About Our Investment Banking Firm | Artemis Transaction Advisors

Our Story

Artemis Transaction Advisors, LLC is a middle-market investment banking firm specializing in sell-side transactions. We help clients identify options, understand value and execute deals that maximize our clients' interests.

Our business has prospered for over two decades. Our success is grounded in a culture of integrity, strong communication and steadfast devotion to our clients. We invest time to understand our clients and their objectives. Our team upholds the highest level of integrity and due diligence in every transaction. Clear and consistent communication keeps clients informed and deals moving forward. These practices support our deliberately simple goal: to deliver the performance we promise.

WE'RE CLOSERS - Firms do not close deals. Dealmakers close deals. A composite of established skills, resourceful experience and unlimited drive has fueled success for all of our past clients, transaction after transaction and year after year.

TOUGH TRANSACTION EXPERIENCE - We successfully close deals that require hard work and imagination to overcome obstacles. Delivering success on the tough deals is not about size, specialization or reputation, it is about hands-on experience. Our depth and diversity of experience give us the ability to close deals at optimal valuations.

SENIOR LEVEL ENGAGEMENT - We engage in only a select number of transactions at a given time so that every deal can be actively managed by a Managing Director. From preparation through due diligence, a seasoned Managing Director is directly working to ensure that each transaction progresses efficiently towards conclusion.

STRUCTURED DEAL PROCESS - We create an individualized deal process for each transaction. This enables us to clearly identify objectives and obstacles, assign order to tasks and timelines, and manage expectations. A well-organized deal closes sooner with higher valuations and less stress.

PROFESSIONAL ACCESS - Relationships are a cornerstone of investment banking. Our professional network includes thousands of C-level executives, lawyers, accountants, bankers, family offices and private equity groups. This network gives us access to real-time market intelligence, pricing data, emerging industry trends and active buyers, lenders, or financing sources.

Our Leadership

Darrell Butler
Founder and Managing Director

Aaron Nowak
Managing Director

John Lahti
Managing Director

Marci Butler
Chief Financial Officer

Andrew Winick
Managing Director

Andrew Samuels
Vice President

Patrick Loeffler
Senior Analyst

Darrell Butler

Founder and Managing Director

Darrell co-founded Billow Butler & Company in 1997, acquired 100% control in April 2023 and rebranded the business as Artemis Transaction Advisors, LLC. Darrell has guided the firm’s growth over the past 26-plus years, sourcing and closing transactions, developing professional personnel and establishing and maintaining the firm’s FINRA broker dealer license. He now leads the team into the firm’s next successful chapter.

Darrell has been involved in mergers and acquisitions for over 33 years, participating in more than 200 transactions ranging in value up to $750 million. He is a recognized industry veteran in the Chicago middle market M&A community. Historically, his areas of focus have been industrial, e-commerce and distribution.

For ten years, he has served as an independent director on the board of Restonic Mattress Corporation, which proudly offers the Scott Living line of mattresses. He also currently serves on two not-for-profit boards. As the founder and chairman of an international network of investment banks called MAIN, Darrell travels extensively and leads the firm’s cross-border transactional efforts.

Prior to co-founding Artemis Transaction Advisors, he was an accomplished associate and vice president at a prominent national investment bank, where he was formally recognized as Top Associate for leading the company in deals closed and fees generated. Darrell spent more than seven years at Arthur Andersen as a financial consultant to Fortune 1000 clients.

Darrell has spoken before members of the Institute of Management Accountants, the Chicago Bar Association, and industry trade associations and has been published in magazines such as Forbes and Flexible Packaging on topics involving corporate finance and deal-making.

Darrell holds an M.B.A. in Financial Management and Strategy from The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a B.S. in Finance, with honors, from the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign.

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