Nicholas Kirk

Managing Director

Mr. Kirk's broad finance experience includes a range of unique advisory mandates at all levels of transaction value. Specifically, Kirk has executed buy-side and sell-side assignments, Chapter 11 and privately negotiated restructurings and private market debt and equity placements. Mr. Kirk began his banking career in the M&A group of Lazard Frères & Co., LLC, working with the Tech, Media and Telecom (TMT) team. Thereafter he was with Compass Advisers and Berenson & Company, LLC, serving a broad range of clients including: Private equity funds, hedge funds, public and privately held companies as well as veteran management teams. Industry coverage included consumer products, real estate and general industrial sectors. Mr. Kirk's served as Vice-President of Finance and Operations of Christiana Vodka.

Mr. Kirk founded Hickory to provide clients in the consumer product, general industrial, real estate and technology sector with high quality, dispassionate advice. Hickory's commercial philosophy is simple: "Successful Operations Create the Need for Finance". Enduring value is created by providing experienced, capable human capital with the necessary tools to create products and services which resonate with customers.

Mr. Kirk earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree, with Distinction, from the University of Michigan Business School. He has passed the CPA exam. Mr Kirk is an active philanthropist involved with The Brick Church's volunteer activities.

J.P. Marinelli

Advisory Director

Mr. Marinelli has more than 25 years of international investment banking and capital markets experience. His career has been divided between London and New York City. Most recently he ran the world-wide Real Estate Investment Banking Group at Citi Capital Strategies, a division of Citigroup Global Markets. He also has managed banking practices at Berenson & Co., PaineWebber and Lehman Brothers International. Over the course of his career Mr. Marinelli has directed a number of merger  and acquisition transactions and participated in over $ 22.0 billion of capital raises in the US and European public and private debt and equity markets.

A member of various boards and non-profit organizations, Mr. Marinelli has academic degrees from New York University, The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania and American University School of Law.

Thomas Gilley

Senior Technology Strategist

Thomas Gilley is a technology entrepreneur with a broad range of experience and success in social computing, modern media and mobile technologies. He recently joined Critical Media, NYC broadcast media intelligence company as the CTO. Gilley sold his on-demand web media company to Vignette and at Vignette, Gilley contributed to company positioning and product strategy from the office of the CTO for the ultimate exit to OpenText. With Compass Advisers, Gilley offered strategic advisory services in mergers, acquisitions and investments for public companies and private equity firms in the areas of security systems, enterprise software, media, mobile and wireless.

Prior to moving to NYC, Gilley gained corporate product management experience at Apple Computer. Gilley worked at Apple as an Engineer and R&D manager in the Advance Technology Group, where he successfully developed and managed a critical Intellectual Property portfolio, products and companies for handheld computers, set-top boxes, media systems, digital cameras and social computing. Gilley transferred from R&D management to Apple portable product management to lead new product development.

Before and after Apple, Gilley founded several successful companies including Meeting Technologies, a social computing company; FutureTel, the first MPEG video broadcast equipment company; and PicoStar, an incubator and technology investment company. At PicoStar, Gilley was the founding CTO for Cobalt Networks which subsequently sold to Sun for $2B, as well as the the founding CTO for the second largest News and Social Portal in Brazil and incubated several internet technology companies.

Rhys Moore

Advisory Director, Retail and Apparel

Mr. Moore’s professional experience includes senior management roles in Fortune 500 companies and private entrepreneurial firms managing brands across multiple channels of distribution. He has worked as a strategic consultant for Oxford Industries, Orvis, 66 North, Mary Norton, Skin Therapie as well as TriState Holdings (Shanghai) Mitsui (Japan) and the Apparel Group (UAE).

Moore began his career in a training function at Saks Fifth Avenue, moved to Xpres Corp., then to Sara Lee’s Champion Athletic unit where he held positions as Brand Manager, Director and National Sales Manager for several categories of the brand. Moore was responsible for several successful category launches and brand extensions in his roles at Champion. Moore then acquired, with a group, the distressed North American business of The Oroton Group (Australia). A turnaround was completed which included the opening of free standing retail stores and the development of an eCommerce business. Moore then went on to head the Global Apparel & Retail business for Victorinox Swiss Army Brands.

Before co-founding The Hickory Group with Mr. Kirk, Moore acted as a consultant to branded consumer companies as well as Investment Banking firms and Private Equity Groups. Moore earned his undergraduate degree from of the University of Michigan and earned his MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.  Rhys has  served on the Board of Trustees of the Wooster School, and the Board of Directors of Sydney Harbour, Inc. Rhys is active in equestrian sports and avid outdoor sportsman.