• Adam Claypool, Managing Director
• Matt Plooster, Vice President
• Karlton Kleis, Operations
• Dustin Bahnsen, Real Estate Manager
• Todd Doorenbos, Analyst
• Byron MacLeod, Analyst
• Vicki Glenn, Executive Assistant

• Jerry Newman, Senior Partner, Newman Ventures Advisors, Boulder, CO & Hillsborough, CA
• Steven Smith, President, Chariman, Co-Founder, GCommerce, Des Moines, IA

Adam Claypool
Managing Director
aclaypool@dewaayfinancial.net

With the DeWaay organization since 2007, Adam Claypool brings a strong investment banking and private equity background, and is an experienced business advisor, working with entrepreneurs, developers, family-owned businesses, venture capital-backed companies and private equity/venture capital firms.

Prior to his present role with DeWaay, Mr. Claypool was Vice President of Investment Banking for a regional, independent broker dealer with $1.6 billion in assets under management. In that capacity, Mr. Claypool personally initiated and closed numerous transactions in 17 industries. Previously, he was the founder and Managing Partner of an M&A and corporate finance advisory firm whose clients were focused on the small to lower-middle market.

Mr. Claypool earned his B.A. in Political Science/Economics from the University of Iowa. He is currently pursuing an MBA at the Tippie School of Business, University of Iowa.

Matt Plooster
Vice President
mplooster@dewaayfinancial.net

Matt Plooster is a Vice President of DeWaay Investment Banking, a division of DeWaay Financial Network, LLC. In his role, he focuses on M&A origination and execution, as well as institutional placements and fund management.

Mr. Plooster came to the DeWaay family of companies with a strong investment banking background. Prior to joining DeWaay, Mr. Plooster was a Senior Associate in Morgan Stanley’s Chicago Investment Banking Division, and also served as an Associate and Analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities in Chicago. During his eight years of Wall Street investment banking experience, Mr. Plooster has specialized in M&A, leveraged buyout, and debt and capital raising for leading North American and global industrials, manufacturing, transportation and consumer companies.

Karlton Kleis
Operations
kkleis@dewaayfinancial.net

Karlton Kleis works in operations for DeWaay Investment Banking, a division of DeWaay Financial Network, LLC. Since joining the DeWaay family of companies in 2006, his duties have included the development and management of the DeWaay home office campus, structuring and implementation of the Third Party Administrator platform, and working on the implementation team for the creation of the broker dealer, DeWaay Financial Network, and it’s business line components.

Prior to his current role with DeWaay, Mr. Kleis was a senior auditor for Wellmark in Des Moines, Iowa. Mr. Kleis also worked as a financial services coordinator for Life Care Services, managing the accounting departments of five independent commercial facility clients.

Mr. Kleis graduated from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa with a double major in accounting and financial management and holds an MBA from the Tippie School of Business at the University of Iowa. He holds the FINRA Series 7 license.

Dustin Bahnsen
Real Estate Manager
dbahnsen@dewaayfinancial.net

Dustin Bahnsen has been the Real Estate Manager with DeWaay Investment Banking, a division of DeWaay Financial Network, LLC, since early 2009. He is responsible for the underwriting and due diligence of real estate opportunities in which DeWaay is presented. He also provides portfolio management support for prior real estate offerings that remain outstanding with investors.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Bahnsen spent six years with Principal Real Estate Investors, where he gained substantial experience in commercial real estate lending and loan structuring. He managed relationships with some of the company’s top mortgage brokers and with borrowers throughout the United States.

Mr. Bahnsen received his Bachelor of Arts in Real Estate and Finance from the University of Northern Iowa, and an MBA in Finance from Baker University. He holds FINRA Series 7, 66 and 79 licenses.

Todd Doorenbos
Analyst
tdoorenbos@dewaayfinancial.net

Todd Doorenbos is an Analyst at DeWaay Investment Banking, a division of DeWaay Financial Network, LLC. Mr. Doorenbos focuses on the firm’s institutional and retail activities, specializing in the due diligence and review of operating companies, oil and gas, and specialty finance companies. Mr. Doorenbos also supports DeWaay Investment Partners, the firm’s proprietary venture capital fund, where he’s responsible for the due diligence and monitoring of prospective and existing portfolio companies.

Prior to joining the firm in 2007, Mr. Doorenbos spent two years in an analyst role with DeWaay Capital Management and as a member of the Investment Committee. Mr. Doorenbos received his Bachelor of Science degree in Political Economics from Iowa State University. He has also earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations. He currently holds FINRA Series 7, 24, 66, 79 and 87 licenses.

Byron MacLeod
Analyst
bmacleod@dewaayfinancial.net

Byron E. MacLeod is an Analyst at DeWaay Investment Banking, a division of DeWaay Financial Network, LLC, where he focuses on the firm’s institutional activities, including M&A, corporate finance, and fund management. Byron also supports DeWaay Investment Partners, the firm’s proprietary venture capital fund, where he’s responsible for due diligence of prospective portfolio companies and operational aspects and monitoring of existing holdings. In addition, he participates in the due diligence process of proprietary products offered to both retail and institutional clients. 

Mr. MacLeod joined the DeWaay team in September 2010, prior to which he was an equity analyst at Gradient Analytics, an independent research firm. During his time there, he covered a variety of sectors, including manufacturing, pharmaceutical, technology, and healthcare. He later specialized in the banking sector, providing analysis and commentary during the 2007-2009 financial crisis for several media outlets including USA Today, Forbes.com, and the Washington Post.

Mr. MacLeod has a Bachelors of Science in Finance, Economics, and Supply Chain Management from Arizona State University and has passed all three levels of the CFA certification exam.

Vicki Glenn
Executive Assistant
vglenn@dewaayfinancial.net

Vicki Glenn is the Investment Banking Executive Assistant at DeWaay. She is a Certified Professional Secretary as well as a Registered Representative with the DeWaay Financial Network, holding the FINRA Series 7 license. Her role is diverse – working with client documents, proprietary products and a multitude of other projects.

Vicki has over 3 years experience in the investment banking industry and 35 years of administrative/executive support experience.

Jerry Newman
Senior Partner
Newman Ventures Advisors*
Boulder, CO & Hillsborough, CA

Jerry Newman is a Senior Partner in the early stage advisory and consulting firm Newman Ventures Advisors, as well as an investing general partner in Next-Gen Ventures, an angel/seed stage venture fund. Previously Mr. Newman was a Senior Managing Director and Head of Bear Stearns Venture Capital Coverage within the Technology Investment Banking Division. As a senior technology investment banker for over 25 years, Mr. Newman was involved with over 75 private, venture backed portfolio companies' liquidity events. One of his most notable exits as an early stage investor was Cyras Systems, Inc., which was acquired by Ciena Corp. for $2.4 billion.

Mr. Newman is an independent angel investor, additionally acting as a filter of early stage deal flow to the venture community. Over the course of his career, Mr. Newman has built a vast network including direct personal access to early and late stage Tier-1 venture capital and private equity firms. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration from San Francisco State University, and an M.P.A. in Public Administration from Golden Gate University.

Steven Smith
President, CEO, Chairman, Co-Founder
GCommerce*
Des Moines, IA

Steven Smith co-founded GCommerce in May of 2000 and a decade later, conducts business with more than 1,000 suppliers, wholesalers and retailers. GCommerce seeks to provide a more efficient distribution-based vertical market supply chain, and along with strategic partner, Microsoft, recently introduced the Virtual Inventory Cloud (VIC). VIC replaces the age-old supply chain problem of too much paper with an easy-to-use cloud-based technology.

Prior to founding GCommerce, Mr. Smith worked as an executive for 15 years in market-leading global sales and marketing organizations. Conducting business in more than 90 countries, Mr. Smith was responsible for building multi channel, multi lingual product merchandising strategies. His core business included companies who sell on a worldwide basis to Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Costco, Carrefour and Macro. The best practices Mr. Smith gleaned in global supply chain management working with Wal-Mart internationally for a period of five years formed the foundation for much of the innovation that drives GCommerce today. Mr. Smith is a unique blend of thought leader, technology innovator and visionary entrepreneur.

For more than 10 years, Mr. Smith has been an active Angel investor in New York and the Upper Midwest, both as a direct investor and an Angel investment aggregator. He also actively participates in numerous board advisory positions for early-stage technology companies, especially those targeting supply chain efficiencies.

Mr. Smith is active with The Greater Des Moines Partnership. A graduate of Grinnell College, Mr. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in German with a concentration in economics.

*DeWaay Financial Network is not affiliated with and operates independently of respective entities.