Jeff Barber leads the technology practice at Fennebresque & Co. Prior to joining F&Co. in 2009 as a Managing Director, Jeff was the Managing Partner and head of the technology practice for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Raleigh, NC. As a partner for over 20 years with PWC, Mr. Barber has acted as the lead engagement partner for numerous high-profile clients, including the IPOs of Red Hat, Blackbaud, and Cree; as well as providing transaction advisory services to blue-chip companies across the United States.
For the last several years, he has served on the board of directors and as chair of the audit committees of PRA Health Sciences, Ply Gem Holdings, Inc., SciQuest, Inc., and LipoScience, Inc. In addition, he is a member of the board of trustees of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. Mr. Barber holds a BS degree in accounting from the University of Kentucky.
Tom Christensen has been a Managing Director with Fennebresque & Co. since 2013. He most recently served as the Chief Commercial Officer for Trace Genomics, a venture-capital backed enterprise focused on soil microbiome analytics for crop health diagnostics. Previously Tom served as CEO and board member of Ag TechInventures (AgTI) and several of its portfolio companies. AgTI is an agricultural technology accelerator focused on translating cutting-edge technologies commercially through early stage companies. Prior to AgTI, Tom served as the President of Agradis, the agriculture-focused spin out of Synthetic Genomics, from formation through to its sale to Monsanto. He has held senior leadership roles in Marketing and Business Development with Syngenta and Synthetic Genomics. Tom has extensive experience in digital farming having led Zeneca Ag Products North American precision farming program and forming the precision business at Farmers Cooperative Company (Now Landis Co-op). Mr. Christensen earned a BS in agronomy and MS in Plant Physiology from Iowa State University and a MBA from Duke University.
John Fennebresque founded Fennebresque & Co. in 2007. John’s investment banking experience spans three decades with firms including McColl Partners (now Deloitte Corporate Finance) – where he was a Partner, Credit Suisse, and Bank of America. In addition to F&Co., John serves as Chairman of Fennebresque & Co. Holdings, LLC, Managing Partner for Gusto Global, an enterprise focused on microbiome-based technologies, and is a Manager of ACRE Investment Management. He is also a partner and on the Investment Committee of EHF Capital, a family funded investment firm. John is active in the community and currently serves or has served on the boards of the Nutrition Research Institute at the University of North Carolina, the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina and the California Institute for Food and Agricultural Research. Mr. Fennebresque earned a BA in US History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA at Columbia Business School in NY, NY.
Prior to joining Fennebresque & Co. as a Managing Director, Larry was the Managing Partner for PricewaterhouseCoopers in South Carolina. During his 15-year tenure as a partner, PWC became the market leader in the state. Mr. Fritz has served on several boards for civic and charitable organizations in South Carolina. He has been actively engaged in corporate governance and other board activities with numerous public and private companies throughout the Southeast.
Mr. Fritz graduated from the University of South Carolina, earning an MBA and a master of accountancy. Larry also served in the United States Marine Corps as an officer during the Gulf War and then as a commanding officer with the USMC Reserve in Columbia and Greenville, SC. After 20 years of service, he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. He is currently on the board of Evening Post Publishing Company.
Mark Spizer is a Vice President at Fennebresque & Co., focusing on emerging growth technologies, including biologics and big data software. Prior to F&Co., Mark was a principal in a multi-family office focused on venture capital and real estate investments. He was involved in investments, including The Verandah Group portfolio of hotels, Northpark Corporate Park, Lev Pharmaceuticals, and Powermat. Previously, he held finance and portfolio management roles at ING Investment Management.
Mark earned a Bachelor of Science in finance from Florida State University.
