| Peter H. Griffith
Vice Chair, Pacific South West Area Ernst & Young |
Peter Griffith is a Vice Chair of Ernst & Young LLP and serves as managing partner of Ernst & Young’s Pacific South West area, overseeing more than 2,000 employees in Southern California, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii. He is also a member of the Ernst & Young LLP United States Executive Board.
Mr. Griffith has over 25 years of experience in accounting, auditing, financial reporting, due diligence, financing, business and transaction strategy, corporate governance issues, structuring, human capital, and post-merger integration. His extensive accounting and auditing background is coupled with distinguished investment banking and private equity experience.
Mr. Griffith rejoined Ernst & Young in October 1997 from Wedbush Morgan Securities, where he was the Managing Director in charge of the Investment Banking Division (Corporate Finance, Research, Institutional Sales and Trading, and the Syndicate Departments). Since October 1997, Peter has served in a variety of leadership positions for Ernst & Young including National Director of the Center for Strategic Transactions, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ernst & Young Corporate Finance LLC, the West Zone Transaction Advisory Services Leader, and most recently Global Treasurer.
Mr. Griffith is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the State of California. He is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, the Young Presidents’ Organization, the SEC and Financial Reporting Institute Advisory Council, and serves on the Board of Advisors of the University of Southern California Leventhal School of Accounting. He is the past President of both the Los Angeles Venture Association and the Southern California Entrepreneurship Academy. He has lectured extensively at both the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA on corporate finance and related topics. Mr. Griffith is also a member of the Board of Directors of Town Hall of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the California State Chamber of Commerce.
He co-authored The Ernst & Young Guide to the IPO Value Journey in 1999. This book is indicative of Peter’s philosophy that important transactions should be viewed and treated as a process, as opposed to treating them simply as acquisition or financing events. His transaction philosophy is to work hard to assure that a company’s business strategy is fully compatible with its transaction strategy and that the structuring, execution, and post-merger or post-financing integration are fully developed prior to closing a transaction.
Mr. Griffith lives in Westlake Village, California with his wife Mary and four children – Kristan, Marianne, Katherine, and Pete. He enjoys reading and learning, family time, gardening, staying fit, golfing, and coaching Pete’s basketball team.