ACN Securities: Team

Simon Taylor
President, Managing Director

Osamu Tagaya
Managing Director

James Matthew
Managing Director

Chuck Ehrlich
Managing Director

The ACN Securities team includes seasoned professionals with decades of experience identifying, developing and funding high growth companies.

Simon Taylor
President, Managing Director

Simon serves as President, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of ACN Securities. In addition, he practices law for selected clients and is a principal in a consulting group that focuses on technology commercialization and venture opportunities involving US national laboratories, research institutions and strategic partners and investors in the US and Japan. His areas of expertise include corporate and securities law, broker-dealer regulation, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, and the financing, development and commercial exploitation of technology and intellectual property in fields including computing and information technology, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, medical devices, media, entertainment and telecommunications. From 1988 to 2004, Simon was a partner and then of counsel with the New York law firm Snow Becker Krauss P.C. Simon graduated from Columbia College (Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude and John Jay Scholar) and Harvard Law School.

Osamu Tagaya
Managing Director

"Sam" Tagaya brings extensive experience in the field of finance to ACN Securities, having spent 20 years as an investment banker with the Wall Street firms of Salomon Brothers and Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette. During that time he worked in the fields of structured private placements, commercial real estate syndication, institutional equity and fixed income distribution, and foreign exchange sales. Osamu has applied his skills and experience across three continents, having been based in New York, Tokyo, San Francisco and London during his professional career. Prior to joining Salomon Brothers, Osamu spent four years as a corporate attorney in New York City with the law firms of Shearman & Sterling and Wender, Murase and White. Born and raised in Japan, "Sam" spent part of his childhood in Montreal, Canada and completed his higher education in the United States. He holds a JD degree from Cornell University Law School and a BA from Tufts University (Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude).

James Matthew
Managing Director

James has over 20 years experience serving technology, healthcare and life sciences companies, including healthcare providers, managed care, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical device companies, and healthcare software and internet companies. Prior to joining ACN Securities, James was a Managing Director in the Corporate Finance Practice of the accounting firm KPMG. During his more than 20 years at that firm, he focused on and was eyewitness to the convergence of the life sciences, healthcare, electronics, telecommunications and computer industries. James is a Certified Public Accountant and holds an MBA from Michigan State University.

Chuck Ehrlich
Managing Director

Chuck has an extensive background in technology, business, and finance. His experience includes more than 25 years as a consultant to IT, financial services and telecommunications companies, including four years working with Mitsui group companies in Japan, and five years of teaching in the MBA program at the University of San Francisco. Chuck has a BS in Computer Engineering and a MS in Computing and Information Sciences from Case Western Reserve University, an MBA from the University of San Francisco, and a certificate in Bio-Entrepreneurship from UC Berkeley. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the IEEE Computer Society, SDForum, NABE Silicon Valley Roundtable, and the Beta Gamma Sigma business honorary society.