Private Equity Fast Pitch

Ken Firtel is a Co-founder and Managing Partner of Transom Capital Group. Prior to Transom, Mr. Firtelwas an investment professional at Platinum Equity and was responsible for evaluating, structuring, and negotiating transactions and transitioning and overseeing operations of portfolio companies. Before joining Platinum, Mr. Firtel was an associate in the Transactions Department of O’Melveny & Myers, where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions, investor and company-side private equity, venture capital and debt financing, joint ventures, and general representation of middle-market companies. Mr. Firtel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Yale University; a Master of Science, Industrial Relations-Diploma in Business Studies from the London School of Economics; and a Juris Doctor from the USC Gould School of Law. He played Varsity soccer at Yale and published an article in the Southern California Law Review.  He serves on the board of Angel City Sports, an organization focused on providing athletic and other opportunities for children and adults with physical disabilities, and on the board of LA Breakers FC, a youth soccer club located in West Los Angeles.   When he’s not at work, Mr. Firtel enjoys spending time with his wife and three children (one boy and two girls) and is an avid fly fisherman, especially in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Doug McCormick is a Managing Partner and Co-Founder of HCI Equity Partners, a lower middle market private equity firm focused on partnering with family and founder owned manufacturing, service and distribution companies. Doug has been an active investor in numerous markets to include aerospace, defense, distribution, food services, packaging, manufacturing, outsourced business services, transportation and logistics. He currently serves on the board of AmercareRoyal, Echelon Supply & Service and Pacific Defense and serves as board chair for Consolidated Hospitality Supplies, MSI Express, SDS Rx and Tech24.  Doug actively supports the veteran community as the Chairman of Team Red, White and Blue. He is also a member of the board of trustees and Chair of the investment committee for the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE); a board member of The Heritage Group, founding member of Capital For Children, and a 2011 Henry Crown Fellow. Doug is the author of Family Inc. and uses this content to empower others with financial literacy skills, with an emphasis on the veteran community. His work and recommendations regarding investing and personal finance topics have been cited or featured by leading media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The NY Times, USA Today, CNBC, PBS, NPR, TIME, Investor’s Business Daily, Fast Company, The Larry Kudlow Show, Huffington Post, Motley Fool, The Art of Manliness and others. Before founding HCI Equity, Doug was a Managing Partner at Thayer Hidden Creek and Thayer Capital and worked in the Investment Banking Division of Morgan Stanley & Co. He also served as a Captain in the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Division. Doug received his Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and his Bachelor of Science in Economics from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he served as First Captain of the Corps of Cadets and Captain of the Army Wrestling team.

John Huhn brings a 30-year track record of success in private equity, entrepreneurism and strategic consulting to his leadership of Compass Group. Over the course of his career, he has been involved in more than 75 transactions representing over $3 billion in enterprise value. Prior to founding Compass Group, John launched and led HBM Holdings, a family office focused on diversifying its core holdings. Earlier in his career, he served as Senior Vice President of Strategy & Corporate Development for Aegion (NASDAQ: AEGN), where he was responsible for corporate strategy, mergers & acquisitions, joint-ventures and strategic alliances. His earlier experience also includes serving as Managing Principal of an international consulting firm, where he provided strategic and organizational consulting to Global 1000 customers. John is a graduate of the University of Illinois, where he received degrees in Engineering and Business Administration.

Charles K. Gifford, Jr., Senior Partner Charlie co-founded New Heritage Capital in 2006 and has been investing private equity in founder-owned, lower middle market business es for 23 years.  He focuses his efforts on generating proprietary investment opportunities, developing and maintaining intermediary relationships and providing capital markets expertise in the areas of transaction pricing and structuring. Prior to joining Heritage, Charlie spent two years at a start up sports venture. His previous experience also includes two years at Smith Barney in Boston and New York. Charlie earned a Masters in Management degree from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Business and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Denison University.

Jay is a Partner at Plexus Capital. Jay is a member of the senior leadership team and works alongside the other team members to chart the strategy and vision for Plexus. In addition, Jay interacts with investors, assists with sourcing new investment opportunities, and helps oversee the portfolio. Jay is a graduate of the University of North Carolina where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Interdisciplinary Studies. After UNC, Jay was an investment banking analyst with Bowles Hollowell Conner & Company in Charlotte, NC. After BHC, Jay spent eight years as a Partner at Florida Capital Partners, in Tampa where he helped to lead the firm and to build the firm’s business development engine. In January of 2000, Jay joined Audax Group. During his 19 years with the Audax, he served as senior member of the leadership team of Audax Group and Audax Private Equity. Jay focused on deal sourcing and business development, but also served on the investment committee and played an active role in charting the strategy and direction of the firm, contributing to recruiting, training, investor relations, professional development, financing and portfolio operations. Jay is an active member of several M&A and business networking organizations, including YPO and ACG. Jay is originally from Greensboro, North Carolina. Jay and his wife live in Raleigh.

Kurt Haras is a Managing Director,  Mergers and Acquisitions at Cowen.   Mr. Haras has over 20 years of investment banking experience advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, private placements, public offerings, corporate restructurings and business valuations. His transaction experience includes representing private companies, private equity firms and public companies in domestic and international transactions involving a number of industries, such as business services, consumer products, environmental services, distribution, industrial manufacturing and technology. Prior to joining Cowen, Mr. Haras was a founding member and Partner at Quarton International. Prior to Quarton, he spent nine years at W. Y. Campbell & Company. He also held positions at Oppenheimer & Co. and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Mr. Haras has a B.A. in Accounting from Michigan State University and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan. He is also a certified public accountant (inactive).

For our 100th episode, we've created a montage of our past podcast guests providing their advice to recent graduates and young professionals in Investment banking and private equity. We encourage you as a listener to contribute your advice to young professionals on Jeff Henningsens LinkedIn post.     

Chris Cathcart is a Managing Partner and currently serves on the Management and Investment Committees of The Halifax Group. Chris joined Halifax in 2007 and leads business development for the firm. He is responsible for origination, evaluation and recommendation of investment opportunities and management of the firm’s network of investment sources. Chris has more than 20 years of experience leading and advising small businesses. Chris received an MBA from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University with a concentration in finance, accounting and entrepreneurship and graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University. Chris is a long suffering Wake Forest sports fan. When not lamenting the current on-field performance of his beloved Demon Deacons, he serves on the board of deacons at his church, enjoys spending time with his young family and endures distance running.

Leon is a Partner at Palladium Equity Partners and it is part of the firm’s Management Committee. Palladium is the oldest minority-owned private equity buyout firm in the industry with over $3 billion of assets under management. Leon joined Palladium in 2007 and Brujis is responsible for originations and underwriting as well as helping lead the firm’s business services practice. Prior to joining Palladium, Leon worked in the mergers and acquisitions group at Lehman Brothers.  Leon is an graduate from The George Washington University where he obtained a B.S. and M.S in Engineering. Husband to a wonderful woman, father to three great kids. He is originally from Argentina.

Deborah Smith is Co-Founder and CEO of The CenterCap Group, LLC and heads the firm’s Strategic Capital and M&A and Execution efforts. Prior to forming The CenterCap Group, LLC, Ms. Smith was Co-Head of M&A and a Senior Managing Director with CB Richard Ellis Investors (CB Richard Ellis's $40 billion AUM investment management business). She joined CBREI in July 2007 to co-head the build out of the firm's M&A efforts and led the firm’s negotiation and acquisition of a majority interest in Wood Partners (one of the largest multifamily developers in the United States) in 2008. From 1998-2007, Ms. Smith worked on mergers and acquisitions with Lehman Brothers, Wachovia Securities and Morgan Stanley. Ms. Smith has been involved in more than $100 billion of mergers, acquisitions and restructuring transactions. Ms. Smith has a Bachelor of Economics, with honors, and a Bachelor of Law, with honors, from the University of Sydney.