Meet Our Leadership Team

Louis Garoz

Founder

Louis Garoz Ferguson is the Founder and Managing Partner of both Kadenwood Group and DealMaker, where he leads strategic direction, client advisory, and capital markets execution. He brings a rare combination of investment banking expertise, marketing-driven origination, and entrepreneurial insight to every mandate, delivering precision and high-velocity execution.

His career centers on advising founder-led and growth-stage companies across industries, with deep experience in capital structuring, investor syndication, and transaction readiness. He is known for driving deal velocity by combining institutional-grade execution with modern, digital-first capital markets strategies.

As a founder who has built and scaled businesses himself, Louis approaches every engagement with an ownership mindset, aligning deeply with client outcomes and delivering value beyond the transaction.

At Kadenwood and DealMaker, Louis is building a new standard in capital advisory—one rooted in strategic depth, executional agility, and aligned incentives that create transformative outcomes.

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Harlan Ryker

Managing Director

Harlan Ryker is a capital advisor and dealmaker specializing in structured finance, private equity, and strategic acquisitions. As Executive Director at Kadenwood Group, a premier lower-middle market capital advisory firm and merchant bank, he has played a key role in $13B+ in transactions, helping businesses secure growth capital, restructure debt, and scale through M&A.

With a background in ultra high-ticket sales and high-performance deal structuring, Harlan has led elite teams optimizing revenue systems and investor acquisition strategies. His expertise spans capital markets, investment banking, and private acquisitions, allowing him to craft tailored financial solutions that drive long-term success.

Previously, he founded Nomadic Closer, building and training top-tier sales teams for high-value investment opportunities, and was a partner at Buying Beast, acquiring and scaling e-commerce, SaaS, AI, and gaming companies for profitable exits.

Driven by relentless execution and strategic foresight, Harlan thrives in high-stakes environments where negotiation, capital alignment, and long-term vision are critical. His ability to connect capital with opportunity makes him a trusted partner for businesses seeking investment, acquisitions, and scalable growth strategies.

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Jack Landry

Chief of Staff

Jack Landry is Chief of Staff across both DealMaker and Kadenwood Group, serving as a cross-functional operator at the heart of firm-wide execution. With a deep understanding of the firm’s capital markets model and an innate sense for organizational momentum, Jack drives internal alignment, strategic deployment, and operational precision across initiatives.

Coming from a capital markets lineage, his grandfather having managed an $8 billion fund, Jack brings both inherited insight and hands-on executional expertise to every facet of the business. He is a force multiplier behind the scenes, translating vision into velocity through tightly organized systems, process mobilization, and cross-department execution.

Jack’s role spans executive coordination, internal systems design, and project delivery across DealMaker’s capital advisory operations and Kadenwood’s strategic mandates. He serves as a central axis in team orchestration, ensuring both firms scale with cohesion, structure, and executional excellence.

At DealMaker and Kadenwood, Jack plays a pivotal role in ensuring that high-level strategy translates into real-world outcomes, fast, efficiently, and at scale.

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David Allen

Chief Legal Counsel

David Allen serves as Chief Legal Counsel at DealMaker, overseeing all legal, regulatory, and compliance operations. With deep expertise in U.S. securities law, transactional structuring, and regulatory advisory, David anchors the firm’s legal integrity and operational risk mitigation strategy.

As Founding Partner at Allen & Thomas, David brings decades of legal leadership advising private equity firms, venture capital funds, investment banks, and high-growth companies on capital formation and transactional law. He has structured and guided multi-million-dollar capital raises, cross-border transactions, and complex regulatory frameworks—positioning him as a critical pillar in DealMaker’s infrastructure.

David’s role ensures every participant and transaction within the DealMaker ecosystem is backed by robust legal protections and institutional-grade compliance standards.

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Josh Sweetnam

Senior Advisor

Mr. Sweetnam is an accomplished Business Development Strategist with nearly a decade of experience in Private Equity, Investment Banking and Enterprise Level Business Development. With a diverse background and wide ranging experience, his proven track record of success makes him an integral player at Kadenwood and DealMaker.

Prior to joining Kadenwood, Josh served as Head of Sales at Acquisitions.com, where he worked closely with many buy and sell side clients. His leadership was instrumental in facilitating one of the firms largest clients acquire 16 businesses in 8 months.

Following his tenure at Acquisitions.com, Josh joined Titan Global Corp, a leading Private Equity firm, where he played a key role in business development and closing multiple large insurance investments, rising to Principal in the firm.

Furthering his record in Enterprise Level Business Development, Josh then lead the Business Development division of the Qatari Royal Family Office of White Falcon across a number of different verticals.

His experience in working with sovereign wealth funds and ultra high net worth investors, along with his experience in M&A, underscores his ability to navigate complex, high value transactions at the highest level and continues to drive growth at Kadenwood and DealMaker.

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Bryann Cabral

Senior Advisor

Bryan Cabral is a Senior Advisor at DealMaker, where he brings strategic oversight, executive advisory, and operational depth to the firm’s client engagements and internal growth initiatives. With a career spanning leadership in talent advisory and executive search, Bryan merges institutional discipline with entrepreneurial execution to drive outcomes across deal cycles.

As Founder and Managing Partner of Zaidwood Capital, Bryan has advised some of the most prominent firms on building high-performance leadership teams across industries including private equity, venture capital, and high-growth operating companies. His ability to integrate human capital strategy into capital markets advisory makes him a rare asset at the intersection of deal structuring and organizational design.

Bryan’s approach is grounded in precision sourcing, executive relationship management, and operational scaling. His insight into leadership architecture has supported multi-stage companies as they navigate transactions, growth capital raises, and exit preparation, making him a trusted partner to both founders and institutional stakeholders.

At DealMaker, Bryan contributes to building a new standard in advisory excellence, one where leadership strategy, capital alignment, and execution speed converge to deliver transformative outcomes.

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Bogdan Micov

Senior Advisor

Bogdan Micov is a Senior Advisor at DealMaker, where he supports strategic execution across capital markets, client advisory, and institutional outreach. With a deep background in private equity, corporate development, and transaction execution, Bogdan brings a sophisticated, analytical lens to every engagement.

As a seasoned investment professional, Bogdan has advised and executed on M&A, growth capital, and restructuring mandates across North America and Europe. His experience spans multiple verticals, with particular depth in industrials, infrastructure, and asset-heavy businesses. Throughout his career, he has worked closely with institutional investors, C-suites, and founder-led enterprises, aligning capital strategy with long-term business outcomes.

Bogdan has held roles in private equity and corporate development at leading investment platforms and family offices, where he specialized in buy-side diligence, financial modeling, and strategic execution. His ability to dissect complex deal dynamics and drive high-stakes negotiations makes him an invaluable force behind the scenes at DealMaker.

At DealMaker, Bogdan contributes to delivering executional excellence, rigorous financial discipline, and investor-grade advisory, anchoring the firm’s commitment to transformative outcomes at every stage of the deal lifecycle.

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Mazin Gazzar

Senior Advisor

Mazin Gazar is a Senior Advisor at DealMaker, where he brings a dynamic blend of venture capital acumen, startup advisory, and global fundraising expertise to support client mandates and capital strategy initiatives. His career bridges early-stage innovation ecosystems and institutional capital markets, making him a key force in connecting high-growth ventures with sophisticated capital.

As the Founding Partner of Gazar Ventures, Mazin has worked across global markets to advise startups, scale-ups, and funds on capital formation, strategic growth, and investor relations. He has led venture development efforts across sectors including deep tech, fintech, and climate innovation, building a reputation as a trusted advisor to founders and fund managers alike.

Mazin’s global investor network spans venture capital, family offices, and sovereign entities, enabling DealMaker clients to tap into diverse capital channels beyond traditional institutional sources. He excels at shaping go-to-market narratives, optimizing investor readiness, and driving cross-border syndication strategies.

At DealMaker, Mazin plays a pivotal role in accelerating deal velocity and extending the firm’s international capital reach, aligning global fundraising strategy with executional precision and founder-first advisory principles.

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Fred McCurry

Business Development Representative

Fred McCurry is a Business Development Representative at DealMaker, where he drives pipeline generation, client engagement, and outbound strategy execution. With a sharp focus on sourcing founder-led and investor-backed opportunities, Fred serves as a frontline force in fueling the firm’s growth engine.

Fred brings a high-intensity, sales-first mindset to DealMaker, combining outbound precision with relationship-building acumen. He is skilled in identifying capital advisory opportunities across sectors, qualifying prospects, and positioning DealMaker’s offering in fast-paced deal environments.

With a background in client acquisition and high-velocity sales execution, Fred plays a key role in expanding DealMaker’s reach into emerging markets and transaction-ready verticals. He operates at the intersection of outreach and strategy, ensuring high-quality deal flow enters the firm’s ecosystem.

At DealMaker, Fred helps set the tempo of the pipeline, driving deal velocity from first touch to transaction readiness.

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