Our Team
Our team is comprised of highly successful entrepreneurs, operating executives and investors who are passionate about building and growing small to mid-sized companies.
Managing Partner
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Limited Partners Edward Benford
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Institutional Limited Partners |
Sasank Aleti
Sasank is the founder of Cadence Capital Partners. Prior to forming Cadence Capital, Sasank worked at Benford Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on small businesses. At Benford Capital, Sasank assisted in the operations of several portfolio companies, including serving as Interim CFO of U.S. Underwater Services. Prior to Benford Capital, Sasank was an investment professional at LLR Partners, a leading middle market private equity firm with $1.4 billion under management. At LLR, Sasank focused on investments in business services, financial services, healthcare and information technology. During his time at LLR and Benford Capital, Sasank evaluated numerous investment opportunities and completed or had active portfolio responsibilities for nine investments representing over $100 million of firm capital. Sasank also worked as an investment banker in the Global Industrials Group at UBS and in the Investment Management Division of Goldman Sachs. Sasank earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Finance and International Business from New York University.
Edward Benford
Ed is the founder of Benford Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm focused on the lower middle market. Since its inception in 2004, Benford Capital Partners has acquired five portfolio companies. Prior to forming Benford Capital Partners, Ed was a Principal at Prospect Partners, a lower middle market private equity firm with $270 million under management. Ed joined Prospect Partners at its inception in 1998 and played key roles in the sourcing, closing and monitoring of over 16 investments and served on the Board of Directors of seven portfolio companies. Prior to joining Prospect Partners, Ed worked at Lazard Frères, Morgan Stanley and the Northern Trust Company. Ed earned an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BA from Vanderbilt University.
Andrew Cummins
Andrew is founder and Managing Partner of Explorador Capital. Prior to starting Explorador, he worked at Emerging Markets Investment Corp. and in the acquisitions group of JMB Realty Corporation. Andrew sits on the Board of Directors of PazCorp, (SGO:PAZ) and Farmacias Remedios, as well as serves on the investment committee of Paladin Latin America Realty Partners. Andrew is a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Affairs Council of San Francisco and is on the business advisory network for www.nesst.org. Andrew holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Business Administration from The Haas School at the University of California, Berkeley.
Dan Drexler
Dan is currently an investment analyst for the Crown Family of Chicago. Dan is responsible for analyzing public investments and shares responsibility for overseeing an internal Fund of Funds for the Crown family. Dan is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a BA in Accounting.
John T. Fitzgerald
John is co-founder of Argo Management Partners, a private equity partnership with a focus on lower middle-market transactions. John is Chairman and Interim CFO of Hunter MFG and serves on the Board of Directors of Oak Patch Gifts. Prior to Argo Management Partners, John was Managing Director of Adirondack Capital, LLC, a financial futures and derivatives trading firm. John is an MBA graduate of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He also holds a BS in finance from DePaul University.
Glenn Healey
Glenn is currently a Principal at Housatonic Partners. Glenn has managed nine different companies over the last 22 years ranging in size from $2 million to $90 million in revenue. He completed 45 transactions at those companies, including acquisitions, financings and divestitures. Glenn is a Director of Continental Fire & Safety Services, LLC and Wind River Environmental, LLC. Glenn is a Certified Public Accountant and a graduate of the Harvard Business School and the University of Missouri.
John Moran
John is a veteran entrepreneur with a successful track record of building and growing small to mid-sized companies. Most recently, John was the Managing Member of Event Rentals 2, LLC, a party rental business which he sold in 2008. Prior to that, John served as President and CEO of Classic Party Rentals, Inc., the nation’s largest and most highly regarded event rental company. John built the business over a 10 year period through a series of acquisitions and organic growth. At the time of its sale in 2003, the business generated $85 million in annual revenue and had over 1,000 employees. John received his MBA from Harvard Business School and BA from Northwestern University.
Paul D. Rogers
Paul Rogers is currently a Partner at HV Capital Investors, LLC and RHV Capital, LLC, which focus on debt and equity investments in private companies. Prior to that, Paul worked for 22 years in the financial services industry with CIBC and its predecessor company, Wood Gundy Inc. From 1999 to 2004, Paul was President of CIBC World Markets Corp., the US investment banking subsidiary of CIBC. In this capacity, Paul was responsible for all of the US businesses of CIBC World Markets. Paul earned a B.Sc. Honours degree in Mathematics and Physics from the Royal Military College of Canada and also received an MBA with high distinction from Harvard Business School. Paul is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program for Applied Physics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and recently received an M.Sc. degree in Applied Physics from NJIT.
Rafael Somoza
Rafael most recently was the co-founder and CEO of VIU Media, Puerto Rico’s largest locally-owned outdoor advertising company, which was sold to Lamar Advertising. Prior to becoming CEO of VIU Media, he was the co-founder and CEO of Quest Management Corporation, a private equity group formed to identify, acquire, and operate a company in Puerto Rico. Previously, Rafael worked at CS First Boston, where he was involved in structuring over $1.2 billion in financings. He received the 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Media Category for Puerto Rico, and currently sits on the Board of the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau. Rafael holds an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and graduated cum laude, with a BA in Economics and Political Science, from Yale University.
Jose Stella
Jose most recently was the co-founder and President of VIU Media, Puerto Rico’s largest locally-owned outdoor advertising company, which was sold to Lamar Advertising. Prior to becoming President of VIU Media, he was the co-founder and President of Quest Management Corporation, a private equity group formed to identify, acquire, and operate a company in Puerto Rico. Previously, Jose worked at KPMG Peat Marwick in the middle-market Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory Group. He also worked for UBS and Chase Manhattan Bank. He received the 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Media Category for Puerto Rico. Jose graduated with high honors, with a BA in Economics, Finance and Investments, from Babson College and graduated cum laude with an MBA from The University of Michigan.
Howard Stevenson
Professor Stevenson is the Senior Associate Dean of Harvard Business School. He is also Sarofim-Rock Baker Foundation Professor, Director of Publishing, and Chair of the Harvard Business School Publishing Company board. He has also served as Vice Provost for Harvard University and Director of External Relations at Harvard Business School. Professor Stevenson has authored, co-authored, or edited eleven books, forty-two articles, and over one-hundred-fifty Harvard Business School case studies. He was a founder and the first President of the Baupost Group, Inc., a $10 billion investment firm that manages partnerships investing in liquid securities, which he grew to over $400 million in assets while President. He is now Co-chairman of the Advisory Board of Baupost LLC. Professor Stevenson is also an investor and board member in numerous private and public companies. He received his Bachelors degree in Mathematics, with distinction, from Stanford University and his MBA, with high distinction, and D.B.A. degrees from Harvard Business School.
William Thorndike
Will founded Housatonic Partners in 1994. Prior to that, he worked with the Walker Publishing Company and T. Rowe Price Associates. Will is a Director of Access Information Management; Alta Colleges; Continental Fire & Safety Services, LLC; Carillon Assisted Living, LLC; Rapid Communications, LLC; White Flower Farm, Inc. and a Trustee of the Groton School, the Boston Athenaeum, and the College of the Atlantic. Will received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard College.
A.J. Wasserstein
A.J. was the founder and CEO of ArchivesOne, the third largest records management company in the United States. He successfully built ArchivesOne into a super-regional, full-service records management company before selling to Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM) in 2007 after 16 years of operation. At ArchivesOne, 35 acquisitions were successfully completed to supplement growth. ArchivesOne employed 400 Team Members and had approximately 10,000 customers with total revenues of $50 million. A.J. is on the Board of IPT and is a board participant at Ivize. He is also a Trustee at the Connecticut Community Foundation and at Waterbury Hospital. A.J. received his MBA from New York University and completed his undergraduate studies at Colgate University. A.J. also completed the Owner/President/Manager Executive Education Program at Harvard Business School.
Kent Weaver
Kent is the founder of Granite Point Partners. Prior to founding Granite Point, Kent held executive positions in marketing and product management for KnowledgeLINK, a venture-backed technology services company that enables channel marketing process management. Prior to KnowledgeLINK, Kent served as a regional CFO and business analyst in Pepsico's Pizza Hut Division. As regional CFO, Kent helped to aggressively grow the Arizona market to over $50mm in revenue, $7mm in operating profit and 1,500 employees. Kent began his career with Ernst & Young, where he led engagement teams in the areas of strategic formation, valuation, restructuring, and corporate finance. Kent received his MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles with an emphasis in Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management and a BS in Finance from the University of Southern California.
Coppermine Capital
Coppermine Capital is a private investment firm that acquires small to mid-sized manufacturing and service companies. Coppermine is run by Grant Gund and Zachary Gund.
Grant Gund
Prior to joining Coppermine, Grant Gund worked at Megunticook Management, a Boston-based venture capital firm. While at Megunticook, he served on the Boards of Carescout, Choicelinx, Data TV Networks and Digital Reliance. He was previously General Manager of Aware Records, an independent record label in Chicago, and prior to that worked at Gund Investment Corp. and at the First National Bank of Boston. Grant is currently serving on the Boards of Action Legal, Data TV Networks, Hunter Manufacturing, and is an observer at Isis Maternity. Grant holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA from the University of Vermont.
Zachary Gund
Prior to starting Coppermine, Zachary worked in business development at Ucentric Systems, a home networking software company, and in the business development group at the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). Before NBC, he was the Project Manager at AquaFuture, Inc., a commercial aquaculture company located in western Massachusetts. Zachary holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA from the University of Vermont.
Ohana Capital
Ohana Capital is an active investor in search funds and lower middle-market companies. Ohana is managed by Tim Ludwig. Tim possesses over 12 years of operational, entrepreneurial and investment experience. Prior to founding Ohana, Tim worked for Pacific Scene, a privately-held, diversified real estate company where he was President of the Commercial Property division and led teams in asset management, acquisitions, and dispositions. Tim’s prior experience includes roles as Manager of Special Projects at a middle-market manufacturing business, founder of two online publishing companies, and positions in business development with Dell Computer and a venture-backed start-up. Tim currently serves as a board observer at Verengo, a California-based home energy solutions company, and as a Board Member at the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation. Tim holds an MBA from the Ross School at the University of Michigan and a BA from The College of Wooster (honors, phi beta kappa).
Sverica International
Sverica International is a private equity firm that acquires, invests in and actively operates companies that are or could become leaders in their industries. Since 1993, Sverica has maintained the unique operating philosophy of taking an active management role in its portfolio companies, delivering top quality products and services, creating fun places to work, and generating superior investor returns.
The Cambria Group
The Cambria Group is a private investment company which acquires and invests in small and mid-sized businesses with established operating histories. Since its founding, Cambria has made 12 investments in businesses spanning the manufacturing, distribution and service sectors. Core to the firm's philosophy, each of the firm's principals has both operating and financial experience, a combination which is employed in all stages of the private equity business from evaluating opportunities to structuring transactions and helping to manage the companies in which it invests.