About serengeti

Founded in 2007 by Jody LaNasa, Serengeti is an opportunistic value-driven investment firm focused on providing flexible capital solutions for innovative private companies and their shareholders. We invest in and build financing platforms for assets that are ignored or underserved by other more traditional capital sources. Our capital solutions seek to address complex situations through structure and creativity.

Serengeti identifies opportunities where the assets are difficult to source and underwrite, the capital solution demands non-traditional terms, or the size of each individual potential investment limits focus from the larger credit players. By developing tailored solutions, Serengeti builds differentiated financing platforms.

As an extension of the financing platforms, we evaluate and identify direct investments across the capital structure with compelling risk-adjusted returns, with a focus on special situations.

The firm manages capital for institutional investors including pensions, endowments, and large family offices.

Enthusiasm for complexity and passion for excellence drive what we do.

Our Team

Experience

Founder and Managing Partner of Serengeti Asset Management, a value-driven opportunistic investment firm that provides sophisticated financing solutions to innovative private companies and their shareholders.

Prior to launching Serengeti in 2007, Mr. LaNasa was a partner at Goldman Sachs. He headed the Multi-Strategy Investing Business (“MSI”) in the Goldman Sachs Special Situations Group from 2002 – 2006. MSI was a multi-billion dollar proprietary investment business focused on similar opportunities.

Education & Interests

Mr. LaNasa graduated from Harvard Law School (J.D. magna cum laude) and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service (B.S.F.S. summa cum laude).

Mr. LaNasa is also the co-CEO of Rochefort Management LLC, a Serengeti affiliated advisor of private funds approved by and working with the Department of Defense and Small Business Administration to finance the growth of businesses critical to our country’s national and economic security. 

He was an attorney at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and clerked for Judge Adrian G. Duplantier of the U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans).

He serves on the Harvard Law School Dean’s Advisory Board and on the Advisory Board for Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and previously served on Georgetown University’s Board of Regents.

Experience

Karen Vejseli is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Serengeti Asset Management.

Prior to joining Serengeti in 2024, Ms. Vejseli was a Partner, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Talent Officer at Orion Infrastructure Capital, where she also chaired the Valuation Committee, and was a voting member of the Operating Committee.

Prior to Orion Infrastructure Capital, she served as the CFO for The Carlyle Group’s Global Market Strategies, a $35 billion credit division. Ms. Vejseli was also an audit partner at Ernst & Young, spending 14 years serving asset management clients, including private equity firms.

Ms. Vejseli has over 25 years of accounting, tax and operations within the asset management industry, having led teams in financial reporting, valuation, deal structuring, tax and talent management.

Education & Interests

Ms. Vejseli received her Masters in Accounting from Virgina Tech – Pamplin College of Business and her B.B.A. in Accounting from the Stetson University.

Experience

AJ Martinez is the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Serengeti Asset Management.

Prior to joining Serengeti in 2018, A.J. was an attorney in the litigation department at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where his practice focused on the litigation and negotiated resolution of disputes relating to distressed debt, corporate governance, and the financial services industry.

A.J. began his career as an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP and clerked for Judge John T. Noonan, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Education & Interests

A.J. graduated cum laude from New York University School of Law. He also holds an M.Phil. in History from Cambridge University and an A.B. in History from Princeton University.

Experience

Ray Yousefian is a Managing Director at Serengeti Asset Management.

Prior to joining Serengeti in 2022, Ray held senior roles at Morgan Stanley and Citigroup in both Equity Capital Markets and Investment Banking, where he advised leading technology companies on the most important corporate actions and decisions.

While at Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, Ray oversaw more than $20 billion in IPO & Follow-On issuances for companies like Datadog, Chewy, MongoDB, Shopify, Bandwidth, SproutSocial, and Endava. Ray also covered more than $5 billion in Convertible, PIPE, and Private financings for companies like Repay, Cvent, CCC Intelligent Solutions, and advised multiple M&A and SPAC Mergers.

Mr. Yousefian started his career at 3iCapital Group, a multi-strategy family office investment firm where he was responsible for managing the South-East Asian growth strategy.

Education & Interests

Mr. Yousefian received his M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, his M.Sc. From the London School of Economics and Political Science and his B.A. from The University of Chicago.

Experience

Jim Johnston is a Managing Director and Head of Investor Relations and Marketing at Serengeti Asset Management.

Jim began his career at Serengeti in 2013 on the Operations team building his knowledge base across equity, credit, derivatives and structured products. Following his time in that role, Jim transitioned into a trading assistant executing orders in both the equity and credit markets. Jim’s collective experience helped shaped his understanding of the firm and transitioned to his current role in 2018, which coincided with the launch of the firm’s private credit strategy. In his role, Jim drives the firm’s comprehensive Investor Relations and Marketing strategy.

Education & Interests

Jim received his BA degree from Villanova University where he played varsity golf at NCAA Division 1 level.
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