SCP Team

Our SCP Team Members:

• Clark Spurrier
• George Kelly
• Richard Birney
• Mark Yurko
• Griffin Bealle
• Logan Bartlett
• Phillip Young
• Nelson Shih
  

Clark Spurrier

Clark Spurrier is the Founder and Managing Partner of SCP. 

Clark has been in investment banking for 22 years and has advised on over one hundred Merger & Acquisition transactions, IPOs, common stock and convertible offerings, private placements and restructurings. Many of his transactions stand out as transformational and industry defining within their respective technology subsectors. His clients have included America Online, IBM, Network Solutions, Priceline, First Data Corp, FreeMarkets, Vignette, webMethods, Neutral Tandem, Celestica, DuPont Photomasks, and Silicon Labs.

Prior to starting SCP, Clark was a Managing Director at CIBC World Markets/Oppenheimer and a member of Oppenheimer’s Technology and Telecommunications Group.  Prior to joining CIBC World Markets, Clark was Co-Head of the Technology Investment Banking Group at Thomas Weisel Partners.  Prior to this he was a senior coverage officer in the Technology Group at Morgan Stanley, leading the middle-market and private equity calling effort based in New York City.  Clark has also worked for J.P. Morgan and Prudential Capital Corporation.

Prior to his career in finance, Clark was a Military Intelligence officer and paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division.

Clark has a BS in Engineering from The United States Military Academy at West Point and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

For fun: Clark’s oldest son is Electronic Dance Music producer Fareoh, and his youngest son is a budding Tech entrepreneur. He is also related to the Ole Ball coach (Steve Spurrier) and John Chapman (Jonny Appleseed).

George Kelly

Communications, Senior Advisor
george.kelly@spurriercp.com

George Kelly advises SCP clients in the communications equipment and communications software industries.

George has advised on some of the most important mergers, acquisitions, IPOs, and partnerships in the communications industry.  Most recently, he was a Senior Advisor in the creation of Nokia Seimens Networks by Siemens and Nokia, as well as the JV between Huawei and 3Com.  Selected M&A transactions include the Siemens Enterprise Systems divestiture, Telenovis/Avaya, Alcatel/Spatial Wireless, Cramer/Amdocs, Nortel/Bay Networks and Aspect Communications/Concerto Software.  He was actively involved in bringing most of the networking equipment industry's most influential companies public. The list of over thirty IPOs includes Cisco, Lucent, Alcatel, Avaya, Broadcom, Brocade, Ascend, Cascade, Sycamore, SynOptics, Xylan, Extreme, Redback, Akamai, CacheFlow, and AsiaInfo.

Prior to joining SCP, George was a Managing Director and Communications Investment Banking Senior Advisor at Morgan Stanley.  George also spent nearly two decades in the Research Division at Morgan Stanley, where he was a Senior Analyst and Head of Technology Research. George was frequently the number one Institutional Investor (II) ranked communications analyst.  Before Morgan Stanley, George spent 14 years at IBM in various positions, and was previously a division manager at AT&T.

George has a BS from Newark College of Engineering, now New Jersey Institute for Technology, and currently serves as a Member of the Advisory Board of Prodea Systems, Inc.

For fun: George is the only FCC licensed Amateur Radio Operator in the Firm (perhaps the only one on Wall Street). His call sign is WA2SQO. When there is a future catastrophic network failure, he and his fellow "hams" will be the only ones who will be on the air.

Richard Birney

Senior Advisor
richard.birney@spurriercp.com

Richard Birney is a Senior Advisor at SCP and advises clients in the areas of enterprise technology, cloud initiatives and semiconductors.

Prior to joining SCP, Richard was Head of Strategic Investments at IBM and responsible for directing IBM's growth initiatives and investments within IBM Corporate Development.  Richard had a distinguished and illustrious career with IBM spanning 36 years, which included 16 years of investment experience, 20 years of operational experience and broad international experience.  Among recent responsibilities at IBM spanning the last decade, Richard led a worldwide team to identify companies for strategic partnership or acquisition by IBM business units; directed growth initiatives and strategies in partnership with the private equity and venture capital industry; and developed growth initiatives in emerging geographies and technologies. Richard also served as advisor to Fortune 500 companies on IBM M&A processes.

Among his many accomplishments during the last decade, Richard developed a fund investing strategy that delivered a high internal rate of return (IRR significantly greater than 20%). In emerging geographies and technologies, Richard developed an investment strategy for IBM in China, India, Israel, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Richard managed over $500 million in investments around the world and has received industry recognition for developing best practices and patents in M&A processes, making IBM a recognized leader in Corporate Development. Richard also developed strategies for IBM to compete in new technologies in mobile services, financial services, networking, cloud computing, clean technologies and semiconductor manufacturing. 

Richard is also the inventor of several advancements in computing technology, holding several patents with many foreign filings, with over 70 total filings. Richard has been a frequent speaker at global investment conferences.

For fun: When not on the technology beat, Richard runs the Willow Lake bed and breakfast in Fishkill, NY.

Mark Yurko 

Mark Yurko is a Principal at SCP and leads M&A execution and Communications sector coverage for the firm.  He also advises clients across a wide range of Technology sectors.  Mark has advised on Merger & Acquisition and financing transactions with an aggregate value of over $100 billion.  His experience also includes numerous IPOs, convertible offerings, private placements, restructurings and leveraged finance transactions.  Mark has executed transactions for clients in the Technology, Media, Entertainment, Satellite and Telecommunications sectors.  

Recent SCP transactions include IBM / StoredIQ, Open Text / Global 360, Accenture / Duck Creek Technologies, and TA Associates / Nintex.  Other M&A transaction experience includes NBCU, Bain, Blackstone / The Weather Channel, Bain, THLee / Clear Channel Communications, Sam Zell / Tribune, MGM Mirage / Mandalay Bay Group, KKR / PanAmSat and Liberty Media / QVC.

Prior to joining SCP, Mark was a senior banker in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Investment Banking Group at Credit Suisse.  Prior to this, Mark spent five years in Citigroup's TMT Investment Banking Group.  Before his career in finance, Mark was a Captain in the United States Army, serving as a Field Artillery officer in Europe and the U.S.

Mark has a BS in Mathematical Economics from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an MBA (Beta Gamma Sigma) from Columbia Business School.

For fun: Mark is a diehard Green Bay Packers fan, wine enthusiast and avid skier.

Griffin Bealle

Griffin Bealle is an Associate at SCP covering Enterprise Software, with a particular focus on Big Data, Cloud Architecture, Mobility, and Security.  Griffin’s transaction experience includes sell-side advisory work in the following transactions: IBM / Initiate Systems, GXS / RollStream, Open Text / Global 360 ($260MM), Accenture / Duck Creek Technologies, IBM / StoredIQ, and TA Associates / Nintex ($222MM).

Prior to joining SCP, Griffin worked as an investment banking analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities.  As a member of the Industrials group, Griffin helped to serve clients in the Engineering and Construction, Manufacturing, and Metering industries.

Outside of work, Griffin serves on the Board of the Adeona Foundation, an organization aimed at supporting youth- and community-based charities in the New York City area.

Griffin graduated cum laude with a BS in Business Administration from Washington & Lee University, where he was a member of the Men’s Lacrosse team.

For fun: Griffin spent a semester studying in Rome and traveled throughout Europe. Griffin is a direct descendant of James Watt, inventor of the steam engine.

Logan Bartlett

Logan Bartlett is an Associate at SCP and supports the team in advising clients across a wide range of technology sectors.  His specific coverage is Application Software and Services.  He is particularly interested in how Social Collaboration and Analytics will serve as the embedded glue in various applications. Logan maintains relationships with key decision makers at strategic consolidators, late-stage private companies, venture capital firms and members of the research community.  He seeks to stay current with all themes in his coverage universe by maintaining consistent dialogue with insightful people in this disparate landscape.

Outside of the office, Logan is active in iMentor, a New York-based program that matches public high school students with college-educated mentors.  In addition to his role as a mentor, Logan has served as a recruiter for the program and as a member of the Spring Benefit committee.

Prior to joining SCP, Logan worked in investment banking at Deutsche Bank Securities.   As a member of the Financial Institution Group, Logan helped advise clients in a wide range of areas with a focus on Financial Technology.

Logan has a BS in Business Administration from Washington & Lee University, where he was also a member of the Men’s Lacrosse team.

For fun: An avid Tennessee college football fan, Logan spends Saturdays in the fall commuting to games, glued to his television or internet streaming (given the recent quality of Tennessee teams).

Phillip Young

Phillip Young is an experienced investment banking professional involved in M&A execution and focusing on the Communications sector at SCP.

Prior to joining SCP, Phillip was based in London heading up HSBC's Private Client Investment Banking group covering clients' companies in the EMEA regions, where he advised and worked on capital raising and strategic advisory mandates for shareholders and companies across an array of sectors, including EasyJet, ATB-Market, The Economist Group and Bloom Energy. He began his investment banking career at Williams de Broë and Arbuthnot Securities, where he worked on primary and secondary equity capital markets transactions and M&A advisory mandates for middle market companies.

Phillip has a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance & Accounting from the University of Melbourne in Australia and is a Chartered Fellow of the Securities and Investment Institute in the United Kingdom.

For fun: Phillip is an aficionado of European languages (of which he speaks three) and singing (he is a classical tenor).

Nelson Shih

Nelson is an Analyst at SCP and supports the team in a variety of different functions across the technology landscape.

Prior to Spurrier Capital Partners, Nelson worked at Meridian Capital Partners. Nelson has a BS in Economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

For fun: A high-end whiskey enthusiast, Nelson also enjoys the psychology of pricing strategies.