FOCUS Investment Banking Welcomes Jeff Wawrzyniak as Senior Advisor
Washington, DC, (September 12, 2025) – FOCUS Investment Banking (“FOCUS), a leading middle market investment bank, is pleased to announce that Jeff Wawrzyniak has joined the firm as a Senior Advisor. With more than 25 years of leadership experience across publicly traded, private equity-backed, and family-owned companies, Jeff brings a wealth of strategic, financial, and operational expertise to the FOCUS team.
Throughout his career, Jeff has served as an executive leader and trusted business partner, holding responsibility for company strategy, P&L performance, and market positioning. He has actively managed multiple business functions and departments, leading organizations through growth, transformation, and complex transactions. His core competencies include strategic planning, operations, finance and capital funding, mergers and acquisitions, legal practice, compliance and ethics, corporate governance, risk management, and international operations.
Jeff has successfully guided companies through cross-border transactions, high-stakes negotiations, litigations, and integrations, working with diverse stakeholders across multiple jurisdictions. He is recognized for his ability to align organizational vision and values with governance best practices, fostering cultures of integrity, accountability, and excellence.
“We are excited to welcome Jeff to FOCUS,” said Stan Gowisnock, Chief Strategic Advisor at FOCUS Investment Banking. “His diverse experience across industries and his proven ability to lead organizations through complex challenges and opportunities will be invaluable to our clients as they navigate today’s dynamic business environment.”
Jeff’s addition further strengthens FOCUS’s ability to deliver expert advisory services to middle market business owners and investors. As Senior Advisor, he will provide clients with strategic guidance on M&A, capital raising, and long-term business planning.
*These testimonials may not be representative of the experience of all clients; testimonials are not a guarantee of future performance or success.
Mr. Gowisnock has helped businesses thrive through industry ups and downs by continuously challenging what’s expected and by identifying opportunities to stand out in a crowded marketplace. He helps companies create customer experiences, digital strategies, and rapid innovations by combining design methods and emerging technologies and data that excite and retain Fortune 100 clients. In addition, he is highly skilled in cross border transactions both on the buy and sell sides.
He also helps deliver marquis customer acquisition and retention solutions by connecting and unifying disciplines, diverse mindsets, and organizational functions in pursuit of customer satisfaction and corporate values.
Before joining FOCUS, Mr. Gowisnock was President and CEO of Cardone Industries, a leading global automotive manufacturer with more than 45,000 products and 6,000 employees in the U.S., China, Canada and Mexico. He helped engineer the sale of Cardone to Brookfield Asset Management, a private equity group with more than $500 million in assets. Prior to Cardone, Mr. Gowisnock was President and CEO of DST Inc., where he directed the digitalization of the company’s automotive supply chain prior to its sale to Solera Holdings, Inc.
Mr. Gowisnock earned a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Bridgeport.
