr. Carroll has worked with many investors and companies, including Apax Partners, Bain Capital, the Carlyle Group, CCMP, Francisco Partners, General Atlantic, TA Associates, Global Collect, P&I and SAP. He began his career at Mondiale Partners, where Mr. Carroll helped build Mondiale Partners private placement and capital raising business. Earlier in his career, Mr. Carroll served in Financial Analyst roles with Spin-Off Advisors and Mondiale Partners. He has advised clients on over $30 billion of transactions across the Technology value chain. He holds an M.B.A. in Finance, Accounting and Entrepreneurship from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and B.A. in International Affairs from the University of Colorado. He holds FINRA Series 63 and 79 licenses.