As Chairman of the Private Equity Committee since 2006, Frank Graziano leads a team of volunteers committed to organizing informative and stimulating programs on important topics of interest to Columbia Business School alumni and other professionals in and on the periphery of the private equity industry.  Over the past year, the Private Equity Committee has made a special effort to work closely with the Private Equity Program at Columbia Business School to ensure bigger and higher quality events and to burnish the reputation and brand of the school and alumni club in this field, all for the benefit of our students and alumni.  “I have always had an interest in this industry, at one time founding a private equity fund and later buying and running a company on my own.  When I joined the CBSAC/NY after a lapse of many years, I decided to get actively involved instead of just remaining a member.  The many opportunities to develop professional contacts, as well as to keep connected with my CBS colleagues and make new friends have been lots of fun and very rewarding.  There are so many ways to help make our club a better career and professional resource for alumni that I encourage all of you in the NYC area to make an effort to not only join, but get involved.”

Frank currently runs the East Coast office of Core Capital Group (http://www.corecapital.net/about.html) where he is a Managing Director.  Core Capital is a boutique investment banking firm focused on middle-market mergers and acquisitions in the information technology sector.  Previously, he was a Senior Vice President at EasyLink Services Corporation, holding leadership positions in various functional areas including strategic planning, marketing, and corporate development.  In the latter capacity he completed over two dozen global (U.S., U.K., India, China) merger, acquisition, divestiture and strategic investment transactions in the areas of Internet infrastructure, software, and technology-enabled services, and helped manage the sale of EasyLink to a strategic buyer backed by a private equity sponsor.  As Managing Director at Core Capital Group, Frank provides clients with the benefits of his unique blend of financial and operating experience, expertise in all phases of the M&A process including domestic and cross-border transactions, and deep understanding of the information technology sector.

Frank holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School and a B.S. in Chemistry/Business from the University of Scranton where he graduated summa cum laude.  He is a life-long outdoor sports and fitness enthusiast, and is currently learning (with great effort) to play the guitar.

We appreciate and recognize Frank as Volunteer of the Quarter for his service as chairman of the CBSAC/NY Private Equity Committee.