John J. Sicilian, J.D.

Co-Founder and Chairman

With more than thirty years of legal and investment experience in large, complex transactions, John has provided leadership and expertise on investments in the travel, transportation, restaurant, entertainment and telecommunications sectors. He has served on boards of directors for numerous travel and transportation related companies, both public and private, including Pan American World Airways, ARINC, AgentWare, OneTravel, Jetstream Aviation Management and Eastern Airlines.

Prior to co-founding BKAM, John served as Chief Investment Officer of Juridica Asset Management. Before joining Juridica, he co-founded 1848 Capital Partners, a private equity firm. Previously he served from 1995 to 2002 as Chairman and President of reorganized Eastern Airlines and as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the company from 1990 to 1994.

In his early career, John spent several years in private legal practice, first with Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand (now merged with DLA Piper) in Washington, D.C., and with Ford & Harrison in Atlanta. He holds a J.D. from Washington & Lee Law School (cum laude) and a B.A. from Holy Cross College (magna cum laude).

Experience Highlights:

  • In his tenure at Eastern Airlines, John executed over 150 transactions totaling US$2.2 billion in assets, including regulated international route authorities, complex airport leasehold interests, over 130 aircraft, over 300 engines and numerous intellectual property assets.
  • Also at Eastern Airlines, his responsibilities included the disposition of eight operating entities with over 1,500 employees, as well as the resolution of pension claims involving approximately 25,000 ex-employees and retiree health benefit claims relating to approximately 10,000 retirees. John also negotiated the resolution of general labor, secured financing, environmental, frequent flyer plan-related and airport/landlord claims in excess of $15 billion.
  • John has managed investments including the creation of Heartland Food Corp., with 248 Burger King restaurants—the second-largest Burger King franchise in the world—including its ultimate sale to an affiliate of The Blackstone Group.
  • He has also served as co-leader on control investments in Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museums in New York City and London, Sunbelt Diversified Enterprises, Brazil Tower Company and Jet Support Services, the world’s largest independent provider of warranty coverage to the corporate aircraft industry.

Patricia White

Patricia is Managing Director of Legis Fund Services Limited and has over 25 years of experience in the offshore finance industry.

Qualifying in 1988 as a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, her career in the industry began in Guernsey with accounting giant KPMG. She was subsequently appointed as Assistant Director of Finance with Leopold Joseph before entering the funds industry as a Mutual Funds Account Manager with CIBC, Cayman Islands. Patricia joined Legis from Anson Fund Managers Limited, where she held the position of managing director.

Patricia is qualified with a B.A. in Accounting (with commendation) and was recognized in 2013 as Edinburgh Napier University’s Alumnus of the Year. She is also a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment and a member of the Institute of Directors.

Andrew Elder

Andrew is a Senior Fund Manager at Saffrey Champness Fund Services Limited, having previously been a director of a small third-party fund administration company in Guernsey.

Following completion of an honours degree in Maths with Economics and Management, Andrew started his career in Guernsey at Kleinwort Benson, where he gained extensive knowledge of fund, trust and company administration. Andrew’s roles at Kleinwort Benson included Senior Fund Accountant and Fund Administration team leader. Andrew is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.