Lafayette, Louisiana – Ken Miller, owner of the BlackRose Group, with offices in Lafayette, La. and Dallas, Texas announced several new additions to the firm. W. Dale Behan has joined the firm as Managing Director, Katie Thomas Funk as Business Development, and John E. Howard, II as Principal.
Behan will be based in its Dallas office and represents buyers and sellers in connection with M&A transactions in a wide range of industries including debt, mezzanine and private equity raises and sales. Behan previously served as a principal and manager for the Western Company of Texas, an oilfield service company engaged in frac water transfer, and co-owner and CEO of Louisiana Blasting & Coating. He has a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Louisiana State University, a J.D. from Southern University Law Center and an M.B.A. from Tulane University.
Houston-based Funk will lead BlackRose’s business origination efforts including new markets, growth areas, trends, customers, products and services. Funk has knowledge and deep expertise in corporate and agency recruiting with full life cycle recruiting responsibility for executive/management level positions as well as exempt and non-exempt positions; Administrative, Manufacturing, Plant, Accounting, IT, Engineering, Sales/Marketing, and Customer Service. She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business from the University of Houston as well as a Fintech degree from Rice University.
John E. Howard, II has opened an office in Memphis, Tennessee. Howard will work diligently on day-to-day management of engagements, investment opportunities, strategy, and negotiations. Howard has a 30-year career in the areas of corporate turnaround, operational excellence, building organizational capabilities and delivering profitable results within the space of private equity buyouts, mergers and acquisitions, and enterprise management. John has served on the Board of Directors and provided formal advisory to a number of public and private companies, including several non-profit organizations. He has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina A&T State University and is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and Operational Excellence practitioner.
The BlackRose Group leverages its extensive buy side network to market companies in strict confidence to qualified buyers. They are able to execute such sell side campaigns anonymously to identify interested buyers with committed capital.
Miller joined Colliers International in 2019 as Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitions. Miller has over 37 years of experience as a financial planner and an investment advisor. Miller has considerable experience in corporate sales across a wide variety of industries. Since forming BlackRose Advisors in 2012, he helped close 18 transactions for approximately $200 million in transaction value, and in 2018, the company was nominated by ACG for Louisiana Deal Maker of the year. Over the past several years, he has developed significant relationships with both strategic/industry buyers and private equity funds.
Please add Dale, Katie, and John to your distribution list. Contact info below:
W. Dale Behan
Managing Director
dale@blackrosegrp.com
Katie Thomas Funk
Vice President of Business Development
katie@blackrosegrp.com
John E. Howard, II
President, Business Development for Industrials & Manufacturing
john@blackrosegrp.com
For more information, please contact:
Lyre Jones
Colliers International | BlackRose Group
lyre.jones@colliers.com
(985) 210-7606
