4 Minutes With…John Reilly, Managing Director, WestPark Capital

Tell us about your organization and it’s role in the Advanced Bioeconomy.

We finance alternative energy companies especially in biofuels and chemicals.

Tell us about your role and what you are focused on in the next 12 months.

In the next twelve months would like to finance $100 million into alternative energy companies with breakthrough proven technology.

What do you feel are the most important milestones the industry must achieve in the next 5 years?

Profitability profitability profitability — without gov’t subsidies.

If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about the Advanced Bioeconomy, what would you change?

Eliminate all subsidies and provide investors with incentives and tax credits for investing.

Of all the reasons that influenced you to join the Advanced Bioeconomy industry, what single reason stands out for you as still being compelling and important to you?

Innovation and technology development in the sector to achieve long term sustainability, ecology and profitability.

Where are you from? 

Manhattan, NY.

What was your undergraduate major in college, and where did you attend? Why did you choose that school and that pathway? 

BS Finance – Northeastern University. Chose for location close to work. Pathway to Investment Banking.

Who do you consider your mentors. What have you learned from them?

Nelson Peltz – how to analyze and create value in companies
Tom Huhn – how to master deal making in the middle market
Michael Milken – how to innovate capital structures and financings.
Jay Abraham – how to create value in companies utilizing innovative strategy and direct response marketing and understanding lifetime customer value.
Michael Porter – how to create sustainable competitive advantage through value chain analysis and the five forces of competition.

What’s the biggest lesson you ever learned during a period of adversity?

You must go to a different level of understanding to solve the problems caused by a lesser level of understanding. The Adversity is the best developer of your success and should be welcomed as the teacher of creating long term success.

What hobbies do you pursue, away from your work in the industry? 

I have a part time career as a professional actor.

What 3 books would you take to read, if stranded on a desert island?

The Bhagavad Gita, The Green Pharmacy and The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Survival on a Small Deserted Island.

What books or articles are on your reading list right now, or you just completed and really enjoyed?

Mastery
The Holographic Universe (3rd read through)
The Dark Side Of Valuation.

What’s your favorite city or place to visit, for a holiday?

Rio de Janeiro