Archer Elected to Top Posts at Acqua Group Inc.

Investment banker Lee Archer has been elected chief executive, president and chief operating officer of Acqua Group Inc., a Van Nuys distributor of bottle-less water coolers, after he bought a 40% stake in the company through a private placement of stock.

Archer replaces Albert Parisi as chief executive. Parisi will remain chairman of the board, the company said.

In other changes, Steven Martini resigned as a director and officer of the company and John Cavallaro, James Bottari and John Campbell resigned as outside directors, Archer said in an interview.

Archer said the private placement consisted of 1.6 million shares of common stock. He said he plans to purchase an additional 800,000 shares in an upcoming private placement. The placements follow a failed secondary offering of stock to the public last month that was to have raised $5 million.

Archer previously served as president and director of Home Group Capital Markets Inc., an investment banking and merchant banking subsidiary of AmBase Corp. He was also executive vice president and director of corporate finance of Tucker, Anthony & R.L. Day Inc.