Top 20 Private Capital Raising & Placement Advisory 2026 This report forms part of the Ranking News Investment Banking & Capital Markets Advisory series, which evaluates specialist advisory firms focused on private capital raising, placement, and investor advisory across global markets. Private capital raising and placement advisory firms play a central role within the global… Continue Reading →
Patrick O’Meara is a Senior Adviser at Stonington where he participates in the distribution effort on select mandates.
Mr. O’Meara is also the Founder and President of Profor Securities, and has over twenty years of experience raising capital for alternative investment funds. Mr. O’Meara has raised significant capital for private equity funds across a diverse group of private equity strategies including recent engagements with a distressed fund, a lower middle market buyout fund, sector focused funds and a special opportunity fund. Prior to establishing Profor, Mr. O’Meara was Managing Director of Marketing and Client Relations at Clinton Group, a hedge fund headquartered in New York City. At Clinton Group, Mr. O’Meara led the 9 person marketing department for close to a decade. Under Mr. O’Meara’s leadership assets under management at Clinton Group peaked at $6 billion. Prior to joining Clinton Group, Mr. O’Meara was a taxable fixed income sales professional at Smith Barney, Citigroup and Bear Stearns. Mr. O’Meara began his career as an auditor at Arthur Anderson.
Mr. O’Meara holds a BS in Accounting from St. Joseph’s University. Mr. O’Meara also holds FINRA Series 7, 24, 63, 99 and 79 licenses through Profor Securities, LLC.
Dan Rudgers is a Senior Managing Director at Stonington Capital Advisors where he brings 20 years of experience in fundraising and fund advisory services for a wide array of alternative investment products. He has been involved in raising capital from institutional investors including public and private pensions, endowments & foundations, Funds of Funds and family offices. His clients have included managers focused on buyouts, venture-capital, distressed and credit opportunities, energy, mezzanine, cleantech, PE secondaries and PE co-investments.
Prior to joining Stonington Mr. Rudgers was a Principal and Head of Northeast distribution for First Avenue Partners, a leading global alternative investment placement agent. In this role he supported all aspects of the business including origination, distribution and project management in all relevant sectors globally, including private equity, private credit and real assets (including infrastructure and mining).
Before that he spent eight years at Lazard Frères & Co.’s Private Fund Advisory Group as a Managing Director focused on distribution of alternatives in the Northeastern US and Canada. In this role he was responsible for raising approximately $2.5 billion for funds focused on buyouts, venture-capital, distressed and credit opportunities.
Prior to Lazard, Mr. Rudgers was a Senior Vice President in the Private Fund Marketing Group at Lehman Brothers. In that role he raised approximately $1 billion from new investors for funds focused on buyouts, venture capital, energy, mezzanine, cleantech, PE secondaries, PE co-investments and credit opportunities.
Mr. Rudgers is a graduate of Niagara University and holds FINRA Series 7, 24 and 63 licenses through Stonington Drive Securities LLC.
Dana C. Pawlicki is a Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Stonington Capital Advisors. Mr. Pawlicki has nearly twenty years of experience working with alternative investment funds and has sourced and managed institutional investor relationships for a diverse group of private equity strategies.
At Stonington, Mr. Pawlicki has raised capital from institutional investors for funds and direct investments in the United States and Europe, including fund of funds, insurance companies and pension plans. Mr. Pawlicki has also provided strategic advice to financial sponsors on building and expanding their business to manage additional institutional capital. He has also sourced and assisted in the negotiation of strategic investments in new firms or ones undergoing transition.
Prior to co-founding Stonington, Mr. Pawlicki was a founding partner of and Managing Director and Global Head of Origination and Project Management of Evercore Partners’ Private Funds Group. In his role at Evercore, Mr. Pawlicki originated, diligenced and advised general partners on their fundraising strategies and also managed some of the team’s largest institutional investor relationships across the Northeast and Midwest. Prior to joining Evercore (as a result of Evercore’s purchase of the business from Neuberger Berman), Mr. Pawlicki was Global Head of Origination and Project Management of Neuberger Berman’s Alternative Advisory and Placement Group and previously held the same title at Lehman Brothers (its predecessor entity). At Neuberger Berman and Lehman Brothers, Mr. Pawlicki also had coverage responsibilities for institutional investors in the Northeast and Midwest. Prior to Lehman Brothers, Mr. Pawlicki was Head of Product Development for Citigroup Alternative Investments (“CAI”), where he worked for 5 years. At CAI, he was responsible for the promotion, structuring and development of alternative investment products, including private equity, infrastructure, hedge funds and real estate across CAI’s investment centers and distribution channels globally. He also served as Chairman of the Structured Sales Approval Committee and as a member of the Alternative Investment Product Committee. Before joining CAI, he worked as a corporate attorney in the New York offices of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobsen and Seward & Kissel LLP where he advised numerous fund sponsors and financial institutions.
Mr. Pawlicki holds a J.D. from the Cornell Law School, an M.B.A. in corporate finance and investment management from the Ohio State University (Fisher) and a B.A. in economics from Middlebury College. Mr. Pawlicki also holds FINRA Series 7, 24, 63 and 79 licenses through Stonington Drive Securities LLC and is a member of the New York, Ohio and District of Columbia bars.