Our real secret sauce is our talented team, bringing enthusiasm, skills, and passion to every venture.
Chris Schiavino, Founder and CEO
Chris has an extensive background in building companies, raising capital and marketing that has lead him to found Sheer as the leading experts in the crowdfunding space. As CEO, Chris leads every engagement providing executive level experience, strategies, and actions bringing together the critical success factors needed to reach the next level of success for our clients.
Steve Cass, Executive VP and Co-Founder
Steve leads the Sheer deliverables for Media Strategy – Planning & Execution. His extensive 25 year experience and background position him well to bring the benefits of this critical communication channel to drive our client’s efforts to “Go to Market”.
Eric Larson, Partner and Co-Founder
Eric manages Sheer’s direct and partner lending/debt opportunities by maintaining strong relationships with middle-market, construction, equipment and traditional lending institutions. Eric has direct involvement in each client by focusing on their operational opportunities of growth empowered by his 2-decade plus experience working with some of the largest OEM manufacturers, financial/leasing institutions and brokers in the equipment and transportation industry across the globe. Eric additionally has direct experience with distressed debt and asset relocation allowing for significant value retention VS utilizing the traditional “fire sale” method.
Troy Wilford, Partner – Life Sciences
Troy is a thinker, a doer and a connector who brings decades of commercialization experience to the startup and early-stage life sciences companies with whom he has the privilege of working. An engineer turned marketer, Troy combines the art and science of both disciplines to provide a unique perspective and a methodical approach to crafting strategies for client success.
Mike Verruto, Partner – Commercial Real Estate
Michael’s 35-year career arc brings direct, hands-on, executive functional knowledge and command of all the commercial Real Estate business’ facets. An Architect by training, as a principal and founder of The HPI Group, he has completed 35 transactions in 31 cities across 16 states, assembling a 4.75 million sf office, 1.25 million sf retail, and 1800 apartment unit portfolio. He closed almost $1billion in acquisition, construction, and cross-collateralized portfolio securitized financing and negotiated over half a million square feet of office and retail leases.
Michael has extensive experience in asset management, investor reporting, and complex corporate governance. He has served as an officer, director, trustee, and general partner across a broad number of ownership and governance structures. Michael continues to serve as a trustee on various public, non-profit, and for-profit sectors Boards including over 16 years with Americans for the Arts in Washington D.C.
Donna St. Germain, Partner – Stakeholder Communication
Donna St. Germain’s superpower is storytelling. For almost 30 years, she has developed stories that bridge corporate strategy and execution with shareholder value, employee engagement, media relations, marketing, industry trends, customer service, and community outreach. St. Germain is a unique communications executive who has also served in industry analyst and investor relations roles. She collaborates with the C-Suite to overcome the challenges building and growing multinational companies, while creating cultures that empower employees.
She held global corporate leadership roles for three Initial Public Offerings, one privatization, private equity ownership, carve-out, capital raises, quarterly financial results, 15 acquisitions, countless divestitures, and management change of control. St. Germain leverages these industry-agnostic skills to translate complex situations into understandable messages. Her experience spans the technology, chemical, pharmaceutical, energy service, and education sectors working across banking, cybersecurity, cloud computing, SaaS, medical devices, automotive, building and construction, consumer electronics, paper and board, and interactive whiteboard industries.
Scott Gillespie, Capital Partners Advisor
Starting his career over 30 years ago as an investment bank/ capital markets managing director with Donaldson, Lufkin Jenrette, Credit Suisse/First Boston and Deutsche Bank, Scott raised over $10 billion of public equity in over 500 transactions in the consumer, technology, healthcare, energy and media industries. Post his Investment Banking career, he became owner and president of a private industrial manufacturing company whereby he increased revenue 5-fold and eventually sold the business for 3x investor return. Since 2014, he acted as a private debt and equity capital funding specialist with Williams Financial (WFG), whereby he completed 10 deals with a total transaction value of $271 million.