Our People
David W. Giesen
Senior Managing Director
David W. Giesen is a Senior Managing Director at Ankura, based in Chicago. His specialty includes financial valuation, credit due diligence and analysis, merger, and acquisition support, and operational consulting for banks, savings institutions, credit unions, and other financial service providers. Dave has worked in the financial services business for more than 30 years. He also has financial analysis experience in the passenger railroad business. Dave served as a managing director in Navigant’s transaction advisory services practice, acquired by Ankura in 2018. In that role, he led engagements covering financial institution valuations, credit due diligence, regulatory compliance, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate strategy and operations. His work assisted banks in evaluating whether to move forward on acquisitions based on credit review, financial performance, and expected goodwill.
EXPERIENCE
Prior to Navigant, Dave served as a vice president in the financial institutions group at Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc., Kemper Securities, Inc., and Capital Resources Group. In each case, he was responsible for leading or executing mandates to raise equity capital for savings institutions and evaluate strategic options, including mergers and acquisitions of healthy and failed financial institutions.
Dave also served as director of financial analysis for Amtrak Intercity. In that capacity, he evaluated the financial and operational impact of route and service changes, identified substantial savings in station services, and developed the railroad’s first detailed financial modeling tool for premium and amenity services. His work included acting in a development role for Amtrak’s Mail & Express subsidiary, recommending to senior management and the board of directors investment decisions on equipment and terminals.
Early in his career, Dave was a newspaper reporter in the Quad Cities region of Illinois and Iowa and in Nashville, TN. He also served as an associate editor for publications of the US League of Savings Institutions in Chicago.