Pamplin College of Business finance alumnus and investment banker Brian Slingerland will give a talk on Thursday, Sept. 18, as the Wachovia Distinguished Speaker.

The lecture, “Be a Catalyst,” will start at 4:15 p.m. at the Holtzman Alumni Center’s Alumni Assembly Hall.

Slingerland is a partner and co-founder, together with legendary investment banker Frank Quattrone and others, in Qatalyst Partners, the investment banking business of Qatalyst Group, a technology-focused merchant banking boutique launched in San Francisco in March. Qatalyst Partners seeks to provide independent advice related to mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and capital markets to technology companies.

Slingerland received a bachelor’s degree in finance from Virginia Tech in 2000. He worked at Credit Suisse’s technology group in Silicon Valley before joining Goldman Sachs in 2004. He became a vice president and senior member of the firm’s technology, media, and telecom group in San Francisco.

Slingerland has worked on more than 50 financing and mergers and acquisitions transactions during his career, advising clients from the United States, Britain, Germany, China, and Australia. His other entrepreneurial ventures include an Internet advertising company that he helped another Virginia Tech alumnus start in 2003, and a biotech venture that is pursuing next-generation cancer therapeutics and diagnostics that Slingerland founded earlier this year.

Active in alumni and community affairs, Slingerland serves as president of Virginia Tech’s alumni chapter in San Francisco and volunteers at the Stanford University Hospital in Palo Alto. He served for the past six years on the Virginia Tech Alumni Board of Directors.

Originally from Syracuse, N.Y., Slingerland is also a competitive triathlete, downhill skier, and marathon runner. A black belt in karate, he has taught karate to adults and children.

The Wachovia Distinguished Speaker series in the Pamplin College is made possible by a grant from Wachovia Bank. Past speakers have included senior executives from Wachovia, GE, IBM, Ralph Lauren, KPMG, Siemens Corporation, ChoicePoint, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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