Adam K. Stern

CEO, Partner

Adam K Stern is the CEO of SternAegis Ventures and has been the Head of Private Equity Banking at Aegis Capital Corp since 2012. Prior to SternAegis, from 1997 to 2012, he was Senior Managing Director at Spencer Trask Ventures, Inc., where he managed the structured finance group focusing primarily on technology and life science companies. From 1989 to 1997, Mr Stern was at Josephthal & Co., Inc., Members of the New York Stock Exchange, where he served as Head of Private Equity and Managing Director. He has been a FINRA licensed securities broker since 1987 and a Registered General Securities Principal since 1991.

Mr. Stern has been a founding investor in numerous private and public companies and currently serves as a Director of DarioHealth Corp. (Nasdaq: DRIO), Matinas BioPharma Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MTNB), and Aerami Therapeutics, Inc.

Mr. Stern graduated from the Lear School, Miami Florida in 1982 and The University of South Florida in 1987.

Daniel Seto, CFA

Senior Managing Director

Daniel Seto joined Aegis Capital Corp. in September 2016 as Managing Director of SternAegis Ventures and Private Equity Banking at Aegis Capital.

Mr. Seto has approximately 20 years of experience in the financial services industry across investment banking, portfolio management, and equity research. Previously, he was Senior Vice President at ArcLight Advisors LLC providing investment banking and business development services focused on healthcare companies. Prior to that, he was Vice-President in investment banking at Ledgemont Capital Group.

From 2004-2008, Mr. Seto was a Portfolio Manager for Wheaten Capital Management LLC, a long/short equity healthcare hedge fund. As Portfolio Manager, Mr. Seto invested in both public and private companies across all subsectors of healthcare, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical technology, life science tools, and healthcare services. From 1999-2003, Mr. Seto was an equity analyst at Bank of America Securities covering the Specialty Pharmaceuticals industry. Mr. Seto started his career in equity research at UBS covering the Specialty Pharmaceuticals industry.

Mr. Seto's academic credentials include designation as a Chartered Financial Analyst and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Viren Desai, MD

Senior Managing Director

Dr. Desai joined Aegis Capital Corp. and Stern Aegis Ventures as a Senior Managing Director in October, 2022.  Dr. Desai has operational experience in medical markets, investment banking, and venture capital. 

Dr. Viren Desai is a Licensed Investment Banking  Professional, Investor, and Seasoned Physician with 30 years of experience, which includes leading a successful private healthcare practice and strategizing with healthcare-related practices to combine operations or create multispecialty practices.  Dr. Desai is a board-certified Cardio-Thoracic Anesthesiologist trained at Emory University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.  He has participated on multiple advisory councils and boards and successfully developed a pain management business, which he profitably exited via a private equity buyout.  He is experienced in operational efficiency, marketing, and financial oversight. 

Dr. Desai’s main interest lies within private equity funding and investing in Biotech, Pharma, Life-Sciences, and Healthcare businesses. He evaluates new investments and deal sourcing activities and provides business and operational support to portfolio companies.  He holds FINRA series 63 and 79 licenses

John Clarke

Senior Managing Director

John Clarke joined Aegis Capital Corp. and SternAegis Ventures as Senior Managing Director.

Mr. Clarke has over 35 years of experience providing specialty financing and capital advice regarding emerging private and public companies. Previously, he has been President of H.C. Wainwright & Co and worked with Spencer Trask Ventures, as well as several Investment boutiques and NYSE brokerage firms. During his career, he has raised several hundred million dollars for over 100 private and public Offerings in a variety of emerging industries. 

Mr. Clarke developed his career as a Branch Manager for Josepthal, Lyon & Ross and is currently registered with Representative, General Securities and Financial and Operations Principal Securities licenses. He is a graduate of the E. Claiborne Robbins School of Business and holds a B.S. in Finance, and lives in New Jersey.

Jamie Polak

Managing Director & Controller

Jamie Polak joined Aegis Capital Corp. in October 2012 as a Vice President of Wealth Management and Insurance. Mr. Polak has extensive experience in financial modeling, securities valuation, asset allocation, and risk management.

Since 2007, Mr. Polak has worked as a research analyst for the hedge fund RL Capital partners, a multi-strategy growth hedge fund. At RL Capital, Mr. Polak focused on investment analysis and portfolio management, with an emphasis on small and mid-cap biotechnology companies.

Mr. Polak is also a general partner of a venture capital fund called Domaco Venture Capital Fund, focusing on private placement investments and fund administration.

Prior to Aegis, Mr. Polak was previously with Maxim Group, where he focused his research on small to mid-cap U.S. listed equities. He also worked as a multimedia producer for Bloomberg L.P., providing analysis and reporting for the Bloomberg terminals. Mr. Polak started his career as an Equity Research Associate for Gruntal & Co. L.L.C., specializing in Internet Software and Biotechnology companies in the early 2000s. Mr. Polak holds a BBA from the George Washington University and an MBA from the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and holds FINRA series 7, 63, 24, and 16 licenses.

Nicholas Petracca

Senior Associate

Nicholas Petracca joined Aegis Capital Corp. in 2015. 

From 2013 until 2015, Mr. Petracca was an Analyst at Triangle Equities, a full-service real estate development firm in New York City.

Mr. Petracca received a B.A. in Political Science from Denison University in 2013.

Edward Shadek

Vice President

Edward Shadek joined Aegis Capital Corp. in 2018.

Mr. Shadek received an B.A. in Economics from Wesleyan University in 2018.

Samuel Milbury

Vice President

Samuel Milbury joined Aegis Capital Corp. in 2019.

From 2017 until 2019, Mr. Milbury was a Senior Analyst at Chatham Partners, a market research and strategy consulting firm in Boston.

Mr. Milbury received a B.A. in Economics from Trinity College in Hartford in 2017.

William Shadek

Vice President

William Shadek joined Aegis Capital Corp. in 2019.

Mr. Shadek received a B.A. in History from Dartmouth College in 2019.

Jordan Hurwitz

Senior Associate

Jordan Hurwitz joined SternAegis and Aegis Capital Corp. in May 2017.

Mr. Hurwitz received a B.A. in Telecommunications/Entrepreneurship Innovation from the Pennsylvania State University.

John Allen

Senior Associate

John Allen joined Aegis Capital Corp in 2019. 

John received a BA in Operations and Information Management from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2020.