Senior Advisors

Ion Partners has assembled an experienced team to deliver the highest quality advice to our clients.

Brooks Olbrys
Brooks Olbrys is Managing Director and General Counsel of Ion Partners.  For over 20 years, he has advised clients on the financial, strategic, and legal aspects of mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, and joint-ventures. Mr. Olbrys has worked on transactions in the US, Europe and Asia with a focus on the software, internet, eLearning, digital media, mobile applications, information services, telecom and semiconductor sectors. Prior to Ion Partners, Mr. Olbrys worked as an M&A banker at DLJ/Credit Suisse and as an M&A attorney at Skadden in New York. He holds a BA in Economics and an MA in International Policy Studies from Stanford University and a joint JD/MALD degree from The University of California, Berkeley Law School and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.  In addition, Mr. Olbrys is the author of an award-winning children’s book series entitled The Adventures of Blue Ocean Bob.
Leili McKinley
Leili Mckinley, CEO of The Identitype Group LLC, is a serial entrepreneur, business consultant, and branding expert.  She has built and sold VC-backed companies and has been responsible for operational management, product design, marketing and sales strategy, human resource planning, and public relations.  Leili advises clients on strategy, brand development, and business culture continuity, especially in the context of business combinations and scaling.  Her proprietary Identitype Method helps clients achieve market success by identifying core values, building effective teams, and aligning leadership for organizational clarity, profit and growth.
Gardner MacDonald
Mr. MacDonald is a Managing Director of Ewing Bemiss & Co. He has extensive experience advising public and private clients on mergers & acquisitions, corporate finance, and specialized structured transactions representing over $7 billion in value.  Prior to joining Ewing Bemiss & Co., Mr. MacDonald worked as an investment banker at Ion Partners LLC, McManus & Miles, Inc., and KeyCorp/McDonald Investment, Inc.  He began his career at Morgan Stanley & Co. in its mergers and acquisitions group.
Greg Porto
Mr. Porto is a Managing Director of Corporate Finance at Stone Carlie in St. Louis, MO. Mr. Porto advises private and public companies in raising capital, mergers and acquisitions, and financial restructurings. Previously, as a Managing Director at A.G. Edwards & Sons and as the principal of his own advisory firm, Mr. Porto has provided strategic, operational and financial consulting services to clients such as Bank of America, Baker Hughes, General Electric, Kansas City Southern, Monsanto, United Van Lines, and Citigroup. In addition, Mr. Porto held senior positions with a growing entertainment company and a branding and public relations agency. He began his career at Kidder, Peabody & Co., Inc. in the investment banking group in New York.

 Jan Dehesh
Ms. Dehesh is the CEO of Dehesh International, a telecom consulting company. For over 15 years, Ms. Dehesh served in several executive roles at QUALCOMM Incorporated including as a Vice President of Business Development and Vice President of Information Technology where she helped create the company’s worldwide telecommunications and computing infrastructure and forged industry partnerships with Lucent Technologies, Cisco, Compaq and Sun Microsystems. Ms. Dehesh has served on several boards and advisory committees, including the San Diego Telecom Council, the American Association of University Women, GoAmerica, the Foundation for California Community Colleges, and the Wireless Ready Alliance.

Kyle Bacon
Based in Washington, D.C., Mr. Bacon is the Chief Information Officer at Cogent Communications, a publicly traded, facilities-based Internet access provider. He has overseen numerous acquisitions in North America and Europe, including LambdaNet (France & Spain), Aleron, Carrier1, and Verio’s Internet access business. He is also responsible for product introductions and has managed rollouts of the Native Layer2 Ethernet and the Managed Security service offerings in North America.  Mr. Bacon has spent his entire career in the Internet and telecom space. Notably, he founded Fiber Network Solutions, one of the original Internet backbone companies, in 1996 and managed its growth as CEO before selling the company to Cogent Communications in 2003.