Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips, the investment bank focused on the media, advertising and information industries, is pleased to announce that Jay Kirsch has joined the firm as Managing Director. Jay will specialize in digital media and is replacing Jeffrey Dearth, a long-time partner who is stepping back after 24 years with the firm but who will remain active as a Senior Advisor.

In addition to focusing on digital media, Jay also has expertise in LegalTech, eCommerce, events, and SaaS. He will join the firm’s 13 Partners and Managing Directors as one of the senior team members.

Reed Phillips, Managing Partner of Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips, said, “Jay’s background is perfectly suited for this role with us because he’s had 12 years in operating roles and nine years as an investment banker. Our entire team has a similar mix of operating experience and advisory expertise.”

Since 2008, Jay has been in operating roles with digital brands such as Law.com, TechCrunch, DailyFinance, Moviefone, Autoblog, Engadget and Space.com. Most recently, Jay was SVP of Consumer Revenue and Products for G/O Media, publishers of Gizmodo, The Onion, The Root and other brands. He was President of Media at ALM Media, a legal information business, and President of AOL’s Business, Technology & Entertainment Group. He was also President & CEO of Imaginova. Starting in 2015, for almost two years, Jay advised companies on their digital media strategies as a Managing Director at Empirical Media, a management consulting firm.

Before 2008, Jay spent nine years as an investment banker for the media and advertising industries with the well-known boutique, Admedia Partners.

Jay has an MBA in Finance from New York University and a BA from Fordham University. He also studied in Austria at the Universität Salzburg.

Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips is an investment bank for clients that operate at the intersection of content, technology and services. This includes enterprises operating within the media, advertising & marketing, education, healthcare, information services and technology sectors. Over 24 years, clients have included Advance Publications/Condé Nast, Deutsche Börse Group, Elsevier, Hachette, JP Morgan Partners, Microsoft, The New York Times, Time Inc., TPG and Wasserstein & Co., among others. The firm is the TMT practice co-head and industry specialist in Oaklins, the world’s most experienced mid-market M&A advisor, with over 850 professionals globally and dedicated industry teams in more than 45 countries. We have closed 1,700 transactions in the past five years.

At Oaklins, we are passionate about M&A. It’s what we do, every day. We give nothing but our very best to do justice to the extraordinary effort our clients put into their businesses. Our partnership with our clients works because we both believe in never settling until we deliver excellence. Coming from every corner of the world and with a diverse range of backgrounds, together we are one global team. The world’s most experienced advisor on mid-market deals.

Oaklins is the collective trade name of independent member firms affiliated with Oaklins International Inc. For details of the nature of the affiliation, please refer towww.oaklins.com/legal.