Meet the Team

SASI is a boutique M&A advisory firm focused on serving investors and entrepreneurs in the IT industry.  We represent leading venture backed private companies that are exploring strategic M&A options. SASI was founded on the belief that stakeholders in private companies have a need for a new class of M&A advisor. They require a banker who brings not only transaction and financial expertise but also has intimate knowledge of the industry, the strategic buyers and the customer, technology, competitive trends shaping the industry.

John is the founder of SASI and provides M&A advisory services to private and public companies in the technology market. His primary focus is in cloud infrastructure technologies covering storage, compute, networking, and security across software, SaaS, appliance and pure service business models. He has completed deals with leading market players including Citrix, Dell, Google, Hitachi, Intel, Seagate, and Qualcomm among others. Prior to founding SASI in 2005, John co-managed the information technology practice area and opened the Southern California office for SVB Alliant, the former investment banking division of Silicon Valley Bank. John is a 20+ year technology industry veteran with a unique blend of investment banking, strategy consulting, corporate development and start-up experience. At Iomega, John was responsible for strategic planning, M&A and new investment activities. Before Iomega, John handled public and private sell-side transactions at Broadview International LLC and focused on enabling broadband technologies, digital networked appliances, information security, semiconductors and storage systems. Prior to Broadview, John was director of corporate development at Compaq where he managed strategy projects covering broadband communications, the digital networked home, Internet services, and corporate direction. At Compaq, he was also active in M&A including the Tandem Computer and Digital Equipment Corporation mergers. John spent the first part of his career at an aerospace and defense management consulting start-up that was acquired by Electronic Data Systems. John earned a B.S. in Finance and Accounting from Babson College.

john@sasillc.com | (858) 232-4820 | LinkedIn

Christine joined SASI in October, 2005 with over 13 years of market and competitive research experience covering a broad range of IT areas such as information security, enterprise software, and personal computing.  Prior to joining SASI, Christine was head of market research and competitive intelligence at Sonicwall, a leading provider of security solutions to small and medium businesses.  She also spent two years at Ensim, a leading provider of hosting automation software. Prior to Ensim, Christine spent seven years in a variety of market research roles.  She spent two years at Compaq Computer Corporation in market intelligence with a focus on competitive intelligence, market segmentation and sizing, and trend and database analysis.  Christine started her career at Management Ventures, a market research based consulting firm specializing in the Consumer Packaged Goods Industry.  She led all phases of primary and secondary research engagements at Management Ventures. Christine has a B.S. in Finance from Babson College.

christine@sasillc.com | (858) 337-7416 | LinkedIn

Alex joined SASI in May, 2007 and has played a key role in BidStork’s sale to Sabre Holdings and Adaptec’s divestiture of the Snap Server NAS business to Overland Storage.  Alex also manages our 409A valuation practice area.  Prior to joining SASI, Alex interned at Yorkville Advisors, a private equity fund and leading financier in the small-cap sector.  His responsibilities consisted of researching potential portfolio companies and providing transaction support.  Prior to interning at Yorkville Advisors, Alex worked in operations management at the San Diego Union Tribune.  Alex holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of San Diego.

George Symons brings over 20 years of IT infrastructure experience. Most recently he has been Gridstore CEO and a member of its board of directors. Mr. Symons previously served as Chief Strategy Officer at Nexsan, resulting in its acquisition by Imation. Prior to Nexsan, he held executive roles in storage companies including Xiotech Corporation (COO), EvoStor (CEO), Yosemite Technologies (CEO), EMC (CTO for Information Management), and Legato (CTO, VP of Development and Product Management). He has also held senior roles at FullTime Software, Software Research, PROCASE Corporation, and Sun Microsystems. Mr. Symons has bachelor degrees in Computer Science and Management Science from UCSD and an MBA from UCLA.