Ken Marlin

Ken Marlin is Managing Partner of Marlin & Associates Securities LLC,  an international investment bank and strategic consulting firm he founded more than 18 years ago - focused on advising buyers and sellers of U.S. and international companies providing financial technology, data and analytics. M&A is based in New York City with offices in Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Toronto.

Ken is also the author of The Marine Corps Way to Win on Wall Street”. An acclaimed book that reviewers say does a pretty good job of showing how people can lead their organizations more effectively - and with less drama. (Ken is a former Captain and infantry company commander in the US Marine Corps.)

Ken has spent the past 25+ years leading and advising firms that provide financial technology, data and analytics. He has been CEO of global firms and has bought, sold and raised growth capital for his own companies along with advising dozens of others. Immediately before founding M&A, Ken led the Business Information and Internet practice at the media merchant bank and private equity fund Veronis Suhler Stevenson.

Earlier in his business career, Ken was Senior Vice President for Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions at Dun & Bradstreet, which then owned such companies as Moody’s Investors Service, Interactive Data Corporation, Cognizant, DataStream International, Reuben H. Donnelley, IMS Health, ACNielsen, D&B Credit Services and a majority stake in Gartner Group. At D&B, Ken led more than 60 transactions involving US and non-US firms, including transactions in 13 countries.

After leaving D&B, Ken became President and CEO of Telekurs (NA) the technology and online data firm then owned by Swiss banks and now part of the SIX Group. With venture backing, he acquired a large portion of Telekurs NA and used that base to form Telesphere Corporation, where he was CEO. Ken grew Telesphere, in part, by raising growth capital and acquiring complementary businesses in Europe and Asia and by joint venturing. Three years later, Ken and his partners sold Telesphere to Bridge Information Systems, where he became Executive Vice President, with responsibility for global marketing as well as global infrastructure products.

Ken is quoted regularly in publications ranging from Business Week and Forbes, to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune and other major publications worldwide.  He has been the subject of interviews on business radio and television programs including CBS MarketWatch, Fox Business, BBC-Worldwide and CNBC. His biography is listed in “Who’s Who in the World”; “Who’s Who in America”; “Who’s Who in Finance and Industry”.

Ken is one of the 25 inaugural members of the Market Data Hall of Fame. For each of the past six years Institutional Investor ("II"), the international publisher, has named Ken as one of II’s “FinTech 35”, which honors the most influential figures in the financial technology sector. His biography is listed in “Who’s Who in the World”; and “Who’s Who in Finance and Industry”.

Ken earned a BA from the University of California (Irvine), an MBA from UCLA, and a post-MBA Advanced Professional Certificate in Corporate Strategy from New York University. Ken is a member of the board and vice president of the Madison Square Boys and Girls club, serving thousands of New York City’s most vulnerable kids ages six to eighteen with after school and summer programs, education, recreation and guidance programs in a safe and nurturing environment that many children consider a second home. He is a former board member and supporter of The Phoenix house foundation, the American Red Cross of Greater New York and the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School.

Ken and his wife live in Manhattan. His daughter lives and works in London.