About our Founder:

Our Founder, Mr. Ziad K. Abdelnour; once referred to by the New York Times as one of the 100 most creative investment bankers on Wall Street is a dealmaker, trader and financier with over 20 year experience in merchant banking, private equity, alternative investments and physical commodities trading. Since 1985, Ziad has been involved in over 125 transactions  totaling over $30 billion in the investment banking, high yield bond and distressed debt markets and has been widely recognized for playing an integral role in the middle market of those three key market sectors.

Before founding Blackhawk Partners, Inc. in 2005; a New York based venture capital ”family office” that focuses on originating, structuring and acting as equity investor in management-led buyouts, strategic minority equity investments, equity private placements, consolidations and buildups, and growth capital financings mainly in the global energy and technology sectors, Ziad held numerous senior positions at European American Advisors; Inc.; THCG Inc .(formerly Hambro America Securities); Ladenburg Thalmann and Drexel Burnham Lambert’s High Yield Bond Department where his responsibilities included investing, financing and restructuring over 100 companies spanning the industrial, logistics, consumer and manufacturing industries both in the US as well as in emerging markets.

Since 2001, Ziad has been a trusted advisor to a number of the largest family offices in the United States, Europe and the Middle East and an angel investor and turnaround artist in a number of companies where Ziad’s corporate capital commitment through Blackhawk came either through acquiring those and other companies through their distressed debt or through the chapter 11 process.

Ziad has extensive connections with the Washington political, government and intelligence establishments having served since 1994 as a friend and advisor to a number of agencies and organizations associated with such entities in various capacities; especially when dealing with fiscal and foreign policy matters.

On a more personal level, Ziad is co-author of the book "Ending Syria's occupation of Lebanon: The US Role", Founder and President of the US Committee for a Free Lebanon, Former President of the Arab Bankers Association of North America, Member of the Board of Governors of the Middle East Forum, a regular panelist and speaker on private equity and venture capital topics at industry conferences nationwide and a business angel investor in over a dozen ventures; both in the US and abroad.

About our general perspective on “Lobbying”:

The lobbying process, an extension of the right to be heard and an exercise in democracy, reflects the heart of our American system. Lobbying, a greater degree than most, depends on common sense and luck – a description that perhaps explains its engrossing attractions.

Some legislators prefer that the attention bestowed on them be varied: campaign funds, incidentals such as mailing lists,
hosting friends, providing entree to persons and places – all manner of things small and not so small. Loyalty to legislators who support us is essential. It is usually legitimately be translated into endorsements, fund-raising, voter turnout, etc….

Integrity and professionalism are indeed the cornerstones of all fruitful legislative activity; and it is a fact that there is no place where a person's word is more important, and no place where personal integrity is more relied upon and more appreciated than in the Legislature. Hence, we are fully aware of the fact that as advocates we may influence -- but we don’t vote. The legislator is the one who casts the vote – the only vote that counts –and they take a natural pride in having it be their vote. As advocates, our job is to really help legislators reach their decisions armed with the most reliable intelligence out there.

Having said that, our general policy is to reserve judgment about the people with whom we deal with until we have had sufficient personal experience to know them. We never censure those who oppose us on specific matters - - today's foe may become tomorrow's colleague. The ability to see our opposition in realistic terms is essential to the achievement of workable legislative solutions as it is almost impossible to come to agreement with an enemy. Compromise with an opponent is possible and often desirable. Reaching an agreement with a truly hostile antagonist is next to impossible. So unlike many lobbyists, we don’t hate our opponents as we strongly believe that to permit ourselves to hate someone , after all, to become to some degree his/her prisoner….is never acceptable in our dictionary.

As Senator William Kelley once said it so eloquently: "The best government consultant is one that has a good track record, actual experience in the way the government works, a willingness to get into the trenches on a client's behalf, good contacts and credibility and a willingness to work toward not only resolving a current problem but devising a strategy to avoid future ones."   ….and that’s how we operate.