Senior Advisors

MICHAEL DEADDER [BIO TO COME]

PHILIP ERARD has 40 years of diversified investment banking experience, principally working with middle market companies on both merger/acquisition and financing assignments, including debt, equity and limited partnership interests. In the latter category, he has raised over $450 million of private equity for various general and specific purpose investment partnerships. In the merger/acquisition and private placement areas he has arranged transactions and raised significant amounts of capital for sectors as diverse as pulp and paper, industrial manufacturing, consumer goods, media, telecom and telecom equipment, hotels and textiles. Mr. Erard began his career at LOEB, RHOADES & CO as a security analyst and became full-time corporate finance specialist in 1965. In 1972 he was made a general partner. For 20 years, he worked as a senior level investment banker at SCHRODER & CO. and its U.S. predecessors SCHRODER WERTHEIM and WERTHEIM & CO. before joining Bentley in 1998 as a Managing Director. Over the years he has served on numerous corporate and non-profit boards, including the Overseers Visiting Committee of Harvard College and the Lowell Observatory of Flagstaff, Arizona. He is also active in the American Alpine Club and currently serves as Chairman of its New York Section. He earned a B.A. from HARVARD COLLEGE and an M.B.A. from the HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL. Mr. Erard became Senior Advisor in 2017.

Phone: (212) 763-0379
Email: perard@bentleylp.com

LAWRENCE W. LEIGHTON began his extensive investment banking career at KUHN, LOEB & CO. He then joined CLARK, DODGE & CO. where he became Co-Head of the Corporate Finance Department. Joining NORTON SIMON in 1974 as the Director of Strategic Planning/Mergers & Acquisitions, he was responsible for several significant acquisitions for that company, including Avis Rent-A-Car. Three years later, he returned to Wall Street as a Limited Partner at BEAR, STEARNS & CO., focusing on international mergers and acquisitions. There he represented such major companies as Pernod Ricard. Joining CHASE INVESTMENT BANK in 1982 as a Managing Director, Mr. Leighton continued to focus on cross-border mergers. In 1989, he became President and Chief Executive Officer of UI USA, the US subsidiary of Union d’Ètudes et d’Investissements, the merchant banking arm of Credit Agricôle, the largest bank in France. He joined Bentley in 1997 as a Managing Director. Mr. Leighton is a Board Director of China XD Plastics and China Natural Gas and is on the Board of Trustees of the Waterford Institute and the Gillen Brewer School. He received his B.S.E. degree from PRINCETON UNIVERSITY and an M.B.A. from HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL. Mr. Leighton became Senior Advisor in 2017.

Phone: (212) 763-0374
Email: lwleighton@bentleylp.com