Heritage Capital Group Opens Office in Downtown Savannah

Staff Report From Savannah CEO

Wednesday, September 26th, 2018

Heritage Capital Group is pleased to announce the opening of its new office in Savannah, Georgia. The opening marks the third for Heritage Capital, who has offices in Orlando, and Jacksonville, Florida. Bert Tenenbaum and Daren Pietsch have been selected to head up the office.

"We're very pleased to have both Bert Tenenbaum and Daren Pietsch handle the day-to-day management of the Savannah office," commented Don Wiggins, President of Heritage Capital Group. "They are highly qualified and experienced leaders, whose knowledge will be invaluable to help our clients execute their business strategies. We look forward to being a part of the Savannah community."

Bert Tenenbaum will be advising clients in metals, distribution, and logistics businesses on merger and acquisition transactions. Bert has 40 years of leadership, and management experience in metals distribution, processing, and recycling working for both private and public companies.

Bert's family owned Savannah, Georgia-based Chatham Steel Corporation, one of the South's largest metal distribution companies. Chatham Steel was purchased by Reliance Steel & Aluminum Company in 1998, and Bert was appointed president in 2003 and retired from Reliance at the end of 2015. Over his career, Bert was actively involved nationally in the metals industry, serving as president of the Florida and Southern chapters of the Metal Service Center Institute, the industry's largest trade association.

He also served as a board member of the North America Steel Alliance, an $8 billion buying cooperative. In Savannah, Bert has served on numerous civic and non-profit boards and was chairman of the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, the United Way, and the Savannah Community Foundation. He was also appointed to serve on the board of the Savannah Economic Development Authority and on the Emory University Board of Visitors.

As a principal of Heritage Capital Group, Daren's primary areas of expertise are M&A transactions in the U.S. and abroad, growth strategy development & implementation, corporate turnaround, and shareholder value creation. He has experience in several industry sectors including construction, logistics/distribution, and manufacturing (forest products, chemical, marine equipment). His career spans nearly 30 years and prior to joining Heritage Capital Group, he held leadership positions with Georgia-Pacific, Rayonier, Hilti, and PaR Systems. Daren also served 11 years in the United States Coast Guard, both on active and reserve duty. He was trained as a ship navigator and for his final active duty assignment, was selected as the Liaison Officer for the 1996 Olympic yachting events in Savannah.

Prior to joining Heritage Capital, he was president of PaR Marine, and before that he led Marine Systems Technology in Winsford, England, a company PaR acquired in 2012. Throughout his time with PaR, he gained valuable experience acquiring and integrating companies as well as ultimately selling the company to The Pohlad Companies in late 2017. Daren serves on the World Trade Center Savannah Board of Directors, as a Trustee for the College of Coastal Georgia Foundation, and is on the Georgia Tech Government & Community Relations Steering Committee. He is also an alumnus of Leadership Glynn.

Daren earned a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He went on to complete his postgraduate education in England and earned degrees in finance/financial law and strategy from University of London and University of Oxford, respectively. Daren holds FINRA Series 63 and 79 securities licenses and is a Fellow (FStratPS) of The Strategic Planning Society based in London, U.K.