As an industry specialist at Heritage Capital Group, Daren’s primary areas of expertise include M&A transactions in the U.S. and abroad, growth strategy development and implementation, corporate turnaround, and shareholder value creation. He has experience in multiple industry sectors, including construction/real estate development, logistics/distribution, and manufacturing (forest products, chemical, and marine equipment).
His career spans over 30 years and prior to joining Heritage Capital Group, he held leadership positions with Georgia-Pacific, Rayonier, Hilti, and PaR Systems. Daren also served 11 years in the United States Coast Guard, both on active and reserve duty. He was trained as a ship navigator and for his final active duty assignment, was selected as the Liaison Officer for the 1996 Olympic yachting events in Savannah. Prior to joining Heritage Capital, he was president of PaR Marine, and before that he led Marine Systems Technology in Winsford, England, a company PaR acquired in 2012. Daren joined PaR shortly after it was acquired by London-based private equity firm MML Capital Partners in 2009 and was instrumental in developing and implementing PaR’s domestic and international growth strategies from that point forward. Throughout his time with PaR, Pietsch gained valuable experience acquiring and integrating companies as well as ultimately selling the company to The Pohlad Companies in late 2017.
Daren leads a number of privately-owned businesses as well as serving on the World Trade Center Savannah Board of Directors, the Golden Isles Development Authority Board of Governors, the College of Coastal Georgia Foundation Board of Trustees, and the Georgia Tech-Savannah Advisory Board. Daren earned a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He went on to complete his postgraduate education in England and earned degrees in finance/financial law and strategy from the University of London and the University of Oxford, respectively. Daren holds FINRA Series 63 and 79 securities licenses and is a Fellow (FStratPS) of The Strategic Planning Society based in London, U.K.
