Experienced Team
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 a lead 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 and then expanded the firm to include M&A and capital formation advisory services (which he now provides through his position as Chairman and Managing Partner at Nassau Street Partners). At Avtech, he led direct investments in more than 50 companies and personally held board positions at more than 20. He has played critical roles guiding the portfolio companies toward successful financings and exits including mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships and capital formation at all stages from startup through IPO and sale. Prior to Avtech, he co-founded Flemming Lessard & Shields (FLS), a leading Southern California- headquartered investment bank with offices in San Diego and San Francisco. Prior to FLS, he was SVP Corporate Finance and Development and early investor at Integrated Medical Systems (IMS), a pioneer in the healthcare information industry. While there he negotiated a strategic alliance with McKesson Corp and then, while leading the company's IPO process, negotiated a successful all-cash sale of the company to Eli Lilly. Before joining IMS, Gary held senior 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 New York City investment firm investing in pioneering 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 completed dozens of transactions totaling billions of dollars for the firm's Fortune 500 clients. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder, received his BA with honors from the University of Cincinnati and his MSFS program at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. Additionally, he holds twopatents in the field of advanced optics technology and is a multi-engine instrument-rated pilot.