Fortune Small Business Online publishes “A founder’s hobby: Building (model) bridges” article about Managing Director Mark Filippell

April 1, 2008

Fortune Small Business Online featured an article about Western Reserve Partners Managing Director Mark Filippell in April 2008. The article noted “A financial architect by day, Mark Filippell moonlights as a builder of landmark Cleveland bridges.”

Filippell is a founding partner of the investment banking firm and manager of mergers and acquisitions. About his model bridge hobby, Mr. Filippell says, “So much of what I do at work is cerebral, constructing bridges- it’s relaxing.” Bridges constructed by Mr. Filippell and mentioned in the article include his replication of the Cuyahoga Viaduct Bridge and, his most recent effort, a 72-inch version of B&O railroad bridge No. 464.

The article stated that Filippell began building bridges “three years ago, when he and his partners were working 12-hour days to close their first major deal, worth around $160 million.”

Of his constructing process, the article noted that Mr. Filippell “starts by tracking down the original blue prints and then photographing every angle of the bridge. His quest to replicate the Cuyahoga Viaduct Bridge required some fast talking to persuade the Greater Cleveland Transit Authority to dig up the blueprints and arrange for the head inspector to monitor the site while he took photographs.”

Bill Barrow, a special collections librarian at Cleveland State University, is also quoted in the feature. He says, “Model bridges are a kind of art form among railroad hobbyists- I didn’t know it was for guys doing investment banking. But his are first-rate examples of scale-model building.”

Also quoted was Joe Carson, another managing director at Western Reserve, who said “I want him to do this lift bridge in Cleveland that moves vertically, like an elevator, but Mark hasn’t stepped up yet.”

The article, which also appeared in the April 2008 print edition of Fortune Small Business Magazine, can be viewed at http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/16/smbusiness/baby_bridges.fsb/index.htm