Our Story
Founded by Wall Street Veteran Gary Shields, Avtech Ventures started as a venture capital firm and has evolved into a top quality advisory firm, providing world class M&A advisory services to select clients. Since its formation in 2000, the firm has invested directly in more than 40 companies, has served on 20 boards of directors, and has enjoyed top quartile performance. Additionally, leveraging our Founder's senior investment banking experience with major bracket firms including
LF Rothschild in New York and Robertson Stephens in New York and San Francisco, we have expanded to provide top tier M&A services to our clients. Our direct investments and advisory transactions comprise hundreds of transactions totaling billions of dollars at every stage from seed to exit.
SELECTED CLIENTS AND PORTFOLIO COMPANIES
We have partnered with top-tier entrepreneurs in multiple industries and sectors. Our activities have included direct investments, M&A advisory, capital formation advisory from startup to IPO, financial strategy and advanced valuation services. We are routinely applauded by our clients for the high quality of services that we provide. We attribute this to our unique experience having held executive positions for our entire careers with world class New York and San Francisco based firms. The following is a small sampling of the hundreds of great companies we have worked with at Avtech Ventures and our prior firms in San Diego.
- Integrated Medical Systems
- Laser Power Corporation
- Cubic Corporation
- General Dynamics Electronic Systems
- Enerdyne Technologies
- Dot Wireless
- Jabra
- Miva Corporation
- California Skin Research Institute (now Dermtech)
- Pat & Oscars
- WebSideStory
- Ardesta
- Esperion
- PacketAir
- Tomotherapy
- HealthMedia
- Salesforce.com
- Sircon
- Favrille
- Cancervax
Avtech Ventures Team
Who We Are
Gary Shields, CFA
Founder & Managing Partner
Gary has 30+ years of success as an investment banker, venture capitalist, board member, and C-level
executive who has played an active role in hundreds of transactions that achieved optimal value for
regional, national, and multinational companies. He has held senior technology and healthcare focused investment/investment banking positions with leading firms in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and San Diego.
Gary founded Avtech Ventures in 2001 as one of San Diego's largest venture capital firms before
expanding the firm to include M&A advisory services. At Avtech, he has led direct investments in more than 40 companies and personally held board positions at more than 15. He played critical roles guiding the portfolio companies toward successful financings and exits including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), strategic partnerships and capital formation at all stages through IPO and sale.
Prior to Avtech, he co-founded Flemming Lessard & Shields, a leading Southern California-
headquartered investment bank with offices in San Diego and San Francisco, where he led dozens of
M&A and capital formation assignments for leading regional, national and multinational companies.
He moved to San Diego in 1991 to be Senior Vice President Corporate Finance and Development and an early investor at Integrated Medical Systems, one of the most successful companies in the healthcare information industry. While there he negotiated a major strategic alliance with McKesson Corp and then, while leading the company's IPO process, negotiated a very successful all-cash sale of the company to Eli Lilly.
Before moving to San Diego Gary held senior technology, healthcare and environmental services investment banking and research positions at LF Rothschild in New York, and Robertson Stephens in New York and San Francisco. He was also a
partner at Technological Investors, a leading New York City firm investing in public and private
technology and medical companies. Earlier in his career, he managed one of the largest US groups for Paris based Credit Lyonnais where he led dozens of transactions that totaled billions of dollars for the firm's Fortune 500 multinational clients. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder. He received his BA with honors from the University of
Cincinnati and was a fellow in the MSFS program at Georgetown University. Additionally, he holds two
patents in the field of advanced optics technology and is a multi-engine instrument-rated pilot.
619-851-8800
Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Logan Bingaman
Associate
Logan joined Avtech Ventures as an Intern in 2020 and quickly rose to the position of Associate. Having spent a good portion of his life as a professional skier, he continually shows his capability of being a team member and winning. He assists in writing marketing materials for transactions, identifying prospects, and making initial contact with acquisition / investor targets. He earned his BS in Information Systems at the University of Utah where he is currently enrolled in the Master's of Science in Finance program.
412-523-1531
Park City, UT
Miranda Lotze
Intern
Miranda joined Avtech Ventures in June 2021 as an intern to help write marketing materials, identify prospects, and make initial contact with acquisition/investor targets. Prior to interning at Avtech, she has gained experience working as a Financial Analyst in the defense industry and working as a headhunter recruiting executives for financial services firms. She also currently volunteers her time as an Investor Liaison with Venturecapital.org, one of the largest and most successful venture accelerators in the US. Outside of work Miranda likes snowboarding, yoga, and taking her dog Bjorn to herding classes. She has a BA in Economics from San Diego State University and is currently enrolled at the University of Utah pursuing a MBA and MS in Finance with concentrations in strategy and alternative investments.
Contact
PO Box 2226
Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067
619-851-8800
