Accordion Adds Eight Managing Directors to Team in Q1

NEW YORK — April 12, 2023  — Accordion, the private equity-focused financial consulting and technology firm, has made significant Q1 hires to reflect expanding market needs and Accordion’s role as the go-to partner to the Office of the CFO. These hires include eight Managing Directors across various practice areas: Penny Tehrani-Littrell (General Counsel), Kipp Fagerstrom (Turnaround & Restructuring), Isaac Freites (Operational & Technical Accounting), Levis Ho (Operational & Technical Accounting), Björn Knittel (Operational & Technical Accounting), Amish Jhaveri (Strategic FP&A), Marc Passalacqua (Strategic FP&A), and Steven Schweitzer (Transaction Execution Services).

Penny Tehrani-Littrell, based in New York City, brings more than two decades of legal, regulatory, and compliance experience at large multi-national companies. Throughout her career (which includes roles at Revlon, Nomura/Instinet, and more), she has advised corporate leaders and board members on countless business matters — including M&A, divestitures, private equity & venture investments, digital asset transactions, corporate transformations, financings, strategic hires, litigations, and more. Passionate about providing strategic advice and practical solutions in a high-growth environment, she’ll oversee all legal and compliance matters at Accordion.

Kipp Fagerstrom, based in Atlanta, brings more than 25 years of experience assisting financially distressed companies through all phases of the restructuring and bankruptcy process. Having served in roles such as CRO, CFO, and Director of Finance, he has specific expertise helping companies improve financial performance, strengthen their capital structure, manage liquidity, and streamline and enhance operations.

Isaac Freites, based in New York City, brings two decades of experience leading capital markets, M&A, divestitures, and take-private transactions. He has expertise in capital market readiness, finance function transformation, merger integration, and value creation engagements, as well as deep knowledge of resolving complex technical accounting and financial reporting issues. At Accordion, he’ll leverage these skills to partner with CFOs in transaction execution, transformation projects, and more.

Levis Ho, based in New York City, brings nearly two decades of experience as an auditor, forensic accountant, and technical accounting advisor. Throughout his career, which includes roles at both EY and FTI Consulting, he has spearheaded a wide variety of projects: the implementation of new accounting standards, improvements to internal controls, financial forecasting, restatements, Chapter 11 reorganizations, SEC comment letter responses, China/U.S. cross-border transactions, and IPO readiness initiatives. Levis has also served in an interim management capacity in the technology industry.

Björn Knittel, based in New York City, brings nearly two decades of Big 4 financial accounting and reporting experience for clients spanning a broad range of industries, including technology, telecommunication, media, industrial manufacturing, and retail & consumer. An expert in US-GAAP, IFRS, Sox, and SEC reporting, he has supported both public and private companies through acquisitions, carve-outs, spin-offs, GAAP conversions, restatements, and other complex transactions.

Amish Jhaveri, based in New York City, brings over two decades of financial leadership experience, where he has served in numerous interim CFO roles for healthcare organizations and has developed expertise in building core infrastructure for growing organizations. Prior to Accordion, Amish worked in Alvarez & Marsal’s Healthcare Industry Group, where he focused on providing financial leadership to PE-backed healthcare organizations, concentrating on interim management, cost cutting, and performance improvement services.

Marc Passalacqua, based in Seattle, brings over two decades of finance, strategy, advisory, and performance improvement experience at both middle market companies and large corporations. Specializing in elevating companies’ finance and treasury functions, he has led restructuring and performance improvement engagements and served as an advisor/interim CFO with a focus on working capital improvement, liquidity management, expense management, cash flow projections, financial/operational reporting, and business plan development.

Steven Schweitzer, based in New York City, brings over 25 years of experience in fixed income asset management, primarily as a high-yield and leveraged loan portfolio manager. His career includes managing multi-billion-dollar portfolios for clients including pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, and mutual funds. At Accordion, Steven will focus on helping private equity clients and their portfolio companies maximize value and return on investment through the exit process.

About Accordion

Accordion is a private equity-focused financial and technology consulting firm. Working at the intersection of sponsors and management teams, Accordion partners with clients at every stage of the investment lifecycle. The firm’s services span the entire CFO function within the private capital sector, including operational and technical accounting, strategic financial planning and analysis, CFO-driven transformation, CFO technology, transaction execution, public company readiness, interim leadership, and turnaround and restructuring. With a focus on hands-on, results-oriented execution, Accordion is widely recognized as the go-to PE consultancy and the premier digital-enablement partner for portfolio CFOs. In addition, Accordion has been recognized as an employer of choice for pioneering a better way to work in finance. Accordion has a total of 10 offices including its headquarters in New York and locations in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and South Florida.