Email: pkrebs@avondalepartnersllc.com
Phone: 615.467.3482
Phil Krebs’ business story, prior to founding Avondale, starts with his training at Accenture as a software and computer consultant. After growing up in Philadelphia, he attended Cornell University and graduating with an BS degree in engineering. He claims he was the seventh man on the six-man Cornell golf team. He later attended The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania where he left with an MBA for a career on Wall Street.
Phil’s 30 years of investment banking experience spans from Wall Street to Music City. In New York he spent 10 years at Lehman Brothers where he was co-head of their Merchandising Group and co-head of Lehman’s Equity Capital Group. Phil moved his large family to Nashville over 20 years ago to be closer to family and hasn’t regretted a moment. That move resulted in a five-year stint as Head of Investment Banking at Equitable Securities, a wonderful boutique bank that was ultimately acquired by SunTrust Bank. It was there that Phil says he learned “a bank’s first allegiance is to its loan portfolio, not its clients. At Avondale our clients come first.”
If asked, Phil will tell you there were some interesting moments along the way. Like the time in the early 90s when he helped repossess the Trump “Princess” yacht. And the trip he took to Venezuela to privatize their telecom company when a military coup broke out – and they were forced to take a bulletproof car to leave the country. Or the “closing dinner” weekend in Utah where the tree got in the way of his skiing. “I won, the tree lost.”
If he wasn’t in investment banking, Phil says his efforts would probably involve his love of history. He has a passion for history books and “all things Churchill.” He is not a big collector, except when it comes to kids (he and his wife Diana have six). Phil is also past President of the Board of Trustees of the Ensworth School and President of the Centerstone Foundation – one of the nation’s largest behavioral healthcare companies.
“The Yankees are the best team in sports history. Period.” Phil Krebs