SWK Holdings, a life science focused specialty finance company catering to small- and mid-sized commercial-stage companies, promoted Yvette Heinrichson to the role of chief financial officer. Heinrichson was previously SWK’s chief accounting officer. SWK has also promoted John David “J.D.” Tamas to director of underwriting, a newly created position at the company and has hired Joe Moyer as an associate.
As CFO, Heinrichson will lead SWK’s financial reporting and accounting activities as well as assist president and interim CEO, Jody Staggs, with capital markets initiatives. Heinrichson replaces Charles Jacobson, who held the position of chief financial officer on an outsourced basis since 2012.
“Yvette’s operational excellence, attention to detail, and accounting knowledge combined with her understanding of financial strategy make her ideally suited to be our new CFO. Bringing the CFO function in-house via a talented executive such as Yvette provides SWK with additional skills and resources to pursue key initiatives, including optimizing our capital structure and streamlining processes required to support financing receivables growth,” Staggs said. “I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to Charles Jacobson for his role in building SWK. He has been a valued member of our leadership team since SWK’s inception, and we wish him the best.”
“This is a time of great optimism at SWK, as our underlying business fundamentals are strong, and current market conditions are ideal for our tailored financing solutions,” Heinrichson said. “I am excited and honored to be SWK’s new CFO and am eager to work closely with Jody and the board to lead SWK into its next phase of value creation.”
“J.D. has an extensive credit background, and his enhanced role will allow SWK to increase underwriting throughput while maintaining strict credit standards,” Staggs said. “He is a valuable member of our leadership team, and I’m pleased he is being recognized for his contributions to SWK.”
Heinrichson, who joined SWK in 2016 as controller, has held the position of chief accounting officer since May 2020. Prior to SWK, she provided technical GAAP accounting, SEC financial reporting, SOX implementation and process improvement services for many start-up and multinational public companies in industries including, healthcare/bioscience, technology, real estate and manufacturing. Heinrichson has participated in multiple initial public offerings and capital raises, as well as M&A due diligence and post-merger integration. She began her career at Deloitte as a tax professional and financial statement auditor of large, accelerated filers.
Tamas was promoted to director of underwriting after joining SWK in February 2022 as a director. He was previously vice president at NXT Capital / ORIX Leveraged Finance, where he focused principally on providing stretch and unitranche credit to private equity sponsors in the lower- and middle- markets. Prior to that, Tamas worked for Cotton Creek Capital, a middle-market private equity firm. He began his career at Wachovia / Wells Fargo Securities within the Leveraged Finance Division.
Moyer joined SWK as an associate in September 2022. Prior to joining SWK, he was an investment banking analyst at Cowen & Company in its healthcare group. During his time at Cowen, Moyer worked on a variety of sell-side transactions, including multiple successful IPOs, follow-ons, private placements and at-the-market offerings within the biotech and broader healthcare industry. Prior to that, Moyer interned at Elm Park Capital Management, a middle-market private credit firm.
