As it enters its eleventh year, Abacus Finance Group announced three promotions that are effective immediately:

• Eric Petersen – from Director to Managing Director

• Rafal Rydzewski – from Vice President to Senior Vice President

• Austin Rendell – from Associate to Senior Associate

“Now in our eleventh year, we are especially proud of the accomplishments of what has become one of the most experienced investment teams in our industry. As that experience continues to deepen, we are better prepared to meet our goal of always providing our sponsors with the talent and resources that will deliver swift and efficient service and give them peace of mind,” said Tim Clifford, President and CEO of Abacus. “The strength of our investment team and our ability to move quickly are important aspects of why they can Count on Us™ and the effectiveness of our Total Partnership Approach™.”  

As an investment team member, Eric Petersen, who joined Abacus in 2013, leads structuring, underwriting, executing, monitoring, and valuing investments for the firm. Eric previously worked within the Leveraged Finance group at BNP Paribas, with prior operational experience with Chromalloy and GE Energy - Power & Water. Prior to transitioning to the private sector, he spent over 14 years as a Naval Officer and F/A-18 Fighter Pilot with multiple roles across operations, maintenance, and as an instructor. Eric holds a BS in English from the United States Naval Academy, an MS in Quantitative and Computational Finance from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and an MBA from the University of Southern California.

Rafal Rydzewski, who joined Abacus in 2014, is involved as an investment team member with structuring, underwriting, executing, monitoring, and valuing investments for the firm. He was previously an Analyst with BNP Paribas’ Merchant Banking Group. He began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global Structuring team. Rafal earned a BS in Financial Economics from Binghamton University, from which he graduated magna cum laude. He is a CFA Charterholder.

Austin Rendell, who joined Abacus Finance in 2019 as an Analyst, works as part of the investment team in structuring, underwriting. and executing new investments. He also performs various portfolio monitoring and valuation roles. Previously, he was an Analyst at BMO Harris Bank in its Food & Consumer group. Austin earned a BS from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.