Rama Ramachandran
Senior Managing Director

Rama Ramachandran in the Senior Managing Director responsible for structured products.

Prior to joining AIP, Mr. Ramachandran worked in the structured securities group at Bank of America for nine years. During his career with the company, he was a trader, risk manager, and structurer for a Credit Derivatives Group, a $7 billion Securities Arbitrage Conduit Program, a Pension and Insurance Derivatives Group and a Structured Investment Group that specialized in unique investments.

Mr. Ramachandran received a B.A. in Mathematics/Computer Science and an M.A. in Applied Mathematics from the University of California, San Diego. He also received an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Paul Benson
Managing Director of Real Estate
Salt Lake City, Utah

Paul Benson is Managing Director of the Real Estate Division. Mr. Benson is responsible for acquisition management and sales for all AIP real estate transactions. He is based is Salt Lake City.

Prior to joining AIP, Mr. Benson served as a consultant for several large resort hotel projects both nationally and internationally. Mr. Benson is highly regarded for designing and implementing effective marketing and sales campaigns for high-end resort development’s, he also possesses a keen eye for sizing up potential opportunities. Mr. Benson has been involved in over five billion dollars in real estate investment transactions throughout his career. Mr. Benson has been in sales marketing, and development for 17 years.

Derek D. Cornaby
Senior Managing Director of Private Equity
Salt Lake City, Utah

Derek Cornaby oversees all strategy, implementation, and direction of AIP’s Equity Group. He is based in Salt Lake City.

Mr. Cornaby has 15 years experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining AIP, he was a managing partner of the National Equities Group, which consults private companies relating to capital structure of debt and equity offerings, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Cornaby was also a VP with Zions Bank Capital Markets (formally Discount Corp of New York) and participated in the underwriting and sales of government agency, corporate, mortgage, municipal, SBA pool bonds to/for institutional clients. ZBCM’s client’s included some of the largest domestic and foreign banks, insurance companies, fixed income funds, and State Pension Funds. Mr. Cornaby was also a former VP with – Merrill Lynch in their Private Client Group helping manage portfolios for high net worth individuals.

Mr. Cornaby holds a B.S. in Economics from the University of Utah.

Brian Nord
Managing Director of Lending

Brian Nord is Managing Director of the Lending division. He oversees all security lending.

Mr. Nord is a leading expert in small cap stock. Prior to joining AIP, Mr. Nord co-founded International Capital Group (ICG), which provided secured loans to small businesses. Mr. Nord’s leadership allowed ICG to expand and transact globally by providing innovative loan structured finance, secondary private equity funding and reverse mergers. Prior to ICG, Mr. Nord managed the portfolios of high net worth investors and structured investment vehicles for publicly traded corporations.

Mr. Nord holds a B.A. in Finance and Business Administration from Illinois State University.

Larry Russell
Managing Principal

Larry Russell is a Managing Director at AIP. Mr. Russell directs sales and marketing, business development, and operational oversight. Mr. Russell is also a member of the Corporate Advisement Committee.

Prior to joining AIP, Mr. Russell was the Director of Business Development for a private equity firm specializing in asset backed lending. Mr. Russell was responsible for developing strategic relationships for the company such as creating joint ventures with other institutions as well as implementing creative marketing strategies. Mr. Russell also provided solutions for high net worth individuals and institutions as well as advised small cap companies on how to restructure operations to maximize returns. Mr. Russell brings over a decade of experience in asset backed lending including factoring, equipment leasing, and commercial real estate acquisitions involving institutions both large and small.