Steven Klemencic
Steve Klemencic is a managing director at BRG and has extensive experience in evaluating, assessing, auditing, and monitoring foreign mergers, acquisitions, and other investment transactions in the United States that may impact US national security.
He has worked closely with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and supported both law firms and transactional parties in all stages of the CFIUS review process. He has served as the compliance auditor on several transactions served on a number of CFIUS third party monitorship teams, and provided expert advice on national security issues to US and foreign parties in their transaction planning. Additionally, he developed a supply chain integrity assessment and has provided cyber threat actor profile assessments to companies in the technology and healthcare sectors. As a senior analyst at the National Intelligence Council, Mr. Klemencic developed and implemented the threat assessment review process that is used to assess security risks that may be posed by foreign parties to transaction notification to the CFIUS. He served twenty-one years in the US Navy, retiring as a commander. He is based in Washington, DC.
Mr. Klemencic’s professional experience before joining BRG includes:
- Developed and implemented the assessment process for US intelligence community review of foreign acquirers entering into a CFIUS transaction. The effort encompassed all sixteen US intelligence organizations and provided a structured, methodical process to assess foreign buyers to identify potential threats to US national security.
- Served as the US government-approved compliance auditor for a Fortune 50 US technology company following the multibillion-dollar sale of one of its large business units to a foreign acquirer.
- Led a multidisciplinary team of forensic technologists and data analysts, while serving as the US government-approved CFIUS compliance auditor, in planning and conducting the first and only US CFIUS compliance audit of a Chinese company in China.
- Led a multidisciplinary team in providing a US financial services company and its CFIUS counsel with technical support feasibility assessments in the development of a CFIUS mitigation plan to help a multibillion-dollar transaction gain CFIUS clearance. He then served as senior advisor on the US government-approved third-party monitor team for the same company.
- Served as senior advisor on the US government-approved third-party monitor team for a renewable energy provider acquired by a foreign company.
- Advised a foreign acquirer’s corporate leadership of details of the CFIUS process and various CFIUS considerations of the US government to assist in the timing and structure of the deal in the pre-transaction phase of its CFIUS filing in its effort to acquire a US infrastructure company.
- Advised a foreign buyer’s corporate leadership on the CFIUS process and potential US government concerns as it related to an acquisition of a US aerospace services provider.
- Established the first CFIUS-compliant collateral trust to enable investment from a group of foreign investors into a US biotechnology venture capital firm.
- Advised a foreign company on the CFIUS process and related US government concerns relating to the foreign company’s acquisition of a US manufacturing company.
- Advised a foreign multinational company in its acquisition of a US semiconductor manufacturer.
- Led a team of due diligence experts in deconstructing a US government acquisition program’s supply chain and assessing threats and vulnerabilities associated with each entity identified in the supply chain.
- Assessed business and security threats to a US industrial company resulting from the joint venture with a foreign partner and the foreign hosting of the joint venture, including concerns around technology transfer requirements, intellectual property theft, and state security requirements.
- Assessed various potential threat actor profiles, including motivation, threat vector, target vulnerabilities, and potential consequences, for a national healthcare provider that was planning to upgrade its cybersecurity systems.
Mr. Klemencic’s experience includes the following practice areas:
- Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)
- Healthcare
- Energy
- Private equity
- Transportation and infrastructure
- Real estate
- Supply chain
Employment History
Ankura Consulting Group, LLC
Managing director
2018-2021
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
Director
2013-2018
CENTRA Technology, Inc.
Program manager and senior intelligence analyst
2006-2013
Veritas, Inc.
Vice president, technology transfer
2003-2006
Defense Intelligence Agency
Chief, advance technologies and technology transfer division
2000-2003
United States Navy
Officer
1982-2003
Education
National Security & International Economics, MIT
Fellowship, 1999
National Security & Strategic Studies, US Naval War College
MA, 1997
US Naval Academy
BS, Political Science, 1982
Credentials
Certified M&A Dealmaker, China Mergers & Acquisitions Association
Qualified Surface Warfare Officer
Certified Specialist in Naval and Mechanical Engineering
Certified Specialist in Operational Logistics
Certified Master Training Specialist
Qualified Conventional Steam Engineer
Qualified Gas Turbine Engineer
Professional Affiliations
American Bar Association
Associate member
Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals
Association of Former Intelligence Officers
Surface Navy Association
Navy League