Senior Team

William & Henry Associates has highly experienced professionals to lead your transaction. This group is supported by a complement of Managing Directors, Directors, Vice Presidents, Associates, Analysts and administrative support. Professionals come from diverse backgrounds including investment banking, CEO/President/CFO/Treasurer/Controller of public/private companies, management consulting, public accounting and private equity.

Our professionals, who have executed many transactions, have investment banking experience spanning a wide array of investment banks – including bulge bracket firms (such as Salomon Brothers), international firms (such as Schroder Wertheim), and boutique firms (such as Barrington Associates).

Senior Professionals

David J. Iannini
Chairman, President, and CEO
diannini@williamhenryassociates.com

Mr. Iannini has over 30 years of investment banking/financial experience. He has held senior positions at Salomon Brothers (Now Citigroup) in New York and Los Angeles, Schroder Wertheim (Now Citigroup), Barrington Associates (now Intrepid) , a division of Mitsubishi and Greif & Co. During his career, Mr. Iannini has executed over 200 transactions for both large capitalization public companies such as Avon Products, Xerox, Eastman Kodak, Toys R Us, Hilton Hotels, Dial Corp., Viad Corporation and Textron as well as for small and medium-size entrepreneurial and private businesses.

For over ten years running, the Los Angeles Business Journal has named Mr. Iannini as one of the most influential M&A advisors who has advised on some of the biggest, most challenging, and important transactions in the region. Mr. Iannini has been quoted and interviewed many times in various publications regarding his expertise in mergers and acquisitions. Such publications include Business Insider, The Deal, Variety, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Business Journal. For two consecutive years (2021 and 2022), the Los Angeles Times named Mr. Iannini as an “Investment Banking Visionary”.

In terms of mergers and acquisitions, Mr. Iannini has worked on both domestic and cross-border transactions including the $3 billion sale/restructuring of Security Pacific Asia Bank Ltd. for Bank of America, the $350 million sale of Avon’s Apparel Fashion Division, Textron’s $2 billion acquisition of Cessna, the $2 billion spin-off of Hilton Hotels gaming operations, the $780 million sale of Dobbs Foodservice to Swiss Airlines and the sale of the $1 billion Petrie stake in Toys R Us; among many others. He has expertise in completing transactions in a variety of industries including consumer products, aerospace/defense, consumer services, manufacturing, distribution, B to B, B to C, technology, business services, retail, hospitality, health care and financial services.

Mr. Iannini has completed many middle-market transactions (values of $25-$200 million) including the sale/recapitalization of Intercontinental Art to Madison Dearborn, the sale/recapitalization of KBell Socks to Compass Equity, the sale of Arrow Paper and Food to U.S Foodservice, the sale of Entertainment Data to A.C. Nielsen, the acquisition of Bushman’s of Australia by Channell Commercial Corporation, the acquisitions of RMS Electronics, Standby-Electronics (Canada) and A.C. Egerton Holdings PLC (United Kingdom) by Channell Commercial Corporation as well as the acquisitions of Meridian Technology and Carbon Copy Ltd. by Microcom ( Now part of Hewlett Packard); among many others noted in the “Experience” section on this website. In terms of financing, Mr. Iannini has worked on equity (IPO and Secondary Offerings) and debt capital raising transactions which have raised over $5 billion of public and private common equity, preferred equity, senior debt and subordinated debt.

Mr. Iannini also has significant experience from the “client” side of transactions. He was Treasurer and Vice President of Corporate Development (a.k.a. Mergers & Acquisitions) at Viad Corporation (NYSE:VVI), a $6 billion conglomerate and member of the S&P 400 Index at the time. Notably, he directed a team of investment bankers from Lehman Brothers and Salomon Brothers in the $1.8-billion spin-off of MoneyGram. At Viad, he was the Chairman of the Investment and Acquisition Committees. His treasury duties included the management of the Company’s $7 billion securities portfolio, pension plan, working capital/cash management in addition to his responsibilities for the Company’s capital markets activities including the commercial paper program, medium term note program and the successful completion of a new $425 million revolving credit facility with a syndicate of fifteen major domestic and international banks.

Mr. Iannini served on the Board of Directors of Channell Commercial Corp (NASDAQ: CHNL) where he was the designated Financial Expert and a member of both the Audit Committee and Compensation Committee.

Mr. Iannini has also served as an adjunct professor of accounting at UCLA for several years teaching both accounting and finance courses to undergraduates. He has spoken at various industry and trade show events such as the Hawaii Tax Institute, American Electronics Association and Association for Corporate Growth.

Prior to his career executing strategic transactions, Mr. Iannini was an auditor and was promoted to senior accountant with Arthur Andersen & Co. after only two years and he earned his C.P.A. accreditation by passing the entire CPA exam at one sitting, a feat only accomplished by less than 2% of participants. He has a B.S. in Accounting, Magna Cum Laude, from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College as well as an M.B.A., Summa Cum Laude, from the Anderson School of Management at U.C.L. A. For his M.B.A thesis, Mr. Iannini was chosen by the Dean to lead a team of his classmates in assisting David Murdoch CEO of Dole and Castle & Cook in analyzing various aspects of his businesses.

Mr. Iannini is an avid college football fan and in particular all sports relating to Boston College. He is a member of the California Yacht Club, Pacific Palisades YMCA and a former member of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council and the Loyola Marymount President’s Council. Mr. Iannini completed the 1979 Boston Marathon and has completed the 50-mile Rosarito to Ensenada Endurance Bike Race three times. Mr. Iannini was voted Most Likely to Succeed by his high school classmates and was a three-year letterman in football who was elected as Co-Captain his Senior Year and earned All-League honors.

At Boston College, Mr. Iannini is a member of the Leadership Circle of donors having been recognized and inducted into several prestigious organizations at the school including The 1863 Society, The William B. Neenan, S.J., Society and The Shaw Society. In his Junior year at Boston College, Mr. Iannini was awarded induction into America’s most prestigious academic society, Phi Beta Kappa, which has championed academic excellence and freedom of thought since its inception in 1776. Members of Phi Beta Kappa include 17 U.S. Presidents and 41 Supreme Court Justices. Recently, Mr. Iannini was inducted into the Drinan Society at Boston College. Recently, Mr. Iannini has been selected to serve on the Presidential Consultation Board at Boston College.

Mr. Iannini is the sole or major benefactor of a number of charitable enterprises. Through his various charities below, Mr. Iannini was the first, and to date the largest, private donor to the Save the Manatees initiative undertaken by the U.S Department of the Interior.

These organizations include:

Middle Earth Sanctuary – a sanctuary dedicated to saving animals to be euthanized or displaced by natural disasters.

Italian-American Heritage Conservancy – based in Vieste, Italy-the ancestral home of the Iannini/Nobiletti family. Mission is to reconnect Americans of Italian descent with their relations in Italy and strengthen these historical ties and heritage.

Soldiers for Animals – employs three separate ranger patrols to protect critically endangered animals in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (gorillas), Gunung Leuser National Park in Sumartra Indonesia (Orangutans, Sumatran Tiger/Rhino/Elephants) and Serengeti National Park in Tanzania (black rhino).

Mr. Iannini is also a benefactor and on the Board of Directors of the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles and currently serves as its Treasurer. The firm also supports many charities listed on this website through smaller regular donations.

Mr. Iannini and his brother have endowed their high school Alma Mater with sufficient funds to provide $50,000 annually and perpetually to the most promising student(s). The award is named the Americo and Carmela Iannini Prize in dedication to their parents.

Mr. Iannini is FINRA licensed: 7, 24, 28, 63, 79 and 99.

Matt Dawson
Managing Director
Head of Southern California Region
mdawson@williamhenryassociates.com

Matt Dawson is a Managing Director with William & Henry Associates and possesses over 15 years of financial advisory and corporate finance experience. He has participated in a variety of engagements, including mergers and acquisitions, private capital placement and strategic advisory services. Prior to joining William & Henry, Mr. Dawson was with Barrington Associates, a division of Wells Fargo Securities. He has worked with companies in numerous industries, including healthcare; consumer products; agriculture and food research; maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services and electronics. Mr. Dawson led the day-to-day execution on the sale of Nix Check Cashing to Kinecta Federal Credit Union; was on the teams that completed the sale of Westbread to Monsanto; the sale of Spencer N. Enterprises to Ancor Capital; and the sale of Pasternack Enterprises, Inc. to Windjammer Capital. Before joining Barrington Associates, He played professional football with teams in the NFL and Arena Football League.

Following his freshman year playing quarterback at the United States Naval Academy, Mr. Dawson transferred to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. While at Wharton, he was a strong safety on the varsity football team and received a Bachelor of Science in Management and Finance. Additionally, Mr. Dawson was a consultant at the Wharton Small Business Development Center. He is a licensed motorcycle racer, outdoor enthusiast and licensed pilot.

Mr. Dawson is also the Founder/President of Dawson’s Peak, a 501(c)(3) whose mission is to inspire personal transformations by pushing the boundaries of human capabilities. The organization creates one-off, large-scale, global expeditions undertaken by its sponsored athletes meant to inspire viewers to live with a greater sense of purpose and apply that purpose to elevate others.

Mr. Dawson is FINRA licensed: 7, 24, 63, 79.

Yael Lustmann
Managing Director
ylustmann@williamhenryassociates.com

Yael Lustmann has over 20 years of experience in a wide range of business, advisory and legal environments, including acquisition, financing, joint ventures and restructuring transactions in several industries and countries.

Ms. Lustmann was a senior corporate attorney for over 10 years at leading international law firms, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York and Bingham McCutchen LLP in Los Angeles. She led a diverse range of corporate matters, with a focus on private and public M&A, private equity, and acquisition, mezzanine and asset-backed financing. Ms. Lustmann worked on deals in media and entertainment, technology, food and beverage, manufacturing and defense. Subsequently, she was a Managing Director at Cohen & Associates, where she managed the identification, evaluation, marketing and financing of syndicated real estate acquisitions.

In addition to her investment and legal experience, Ms. Lustmann is an entrepreneur who launched a new frozen dessert retail concept, including financing, branding, product development, and corporate structuring. She also co-founded a cybersecurity startup that developed technology enabling users to protect shared information in online environments.

Ms. Lustmann served two years in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Ms. Lustmann received her M.B.A. from the Anderson School of Business at UCLA and her law degree from Yale Law School and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Ms. Lustmann is admitted to the bars of California, New York and Israel.

Ms. Lustmann is FINRA licensed: 63 and 79.