About
Keene was founded in 2015 based on three simple ideas:
Clients deserve honest, unconflicted advice
Private, founder-led, and family-owned companies are not well served by existing investment banks
Success is defined by much more than closing a transaction. It encompasses owners’ financial, strategic and personal priorities which often include their purpose, values, relationships, and legacy.
Keene Advisors is not an ordinary investment bank. Traditional investment banks are incentivized to serve only the financial needs of their clients. Too often their economic model places the interests of the investment banker over the interests of their clients. We take a different approach. We focus on clients’ financial, strategic and personal priorities, including their purpose, values, relationships, and legacy goals. Our engagements are structured to align with our clients holistic needs, ensuring high-quality, honest advice, and continued value-add for our clients. We believe this is a better way.
Keene was incorporated as a Benefit Corporation, reflecting our commitment to use our business in the service of others, including our broader communities and the planet. We have been fortunate to work alongside many like minded businesses and business leaders that are motivated by a higher purpose.
Our Founder - Travis Borden
Travis is the founder and driving force behind Keene Advisors. He combines 25 years of investment banking and strategy experience with a lifetime of family business experience.
Before founding Keene Advisors in 2015, Travis was part of the founding team and a Senior Vice President at Moelis & Company. Moelis & Company is a global investment bank that provides M&A, capital structure, and capital markets advice to corporate clients. During Travis’ tenure at Moelis, the company grew to 500 employees across 17 offices and completed an IPO in 2014. Prior to Moelis, Travis was an investment banker at UBS where he advised private equity firms on on leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, IPOs and M&A transactions.
Travis Borden, Founder
Travis is a member of the family behind Wawa, Inc. and served on the Company’s Board of Directors. Wawa is a leading convenience store retailer with over 1,100 stores and 47,000 employees across the U.S. Wawa’s shared ownership model, which includes seven generations of family members and Wawa employees, has provided a stable foundation that has enabled the Company to invest in an organic growth strategy that is carrying the brand from the Mid-Atlantic to the Southeastern and Midwestern U.S.
Travis is a proud alumnus of Boston College’s Carroll School of Management and was named to the Boston Business Journal 40 Under 40 list in 2016. Travis Keene Travis Keen Travis Borden Keene
Keene Advisors: What’s in a Name?
Named after Keene Valley in the Adirondacks, we were inspired by the same long-term thinking that caused a group of forward thinking politicians in 1892 to protect over 6-million acres of land, including 2.6 million acres of “forever wild” land in New York State. The Adirondack Park is larger than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier and Grand Canyon National Parks combined. It is a symbol of the lasting legacy a small group of passionate people can create together.
We take the same big-picture, long-term perspective when advising clients. We pride ourselves on delivering world-class investment banking and strategy advice that helps owners approach transformational opportunities with confidence. We support private, founder-led, and family-owned businesses whether they are seeking to build a multi-generational family legacy or transition their business to new owners; whether they are developing an organic growth strategy or pursuing acquisition driven growth; whether they are raising capital to fund growth or provide liquidity to shareholders; and whether they need help resolving shareholder disputes or developing a succession plan for the next generation leaders and owners. Over the last 25 years we have worked with hundreds of clients to help them achieve their goals.