A podcast dedicated to the people and ideas of the Middle Market, hosted by Andy Greenberg and Charlie Gifford.
Rocky Pontikes, Mesirow Financial
Rocky is Senior Manager Director and Co-Head of Investment Banking at Mesirow, the Chicago-based employee-owned, diversified financial services firm. A Chicagoland native who survived Eastern stops for college at Penn and a first job at Merrill Lynch, Rocky has been at Mesirow since 2001. He has charted and contributed to the firm’s emergence as a significant force in middle market M&A. On the personal side, Rocky talks about his youthful athletic prowess, something he shares with one or none of the MMM hosts, depending on who you ask. Interesting discussion about the near extinction of publicly traded middle market companies outside of growth sectors like health care and tech. Also of note – the correct plural form of Pontikes, which is apparently “Pontiki.”

For the past 15 years, I’ve been an investment banker and a publisher of M&A data. This combination has afforded access to a lot of information on deals. But information alone is not insight. The tagline for this podcast is “people and ideas of the middle market.” Each time out, we ask our guests to share a fresh perspective, to reflect on issues beyond what is on their schedule for the day, and to be good sports with two guys who—as my kids say, “think they are funny.” We hope you find these interviews worth your time.

I’ve worked in the Middle Market for more than twenty years. Over that time I have met some extraordinary people, each with a unique story to tell. While we all know that the world doesn’t need another podcast, Andy and I are hopeful that you’ll enjoy listening and learning about each individual profiled. Half business, half human interest, half insightful, half irreverent. Yes, that’s lots of halves to cover. And aiming to do so in around 30 minutes of time. We hope you will give it a listen, and let us know what you think.