FRW

Failed

PWP Forward Acquisition Corp. I

Raised
$200M
CIK
1825739
SPAC Ticker
FRWAU
Focus
Diversity & Inclusion, Healthcare, Wellness, Consumer, Financial Services, Education
External link: SEC Filings

SPAC Team

Leadership

Stacia Ryan has been our Chief Executive Officer since September 21, 2020 and a director since our inception. Ms. Ryan has more than 20 years of investment banking and mergers and acquisitions experience. During her career, Ms. Ryan has helped numerous companies in the consumer and retail industry find strategic or financing solutions to meet their business objectives. Ms. Ryan currently serves as a Partner of PWP, Co-Head of the Consumer and Retail Group and Co-Chair of PWP Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Prior to joining PWP, she was at Morgan Stanley from 1998 to 2018, most recently serving as Managing Director and a senior member of the global consumer and retail investment banking group. During her tenure at Morgan Stanley, she executed a variety of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions as well as equity and debt underwritings. Ms. Ryan earned a B.S. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Ms. Ryan is well qualified to serve on our board of directors due to her extensive investment banking experience in the consumer and retail industries.

Joseph R. Perella is a Founding Partner of PWP and served as PWP’s Chief Executive Officer from 2006 until 2014, and upon consummation of the business combination between PWP and FinTech Acquisition Corp. IV (as discussed in this prospectus), will serve as Chairman Emeritus of the post-business combination company. Mr. Perella has approximately 49 years of investment banking experience. Prior to co-founding PWP in 2006, Mr. Perella was a member of Morgan Stanley’s Management Committee (from 1993 until 2005) and held several senior positions at the firm, including Vice Chairman, Chairman of Institutional Securities and Investment Banking, and Worldwide Head of the Investment Banking Division. In 1988, Mr. Perella co-founded Wasserstein Perella & Co., Inc. and was Chairman of the Board until September 1993. From 1972 to 1988, Mr. Perella held senior positions at First Boston and was the founder of its Mergers & Acquisitions Group. Mr. Perella earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Lehigh University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Mr. Perella is well qualified to serve as the chairman of our board of directors due to his significant leadership, operating and investment banking experience.

Stefanie Jay will serve as a director following the completion of this offering. As Vice President and General Manager of Walmart Media Group from 2017 until 2020, Ms. Jay was responsible for driving and scaling Walmart’s in-store and digital advertising strategy and business. Under Ms. Jay’s leadership, Walmart brought its media business in-house, developed a strategic approach with advertisers and delivered on the vision of customer-centric advertising, self-serve and automation for advertisers and accelerated revenue growth. Ms. Jay joined Walmart’s Global eCommerce division in 2015 to lead corporate development and strategy, including Walmart’s strategic investment in China’s JD.com, strategic partnerships with Google, Uber, Lyft and the acquisition of Jet.com. Ms. Jay also served as Chief of Staff to the Chief Executive Officer of Walmart from 2015 to 2017. Prior to Walmart, Ms. Jay spent 14 years at Goldman Sachs as a senior member of the consumer, retail and healthcare investment banking group focused on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. She also led global client strategy for Goldman Sach’s CEO and executive office. Ms. Jay earned a B.A. in Economics from Columbia University.

Ms. Jay is well qualified to serve on our board of directors due to her significant experience in business strategy and investment banking in the consumer, retail and healthcare space.

Courtney Leimkuhler will serve as a director following the completion of this offering. Ms. Leimkuhler is the founder and managing partner of Springbank Collective, an early-stage investment firm focused on building the infrastructure to close the gender gap. Before founding Springbank in 2019, Ms. Leimkuhler was an executive at Marsh from 2013 to 2017, a leading corporate insurance broker. She served as the Chief Financial Officer of Marsh, where she oversaw strategic planning as well as mergers and acquisitions, and also acted as the interim Chief Operating Officer. Previously, Ms. Leimkuhler spent a decade at the NYSE from before its initial public offering through the sale of the public company in 2013. At the NYSE, she served as a member of the Management Committee and the Head of Corporate Strategy and Mergers and Acquisitions. Ms. Leimkuhler began her career at Goldman Sachs. Ms. Leimkuhler was a director of Coverwallet from 2019 until its acquisition by Aon in 2020, and currently serves as a director of Wellthy and an advisor to Betterment. Ms. Leimkuhler earned an A.B. from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Ms. Leimkuhler is well qualified to serve on our board of directors due to her venture capital and investment experience as well as her public company experience in the financial industry.

Sonalee Parekh will serve as a director following the completion of this offering. Ms. Parekh is the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations at HPE, a Fortune 500 technology company. As Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, Ms. Parekh is responsible for corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, business integration and performance management. In her role as Senior Vice President of Investor Relations, Ms. Parekh works directly with many of the world’s largest institutional investors and asset managers and leads HPE’s socially responsible investing strategy. Prior to HPE, Ms. Parekh held senior leadership roles at several global investment banks, including Goldman Sachs from 2003 to 2009, Barclays Capital from 2009 to 2014, Royal Bank of Canada from 2014 to 2016 and Jefferies International from 2016 to 2019 where she was most recently the Managing Director of Global Capital Markets and Global Head of Senior Relationship Management until April 2019. Ms. Parekh currently serves as a board advisor to Bidstack Group. Ms. Parekh earned a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University.

Ms. Parekh is well qualified to serve on our board of directors due to her significant experience in corporate transactions and senior leadership in the technology sector.