Investment Team
Roy Wang, CFA
Roy is the Managing Partner of NextSummit Capital Partners, and intends to take an active role in the management of the acquired company. Roy’s background in Investment Banking, Private Equity & Venture Capital investments with one of the largest Sovereign Wealth Funds in the world, combined with his previous operational and managerial experience as an entrepreneur position him well to successfully lead and run a company. Roy is enthusiastic to acquire a well-established company, drive organizational change, and create value for all stakeholders around the target firm.
Roy has worked in financial services through his career across New York, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Riyadh. Most recently, Roy served as AVP in International Investments with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund – the Public Investment Fund (PIF), where he helped execute multiple landmark transactions the Fund had invested in. As part of his tenure, Roy also spent a considerable amount of time working on SoftBank Vision Fund - the $100Bn partnership between Japan’s SoftBank Group and the PIF, widely regarded as “the largest VC Fund in the world”.
Prior to the investor role, Roy worked in Investment Banking specializing in Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he participated in various types of M&A transactions both domestic and cross-border, and as an Equity Research Analyst with Credit Suisse, where he became the youngest coverage writing analyst in the local market and the firm’s history. Earlier in his career, Roy had also worked with Ernst & Young (EY) as a Consultant specializing in M&A advisory and Goldman Sachs as Summer Analyst, and participated in McKinsey’s EDAD program with its Middle East office. Entrepreneurial in spirit, Roy co-founded his first company in the Media & Entertainment space during college, and later sold his stake to a larger corporation through a strategic exit.
Roy received his MBA/MA dual-degrees from the Wharton Business School and the Lauder Institute at University of Pennsylvania, and B.A. (Hons) from Middlebury College. Roy has been a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter-holder since 2017.
Ian Mullican
Akul Thakur
Jackson Goethals
Matteo Pettinato
Select Investors
NextSummit Capital Partners is backed by institutional investors, and former operators & CEOs, emphasizing their commitment to founder-owned business acquisitions. A select few of them will be joining the board of the acquired business.
Scott Alderman
Scott is based out of Trilogy’s office in Bellevue, Washington. He serves on the boards of Cerbo, Dragonfly Pond Works, EMT/STAT Analysis, and Radiation Detection Company, and he is a board observer for Castle Tire and DriveSafe. His previous board roles include Botanical Designs and Market Equipment. Previously, Scott was on the investing team of Trilogy Equity Partners, where he invested in early-stage software and telecom companies. Prior to Trilogy, Scott spent 11 years at Western Wireless Corporation in various roles, including Chief Financial Officer of Western Wireless International, which operated mobile networks in eleven countries. Scott graduated from Whitman College and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Mitch Cohen
Mitch is based out of Trilogy’s Bay Area office. He serves on the boards of Canyonlands Camps, Dynamic Growth Dental, and Falcon Critical Care Transport, and he is a board observer for BEX and Performio. Previously, he served on the board of Morningside Translations. From 1989 until 2008, Mitch was a Managing Director of Hellman & Friedman, the global private equity firm. In his role at H&F, he sourced new investments and oversaw portfolio companies, while sitting on numerous company boards. Mitch worked closely with other Trilogy partners while representing H&F on the boards of Western Wireless and VoiceStream. He graduated from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.
Aaron Perrine
Aaron works in Trilogy’s office in Bellevue, Washington. He serves on the boards of Fraxion Software, Facilities Survey (FSI), Risk Mitigation Consulting (RMC), Clariti Software, Icon, Gastro Centers of Maryland, and Ennoble Care, and previously served on the board of Crown Health. Prior to Trilogy, Aaron was a product manager at Amazon, a consultant with McKinsey & Co., and an Army infantry officer. Aaron earned a BA from Whitman College, a JD from the University of Washington School of Law, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Palmer Scholar.
Jeff Stevens
Jeff Stevens has 20 years of experience structuring, operating and investing in search fund companies. Jeff has managed three funded searches during the period from 1990-2005, each one culminating in the acquisition of a lower middle market company. Jeff understands the elements of the search fund model that drive success. In addition, Jeff’s relationships with other experienced, successful search fund investors and current search fund principals allows Anacapa Partners access to invest in concert with a group that has been participating in this business model for over 20 years.
Neal Jacobs
Neal Jacobs is the Managing Partner of Maven Equity Partners. Neal brings a passion for entrepreneurship, a significant investment track record and a deep background in finance to Maven Equity Partners. Prior to founding Maven Equity Partners, Neal was a partner and co-portfolio manager at two public market investment firms, Cambrian Capital and Bodri Capital Management. Neal started his career at Goldman Sachs as a financial analyst and also held a number of operating roles at Jamcracker, Inc.
Neal obtained his BA from Duke University, and MBA from Stanford Business School.
Dustin Sellers
Dustin Sellers is one of the Managing Partners at Next Coast ETA and sits on the Investment Committee. NCETA participates in the small/medium sized buyout market by making minority investments in later stage companies acquired through the Search model. A passionate entrepreneur and 20+ year operator, Dustin presently serves as Managing Director of Koa Capital Partners, a boutique private equity firm.
Dustin has his MBA from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern and his BS in Business from the Marshall School of business at USC. Dustin is married with 3 children and serves as a Trustee for the Nature Conservancy and United Way and is a member of YPO.
Anthony Walker
Anthony Walker is one of the Managing Partners at Next Coast ETA and sits on the Investment Committee. NC ETA participates in the small/medium sized buyout market by making minority investments in later stage companies acquired through the Search model. Anthony has been in the investment management industry for roughly 15 years.
Prior to joining Next Coast, Walker was a Vice President in the Global Investment Research Division at Goldman Sachs. Prior to Goldman, Walker spent five years managing long/short equities portfolios for Millennium Management and Citadel LLC, trading stocks and managing portfolios across a number subsectors within the Industrial industry.
Andy Love
Andy is the Founder & Managing Partner of Aspect Partners. Prior to Aspect, Andy was CEO and Co-Founder of his search fund’s operating company, Behavioral Health Group (BHG), where he pioneered the use of a callable capital search fund structure to facilitate growth via M&A when merited. Under his leadership from 2006–2012, BHG grew from infancy into one of the largest treatment providers for opioid use disorder in the U.S. BHG was a three-time winner of the Inc. 500|5000 award (2010, 2011, 2012), which ranked the company the 18th fastest growing private healthcare firm in the U.S. (2010), and the Dallas 100 award (2009, 2010, 2011). From 2004–2006, Andy was Co-Founder and Managing Principal of VantageCap Partners (VCP), the search fund that launched BHG.
Brad Buser
Brad has more than fifteen years of private equity investment experience and has spent much of that time in an operationally focused manner across a wide variety of industries and situations. Prior to joining Aspect, he was a Principal at Insight Equity, a Dallas area-based operationally intensive middle-market private equity firm with over $1 billion in capital under management. During his nearly 7 years at Insight, Brad helped to lead transaction sourcing and execution efforts and spent considerable time on Boards and on the ground advising and managing portfolio companies via Insight’s “hands-on” investment strategy.
Brad holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. Brad graduated summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame where he received his BBA in Finance. Brad is a CFA Charterholder and CPA.
B.A. Cullum
B.A. has extensive experience with acquisitions, business development, and real estate development. Prior to joining Aspect, he was the Director of Acquisitions & Business Development at ClubCorp (now known as Invited), the largest owner/operator of private golf clubs, country clubs, and business clubs in North America. During his time at ClubCorp, B.A. played a key role in the company’s acquisition of over $390 million worth of golf and country club properties. B.A.’s pro-active sourcing efforts across the U.S. served as a critical component of ClubCorp’s extensive deal pipeline and directly led to a number of successful off-market transaction.
B.A. earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He also holds a Masters in City Planning (MCP) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BA from Stanford University.
Mike Schmitz
Mike has two decades of private equity, public markets, family office, and operations experience across a variety of sectors. Prior to joining Aspect, Mike was the Chief Financial Officer of Athos Group, a private equity-backed, tech-enabled services and software company focused on the off-duty police officer market. Prior to Athos, he was Managing Director of the Acquisitions Team at Arcis Golf, the second largest owner and operator of private and daily fee golf clubs.
Mike has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a BBA in Finance and Business Honors from the University of Texas at Austin.
Alex Wang
Alex is the co-founder and Managing Partner at Riviera Capital. Prior to co-founding Riviera Capital, Alex was the CEO of Medi-Tech/Phycom Group, a leading healthcare revenue cycle management company and named one of the fastest growing companies by the OC Business Journal in 2013. In that role, Alex grew the company’s size and revenue by 4x before completing its sale to an affiliate of Prudential Capital.
Alex began his career in the investment banking and private equity industries. Alex has helped advise and invest in various high-tech start-up ventures through his work experience at Intel Capital, AIG Investment Corp., and JP Morgan Chase. Alex holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Business Administration from Boston University where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA where he was a Venture Development Program Fellow.
Adam Borcz
Mr. Borcz is a General Partner at Riviera Capital. Prior to joining Riviera Capital, he completed his own self-funded search where he successfully acquired Delta Group Holdings, Inc. (“Delta”), owner of one of the largest commercial furniture installation companies in the mid-Atlantic region. He remains the Chairman of Delta. Previously, Mr. Borcz worked in a variety of roles at Severn Partners, a Private Equity firm focused on distressed acquisitions.
Mr. Borcz earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he graduated with Merit, and was also a Division I Lacrosse player and 2x All American. Additionally, he earned his MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and a Master’s of Science in Engineering from the Catholic University of America.
Joe Niehaus
Joe joined Housatonic Partners in 2001 and has been involved in numerous investments in a variety of industries since then. Joe was a Managing Director at Hellman & Friedman before joining Housatonic. During his twelve-year career at Hellman & Friedman, he was involved in several of the firm’s recurring services, media and communications investments. Earlier in his career, Joe was employed in the Merchant Banking and Mergers and Acquisitions departments at Morgan Stanley & Co. Joe is a Director of Accurate Monitoring, Embark Health, D2C Media, EOI Service Company, EVAL Home Health Solutions, FIMC, Key Media, MaxiTransfers, ResponseLink, School Family Media, Veridic Solutions, Working Solutions, and ZircoDATA.
Joe holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Will Thorndike
Will founded Housatonic Partners in Boston in 1994 and has been Managing Director since that time. Prior to founding Housatonic, Will worked with T. Rowe Price Associates and Walker & Company where he was named to the Board of Directors. Will has over two decades of experience investing in recurring service companies across a wide variety of industries. Will is a Director of Carillon Assisted Living, QMC International, and ZircoDATA. Outside of Housatonic, he is a Director of WGBH, the College of the Atlantic (Chair), as well as a founding partner at FARM, a social impact investing collaborative. He is the author of The Outsiders.
Will holds an A.B. from Harvard College and M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Mattew Burr
Matt has become a recognized leader in search fund investing. Prior to Red Forest Capital, Matt worked for Cambridge Associates and assisted universities, foundations, and high net worth families with asset allocation and investment manager selection. Here, he also worked as a hedge fund analyst, evaluating global long/short equity managers for potential investment. Matt currently serves on the Board of Directors of Atlantic Duct Cleaning, Bridge, Dragonfly Pond Works, Freehold Ophthalmology, and HousingWire.
Matt earned a Bachelor of Arts cum laude from Harvard College and a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University.
Jim Edmunds
Jim Edmunds joined Search Fund Partners in 2008 after running a company sourced through the search fund model. Jim and his partner found and acquired Celebrity Kids Portrait Studios, a leading provider of upscale children’s photography in 2005. Jim served as President and CFO of the company. He currently participates on the boards of ConsumerAffairs.com, Crown Health, DSD Partners, Gogotech, Hathorn, IMS, ISI, Pacific Fertility Centers of LA, and Peerless Events and Tents. Before launching a search fund, Jim was an Associate at McKinsey & Company in Palo Alto.
Jim holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was named a Siebel Scholar, and an A.B. in History from Harvard University.
Todd Tracey
Noah Riner
Noah Riner joined Search Fund Partners after acquiring, leading as CEO, and successfully exiting NeuroInternational Healthcare, a company he sourced through the search fund model and grew from 93 to 550 employees. He currently serves on the boards of Bio Behavioral Institute, Roll-A-Shield, and Greenback Expat Tax Services.
Noah’s prior experience includes consulting at Booz Allen Hamilton, business development at Palantir Technologies, and a deployment to the Middle East as part of a Special Operations Task Force with the US Navy. Noah holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and he graduated from Dartmouth College with an A.B. in History and Government.
Alon Amar
Alon brings diverse investment experience and advisory work over the last decade from publicly traded equities, early-stage venture capital and as a small business operator/investor. Having been involved in the analysis and structuring of >$1B of private investments across multiple geographies, he brings a global perspective to his work with search operators. Alon is passionate about identifying outstanding search fund CEOs and uncovering differentiated business opportunities alongside them.
Lew Davies
Mr. Davies founded The Cambria Group in 1996 and is its Managing Principal. He is an experienced private equity investor, having previously been a Principal in the leveraged buyout groups of both Brentwood Associates and The Fremont Group.
Mr. Davies holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, with distinction, from Stanford University. He also received an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.
René Lajous
Mr. Lajous is a Principal with The Cambria Group, working in the firm’s Dallas office. He participates in all aspects of Cambria’s activities, focusing equally on originating and evaluating investment opportunities, negotiating and arranging financing for transactions, and providing oversight for the firm’s portfolio companies. Prior to joining Cambria, Mr. Lajous worked at The Boston Consulting Group in Texas and Argentina, Proctor & Gamble in Canada and Mexico, as well as Pillsbury in Canada.
Mr. Lajous earned a Bachelor of Applied Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto, earning the W.S. Wilson Medal for academic excellence. He subsequently received an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
Natalie Cryer
Ms. Cryer is a Vice President working in the firm’s Dallas, Texas office. She works on all aspects of the firm’s activities and currently sits on the board of two of the firm’s portfolio companies. She also currently serves on the board of Spirit of America and as the Vice Chair of Hoover’s NextGen Board. Prior to joining Cambria, Ms. Cryer worked for Accenture as a Senior Analyst involved with Business & Systems Integration. Earlier Ms. Cryer worked as a Research Assistant for former Secretary of State, Dr. Condoleezza Rice.
Ms. Cryer holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University as well as an MBA with a Certificate in Public Management and Social Innovation from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Luka Salamunic
Luka is currently the CEO of Triyam and the Founder & Principal at Estelio Partners. He began his career at J.P. Morgan’s investment banking team in 2013, based in Santiago, Chile as well as New York City, and joined Accel-KKR’s investing team in 2019, based in Menlo Park, California. At Accel-KKR, Luka developed both strategic and operational expertise in small and mid-sized companies.
Luka received his MBA from Stanford, his BS in Industrial and Electrical Engineering and MSc in Financial Engineering from PUC (Chile).