Accordion Opens San Francisco Office, Hires Jain to Head Western Region

By, Iris Dorbian, Author, PE Hub

Accordion, a private equity-focused financial consulting firm, has opened an office in San Francisco and hired Rishi Jain as managing director, head of Western region. Previously, Jain worked at Alvarez & Marsal where he led the San Francisco office.

PRESS RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO, JUNE 14, 2017 — Accordion, the private equity focused financial consulting firm, today announced its West Coast expansion with the official opening of a San Francisco office. The office will serve as an important footprint in the greater Bay Area, a region that has become a powerful economic magnet attracting increased private equity investment. While Accordion already counts a significant portion of West Coast-based funds among its client roster of over 150 fund sponsors and portfolio companies, the migration of private equity money to the technology sector and the unique attributes of Bay Area funds warrant a dedicated regional presence.

“It has always been part of our strategic vision to have a physical footprint in the Bay Area to complement our existing portfolio of clients and to accommodate significant corporate growth,” said Nick Leopard, Founder and CEO of Accordion. “That accelerated growth, coupled with the ongoing evolution of the private equity market signaled the perfect time for expansion.”

With respect to market evolution, the availability of capital reserves has aligned with the maturation of software and services companies, making the West Coast the new high growth hub for private equity. Continued Leopard, “While Bay Area funds and their portfolio companies benefit from the type of outside operational expertise and support Accordion provides through its New York headquarters, they are, in many ways, unique animals with unique – and exciting – operational needs.”

Accordion’s West Coast office can serve those needs not only through increased proximity, but through specialized, vertical expertise. As part of its expansion, Accordion is also announcing the hiring of Rishi Jain, who will lead Accordion’s new market growth as Managing Director, Head of Western Region. Jain is a seasoned finance and operations executive who most recently helped lead Alvarez & Marsal’s San Francisco office. Throughout his career, which began in technology investment banking, Jain has advised CEOs/CFOs on value creation initiatives and has, himself, served in a variety of senior financial operating positions. Said Leopard, “Rishi not only uniquely understands the San Francisco market and its technology roots, but he has also served as both an operational executive and an operational advisor. He understands the challenges and expectations of both the PE-backed CFO and the fund sponsor, and how to effectively advise each.”

“With record fund raising and a greater sponsor emphasis on operational improvements, there is no more exciting time to be a part of the private equity industry or its growing West Coast emergence,” said Jain. “Just as the growth for the sector seems limitless, so too does the growth for a firm, like Accordion, which exclusively caters to private equity’s operational needs. I am excited to be on this high growth journey with Accordion as a company, and as a value creation advisor for our clients.”

The San Francisco office is the latest expansion for Accordion which last year announced the launch of its Financial & Advisory Services (FAAS) practice, providing operational, accounting, performance improvement and technical accounting support. The FAAS group was created to complement Accordion’s heritage Strategic Finance practice, which provides financial technical and operational expertise to private equity portfolio companies and middle-market companies within the Office of the CFO.