Xerxes Mullan
Founder / CEO
Tonya N. Smoake
Chief Compliance Officer
Anita Lam
Corporate Administrator
Xerxes is the Founder and CEO of Avestar Capital, a Multi-Family Office and Global Financial Advisory boutique. Prior to Avestar, Xerxes worked as a Managing Director – Investments at the Private Banking and Investment Group at Merrill Lynch. Xerxes also worked with Goldman Sachs & Co. in its Investment Management Division in New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore. Xerxes holds an M.B.A in Finance and Strategy from Yale University, a Masters in Commerce in Macroeconomics and Bachelors in Commerce in Accounting & Economics from the University of Mumbai. He is on the Tri-State Board of Pratham (an education-based non-profit) and is a Charter Member of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs). Xerxes is also an FAA certified multi-engine commercial pilot and lives in New York with his wife Shilpa, son Aadi, and daughters Ananya and Anoushka.
Tonya is a founding member of Avestar Capital. Tonya has been in the financial services industry since 2003, Most recently with Merrill Lynch, which she joined in 2005 as a founding partner of the Mullan Group. Tonya holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Maryland, where she was a Goldman Sachs scholar, participating in the program through the Jackie Robinson Foundation. She is also an active member of the Robert H. Smith School of Business Alumni Association and Habitat for Humanity. In her free time, she enjoys taking fitness/dance classes such as Zumba.
Brian joined Avestar Capital as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Previously, Brian has worked as COO for the Global Corporates and the International businesses for Lloyds Bank in London as well as their COO for North America. In previous roles Brian held multiple CIO roles in the US, Spain and the UK and has a deep operational and technology background. He studied Computer Science at Letterkenny Institute of Technology in Ireland. Brian is married to his wife Robyn and he has one daughter Cristina. Brian enjoys running, boating, music and golf.
Anita became a member of Avestar Capital after having been with the Mullan Group of Merrill Lynch since 2016. At Merrill, Anita helped out with administrative tasks and client coordination. Anita earned her Bachelor of Arts at Mumbai University. Anita enjoys spending time with her husband Cyrus and her two children, Zoeish and Zaal. Anita also enjoys painting in her spare time.
GLOBAL ADVISORS
MUMBAI
Jamshid Pandole
Managing Director
NEW YORK
Gautam G. Patwa
Senior Director
Global Wealth Advisor
Jamshid is the Managing Director of Avestar Advisory India, a Multi-Family Office and Global Financial Advisory boutique focusing on cross border financial service solutions. Prior to Avestar, Jamshid was the founder and Managing Partner– at Heritage India Advisory, an India focused hedge fund catering to foreign institutional capital looking to invest in the Indian Financial Markets. Prior to Heritage, Jamshid also worked with Merrill Lynch, Citibank and HDFC Asset Management, in India and in the US. Jamshid holds a degree in Finance and Psychology from Franklin and Marshall College, USA. He was a National level squash player both in the Junior and Masters category, and captained the Franklin and Marshall Division 1 squash team for two years. Jamshid is married to his Wife, Kayan and they have two children Tiana and Zane.
Manish joined Avestar Capital as Managing Director and is responsible for the West Coast region along with our Corporate Advisory practice. Manish has a background in investment banking, private equity and corporate finance and has worked at Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Lehman Brothers in New York. Manish did his undergraduate in Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and received his MBA in Finance at University of Pittsburgh.
Mr. Bhargava's experience spans over thirty seven years, both as a private banker and a portfolio manager. He has served as Vice President and Partner at Kidder Peabody; as a Senior Vice President and Head of India distribution at Smith Barney; as Executive Director in charge of South Asia distribution at CIBC Oppenheimer Corp.; as Executive Vice President in charge of the Middle East and Asia at Laidlaw Global Securities, and as Director of Investments at Wachovia Securities.
Mr. Bhargava holds an Advanced Professional Certificate in International Business Management from the Stern School of Business, New York University, New York; an MBA in marketing from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio and a Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, India. He is a keen sportsman and was ranked #1 in Tennis in the USTA Father-Daughter category in the United States for the years 1999, 2000 and 2001.
Gautam came to Avestar Capital as a Senior Director, Global Financial Advisor. He was born in Bombay, India and graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology as a Chemical Engineer. He moved to Boston to pursue his Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University, after which he worked as an Engineer at General Electric and later at American Cyanamid and Johnson & Johnson in New Jersey. After obtaining an MBA in International Business & Finance from New York University, he started working at Paine Webber in Manhattan where he worked as a Financial Advisor for 6 years. As his client base expanded globally he joined Merrill Lynch where he serviced his clients for over 22 years before partnering with Avestar in June 2019.
Mark Lebida
SVP-Investments
Jennifer Wolf
VP - Financial Planning
Sanjeet Dass
VP - Investments
Manu Chopra
VP- Family Office Services
Mark joined Avestar Capital as the Senior Vice President of Investments. Previously, Mark worked as an advisor as well as a consultant in the financial services industry, most recently at TIAA-CREF. Mark did his undergraduate work at University of Maryland and received his MBA in Finance at Seton Hall University. Mark lives in New Jersey with his wife Wendy and his son Drew, and enjoys time with family and sports - having played college football as a wide receiver!
Having worked in the financial services industry since 2003, Jennifer joined Avestar Capital, responsible for financial planning for the firm’s clients. In 2013, she joined Merrill Lynch as a Financial Advisor and joined the firm’s Mullan Group in 2015. Previously Jennifer worked in wealth management for Smith Barney, TD Ameritrade and in corporate communications for a China-focused private equity firm in New York City. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and Finance from Brooklyn College (CUNY) and an MBA from the European School of Economics in Rome, Italy. Jennifer is an avid traveler and SCUBA diver.
Sanjeet has been in the financial services industry since 2012, most recently with Merrill Lynch, where he served as a Financial Advisor since 2013. Previously, Sanjeet worked as an Equity Analyst at a Florida-based hedge fund and as an Investment Banking Analyst in Mumbai, India. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Florida. Sanjeet is an avid musician, who loves playing the piano, trumpet and the guitar. Sanjeet also plays tennis recreationally.
Manu Chopra joined Avestar Capital in order to support the launch of their new line of business, Family Office Services. Prior to joining the Avestar Capital team, Manu worked as a generalist with the Atlas Family of Investment Partnerships, a sector agnostic family office. There, he primarily focused on their new issue strategy for biotech/healthcare/pharma, financials/fintech and pure tech equity investments. Prior to Atlas, Manu spent over 3 years with S&P Capital IQ, a unit of S&P Global, where his team provided proprietary market benchmarks to Top 50 banks across the US in order to improve risk adjusted returns for their commercial loan portfolios. During his time there, Manu helped grow the team by 33% while revenues grew 15-20% annually. Manu also spent several years with Morgan Stanley in a variety of roles supporting Institutional Securities, specifically Investment Banking, MSREF Funds businesses, as well as Equities/Prime Brokerage, in a consultative technology/knowledge management capacity.
Manu has an M.S in Finance and a B.A in Economics. When he’s not working or mentoring with America Needs You, or volunteering with his community board, Manu is a runner and photographer of sunrises.
Erhan Sarayli
Financial Analyst
Anna Caponsacco
Senior Client Service Associate
Marisa Moore
Client Service Associate
Ellen joined Avestar Capital as a Client Relationship Manager. Ellen launched her financial services career at Goldman Sachs & Co. in 2005 as a financial analyst in Prime Brokerage client services and most recently she was working in Wealth Management services. She holds a Bachelor of Marketing in Business Administration from Baruch College in New York City. Ellen enjoys spending time traveling and cooking for her family.
Cyrus has worked in the strategy and business development community since 2010, most recently as a Sales Director with leading energy market data and intelligence provider Genscape, Inc. Previously, Cyrus worked for six years as a senior member of the Commodity Strategy and Business Development team at Bloomberg LP. Cyrus received his Bachelor of Science in Finance and Masters in Finance from Tulane University. Raised in the Philadelphia area, Cyrus is an avid follower of Philadelphia sports teams, long distance runner (Chicago Marathon 2016 finisher), avid international traveler, and collector of vintage watches.
Erhan joined Avestar Capital as a Business Analyst working directly with the Investments and Operations teams at the firm. Prior to joining Avestar, he worked with large wealth management practices at both Morgan Stanley in New York City and UBS Financial Services in Washington, DC. Erhan received his undergraduate degree in Economics and Technology Entrepreneurship from the University of Maryland: College Park. A resident of New York City, Erhan enjoys all that the city has to offer in his free time – restaurants, live music, and sporting events.
Anna has been in the financial service industry since 2008. Prior to joining Avestar Capital, Anna worked as a Client Portfolio Administration Associate and later as a Wealth and Portfolio Advisory Associate at
BBR Partners, a boutique wealth management firm in New York. Prior to BBR Partners, Anna was a Client Service Associate at Oppenheimer + Close, a dually-registered broker dealer and investment adviser in New
York. Earlier, she was part of the Performance Reporting team at Cambridge Associates in Arlington, VA.
Anna holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance with a minor in Economics from Queens College, CUNY. In her spare time, Anna enjoys travelling, cooking and watching documentaries.
Marisa Moore is a Client Service Associate at Avestar Capital. She works closely with our Family Office Services team. Marisa previously worked at The Gaber Group in the Investment Banking division as a Financial Advisor working with Medical Professional client base. Marisa in her free time participates in philanthropic work regularly. She is an active member of the Susan G. Komen NYC’s Young Professionals Committee (YPC) with mission to engage a new generation in the culture of philanthropy. Education: SUNY Geneseo, B.S.