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Operating Committee
Robert V. Brazell
Senator Robert W. Kasten
Peter M. Densen
Bill Rapavy
Mark Oleksik
Robert V. Brazell is the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of Talos Partners. He was the founder and founding board member of Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) and also served as the company's president and chief executive officer.
Brazell has been the owner of several Internet properties including eHow.com (www.ehow.com), a content and search site; Delphi.com (www.delphiforums.com), the Internet's first discussion group community; and Sandbox.com (www.sandbox.com), the Internet's largest fantasy sports site. He is also the controlling owner and chairman of the board of data tracking companies Live Global Bid (www.liveglobalbid.com) and VinIQ (www.viniq.com). Brazell currently serves as Chairman of In-store Broadcasting Network (IBN), www.ibnads.com, the world's largest retail media company.
Brazell has raised and invested more than $200 million in the past ten years. He is the co-author of "The Idea Economy"TM and has authored a second book due for release in the fall of 2009. He also served on the board of the Deseret Foundation, an organization that provides predictable surgical care to children in 12 countries and establishes self-sufficient infrastructure in the countries.
Sen. Robert W. Kasten is Managing Partner, a member of the board of directors and the corporate secretary of Talos Partners. He is also a member of the Audit Committee. He is the president of Kasten & Company, an international banking and business consulting group.
Kasten is a former U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, having served from 1981 to 1993. He also served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1974 to 1978 and as a member of the Wisconsin State Senate from 1972 to 1974. During his tenure in the Senate, he was a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee Defense Subcommittee and chairman of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee, which has funding and oversight responsibility for all U.S. assistance programs, the Export-Import Bank, the World Bank, the multilateral development banks, and the Eastern European Development Bank. He also served on the Senate Budget Committee and was the ranking member on the Surface Transportation Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
Kasten served on the board of directors of the Center for International Private Enterprise, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce established to promote private enterprise and market-oriented reform worldwide. He also served as chairman and director of the Emerging Markets Group which managed the Democratic Century Fund, LLP, a hedge fund investing in emerging markets securities. He is a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
He is currently a director of EarthWalk Communications, a trustee of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and a trustee of the American University in Cairo. Kasten earned his bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Arizona and holds a master’s degree in finance from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
Peter M. Densen is a Managing Partner, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Risk Officer of Talos Partners. Densen also serves on the board of directors. Prior to Talos, Densen was a managing director of Aon Global Risk Consulting, focusing on alternative financial products and non-standard approaches to risk treatment including captives, structured insurance, enterprise risk, and capital market mechanisms. He also served as chairman of Aon’s U.S. Captive Council.
Prior to Aon, Densen was a senior vice president of Alexander & Alexander (A&A) of New York, a co-director of the risk strategies group and chairman of the intellectual capital initiative. During his tenure, Densen orchestrated the formation of a privatization consulting group serving as director of the group and chaired the committee focusing on the use of derivatives in insurance. He also served as a member of A&A’s pension investment advisory committee.
Densen was also a managing director of Anistics, a division of A&A focusing on risk information systems and analytical approaches to risk management. From 1986 to 1991, he was senior vice president and chief of staff of A&A Services Inc., where he was responsible for the holding company’s strategic planning process and corporate development. Before moving to the strategic planning function, Densen was the chief financial officer of A&A Services Inc.
Densen spent five years with Coopers and Lybrand as a tax accountant supervisor and financial consultant in the valuation of corporations and investment letter stock as well as the structuring and analysis of mergers, venture capital proposals and tax shelters.
He was licensed in New York as a Certified Public Accountant. He is also licensed as an insurance broker and a securities broker.
Densen received his masters of business administration degree from the Harvard Business School. He holds his bachelor’s degree in economics from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
Bill Rapavy is the chief operating officer of Talos Partners. He was the managing partner of HedgEdge LLC, which offers consulting services to hedge funds, family offices and other wealth advisors and service providers.
From 2002 to 2007, he was the chief operating officer, chief financial officer and chief compliance officer with the ElitePerformance family of hedge funds, a managed account platform of alternative asset strategies. Those included long/short equity, convertible arbitrage, statistical arbitrage, distressed opportunities, fixed income arbitrage, and PIPEs.
Prior to ElitePerformance, he was the chief operating officer and chief financial officer of CJS Capital Management, a long/short equity fund from 2001 to 2002. He served in the same capacities at Dreman Value Management in 2000, a value-oriented mutual fund and hedge fund manager.
Rapavy also served in several sales, trading and portfolio management positions. He was director of sales and trading at Twenty-First Securities from 1997 to 2000, director of hedge fund services at Nomura Securities, treasurer of the New York City Housing Authority, senior consultant at Morningside Advisors, cash manager at Merrill Lynch, and involved in municipal bond sales and trading operations at Salomon Brothers.
Rapavy is a certified public accountant and was a senior accountant with Ernst & Whinney. He has been a certified cash manager and held FINRA Series 7, 24, 55, and 63 licenses.
He received his master of business administration degree from Columbia Business School in 1990. He earned his bachelor of business degree from Siena College in 1984.
Mark E. Oleksik is vice president and controller of Talos Partners. Oleksik brings over 20 years of senior-level financial experience in insurance and financial services.
Prior to his appointment at Talos, he was executive vice president and chief financial officer for Flatiron Financial Services Inc. (also known as Peak5). He was a member of the executive committee and head of finance and administration in charge of the accounting, payroll, purchasing, treasury, insurance / claims, and internal audit departments.
Oleksik was with Centrix Financial LLC as its chief accounting officer, and was also part of the management team that structured the sale of Centrix’s assets to Peak5.
Before joining Centrix, he served as a controller and senior vice president of finance for Alexander & Alexander Services Inc. He also was a senior vice president and regional director for Alexsis Inc, a subsidiary of CNA Financial Corporation.
Throughout his career, Oleksik has served as vice president, controller, and senior financial officer for ESG Re Limited; director of program business for Everest National Insurance Company; and various management positions for Uniprise, a subsidiary of United Health Group.
Oleksik is a Certified Public Accountant. He is also a partner of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He has a bachelor of science degree in accounting from the University of Maryland, College Park and a master of business degree from Loyola College.