Team
Raymond H. Kraftson, Managing Director
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Raymond H. Kraftson, Managing Director
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Ray founded Ariane in 1999. He is considered one of the most knowledgeable placement professionals in the alternative investment industry, frequently leading conference panels and seminars on fundraising. In addition to fundraising engagements he serves as a management consultant for a number of general partnerships of private equity funds.
Prior to founding Ariane, Ray’s career experiences include 10 years as Vice President and General Counsel of Safeguard Scientifics, a publicly backed investment firm based in Wayne, PA. While with Safeguard, he was a founder of Novell, Inc., a pioneer in corporate network software. Ray led numerous public offerings of securities for Safeguard, Novell and other Safeguard portfolio companies, among many other responsibilities. When Safeguard sponsored its first private venture capital fund, he was responsible for bringing in half of the total. Earlier, Ray was General Counsel to the Investment Group of INA Corporation (now CIGNA), and served as Senior Counsel to the Electronic Products Group of Monsanto Corporation.
During an 18-year period, Ray held positions as President, General Counsel and Director of Ailes Communications, a New York-based political and corporate media and communications consulting firm. His relationship with Roger Ailes (now President and CEO of FOX News Channel and Chairman of the FOX Television Stations Group) brought the art of clear, compelling and accurate communications to his work, which is a significant component of his role with Ariane clients.
He has served on the Boards of more than 20 public and private corporations as well as those of number of eleemosynary and religious organizations, and has lead major fundraising efforts for many of those.
Ray began his career as a lawyer for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. He received his J.D. degree from the College of William and Mary, Marshall Wythe School of Law, where he was Managing Editor of the Law Review, and his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Donald W. Kraftson, Managing Director
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Donald W. Kraftson, Managing Director
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Don joined Ariane in 2003. Previously, he was a general partner with Dolphin Equity Partners, a private equity firm based in New York, which he helped form in 1998. During his tenure at Dolphin, Don helped raise two private equity funds totaling $340 million. Additionally, he has been a leader and member of teams responsible for investing $200 million in 12 portfolio companies. And, as a board member, he led the raise of $435 million in outside capital for six portfolio companies.
He began his private equity career at CIBC Capital Partners, the merchant banking arm of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Previously, Don worked at PNC Bank in the Communications Lending and Loan Workout Departments.
He earned his M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and his B.B.A. from the College of William and Mary.
Debra D. Draughan, Managing Director
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Debra D. Draughan, Managing Director
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Debra joined Ariane in 2007. Throughout the past two decades, she has created close relationships with public pension funds, their gatekeepers and downstream funds-of-funds. Debra has successfully led fundraising for a wide variety of clients.
Prior to joining Ariane, she was most recently an independent placement agent and was previously associated with Crane Capital (Los Angeles, CA). Earlier, she worked closely with a number of significant state pension funds, including the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) the largest public pension fund in the U.S. with more than $250 billion in assets, at Pacific Corporate Group (La Jolla, CA).
Debra earned her M.B.A. from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, and received her bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT).
William G. Daniels, Managing Director
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William G. Daniels, Managing Director
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William came to Ariane in January, 2005 from the University of Pennsylvania's Development Office where his responsibilities encompassed building long-term relationships in order to raise multi-million dollar commitments for its endowment.
Previously, as an entrepreneur, he was Co-founder and Principal of V-Graph, a software firm that created and developed multimedia and interactive training programs. He subsequently spent 11 years with VideoLearning Systems, a leading broker of management training systems, selling group and enterprise wide applications, with responsibility for long-term key-account relationships with their Fortune 500 clients.
William received his B.B.A. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He has held numerous leadership positions on the boards of schools and non-profit institutions in the Philadelphia area advising them on their fundraising efforts.
Samuel R. Shipley, Managing Director/Compliance Officer
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Samuel R. Shipley, Managing Director/Compliance Officer
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Sam has been a banker and investment banker since 1964, with positions at Marine Midland, Brown Brothers Harriman and Philadelphia National Bank, prior to founding Philadelphia First Group, an investment banking firm, in 1983. Ten years later, that firm became Shipley Raidy Capital Partners and was responsible for the private placement of over $500 million in debt and equity securities with institutional investors.
In January, 2003, after a long relationship with Ray Kraftson and Ariane Partners, the two joined forces and the name of the FINRA registered broker/dealer became Ariane Capital Partners LLC, where Sam now serves as a Member, Managing Director and Securities Principal.
Sam served with the U.S. Air Force in Viet Nam. He is a former chairman of the Nantucket Athenaeum, and is currently a board member of The Mary Louise Curtis Bok Foundation, and Nutritional Management Services Company. He has served as a Director of a number of eleemosynary organizations and business corporations. He attended the Graduate School of Credit and Financial Management, Dartmouth College, and earned his B.S. degree from Temple University, School of Business Administration.
Lynne L. Jacobus, Presentation Skills
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Lynne L. Jacobus, Presentation Skills
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Lynne leads Ariane's presentation skills training. She and Ray have worked together since meeting at Ailes Communications in 1991. She has over 25 years experience coaching business people, attorneys and other professionals in speaking skills. She has given communications training and advisory services to corporations, professional sports organizations, hospitals, professional service firms, and financial institutions.
She has been on the faculty of both Pennsylvania State and Temple Universities. Presently she is on the faculty in the communications department of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania teaching for the MBA program.
Jim DeLorenzo, Public Relations
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Jim DeLorenzo, Public Relations
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Jim provides public relations strategy to Ariane's clients. He first began working with Ray advising him and a non-profit organization on media outreach tactics to gain greater exposure of that group's story. Jim is a proven executive with exceptional expertise developing and implementing successful public relations strategies. He has a solid track record and reputation for building business through coordinated communications, marketing and media relations programs.
Jim brings outstanding communications, team building, relationship building, organizational and problem solving skills to any project. He was the Director of Public Relations for US Interactive, Inc. (1997-1999). During his tenure with this pioneering Internet strategic consulting firm the company grew from 35 employees in two cities, to over 250 employees in five cities, and completed a successful initial public offering. Previously, he was Publicist for an International men's senior tennis circuit that featured Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and other legendary tennis champions. Jim's public relations career began at Villanova University, where he capped his 11-year tenure in the Wildcats' Athletic Department as their Sports Information Director/Director of Media Relations from 1990 through 1995.