The description of Actis' process in evaluating investments reflects the opinions of Actis and of the typical investment process (or intended investment process) as of March 2025, but this investment process can vary for particular investments and is subject to change at Actis' discretion and without prior notice. References to 'mitigating risk' does not guarantee against risk and does not protect against losses. General discussions contained in this document regarding the Indian or South East Asian market or market conditions represent the view of either the source cited or Actis. Such information is not research and should not be treated as research. Moreover, there is no assurance historical trends will continue. The information referenced herein is as of March 2025, unless otherwise indicated, is subject to change.

Powerhouse Women in Private Equity & Investment Banking

Our Female Quotes & Montage spotlights an extraordinary lineup of women who are shaping the future of private equity and investment banking. From driving strategic investments to leading top firms, these industry trailblazers embody leadership, innovation, and impact.

Featuring insights from Sunaina Sinha of Raymond James, Neha Markle of Morgan Stanley, Deborah Smith of The CenterCap Group, Blythe Jack of TSG Consumer, Franny Jones of The Sterling Group, Meahgan O’Grady of Palladium Equity Partners, Shannon Zoller of Tephra Advisors, Julia Karol of Watermill Group, Gretchen Perkins of Avance Investment Management, Gina Luna of GP Capital Partners, Caroline Stevens of MPK Equity Partners, Devon Kirk of Portage Capital Solutions, Tammie Miller of TKO Miller, Chrisanne Corbett of KPMG, Lauren Mulholland of Middle Ground, and Suzanne Yoon of Kinzie Capital Partners.

Their voices inspire the next generation and reinforce the power of women in finance.

Mark is a founding partner and President of Alpine. Mark also co-founded ASG, the firm’s vertical SaaS platform. He has been involved as board member in over 25 past and present Alpine investments. Prior to Alpine, Mark has served in several CEO roles for venture and PE-backed businesses and has over 30 years of experience as an investor and operator. Mark received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and his Bachelors of Science in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University, where he graduated with honors and served as a four-year letter winner and captain of the baseball team.

Episode 71 features Marshall Adkins, a Managing Director and Head of Energy Investment Banking at Raymond James.

Marshall gives us great insight into what to expect in the energy markets for next few years, as well as the leading indicators that suggest the energy space will be an attractive place to focus your attention.

 Marshall Adkins joined Raymond James in 1995 and serves as the head of the firm’s Energy Investment Banking practice. Prior to this role, Mr. Adkins served as the director of Energy Research for 25 years and focused on oilfield services and products. Prior to Raymond James, he spent 10 years in the oilfield services industry as a project manager, financial analyst and engineer. He holds a B.S. degree in petroleum engineering and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Episode 70 features Brent Humphries with Alliance Bernstein. Brent joined AB in 2014 as a founding member and President of AB Private Credit Investors, where he has primary responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the business, including chairing the investment committee, fundraising, investor relations, investment originations, structuring and underwriting, as well as ongoing portfolio management and compliance. He previously held the same position with Barclays Private Credit Partners.

Prior to joining Barclays, Humphries served as group head, generalist financial sponsor coverage for Goldman Sachs Specialty Lending Group, and later led its structured private equity initiative. Before that, he served as a partner and managing director of the Texas Growth Fund, a middle market private equity firm. Humphries previously worked in leveraged finance with NationsBank and J.P. Morgan, and as a financial analyst with Exxon.

He holds a BBA in finance with an emphasis in accounting from the University of Oklahoma and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Location: Austin

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Kick-Off 2021 with quotes, mottos and mentorship advice from past Private Equity Fast Pitch guests.

Episode 68 of Northstar's Private Equity Fast Pitch features Jerry L. Johnson with EnPro Industries Inc.

Jerry joined the EnPro Industries as their Senior Vice President of Strategy, Corporate Development, and Investor Relations.

Jerry has held leadership roles in finance and consulting for more than 25 years. He has extensive experience in acquisitions and was a founding member and Partner of the private equity firm RLJ Equity Partners for the last thirteen years.

He is a member of the New York Economic Club, Young President's Organization, The University of Tennessee’s Investment Advisory Council and the College of Engineering's Board of Advisors, and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Johnson’s career also includes experience as a White House Fellow, merchant banker with Donaldson, Lufkin, & Jenrette, and as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Todd Ofenloch is a Managing Director in the Boston office of H.I.G. Capital. Since joining the firm in 2009, he has been responsible for evaluating and executing new investment opportunities, as well as working with certain existing portfolio companies.

Todd has over 15 years of experience investing in middle market private equity transactions and has worked on investments in a broad range of industries, including building products, business services, enterprise software, food and consumer products, hospitality and travel services, and media and marketing services.

He currently serves on the boards of several H.I.G. portfolio companies.

Prior to H.I.G., Todd was an investment professional at Parthenon Capital Partners, GTCR, and The Halifax Group. He began his career as an investment banker at Lazard Frères, specializing in mergers & acquisitions advisory services.

Todd graduated with Bronze Tablet honors from the University of Illinois with a B.S. in Accountancy (CPA) and received an M.B.A. with honors from Columbia Business School.

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Mr. Hurlbert is a seasoned entrepreneur – with a thirty-year track record of building successful businesses with strong leadership teams. Mr. Hurlbert was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year® in 2009 in the Houston and Gulf Coast Area and inducted into the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year® Hall of Fame that same year. He was also a founding member of the Young Presidents Organization – Gulf Coast Region.

Mr. Hurlbert is currently a Managing Partner and Co-Founder at BrightMark Partners, a growth equity and management firm dedicated to providing capital and resources to venture, growth phase, and middle market businesses.

Mr. Hurlbert served as the President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Houston based TAS Energy from December of 2001 to April of 2020. TAS is leading provider of high efficiency and modular cooling and energy systems for the data center, commercial, industrial and power generation markets. TAS was sold to publicly traded Comfort Systems (FIX) on April 1st of 2020. Under Mr. Hurlbert’s leadership, TAS grew from a “start-up” to a global leader in efficiency/capacity offerings to the industrial, power generation and HVAC industries, renewable energy – including building over 300MW of geothermal plants worldwide, and data center products and services. When TAS was sold to FIX, the company had over 750 employees worldwide and delivered over 2,000 modules to 33 countries globally.

Mr. Hurlbert is the Chairman of the Board at Clearas Water Recovery. Clearas utilizes patented, sustainable and proprietary technology to solve high nutrient wastewater challenges in the municipal and industrial water markets. In doing so, Clearas produces a valuable “bio waste” that can be sold into multiple vertical markets. Currently Clearas Water Recovery bio-waste is a sustainable substitute for hyrdro-carbon based products – i.e. it is being used to make foam for Addidas tennis shoes.

Mr. Hurlbert sits on the Board of Prostar Geocorp, a company pioneering geospatial intelligence technology in the energy infrastructure and transportation markets. Prostar utilizes a SaaS based business model and has multiple patents and is transforming the way large utilities, construction companies, and states departments of transportation track underground assets and utilities (i.e. natural gas pipelines).

Mr. Hurlbert sits on the Board of ATR SmartProcedures, a company pioneering digital transformation in the industrial industry by providing a SaaS based offering to take “paper based” operational, safety, environmental, and maintenance procedures and putting them in the cloud so they are easily accessible by plant employees. ATR has an impressive customer including Exxon, Chevron, Koch, and Commanche Peak.

Mr. Hurlbert served from 2012 to 2018 on the Board of Directors at Loenbro, Inc., a diversified energy services and construction company with more than 900 employees. At Loenbro, Mr. Hurlbert provided leadership direction and oversight for the organic and inorganic growth plan, capital partnerships, risk management, organizational development, marketing and business development, as well as general and administrative oversight. Mr. Hurlbert helped Loenbro founders monetize the business in 2018 with a large New York private equity firm.

Prior to joining TAS in 2001, Mr. Hurlbert served as the President and General Manager of a Pratt & Whitney Power Systems business unit, P2 Energy.

Prior to P2 Energy, Mr. Hurlbert served as President and CEO of the PIC Energy Group. While at PIC, Mr. Hurlbert initiated and closed a joint venture with PWPS, which lead to the formation of P2. This transaction was valued at over $150 million to PIC, which at the time had roughly $25 million in revenue. Mr. Hurlbert left PIC to lead the P2 entity.

Mr. Hurlbert is currently the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Local Bounti, a company pioneering sustainable

indoor agriculture.

Prior to joining PIC as the CEO, Mr. Hurlbert was named General Manager of Global Sales for General Electric’s Contractual Services business (GECS). Mr. Hurlbert was integral in building GECS from a “start- up” to over $7 Billion in backlog in just 24 months. GECS was known for pioneering the LTSA product line (long term service agreements) for GE’s gas turbine technology. LTSA’s became an industry wide standard. Mr. Hurlbert lead the team that developed out the product line, and built the global sales team from the ground up, starting with approximately 15 people and ended with over 150 when he left. When Mr. Hurlbert left GECS, the business had just closed $1 Billion in backlog in the prior quarter. A trend that continued after he left. GECS would go on to become one of the biggest success stories in the history of GE, and GE Power systems. While at GE, Mr. Hurlbert completed GE’s esteemed four-week MDC program at Crotonville.

Prior to GE, Mr. Hurlbert held the position of Director of International Business Development for Stewart & Stevenson (S&S), the world’s largest third-party operator of Power Plants. S&S Power division was purchased by GE.

Mr. Hurlbert joined the energy industry in 1990 in a position with North American Energy Services (NAES) a leading operations and maintenance company where he led sales in Latin America.

Prior to NAES Mr. Hurlbert served as a Valuation Manager in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group for the Geneva Companies. Mr. Hurlbert successfully valued over 75 middle market businesses, company valuations ranged between $20 and $150 million.

Prior to joining Geneva, Mr. Hurlbert was hired off the San Diego State University campus to work for the Ford Motor company in their esteemed “financial management” program. Mr. Hurlbert worked in Ford’s “Aerospace” division and was a financial analyst in Ford’s advanced “Star Wars” program.

Mr. Hurlbert has a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree from San Diego State and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the California State University – Long Beach.

Mr. Hurlbert is the past President and Chairman of the Turbine Inlet Cooling Association.

Mr. Hurlbert loves spending time with his wife and three daughters, Ellie, Kate, and Bella. He is also a competitive golfer, having won the 2010 Montana Mid–Amateur and the 2020 Montana Senior Amateur tournaments and other top regional and national golf events. Mr. Hurlbert has competed in 3 USGA events.

Episode 64 of the Private Equity Fast Pitch features Nik Shah, the co-founder and managing partner of Cohere Capital.

Prior to co-founding Cohere Capital with Daniel, Nik was a Managing Director at H.I.G. Capital / H.I.G. Growth Partners where he focused on private equity investments in high-growth, entrepreneur-owned companies in the business services, technology, media, and Internet sectors. In his 12 years at H.I.G., he has served on the board of over 10 past and current H.I.G. portfolio companies.
Prior to joining H.I.G., Nik was with Landmark Growth Capital Partners in Boston, Massachusetts, a private equity firm focused on buyouts and growth equity investments in business services, manufacturing, and consumer companies. At Landmark, he was responsible for deal sourcing, due diligence, and assisting management as a board director and observer of several portfolio companies.
Earlier in his career, Nik was at AH Ventures and Adams, Harkness & Hill in Boston.

Nik received his Bachelor of Arts degree in biochemistry with honors from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

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Episode 63 features Brad Brenneman with Breck Partners.

Prior to founding Breck, Brad was a partner at Wingate Partners for 16 years, where he served as Co-Managing Partner and was Chairman of Nekoosa Coated Products, Dunn Paper, and Sunrise Oilfield Supply, as lead board member for Industrial Container Services, and as a board member of S&N Communications and Binswanger Glass.
​
Prior to joining Wingate, Brad was an executive with Entergy Wholesale Operations where he led project teams in acquiring and developing power generation assets. He joined Entergy from Lufkin Industries where he served as an Officer.  In addition to his leadership roles in operations and finance, Brad developed and implemented Lufkin’s strategic planning process and coordinated the successful acquisition of companies in the U.S. and Europe to help implement the strategic plan.  Previously, he was a consultant with Bain & Company where he advised clients on strategy and corporate turnarounds.
​
Brad holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting, summa cum laude, from Kansas State University and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.  He currently serves as an Elder at Preston Trail Community Church and is a Trustee of Legacy Christian Academy.  Brad is married to Leanne and they are the grateful parents of Abigail (21), Jonathan (19) and Matt (17). 000000F4 000000F4 00004BBB 00004BBB 0006C21A 0006C21A 00007E29 00007E29 0006BFA7 0006BFA7

Today we are excited to present a montage of college graduates advice from past Fast Pitch guests. Today’s college graduates find themselves in an unprecedented and challenging environment because of the COVID 19 national lock down.

To address this national challenge, we’ve compiled the best advice to college graduates from top private equity professionals.  we will hear how they overcame challenges in their past and tangible advice they would offer to young graduates in an unfamiliar environment.

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Paul W. Swaney III is the founder of Swaney Group Capital, a private equity firm focused on revitalizing and scaling industrial companies in the lower middle market. He applies a hands-on approach to value creation, emphasizing efficiency, process optimization, and growth initiatives. His career began with service in the US Navy, followed by key operations roles at ConocoPhillips, Amazon, and Total Oil, where he refined his expertise in performance improvement. He transitioned to management consulting at McKinsey and then spent seven years as an operating partner at Partners Group, contributing to operational transformations and serving on the investment committee. In 2022, he founded Swaney Group Capital, leveraging his extensive experience to build and grow industrial businesses.

Julia Karol is President and COO of Watermill Group. She is responsible for overall firm operations and helping Watermill portfolio companies develop and implement their strategies. Previously, as a Watermill Principal, Julia helped guide the day-to-day operations of the firm, directed the firm’s investor relations and managed fundraising initiatives for acquisitions.

Prior to joining Watermill, Julia worked at Jumpstart, a national nonprofit organization. While at Jumpstart, she managed Boston-area fundraising, coordinated communication and marketing efforts, cultivated partnerships, developed alumni relations programming, and oversaw staff recruitment efforts.

Julia currently serves as a Partner with Social Venture Partners Boston, a venture philanthropy organization which connects Boston’s most promising nonprofits with the money and minds to fuel their success. Julia has served as a Mentor for Endeavor, a global high-impact entrepreneurship movement and that promotes economic growth and job creation. She also serves as a member for the Budget and Administration Committee for Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Previously, Julia founded and served as board chair for the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network in Boston. Julia is a member of ACG Boston and the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and has been named as one of the Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A by Mergers and Acquisitions Magazine for three consecutive years. In 2019, Julia received the Women of Influence Award from ACG Boston and was named one of Boston Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 honorees. In 2017, Julia was named an Emerging Leader by the M&A Advisor.

EDUCATION:

She received a M.A. in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership from Stanford University, completed the Owners, Presidents, Managers program at Harvard Business School, and the Summer Institute for Entrepreneurship at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and earned a B.A. from Tufts University.

COMPANY OVERVIEW

With over $10 billion in assets under management, The Riverside Company is one of the largest and oldest global private equity firms. Riverside makes control and non-control investments in companies with enterprise values under $400 million. Since its founding in 1988, Riverside has invested in more than 650 transactions and currently has a portfolio that includes more than 90 companies worldwide. The firms’ specializations include healthcare, education and training, manufacturing, tech-enabled business services, software, consumer, and franchising.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Robert Landis is a Founding Partner, Origination in the New York office of The Riverside Company, a private equity firm investing in premier companies at the smaller end of the middle market. Robert joined Riverside in 2002 and has over 42 years of commercial and investment banking experience gained at Deutsche Banc Alex Brown (18 years) and its predecessors, and at Citibank/ Chemical Bank.. At The Riverside Company he works with a team of 17 professionals who coordinate origination and structuring opportunities for Riverside's investment portfolios across 9 diversified funds globally.

At Deutsche, he developed industry expertise in the consumer, industrial, transportation, and telecommunications sectors and in his last position (1987-2002) he created and  led the Aerospace and Defense Group in North America. Robert previously headed the firm's North American corporate finance group as it transitioned to an investment bank in the mid 1990's. At Citibank, he was Vice President of the Multi-National Group. Prior to that, Robert was a Major (ret.) in the U.S. Army, serving 6 years active duty and 14 years active reserve with the 42nd Infantry Division, NYARNG.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Association for Corporate Growth, NY Chapter Board Member

EDUCATION

Mr. Landis holds a BS from the University of Colorado and an MBA in International Management from the American Graduate School of International Management.

Personal: Married with two children: Matthew and Moshe: wife Norma formerly of Colombia , language translator at NU Langonne

• Matthew :Notre Dame Lacrosse:  2x NCAA lacrosse defenseman of the year ( Schmeisser Award), Tewaarton Finalist ( similar to Heisman Trophy) and professional lacrosse player:  2 years Major League Lacrosse ( PLL) and one year Professional League Lacrosse ( PLL) , currently as of 2020, Ensign, U.S. Navy
• Moshe Landis: currently living in Israel, formerly member of the IDF Special Forces unit  Sayeret Yahalom

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Many of you listened to Episode 57 which addressed the importance of a plan, urgency and actions necessary to begin and implement a turnaround for a company facing challenging issues.  Our guest, Jeff Sands, shared his own journey in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and his work assisting companies with turnarounds.  At the time we recorded Episode 57 we had no idea just how significant the coming days would be in terms of the consequences of Covid -19. 

For those that have not listened to Episode 57 it is well worth the time as it provides a road map for dealing with the challenging times we are all facing.  

The economic circumstances associated with Covid-19 have impacted individuals, families, businesses, schools, colleges and universities, local, state and federal governments in ways never before experienced.  The impact is far beyond anything anticipated or contemplated by today’s contingency or crisis plans. 

The results are something that we will all have to work to overcome in the coming days, months and years.  As optimists, we will all help our communities, businesses and people rise from the moment and return to a more normal way of life. 

Our guests today share a unique background, perspective and experience in assisting companies with the impact of crisis, restructuring and bankruptcy. While insurance may not be the first thing we think of in times of crisis, on this episode you will hear the implications and considerations apply across a spectrum of businesses. 

Insurance is more necessary than most think to position a company for recovery. We have three guests today… Devin Beresheim who is the Global Leader of Lockton Financial Services which includes Lockton’s Corporate Restructuring Team.  Allison Witt, an energy expert within LFS and the co-leader of CRT and Tim Kelly who is a Senior Advisor to Lockton Financial Services and the Corporate Restructuring Team.

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Brett Hickey is the Founder & CEO of Star Mountain Capital, LLC, a $1+ billion AUM specialized U.S. lower middle-market investment firm. Star Mountain employs a data-driven approach to provide value-added debt and equity capital to established small and medium-sized companies leveraging its large market expertise, scale-driven resources, and longstanding relationships.

With approximately 30 full-time people and over 25 operating partners and advisors, Star Mountain brings proven large market expertise to help business owners maximize value. Star Mountain’s team and partners include former senior executives from GSO / Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, and Citigroup. Star Mountain provides flexible capital solutions including debt and equity for business owners and has a strategic primary and secondary fund business through which it invests in over 250 U.S. private businesses. This secondary business provides early liquidity to investors in U.S. lower middle-market credit and equity funds.

Star Mountain’s in-house technology team has built proprietary systems to support its data-driven approach to maximize value for investors and business owners alike. Star Mountain is a trademarked brand, including “Investing in the Growth Engine of America ®” and Star Mountain’s distinctive “Collaborative Ecosystem ®” includes hosting and participating in 100+ events per year. Star Mountain’s Charitable Foundation supports career development form women, veterans, and athletes as well as health & wellness initiatives including cancer research.

Prior to becoming a principal investor starting in the early 2000s, Mr. Hickey was an Investment Banker at Salomon Smith Barney / Citigroup Global Markets in New York City where he covered global Asset Managers and Financial Institutions. In that role, he analyzed asset managers and asset classes, ultimately working on over $20 billion in completed strategic acquisitions and capital raises.

Mr. Hickey’s board memberships include member and former Chairman of Networks for the NYC Chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), Global Board of Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs, and Global Board of Help for Children (HFC).

Mr. Hickey received a Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction from McGill University (Finance Major and Accounting Concentration) and is an alumnus from Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management executive leadership program. He is a frequent guest lecturer on industry panels and at academic institutions. Mr. Hickey is also a former Canadian national gold medalist and North American medalist in speed skating.

Mr. Hickey is married with two children and lives in New York.

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Marshall Adkins joined Raymond James in 1995 and serves as the head of the firm’s Energy Investment Banking practice.

Marshall Adkins joined Raymond James in 1995 and serves as the head of the firm’s Energy Investment Banking practice.

Prior to this role, Mr. Adkins served as the director of Energy Research and focused on oilfield services and products. Prior to Raymond James, he spent 10 years in the oilfield services industry as a project manager, corporate financial analyst, sales manager, and engineer.

He holds a B.S. degree in petroleum engineering and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

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Joe Linnen is a Partner of The Jordan Company. He is also a member of the firm's Executive Committee.

Joe joined TJC in 1993. He focuses all of his time on sourcing, originating and evaluating transactions on behalf of TJC.
​He serves on the board of directors of Worldwide Clinical Trials and CFS Brands.

Joe is Chairman Emeritus of the La Lumiere School Board of Trustees and he was Co-Chairman of its Courageous Vision Capital Campaign. Joe was a founding Director of the Oz Park Baseball Association in Chicago.

Joe holds a BS degree in Business Administration with concentration in Finance from the University of Notre Dame.

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Jack Purcell, Managing Partner – Jack is a Managing Partner and member of the Management and Investment Committees at Ridgemont Equity Partners. He is primarily responsible for general management of the firm and additionally focuses on the group’s investment activity in the Business & Tech-enabled Services and Industrial Growth sectors, serving on the boards of a number of Ridgemont’s portfolio companies.  Jack joined Banc of America Capital Investors, the in-house private equity arm of Bank of America and predecessor partnership to Ridgemont, in 2002 and led investments across a variety of industry sectors including industrials, business services, and healthcare. He worked in various other roles throughout his BACI tenure.  Jack earned his M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a concentration in Finance and a B.A. in Economics from Davidson College.

Episode 51 of the Private Equity Fast Pitch features the quotes and mottos of past podcast guests that inspire them in their daily life.

Vescovo grew up in Dallas, Texas, where he graduated from St. Mark's School of Texas. He earned a bachelor's degree in Economics and Political Science from Stanford University, a master's degree in Defense and Arms Control Studies (Political Science) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker scholar.

In December 2018, he became the first person to reach the deepest point of the Atlantic Ocean, piloting DSV Limiting Factor, a reported US$50 million submarine system (Triton 36000/2) - including its support ship the DSSV Pressure Drop and its three ultra-deep-sea robotic landers - 8,375 m (27,477 ft) below the ocean surface to the base of the Puerto Rico Trench. On February 3, 2019, he became the first person to reach the bottom of the Southern Ocean, in the southern portion of the South Sandwich Trench. As of March 2019, he was continuing to lead the Five Deeps Expedition, whose objective is to thoroughly map and visit the bottom of all five of the world's oceans by the end of September 2019.

In April 2019, Vescovo descended nearly 11 km (6.8 mi) to the deepest place in the ocean - the Challenger Deep in Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench. On his first descent, he piloted the DSV Limiting Factor to a depth of 10,928 m (35,853 ft), a world record by 16 m (52 ft). Diving for a second time on May 1 he became the first person to dive the Challenger Deep twice, finding "at least three new species of marine animals" and "some sort of plastic waste." Among the underwater creatures Vescovo encountered was a snailfish at 26,250 feet and a spoon worm at nearly 23,000 feet, which was the deepest level that the species had ever been encountered.

On 7 May 2019, Vescovo and Alan Jamieson made the first human-occupied deep submersible dive to the bottom of the Sirena Deep, about 128 miles northeast from Challenger Deep. The time spent there was 176 minutes; among the samples they retrieved was a piece of mantle rock from the western slope of the Mariana Trench.

He completed the Five Deeps Expedition on 24 August 2019 when he reached 5,550 m at the bottom of the Molloy Deep in the Arctic ocean. He was the first human to reach this location.\

In 2019, Victor Vescovo was recognized by Guinness World Records as the person who has covered the greatest vertical distance without leaving Earth's surface. As part of achieving the Explorers Grand Slam (Last Degree), Vescovo climbed Mt. Everest (8,848 metres (29,029 ft)) on 24 May 2010, Earth's highest point. Almost nine years later he dove to the bottom of the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench (−10,924 metres (−35,840 ft)), Earth's lowest point, in the deep submersible Limiting Factor on 29 April 2019, for a total vertical distance of 19,772 metres (64,869 ft).

Vescovo completed the Explorers Grand Slam (Last Degree) by climbing the highest peak on each of the seven continents, and skied the Last Degree of Latitude at both the North and South Poles. Uniquely, with the successful completion of his Five Deeps Expedition, Vescovo has also dived the deepest point in each of the five world's oceans.

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• MBA, MIT Sloan School of Management
  (MIT Sloan Leadership Fellow)
• MA, GMBA Tulane University, Latin America Studies / Finance
  (Morton Aldrich Fellow / FLAS Fellow / Cowen Scholar)
• BA, Texas Christian University / English Literature

Listen to Edwards Ted Talk: https://youtu.be/gl4n6b5Lu-8

www.enothstar.com

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Dave Carvajal is a builder of billion dollar businesses. As CEO of Dave Partners, Dave is a sought out advisor and consultant to Board of Directors, venture firms, CEO entrepreneurs and leadership teams of some of the most exciting growth companies in the technology space that are making the world better.

Dave built HotJobs to 650 employees, $125M in revenues, IPO and $1.2B market capitalization as co-founder. The HotJobs team experienced a second exit with the acquisition by Yahoo! in February of 2002. He built TheLadders to 400 employees and $85M in revenues.
​

Graduate of executive education and leadership programs at The Wharton School, Columbia Business School, and The Harvard Business School. Bachelor’s degree from Clemson University. Husband to a great woman, father to identical twin boys, and master to Clover the wonder dog. He is an Ironman athlete, who speaks French and Spanish.

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Mr. Johnson joined RLJ Equity Partners from American Capital, a publicly traded alternative asset management company with more than $20 billion of assets under management. Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Johnson was a Vice President in the Financial Sponsors and Private Equity Group at Bank of America. He also served as a White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense. Mr. Johnson began his career with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and prior to that, he was with McKinsey & Company. Mr. Johnson received his B.S. from the University of Tennessee and his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

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Episode 46 features Gretchen Perkins with Huron Capital. Gretchen is responsible for managing Huron’s business development and investment sourcing activities and is also involved in investor relations. These activities include outreach to deal professionals such as business brokers, investment banks, attorneys, accountants and consultants, and outreach to potential limited partners.

Gretchen has over 30 years’ experience in the finance and business development sectors serving a variety of capital market participants. Prior to joining Huron, Gretchen led the acquisition sourcing efforts at Long Point Capital, a middle market private equity fund. Gretchen also served as Vice President – Business Development for IRN, Inc., a market research firm, and has held senior business development positions at Fleet Capital Corporation and GE Capital Corporation, where she originated and structured senior debt packages for buyouts of middle-market companies.

Gretchen has received numerous awards over her career including Mergers & Acquisitions Magazine Dealmaker of the Year (2015), Private Equity Analyst’s 2017 Women to Watch, multiple year nominations to Mergers & Acquisitions Magazine List of Most Influential Women, and Crain’s Detroit Business Most Influential Women 2016, among others.

Franny Jones, Managing Director, joined Sterling in 2010 to lead the firm’s fundraising and investor relations efforts. Franny brings experience from the Private Wealth Management Groups of Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers in New York, where she was responsible for fundraising, asset allocation, manager selection and investor relations for family offices and foundations. Franny received a B.A. in Art History from Princeton University.

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Episode 42 of the Private Equity Fast Pitch Podcast features Robert Frost, the Chief Executive Officer of Lazard Middle Market who has nearly two decades of investment banking experience. Mr. Frost also serves as Co-Head of the Industrials group and has represented companies in a wide range of industrial sectors, including chemicals, automotive, building products, capital equipment, and engineered components.

Representative transactions include advisingPrior to joining Lazard Middle Market in 2008, Mr. Frost spent nine years in the Mergers & Acquisitions practice of Piper Jaffray & Co. Prior to his career in investment banking, he spent seven years in public accounting with Deloitte & Touche LLP. 

Mr. Frost also serves on the Alumni Executive Board of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Frost graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and received a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a Certified Public

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Steve Gord, Partner, Hidden River Strategic Capital

Steve Gord has over 25 years of experience in the small company investment business. He is one of the co-founders of Hidden River Strategic Capital, a Radnor, PA-based SBIC fund that invests structured junior capital into owner-operator run small businesses. From 2008-2020, Steve was a co-founder and general partner in the first two funds at SBIC Boathouse Capital. Earlier in his career, Steve spent five years at BDC American Capital Strategies investing in junior capital transactions, in the consumer investment banking group at Robertson Stephens, in the M&A and private equity practices at Compass Partners and in the investment banking group at Furman Selz.

Steve obtained a BA in economics from Dartmouth and an MBA from Tuck.

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Episode 40 of the Private Equity Fast Pitch Podcast features Kirk Fleischer who joined Investcorp in 2016 to focus on deal sourcing and business development.

​Prior to joining Investcorp, Kirk worked for seven years as an EVP of Strategy and Corporate Development at BeavEx Inc.  Prior to that, he spent 12 years in investment banking at Jefferies, Lehman Brothers and Oppenheimer, and also spent 5 years in corporate development at Dun & Bradstreet.
 
Kirk holds a BA in History from Middlebury College and an MBA in Finance from the Johnson Graduate School of Business at Cornell University. 

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For this episode, we’ve created a montage of our past podcast guests providing their advice to recent graduates interested in investing banking or private equity.

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In 2012, Anttila founded Grain & Barrel Spirits, a West Palm Beach-based beverage alcohol company. At home in the Southeast with production and sales partners around the world, Grain & Barrel Spirits is an innovative, emerging company with wholly owned brands including Dixie Southern Vodkawhich Anttila created from scratchand which won of a 2019 “Rising Star” Growth Brands Award from the Beverage Dynamics magazine;pre-Prohibition favorite Chicken Cock Whiskey, which Anttila resurrected; and Endless Summer Rum.

 Last year Grain & Barrel launched Dixie WildflowerHoney in partnership with the Savannah Bee Companyand its Charleston-based non-profit, The Bee Cause, which installs observation hives worldwide with the mission to develop future stewards of the planet. On a personal note, Anttila is a board member of Piper’s Angels, a foundation which has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the cystic fibrosis community. Their annual Father’s Day event, Crossing for a Cure, is an 80-mile open-sea paddle board crossing from the Bahamas to Florida; in 2018, Anttila made the crossing solo in 16 hours, and he is looking forward to this year’s event.

Anttila’s career began in 2001, as an analyst for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Four years later, he found himselfin São Paulo, Brazil where he founded Cabana Cachaça, which by 2011 was named one of the top 50 spirits in the world by Wine Enthusiast magazine.From 2015 onward, Anttila straddled the finance and CPG industries, marrying the two through his investment company North End Commerce which holds Anttila’s companiesGrain & Barrel Spirits, licensing company Cloudbreak Brands, and food and snack focused Intercoastal Brands.

Anttila attended Amherst College and lives in West Palm Beach, Florida, with his wife and two daughters. In his spare time he enjoys golf and paddle boarding, and is currently brushing up on Finnish, a language he spoke nearly fluently as a child.

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Episode 35 features Ralph Manning, the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Coltala Holdings. As a private investor, and more recently a founding partner of Progress Equity Partners, Ltd, he has been active in acquiring majority control of operating companies since 2003 - typically from founder entrepreneurs and owner operators.  He  has over 20 years of direct investment experience, has served in executive and board roles in numerous companies, and for over 15 years has been an active investor in the private equity market. Previously, he was an associate at RSTW Partners, a private equity firm providing mezzanine and equity capital to lower-middle-market and middle-market companies throughout the United States.

Mr. Manning’s current focus is on manufacturing and business services.    Within these industry sectors Coltala is interested in investment opportunities in the medical device manufacturing, aerospace, test & measurement equipment, material handling equipment  and  home services segments.  Coltala is currently executing a buy and build strategy in the HVAC industry via its platform company Trudela.   Information on Trudela can be found at  www.trudela.com

Ralph earned an OPM from Harvard Business School, a BBA from Texas Christian University and holds the CFA designation.  He is active in YPO and is the current Chapter Chair of the Fort Worth Chapter.

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Erik Rudolph is a Managing Director at Farlie Turner and leads its Oil & Gas Services Practice as well as its Industrial Services Practices. In addition, Mr. Rudolph is co-head of Farlie Turner's Consumer Practice. Mr. Rudolph has advised a wide range of companies ranging from pure play oilfield services companies to industrial MRO companies to food & beverage companies on the consumer side.

Prior to joining Farlie Turner, Mr. Rudolph was a co-founder and Managing Director of Aquetong Capital Advisors, a boutique investment bank focused on advising founders and owners of middle-market companies on their liquidity options.
Mr. Rudolph started his investment banking career at Goldsmith Agio Helms, now Lazard Middle market, where he served as a Director in their New York office.
​
Mr. Rudolph started his professional career as an attorney practicing corporate and sports law for 8 years before moving over to investment banking. He received his B.A. in Political Science from New York University and his JD from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

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Steve Young a Partner, the Chairman and Co-founder of HGGC

Steve is a Partner, the Chairman and Co-founder of HGGC. Steve is a member of HGGC’s Management Committee, Investment Committee and Valuation Committee. He serves as Chairman of the Board of three HGGC portfolio companies: IDERA, Integrity and AutoAlert. Prior to their sales, he also served as a member of the Board of Directors for the firm’s exited investments in hybris Software, Dealer-FX, Serena Software and Sunquest Information Systems.

Prior to the inception of HGGC, Steve's professional football career spanned more than fifteen years in the NFL, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers, where he received numerous accolades, including Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XXIX, Sports Illustrated and Sporting News' Player of the Year from 1992 - 1994 and the NFL's Most Valuable Player for 1992 and 1994. In 2005, Steve was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the first left-handed quarterback to be so honored. When he retired, Steve was the highest-rated quarterback in NFL history and has the distinction of being the only signal caller in league annals to win four consecutive NFL passing titles.

Steve founded and chairs the Forever Young Foundation which is actively involved in children's charities worldwide and is currently the broadcast host as well as the former International Spokesperson for the Children's Miracle Network, which has raised over one billion dollars world-wide to benefit children's hospitals.

As a co-founder and partner of Crossplane Capital, Brian is responsible for sourcing and closing transactions with significant cash and profitability improvement opportunities and overseeing the lifecycle of the portfolio.  

Prior to founding Crossplane Capital, Brian was a managing director with Prophet Equity. During his 10 years there, Brian was responsible for sourcing and managing acquisitions with significant value creation upside. He served on the boards of directors of Acton Mobile, Hatch Stamping Company, Groff Tractor and Equipment, Total Plastics, Derby Fabricating and Cummings Signs.

Brian began his career as an operations improvement consultant with AlixPartners and AT Kearney. During his seven-year career as a consultant, Brian’s work primarily focused on optimizing global supply chains, reducing manufacturing complexity, improving product profitability, and reducing direct material costs within industrial companies. These included Tier I automotive manufacturing, automotive aftermarket, food distribution, food manufacturing, electronics manufacturing and consumer packaged goods.

Brian graduated cum laude with a BA in Economics from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from The University of Texas, where he received the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence.

Outside of work, Brian enjoys cheering on his three kids during their extracurricular activities and traveling the United States supporting his wife’s passion for running marathons. While he was raised in Dallas, he is proud of his West Texas family roots. Brian is a board member and former chairman of Interfaith Family Services, serves on the advisory board for the HMTF Center for Private Equity Finance at The University of Texas, and serves on the board of directors for Southern Methodist University’s Undergraduate Career Center. He is an eternal optimist about the success Vanderbilt University’s football team will have each season. Ping pong is his best sport.

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Episode 30 features Sven Kins, a managing director with Cook M&A in Chicago where he is responsible for executing acquisition strategies, both platform and add-on opportunities as well as CEO Visions projects.

Leveraging his 17 years of experience, Sven leads the firm’s FocusFirst® initiatives and overall growth strategy. He serves as a valuable guide to Cook M&A’s clients on how best to execute their acquisition strategies, while advising business owners of their M&A options via the opportunities Cook M&A presents to them.

Sven earned a BA from Michigan State University and is an avid Spartan. Sven and his wife have three children and live in Chicago. He enjoys spending time with his family, playing and watching sports, travel and golf. He is also fluent in Latvian.

Episode 29 features past Private Equity Fast Pitch speakers discussing their favorite quotes and mottos they utilize in their daily lives and businesses.

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