The Principals

Richard has more than 30 years of investment banking experience spanning both boutique and middle market firms.  Prior to Co-Founding First Hill Partners in 2010, Richard was with Thomas Weisel Partners, where he served on the Private Placement commitment committee and led the firm’s private placement group. Before joining Thomas Weisel Partners, Richard worked at Cascadia Capital, where he was a member of the Management Committee and served as the lead private placement banker across the Technology, Internet & New Media, Healthcare and Cleantech sectors. Prior to Cascadia, he was an investment banker with Piper Jaffray. Richard began his career in finance and corporate development with The Cobalt Group in Seattle. He holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Seattle University, where he currently serves on the Board of Regents as well as the Chair of the Board of Advisors for the Department of Finance, and appears as a guest lecturer.

Jeff brings over 30 years of experience in boutique and middle market investment banking firms, as well as principal investments.  Prior to co-founding First Hill in 2010, Jeff was a founding member and, later, Co-Head of the Cantor Fitzgerald Technology Investment Banking Group and served as lead banker on numerous transactions in the technology and healthcare IT sectors.  Prior to joining Cantor, Jeff was with Cascadia Capital where he was a member of the Management Committee and served as the lead banker on numerous mergers & acquisition, recapitalization and financing transactions across the Technology and Healthcare sectors. Before joining Cascadia, Jeff was with the Exigen Group where he led the firm’s corporate development efforts, as well as with Piper Jaffray as an Associate in the Technology Investment Banking Group. Jeff has also taught courses at the University of Washington and the University of Colorado and has been called to provide independent Expert Witness Testimony on technology mergers & acquisitions. Jeff graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder and holds a B.S. in Business Administration. He also sits on the Boards of Directors or Advisors of several private companies.

Michael has more than 35 years of experience spanning investment banking, principal investing and engineering. He has led numerous mergers & acquisitions and equity offerings.  Prior to joining First Hill Partners, Michael was a Managing Director at Zachary Scott & Co., leading the firm’s efforts in the industrial technology as well as aerospace and defense sectors. Michael also ran a search fund to acquire control positions in lower middle market companies. Prior to his search fund, he was a Managing Director with D.A. Davidson & Co. where he built and led the semiconductor manufacturing and electronics value chain investment banking practice. Michael began his investment banking career as an Associate with Piper Jaffray. Prior to Michael’s career in finance, he was a Design Engineer. He holds both a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering as well as an M.B.A. from The University of Washington.

Andy brings more than 30 years of diverse corporate finance and investment banking experience to clients across the technology, software, and services industries. Prior to joining First Hill Partners in 2025, Andy was a Managing Director at Q Advisors, a TMT focused investment bank, where he was lead banker on numerous private placement and merger and acquisition transactions related to cloud-based technologies and applications, enterprise and mobile software, broadband and managed network services and other emerging growth sectors. Previously, Andy was a Vice President with Seattle-based Cascadia Capital and a sell-side equity Research Associate for Chicago-based William Blair & Company, responsible for performing strategic analysis, financial modeling, and valuation analysis for the wireless communications, technology and other business services industries. Andy also held previous finance positions with Frontier Vision Partners, a cable systems operator, and was a Senior Auditor in the Communications practice of KPMG. Andy holds a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an M.B.A. in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.