Middle Market Musings

The Private Markets Club is a group of University Delaware business students devoted to learning more about and engaging in the world of private finance.  In a lapse of good judgment, the PMC invited Andy and Charlie to come in as guests.  The MMM hosts quiz one another about their own origin stories, then field sharp, informed questions from Keaton Stott, Will Wallace and the rest of the club.  T...

Jeri Harman gives Andy and Charlie a lesson in “emotional intelligence” – like building a swimming pool in the desert.  Jeri is Founder and Chairman of Avante Capital Partners, a woman- and minority-owned private credit and structured equity fund.  The discussion is a fast-paced tour of Jeri’s early career, the impetus to create her own fund and the importance of culture in harnessing individual “...

Bill Tyson is Managing Director and Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Fifth Third Bank. During our wide ranging discussion, Bill shares stories amassed from a 37 year career spanning his time as an M&A banker, a commercial lender, and a Capital Markets specialist. He discusses the importance of culture, and how personal relationships and building trust among his co-workers has been paramou...

Bruce Fenton takes on Andy and Charlie in a cage match for the ages!  Bruce, the head of private equity at Troutman Pepper, traces his path to becoming a preeminent M&A attorney, assesses the professional landscape as represented by the combination of two storied law firms and gives his views on changes in the balance of power among actors competing for the attention of the private business ow...

Jon Lemelman, Riverside Partners and Classify.  After nearly 20 years at Boston-based Riverside, Jon has co-founded Classify, a software application devoted to creating a smarter, stress-free digital workplace.  Jon share’s his perspective on deal making at Riverside, a firm at the vanguard of private equity’s evolution to industry specialization.  He talks about the experiences that led to Classi...

Eugene Fama is the 2013 Nobel laureate in economic sciences,  widely recognized as the “father of modern finance.” Professor Fama finds himself in the wrong part of town and ends up on a podcast with Andy and Charlie.  Gene Fama is direct, funny, and generous in sharing insights on the evolution of financial markets dating back to his revolutionary efficient market hypothesis, the development of p...

Joe Conte is the Head of Strategy and Corporate Development at Standish Management, a leading fund administrator.  Joe was long a fixture in middle market M&A as a managing director at Lazard before taking a senior role at Standish last year. Joe traces the evolution of the field from his early career stops as an attorney and as a young banker at Goldsmith Agio Helms. He also reflects on his r...

Jay Jester, partner at Plexus Capital, is the latest M&A luminary to spend an hour he’ll never get back with Andy and Charlie.  Jay is well known as a leader in private equity’s evolution to more granular, industry-focused, relationship-based business development.  He shares insights drawn from his prior experience at Audax Capital and his current focus at Plexus.  Always a student of the indu...

Eric Zoller is the Founder and current Partner of Sixpoint Partners, one of the largest fund placement advisors serving the middle market private equity industry.  Eric traces Sixpoint’s development as an early entrant in the industry through the company’s 2019 sale to PNC Bank.  Charlie, Andy, Eric have a spirited discussion about core, non-outsourceable functions in a superior private equity fir...

Lauren Mulholland, Founding Partner of MiddleGround Capital,  burns off an hour with Charlie and Andy.  MiddleGround is an operationally focused private equity fund with more than $1.2 billion in assets under management.  Lauren illuminates her own background in a business family, MiddleGround’s rapid growth since its formation in 2018, the actual differentiation that comes from an operational foc...

Sean Mooney, Founder and CEO of BluWave, stops by.  BluWave is a fast-growing provider of best-in-class resources to more than 500 private equity funds.  Andy and Charlie drill into how BluWave evolved from Sean’s own background in private equity, the particulars of the business model, and what the business itself says about signature trends in private equity – higher valuations, compressed return...

Dave McIntyre, former CEO of Centra Industries, kicks off the fall season with Andy and Charlie.  Centra, now part of Precision CastParts, is a Canadian manufacturer of airframe components.   Dave tells the Centra story, with high points including his acquisition of the business from his father in 2004, a minority equity investment from New Heritage Capital in 2007 and a successful exit to PCC in...

Glenn Oken, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Mangrove Equity Partners, and one of the most productive middle market deal professionals of this generation.   He and his partners have completed 150 platform acquisitions across nine fund vehicles.  He discusses Mangrove's intensely operational approach, the merits of concentrating on the $2-to-8 million EBITDA tier of the market, and his rece...

Graeme Frazier is the co-founder of GF Data, the leading provider of data on private middle market M&A transactions, as well as President of Private Capital Research, a provider of buy-side business development services.   Graeme shares his unique views as a practitioner and analyst in the middle market.  He brings his trademark patience to encounters with two old friends.

Tom Danis, Jr., Managing Partner and co-founder of RCP Advisors, is the latest industry titan to stop by.  Tom charts RCP’s path as a pioneer in “fund of funds” investing.  He comments on changes in return expectations over the past 20 years, including increased emphasis on the select group of PE funds able to sustain top performance.  He shares his take on the competitive world of direct investme...

Pam Hendrickson, vice chair of The Riverside Company.   Pam charts Riverside’s evolution from middle-market buyout shop to $11 billion global multi-style asset manager -- including the productive dynamic that enabled Riverside to complete 60 transactions during the pandemic.  The guys quiz her on her industry leadership role, including her understanding of ESG investing as a dimension of political...

Phil Colaco, CEO of Deloitte Corporate Finance, takes his turn in the hot seat.  Phil shares his perspectives on entrepreneurship and how technology has infiltrated almost every industry, and how working for luminaries like Hugh McColl and Erskine Bowles shaped his career.  He also talks about the importance of developing a culture of inclusion as well as his philanthropic passions. Charlie and An...

Joe Watkins has been a business owner, investor and observer in the flavors & fragrances industry for 40 years.  He was co-owner of Hagelin Flavors Technologies prior to its sale to a European strategic buyer. Joe shares his perspectives on the challenges – and eventual rewards – of operating a successful business. The guys draw out tales from a storied and well-traveled career.

Peter Kaufman, the President of Gordian Group, a New York-based distressed M&A firm.  Peter shares his views on the current state of the restructuring market and on what makes special situations bankers a different breed.  He discusses his passion for and investments in the wine industry, and his fledgling career as a golf journalist. He jumps in with the guys as a world-class giver of grief.

Michele Masucci, a leader in Nixon Peabody’s healthcare practice. Michelle shares what it was like to live and work with front-line care providers in New York the early days of the pandemic, and offers insights on the healthcare industry in its aftermath.  She defends her college classmate Andy against outrageous assaults from Charlie.