RivaRidge Capital Management

History

Our Founding Principals started in the distressed business at Goldman Sachs in 1995 and have been working together for twenty-five years.

Stephen Golden

Founding Partner and Portfolio Manager

Prior to Co-Founding Riva Ridge in 2003, Stephen and his partner Jim were Co-Heads of the Special Situations Investing Group at Goldman Sachs. Stephen spent a total of eight years in the distressed business at Goldman Sachs, beginning as an Associate on the High Yield Trading desk in 1995. Previously, Stephen worked at Broadacre Management, a commercial real estate investment firm. He graduated with a B.A. from Princeton University in 1990 and later earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.

James Shim

Founding Partner and Portfolio Manager

Prior to Co-Founding Riva Ridge in 2003, Jim and his partner Stephen were Co-Heads of the Special Situations Investing Group at Goldman Sachs. Jim spent a total of eight years in the distressed business at Goldman Sachs. He joined Goldman Sachs after receiving his B.A. from Stanford University in 1990 and spent five years in various roles in Investment Banking and Capital Markets.

Peter Finelli

Partner, Head of Research

In 2015, Peter became the third partner as Portfolio Manager and Head of Research. Prior to joining Riva Ridge in 2005, Peter was an Associate at Apax Partners. Peter began his career as an Investment Banking Analyst in the Mergers and Acquisitions Division of Salomon Smith Barney. He earned his B.S. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 2001.

Philip Birbara

Senior Investment Analyst

Phil has a broad range of credit investment experience at both sell-side and buy-side investment firms. Before joining Riva, Phil was a senior credit analyst at Silverpeak Credit Partners, Muller Road Capital, the Special Situations Group of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs. Phil was a top ranked high yield chemicals analyst by Institutional Investor for several years. Phil holds an Industrial Engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Hansen Chang

Investment Analyst

Hansen Chang is an investment analyst at Riva Ridge Capital. Prior to joining Riva Ridge in 2021, Hansen was a credit analyst at Capital Four Management in Copenhagen, Denmark, focusing on investment opportunities within high yield bonds and leveraged loans. Hansen began his career as an Investment Banking Analyst at Solomon Partners. Hansen earned a BA in Economics from Cornell University, an MSc in Finance from the London Business School, and an MBA from Columbia Business School, where he was a graduate of the Value Investing Program.

Joseph Stassi

Investment Analyst

Joseph Stassi is an investment analyst at Riva Ridge Capital. Joe joined the firm in 2020 after graduating from Tulane University where received his B.S. from the Freeman School of Business with majors in Finance and Economics. While at Tulane, he spent time working for IBERIA Capital Partners and Berkeley Research Group.

Dennis Parks, CPA

CFO & CCO

Dennis joined Riva Ridge at inception in 2003 from Oracle Investment Asset Management, where he was the Controller. Prior to Oracle, Dennis spent two years as a Fund Accountant at AIG International Asset Management. Previously, Dennis spent four years as a Fund Accountant at Ecoban Finance. Dennis earned his CPA in 1994 while a Senior Staff Accountant at Eisner LLP, where he was from 1992 to 1995. Dennis began his career as Loan Officer at Bank Leumi in 1989. He earned his B.S. at the University of Albany.

David Vitiello, CPA

Controller

Prior to joining Riva Ridge in 2022, David was a hedge fund auditor at Ernst & Young, LLP, where he began his career upon receiving his M.S. in Accounting from Fairfield University in 2020. David received a BA from Fairfield University in 2019.

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