Richard Herstein

Richard is a Commercial Real Estate finance professional with broad, growth-oriented skill set developed over a progressive and diverse career of thirty-five years at the General Electric Company with the majority of time spent in GE Capital’s commercial real estate business.

Among Richard’s expertise are: Risk Management, Underwriting, Asset Management, Workouts/Restructuring and Originations as well as Business Development. He has experience with all major collateral types (office, retail, industrial, multi-family) as well as many speciality property types (hotels, mini-storage, mobile home parks, etc.) and Structures: straight debt, mezzanine debt, participating debt, standby commitments, equity.

He is familiar with primary and secondary domestic markets as well as major international markets. He has a BA in Economics from St. Lawrence University and an MBA from UCONN.

Bob Hogan

Bob Hogan is a retired business executive with over 30 years of experience in the global professional services industry. Following his retirement, he has volunteered as a Business Mentor for SCORE Fairfield County for the past ten-plus years, where he provides ongoing business mentoring advice to several entrepreneurs and small business owners. 

Immediately prior to his retirement in 2010, Bob served as the Chief Financial Officer of Towers Perrin, a global professional services firm with $1.6 billion in revenue, that specialized in advising employers on a wide range of human resource and risk management issues. At the beginning of 2010, Towers Perrin merged with Watson Wyatt to form Towers Watson, a publicly traded professional services firm with
over $3 billion in global revenue.

During his thirty-plus year career at Towers Perrin, Bob was a member of the Board of Directors for 12 years. He also served in several senior management roles including: Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, global Managing Director of human resources consulting services, and global Managing Director of retirement consulting services. 

Bob started his consulting career in Toronto as a consulting actuary and subsequently relocated to  Calgary. He relocated to Stamford, Connecticut in 1995 to join the firm’s Executive Committee and to assume global leadership for Towers Perrin’s retirement consulting line of business.

Bob has been a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries since 1978. He holds an Honours degree in Mathematics (Actuarial Science and Statistics) from the University of
Waterloo.

Richard L. Kelsey

Founder of Paragon, Richard offers expert and experienced valuation counsel reflecting over 35 years of business and intangible asset valuation opinions and counsel to private and public corporations in many business sectors. Before founding Paragon, Richard developed his valuation skills and experience as an office of Bank of American Investment Banking Group (Mergers and Acquisitions) and an officer of American Appraisal Associates, a global valuation consulting firm.  Richard has provided valuation advice to large multinational corporations as well as middle market companies and small businesses in many business sectors.

Richard has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Marquette University and an MBA from the University of Denver Daniels College of Business.  He has a professional affiliation with the American Society and Appraisers as a Senior Accredit Appraiser in Business Valuation and Past Connecticut Chapter President.  He has served as Chairman at the Darien Chamber of Commerce and is a mentor and lecturer of SCORE business counselor organization.

Allen Rosenberg

Allen is currently a mentor for SCORE, a volunteer national organization that provides free one on one mentoring services to small business in the United States.  SCORE is a resource partner with the US Small Business Administration. Leadership skills encompass direct marketing, catalog development, strategic planning, advertising, promotional strategies, team building, as well as, multi-channel marketing are all areas of expertise for Allen.

Allen co-founded Marke Communications in 1979, and today still provides integrated marketing strategies for the internet, retail, direct marketing catalog businesses, and major corporations. In 2013, began the Allen Rosenberg Group, which currently provides marketing strategies, collateral advertising materials, implementation of broadcast advertising production, client media placement,  consulting services for retail, graphic art and pre-media companies.

Allen’s proven track record in retail, direct response and omnichannel marketing enables The Allen Rosenberg Group to offer clients cross-capabilities assistance in building strategic teams, establishing dynamic brand identities and launching web-based and mobile initiatives. The Allen Rosenberg Group is results driven, pushes the envelope, and helps to maximize ROI by fostering customer relationships and experiences at every touchpoint.

Previously, Allen was a founding partner of one of the most respected direct mail advertising agencies in the industry, with clients that included Talbots, Reader’s Digest, Macy’s, Anthropologie, Nordstrom, Sears and IBM Direct. Allen broadened the company’s focus and scope to include a spectrum of corporate leaders in finance, nutrition, technology and entertainment. Allen obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Business & Communications from Parsons College.