Our Team
Our team combines industry knowledge and management experience that extends from some of the nation’s top private equity and venture capital firms to businesses spanning a diverse range of industry segments and geographies.
- Jim Vesterman - Managing DirectorJim Vesterman - Managing Director
Jim Vesterman is the founder of Liberty Place Capital and brings broad experience from some of the nation’s top strategy consulting, investment banking, private equity and operating firms. Mr. Vesterman also was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps’ elite Force Recon, the Special Operations element of the Marine Corps. Mr. Vesterman served in Iraq where he was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon. He is the author of the article “From Wharton to War” published in Fortune magazine in June 2006. Mr. Vesterman holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s degree from Amherst College. - Craig Burr - Limited PartnerCraig Burr - Limited Partner
Craig Burr has devoted his career almost exclusively to venture capital and private equity activities, and he has backed numerous leading growth companies in a variety of different firms. Mr. Burr co-founded Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co., a private investment firm. Previously, Mr. Burr was a partner at TA Associates. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the New England Venture Capital Association and serves on the Boards of Directors of several private companies. Mr. Burr received his BA, cum laude, from Harvard College and his MBA from Harvard Business School. - Bill Egan - Limited PartnerBill Egan - Limited Partner
Mr. Egan is founder and General Partner of Alta Communications and Marion Equity Partners LLC, Massachusetts-based venture capital firms. Mr. Egan founded Alta's predecessor firm, Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co. in 1979, and has identified and backed several of America's leading growth companies in the information technology, life sciences, and communications industries. Prior to founding Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co., Mr. Egan was a Partner at TA Associates. He began his career as a Manager of Venture Capital for New England Enterprise Capital Corporation. Mr. Egan is past President and Chairman of the National Venture Capital Association, a former Trustee of Fairfield University, a member of Wharton’s Board of Overseers, and a Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Cephalon, Inc., CRH plc, and a number of privately held companies. He is also a trustee of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Duniry Foundation. Mr. Egan received a degree in Economics from Fairfield University and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Finance. - Allen Hill - Limited PartnerAllen Hill - Limited Partner
Allen Hill is the former CEO and President of DPL Inc. and its subsidiary the Dayton Power and Light Co. Mr. Hill serves on the governing boards of Premier Health Partners, I-Net Interactive, the University of Dayton, the Dayton Early College Academy, Alliance Community Schools, Miami Valley Economic Development Coalition and the Dayton Business Committee. Mr. Hill received a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1967 and an MBA in 1972, both from the University of Dayton. - Michael O’Connell - Limited PartnerMichael O’Connell - Limited Partner
Michael O’Connell is currently the managing director of M2O Investments, a family investment fund. He was formerly the managing director and president of Anhalt, O’Connell & Steffanci, Inc., an investment management firm specializing in debt securities with $1 billion under management. Prior to his time in investment management, Mr. O’Connell owned and operated the National Lines Bureau, the ship mooring company for the Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbors. He is currently an investor in over 20 private companies. Mr. O’Connell received a BA, with high honors, from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. - Ohana Capital - Limited PartnerOhana Capital - Limited Partner
Ohana Capital is an active investor in search funds and lower middle-market companies. Ohana is managed by Tim Ludwig who 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 holds an MBA from the Ross School at the University of Michigan and a BA from The College of Wooster. - Bob Oster - Limited PartnerBob Oster - Limited Partner
Mr. Oster started his career as a professional economist and corporate banker with Bank of America in 1967. He then moved on to positions in corporate finance with a number of Bay Area companies. In 1983, he joined Oracle Corporation as Vice President-Finance and Administration and was responsible for Oracle's initial public offering in 1986. Since 1987, he has been a private venture investor working with other private and institutional investors in all phases of the venture investing process from incubation and due diligence through building the management team and sale or initial public offering. Mr. Oster was a founding investor and special advisor to Informatica, Inc. (“INFA”), a provider of data integration software, as well as a founding investor and Director of Asurion Inc., a specialty insurance company, and Pacific Pulmonary Services, (now part of Teijin Holdings) an oxygen and medications company. Mr. Oster is currently a founding investor and Director of Carillon Partners, LLP, a private assisted living company; iNET Interactive, a private internet advertising company; and Wind River Environmental, a private roll-up in the non-hazardous liquid waste industry. He is also a special limited partner in Spring Ridge Ventures, a venture capital partnership focusing on health care. Mr. Oster is an Overseer and a member of the Executive Committee and Chairman of the Nominating Committee of The Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Mr. Oster received a BA in economics with honors from Occidental College in 1963 and an MA and Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1965 and 1967, respectively. - Search Fund Partners - Limited PartnerSearch Fund Partners - Limited Partner
Search Fund Partners is a long term oriented micro-cap private equity investor with ten current portfolio companies. The firm specializes in working with Search Funds to source acquisitions and regularly takes board seats in deals. The Search Fund Partners team of Rich Kelley, Dave Carver, and Jim Edmunds has over 60 years of combined experience working in and investing in entrepreneurial pursuits. - Chuck Salzman - Limited PartnerChuck Salzman - Limited Partner
Chuck Salzman is a third generation owner and the Vice President of Peerless Beverage Company, one of the largest beer distributors in the United States, representing suppliers including MillerCoors, Grupo Modelo, Diageo, Boston Beer Company, and Yuengling. Along with the Beim family, Peerless has been owned and operated by the Salzman family since 1933. Mr. Salzman received his BA from The University of Vermont and his MBA from Fordham University. - Jim Southern - Limited PartnerJim Southern - Limited Partner
Mr. Southern manages a personal portfolio of private equity investments in small to medium sized companies and has or has had investments in 47 search funds. Prior to search fund investing, Mr. Southern was himself a beneficiary of search fund investors early in his career. His first search resulted in the acquisition of Uniform Printing, a $43 million printer of specialty insurance forms and documents, where he served as its chairman and CEO for 10 years. He sold the company, yielding a 60% IRR to its investors. Mr. Southern also served as Chairman and CEO of Continental Fire & Safety Services, a privately held company providing fire safety services to commercial and industrial customers in the mid-Atlantic market. He serves or has served on the boards of eleven privately held companies and several not-for-profit foundations. Mr. Southern received a BA from Southwestern University and MBA from Harvard Business School. - William N. Thorndike - Limited PartnerWilliam N. Thorndike - Limited Partner
Will Thorndike founded Housatonic Partners in Boston in 1994 and has been Managing Director since that time. Previously, Mr. Thorndike worked with T. Rowe Price Associates where he managed investment research in business services and Walker & Company where he was named to the Board of Directors. Mr. Thorndike is a graduate of Harvard College and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is a Director of Access Information Management; Alta Colleges; Carillon Assisted Living, LLC; Liberty Towers, LLC; OASIS Group Ltd.; and a Trustee of Groton School, the Boston Athenaeum, and the College of the Atlantic. - A.J. Wasserstein - Limited PartnerA.J. Wasserstein - Limited Partner
A. J. Wasserstein 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 May of 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.
Mr. Wasserstein graduated from Colgate University and received his MBA from New York University. He completed the Owner/President/Manager Executive Education Program at Harvard Business School in 2002. The U. S. Small Business Administration named him the "2000 Small Business Person of the Year in Connecticut". He is a trustee at the Connecticut Community Foundation and at Waterbury Hospital. Mr. Wasserstein is also a board member at IPT, a Hartford based facility outsource service provider. - Kent Weaver - Limited PartnerKent Weaver - Limited Partner
Kent Weaver is currently Chairman and CEO of Progressive Home Care. Previously, Mr. Weaver held executive positions in marketing and product management for KnowledgeLINK, a venture-backed technology services company. Prior to this, Mr. Weaver served as a regional CFO and business analyst in Pepsico's Pizza Hut Division. Mr. Weaver began his career with Ernst & Young, where he led engagement teams in the areas of strategic formation, valuation, restructuring, and corporate finance. Mr. Weaver received his BS in finance from the University of Southern California and MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles.