Peak View Partners represents the combined experience and talent of more than 15 highly respected entrepreneurs, business executives and investors. Every member has significant experience with growing, small to medium sized businesses. Unlike other investment firms, Peak View Partners brings exceptional leadership and management experience to the companies we acquire.
Managing Partner |
Andrew Tam |
Select Limited Partners |
Tom Cassutt | Michael Miles |
| David Dodson | Michael O’Connell | |
| Jeffrey Gelles | George Peyton | |
| John Kissick | Jeff Serota | |
| John Kleinheinz | Jim Sharpe | |
| David Lazier | Kent Weaver |
Institutional Investors |
The Cambria Group | Prairie Capital |
Managing Partner
Andrew Tam
Mr. Tam is the founder and Managing Partner of Peak View Partners and has extensive experience working closely with owners of middle market companies in acquisition and sale processes. Prior to founding Peak View Partners, Mr. Tam worked for the private equity group of Ares Management where he focused on leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations of established businesses in the middle market. In addition to investment activities, Mr. Tam spent time as the Interim CFO of a light manufacturing company with four plants across the domestic U.S. Through his experience, Mr. Tam gained a deep understanding of the many strategic, operational, and financial challenges faced by middle market businesses and their owners. Prior to Ares, Mr. Tam worked as an investment banker at UBS Investment Bank in the leveraged finance division where he advised clients on leveraged buyouts, equity and debt capital raising activities, and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Tam earned an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS in Economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Select Limited Partners
Tom Cassutt
Mr. Cassutt is Co-President of Nelson Nameplate, a rapid prototyping and engineering support company based in Los Angeles, California. Prior to joining Nelson, Mr. Cassutt functioned as the Controller of Bristol Corporation from 1978-1984. He currently sits on the board of American Security Products and Columbia Sanitary Products. Mr. Cassutt received his Bachelors degree in Physics from the University of California, Irvine and his MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
David Dodson
Mr. Dodson is currently the Corporate Director of Headwaters MB. He has been the CEO or Chairman of six middle market companies and has acquired and/or sold 55 companies in that role. Mr. Dodson has also led multiple capital raises as CEO or Chairman with a range of private equity firms, including TA Associates, Bain Capital, Housatonic Partners, the Centennial Funds, and others. He currently serves as Chairman of Wind River Management Inc., was formerly Chairman of Worldbridge Broadband Services Inc., and has been Chairman & CEO of ADAP Inc. and Smith Alarm Inc. Mr. Dodson has served on the boards of 16 middle market companies in which he was also a private investor. As a board member, Mr. Dodson has played a role in numerous debt and equity raises as well as ten significant M&A transactions. Prior to his entrepreneurial and private equity career, Mr. Dodson worked for McKinsey & Company. He holds a Bachelors degree in economics from Stanford University and an MBA from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.
Jeffrey Gelles
Mr. Gelles is a Managing Director and is Head of RBC's Capital Structure Advisory & Finance Group. He also sits on the U.S. Management Committee for RBC's Global Investment Bank. Mr. Gelles was previously a Managing Director in UBS’s Restructuring and Leveraged Finance Groups based in San Francisco. Mr. Gelles was Head of Restructuring and Leveraged Finance for Technology, Media, and Telecommunication (TMT) and he was Head of the San Francisco office for his group. As such, he maintained a dual focus on advising companies facing capital structure difficulties and raising capital. Prior to joining UBS, Mr. Gelles worked in Leveraged Finance at Morgan Stanley and Salomon Brothers. During this period, he led senior loan, high yield, and mezzanine financing transactions for emerging companies, primarily in the telecom and technology sectors. Prior to Salomon Brothers, Mr. Gelles worked with Deloitte & Touche as a Manager in the Restructuring Group. At Deloitte, Mr. Gelles provided financial and operational restructuring advisory services to troubled middle-market companies in a variety of sectors including retail, manufacturing, agribusiness, and construction. His transaction experience included both out-of-court and in-court reorganizations as well as debtor and creditor assignments. Mr. Gelles holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA degree from Stanford University.
John Kissick
Mr. Kissick is a founding member of Ares Partners and functions as a Senior Partner in the Private Equity Group. Mr. Kissick is a Senior Advisor to the Ares Capital Markets Group and also serves on the Investment Committee on all Ares funds. Prior to Ares, Mr. Kissick was a co-founder of Apollo Management, L.P. in 1990 and was a member of the original six-member management team. Together with Mr. Ressler, Mr. Kissick oversaw and led the capital markets activities of Apollo Management, L.P. and Lion Advisors, L.P. from 1990 until 1997, particularly focusing on high yield bonds, leveraged loans and other fixed income assets. Prior to 1990, Mr. Kissick served as a Senior Executive Vice President of Drexel Burnham Lambert, where he began in 1975, eventually heading its Corporate Finance Department. Mr. Kissick serves on the boards of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, the Stanford University Athletic Board and the MLA Partner Schools which helps economically disadvantaged kids graduate from high school and college through mentoring and other programs. Mr. Kissick graduated from Yale University with a BA in Economics and with highest honors from the Stanford Business School with an MBA in Finance.
John Kleinheinz
Mr. Kleinheinz is the principal of Kleinheinz Capital Partners, Inc. and has over 15 years experience in the international financial markets. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a B.A. in Economics. After graduating from Stanford, Mr. Kleinheinz took a position with the corporate finance unit of Nomura Securities in Tokyo. Mr. Kleinheinz then spent five years with Merrill Lynch in New York and London where he held positions in the corporate finance and the mergers and acquisition departments. Mr. Kleinheinz has been managing private investment funds since 1993, and founded Kleinheinz Capital Partners, manager of the Global Undervalued Securities Fund, L.P., in January, 1996.
David Lazier
Mr. Lazier is President of American Security Products, a leading manufacturer of high-security safes. He has also served as Controller, Vice President of Sales and Co-President of Nelson Nameplate Company, a rapid prototyping and engineering support company based in Los Angeles, California. Prior to joining Nelson, Mr. Lazier worked as an engineer with IBM Corporation from 1982-1984. He is currently on the board of Nelson Nameplate Company, American Security Products, Columbia Sanitary Products and St. Mark's Episcopal Church. He has also served on the board of Glendale Memorial Hospital Foundation and the San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity. Mr. Lazier received his Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Engineering from Northwestern University.
Michael Miles
Mr. Miles is currently the Chairman and Co-Founder of SeatonCorp, a leading provider of recruiting, vendor-on-premise staffing and end-to-end supplier management solutions for strategic users of contingent labor. He founded SeatonCorp in 1988, shortly after graduating from college. Under his leadership, Mr. Miles has grown SeatonCorp from a staff of two to one of Crain’s “Largest Privately Held Companies” in Chicago, with more than 1,100 employees. SeatonCorp has achieved consistent, organic growth resulting in a 25%+ compounded annual growth rate over a 20-year period, earning more than $300 million in revenue during 2008. Mr. Miles is a director at Alexian Brothers Health Network and an advisory board member for Conference Solutions. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Arizona State University.
Michael O’Connell
Mr. 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. Previously, Mr. O’Connell owned and operated the National Lines Bureau, a 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.
George Peyton
Mr. Peyton is currently the Managing Director of Fifth Well Investment Management, a family investment fund based in Austin, Texas. Previously Mr. Peyton worked in the treasury department at XTO Energy, a $26 billion oil and gas exploration company, where he assisted with the placement of over $2.5 billion of debt and equity and supervised the cash investment and cash operation of the company. Mr. Peyton graduated magna cum laude with a BS in Astrophysics and a BBA in Entrepreneurial Management from Texas Christian University and received an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business School.
Jeff Serota
Mr. Serota is a Senior Partner in the Private Equity Group. Prior to joining Ares in 1997, Mr. Serota was a Vice President in the Investment Banking Department of Bear, Stearns & Co. where he specialized in providing investment banking services to financial sponsor clients of the firm. Prior to Bear Stearns, Mr. Serota was with Dabney/Resnick, Inc., a boutique investment bank. At Dabney/Resnick, Mr. Serota specialized in merchant banking and capital raising activities for middle-market companies and had primary responsibility for the firm’s bridge financing activities. Mr. Serota also worked at Salomon Brothers Inc focusing on mergers and acquisitions and merchant banking transactions. Mr. Serota serves on the Boards of Directors of Douglas Dynamics, LLC, EXCO Resources, Marietta Corporation, SandRidge Energy, Inc., WCA Waste Corporation and White Energy, Inc. Mr. Serota graduated magna cum laude with a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and received an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.
Jim Sharpe
Mr. Sharpe is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence at Harvard Business School where he provides student and alumni counseling in the areas of search funds, manufacturing, niche marketing, pricing, basic technology, leadership, family balance, large/small company differences, ethics, exit strategies and employee empowerment. Previously, Mr. Sharpe was the sole owner of Extrusion Technology Inc. which he acquired through a search process and successfully exited in 2008. Prior to this, he held a variety of management and leadership roles primarily in the manufacturing space with divisions of General Electric, Hoover Universal, Inc., Brown Machine Company, and Cumberland Engineering. Mr. Sharpe received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his BSBA degree from Babson College.
Kent Weaver
Mr. 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, he 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 MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles and a BS in finance from the University of Southern California.
Institutional Investors
The Cambria Group
The Cambria Group is a private investment company which acquires and invests in small and mid-sized businesses. Cambria has completed over 25 investments since its founding in 1996, investing across a wide range of industries, including the low-tech manufacturing, distribution and service sectors. The firm differentiates itself in two ways – first, each of the firm’s three principals has both operating and financial experience, and, second, the principals provide the majority of the equity for each transaction personally. These distinctions allow the firm to add value both in the acquisition effort and in building value in the companies in which it invests; to make decisions quickly and without uncertainty as to its source of capital; and to accommodate a long-term perspective with respect to building shareholder value and seeking liquidity.
Prairie Capital
Prairie Capital is a private equity manager that focuses on the lower end of the middle market, partnering with management to effect a recapitalization or buyout. As an experienced private equity sponsor with a strong legacy in the mezzanine market, Prairie has the ability to invest throughout the capital structure, including common stock, preferred stock, and subordinated debt. Collectively, the investment professionals at Prairie have worked with hundreds of privately owned middle-market businesses across a range of industries. Since the firm's inception in 1997, Prairie Capital has completed 72 equity and mezzanine investments in small and mid-sized businesses (51 of which have been fully exited). Based in Chicago, Prairie has over $500 million in capital under management across four limited partnerships. You can learn more about Prairie Capital at www.prairie-capital.com .
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