Bill Egan is founder and General Partner of Alta Communications and Marion Equity Partners, Massachusetts-based venture capital firms. He 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 including Fedex, Continental Cablevision, Cephalon and Asurion. Prior to founding Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co., Bill was a Partner at TA Associates. He began his career as a Manager of Venture Capital for New England Enterprise Capital Corporation. Bill is an owner of the Boston Celtics professional basketball team and the Pawtucket Red Sox, the Triple A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. He is past President and Chairman of the National Venture Capital Association, a former trustee of Fairfield University and the University of Pennsylvania and a former member of the Board of Overseers of The Wharton School. Bill received a degree in Economics from Fairfield University and an MBA from The Wharton School.

He is an executive advisor and coach, with deep professional expertise in B2B Services, Tech-Enabled Services, and Software.  He looks at dozens of companies in these spaces each month through his search fund, venture, and angel activities. He spends time with searchers and CEOs to develop strategies regarding services and software trends, competitors, pricing multiples, funding, channel partnerships, and products. He has developed the firm's theses, frameworks, and metrics on software and tech. Applied Equity was one of the first search fund investors to commit to the tech space, serve on software company boards, and support new CEOs. ​ Mr. Brown is also a Senior Partner Emeritus of McKinsey & Company, where he was a senior leader of the Technology practice, and the global leader of the Big Data practice. For thirty years, he worked with senior executives to implement strategies around technology, SaaS, cloud, and AI.  He also worked in Fintech and InsurTech. For seven years, he led the Global Insurance Technology practice, and is well known across the industry.

Clayton Sachs brings over a decade of investing and operating experience. Clayton currently serves as Vice President of Datacor overseeing two business units, professional services, customer support, go-to-market strategy, and corporate development. During his 7-year tenure at Datacor, Clayton has executed and integrated 8 acquisitions, launched an integrated payments offering, and built out the company’s executive team. Clayton searched for and underwrote the original Datacor investment in partnership with Tom at WJT Partners. Outside of Datacor, Clayton has invested in over 30 Search Funds, including in 20 operating companies acquired through the strategy. Previously, Clayton was an investor at TA Associates, a $20bn growth private equity firm, where he sourced and executed investments in Enterprise Software. Clayton started his career in investment banking at J.P. Morgan.

Eric Giesecke is the CEO of Planet DDS. In his role Eric is responsible for operations, technology, finance, customer success and strategy. Prior to joining the company, he co-founded District Line Partners, a private investment fund created to acquire and operate a single attractive business in a growing industry. Prior to that, Eric was the President of One Source Water, a bottleless water cooler firm, where he nearly doubled the size of the company in less than three years. Eric has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's of science in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia

G.J. King is a Partner at BK Growth, a family office that invests in lower middle market companies. Previously, he was President at RIA in a Box. Will and his partner, G.J., transformed the business into a recurring revenue, software-as-a-service company, growing both revenues and profits significantly. In 2018, they partnered with Aquiline Partners in order to recapitalize the business and accelerate its growth. In 2021, RIA in a Box was acquired by ComplySci, a portfolio company of K1 Investment Partners. G.J. also previously worked in Investment Management at Goldman Sachs. He holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Hiten Varia is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and technology evangelist with broad leadership experience across multiple business and technology sectors. He's equally passionate about helping companies understand and position their true customer-oriented value proposition, and providing the operating guidance to help them succeed. Hiten currently serves as Chairman and Founder at Autoplant Systems, a Mumbai-based technology firm blending AI, machine learning, advanced analytics, and mobility platforms to help companies improve supply chain and operational efficiency. Additionally, he is an active Board Member with Efrac, a leading Testing Services company based in India; Cleo, a B2B-led cloud integration category leader (Chicago); Riverside Insights, an education assessments company (Chicago); an AI platform company, DeepBay Technologies (China); and Omatic Software, which provides data and integration software tailored for non-profit organizations (Charleston, S.C.). He also serves as an operating partner with Singapore-based Tembusu ICT, a software venture capital fund; and Mandala Capital, an investment fund that helps food and agriculture companies on the Indian subcontinent scale to realize their full potential. Prior to these current positions, Hiten was a Board Member with Angoss, an analytical software tools company, and also spent 17 years in various executive roles at i2 Technologies (now JDA Software), a leading supply chain software player. While with i2, he held multiple leadership roles including: EVP of Global Customer Operations and Chief Customer Officer; EVP of Greater Asia Pacific Region; EVP of Worldwide Delivery; and VP of Worldwide Development. In these positions, Hiten contributed significantly to i2's growth strategy, helping the company expand its revenue from $5 million to $1 billion in just five years. Hiten also spent ten years with EDS working on Factories of the Future Technologies, System Integration, and Hosted IT Operations. Hiten holds an M.S. in Computer Architecture and Software Design from the University of Kentucky, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Baroda, India.

Joseph Niehaus is currently a Managing Director with Housatonic Partners, a Boston based private equity fund with $1 billion in capital under management. Mr. Niehaus was a Managing Director at Hellman & Friedman before joining Housatonic Partners in 2001. During his twelve-year career at Hellman & Friedman, he was involved in several of the firm's recurring services, media and communications investments including Eller Media, Falcon Cable, and Mitchell International. Earlier in his career, Mr. Niehaus was employed in the Merchant Banking and Mergers and Acquisitions departments at Morgan Stanley & Co. Mr. Niehaus is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Harvard Business School. He is a Director of Aircraft Fasteners International, LLC; California Communications, LLC; Continental Fire & Safety Services, LLC; Convergent Broadcasting, LLC; HemaSource, Inc.; ResponseLink, LLC and South Florida Media Group, LLC.

Mahesh Rajasekharan is President and CEO of Cleo, the pioneer and global leader of the world’s Ecosystem Integration software category. Cleo enables the supply chain ecosystems of thousands of customers in the logistics, transportation, manufacturing, distribution, and retail industries by continuously improving business relationships, driving rapid revenue growth, and improving corporate profitability through the frictionless movement, transformation, and integration of supply chain and financial data. Mahesh has extensive leadership experience in business, including sales and marketing, operations, and business strategy; in technology, including supply chain management, SaaS, and enterprise software and consulting services; and in finance, including proven acumen around private equity investment, acquisition integration, and P&L management. Since 2012, he has been leading Cleo's evolution and expansion from a “neo-startup” with a small number of investors to a high-growth, scaled cloud software business, with a strategic growth investment backed by H.I.G. Capital. Prior to leading Cleo, he served as Chief Operating Officer at SumTotal Systems, where he led the dramatic turnaround of this $100 million multinational software company. Previously, Rajasekharan led the High-tech Industry Sector at i2 Technologies, where he managed global sales and a $60 million P&L. Today, Rajasekharan serves on the Board of Directors for Cleo, Ascend Software, and Banyan Software, and is on the Advisory Board for StartupWind, a social ideation network. He holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University, an M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Texas Tech University, and a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Anna University, India. He also earned an MBA in Finance, Strategy, and Marketing from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, where he graduated No. 1 in his class. In 2022, he was named an EY “Entrepreneur of the Year” winner in the U.S. Midwest region.

Mark Sinatra was CEO of Staff One HR (acquired via Mark’s search fund) where he led the company through a period of substantial growth highlighted by achieving the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies for four years in a row, and culminating in Staff One HR’s sale to its largest privately-held competitor, Oasis Outsourcing, in December 2017. Mark oversaw the Western half of the country for Oasis Outsourcing until its sale to Paychex for $1.3 billion in December 2018. Prior to his leadership experience in the HR industry, Mark worked as a consultant and investment banker. Mark has published several articles and has spoken on numerous occasions across various media outlets, including Knowledge at Wharton, Sirius XM Business Radio, Inc. Magazine, Forbes, CBS Radio, and Dallas Business Journal.

His journey started with founding North Point Capital in 2005, where he led the acquisition of Asset Recovery. Operating as CEO, Marshall Johnson implemented effective strategies that led to remarkable growth and profitability, ultimately resulting in the successful sale of Asset Recovery to Arrow Electronics. Marshall also held the position of Managing Director at Arctic Capital, where he played a key role in the acquisition of Columbus Hydraulics. Marshall holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a BA from Bucknell University.

Michael also has 35+ years of experience building, growing and operating recruiting businesses. In 1988, Michael founded SeatonCorp, a leading provider of recruiting, vendor-on-premise staffing and end-to-end supplier management solutions for strategic users of contingent labor. In 2014, Michael and his investor group sold SeatonCorp to True Blue (NYSE: TBI). Under Michael's leadership, SeatonCorp grew from a staff of two to one Crain's "Largest Privately Held Companies" in Chicago, with more than 2,500 employees. SeatonCorp achieved consistent, organic growth resulting in a 20%+ compounded annual growth rate over a 25-year period, earning more than $700 million in revenue during 2014. Michael has been recognized with several award including: the Staffing Industry Analysts' Peter Yessne Workforce Innovator Award, a finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program, and is listed on The Staffing 100 (the 100 most influential people in staffing industry). From 2020-2022, Michael was CEO of EmployBridge, the largest light industrial staffing company in the United States. Michael successfully steered the Company through the pandemic and created meaningful value for shareholders in a sale to Apollo in 2021.

Matthew Hooper is a Partner at The Operand Group. A former search fund operator, Matt's most recent experience was CEO of Hometurf Lawn Care, a residential lawn care services company with offices across Canada. Matt acquired Hometurf from its original founders in 2020 following a two-year period operating Hemlock Capital partners, a traditional search fund he founded in 2018. During his four years as CEO, Hometurf realized strong top-line growth and margin expansion, which led to a successful sale to a US-based private equity fund in 2023. The investment in Hometurf delivered exceptional outcomes to Hemlock LPs. Prior to founding Hemlock Capital Partners, Matt was the Vice President of Operations for a management consulting firm that specialized in operations consulting. Matt holds an MBA from Queen's University's Smith School of Business, graduating with distinction for academic excellence and a BSC from the University of Victoria. He lives with his wife and two sons in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Nathan Dey was the CEO and Chairman of Navegate, Inc., an international supply chain and logistics company purchased through a search fund. Under his stewardship, Navegate grew from a $40 million enterprise to over $100 million annual revenue in just over 3 years. In 2021, Navegate was sold to Radiant Logistics (NYSE: RLGT), a global logistics platform. Prior to launching his search fund, Nathan had spent the majority of his career as an investment banker advising both bulge bracket and middle-market enterprises on a variety of M&A and corporate finance initiatives. Nathan received his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA in Finance from The Eli Broad College of Business and The Honors College at Michigan State University.

Ned Tomasevic was the CEO and board member of EZR Logistics, a national reverse logistics service provider and asset rental company that he acquired through the search fund model. Prior to leading EZR, he founded Toma Capital Management, LLC. Ned has built his career as an operating executive, entrepreneur, and investor. Ned earned his dual Masters degrees from the University of Michigan, receiving an MBA in Business Administration and an MA in Foreign Policy. He received his dual BS degrees from the University of Minnesota in Business Administration and Psychology.

Peter is the Founder and CEO Remarkable Health a pioneer offering a provider success software platform to the Behavioral Health and Human Service community. ​ Previously, he Co-founded Relay Network where I was the VP of Product and CFO. At Relay, he managed the product and technology team, released several products, was an inventor of a patent we received for mobile communication, and led $18m in venture financing.Earlier in his career, Peter worked in private equity at Spectrum Equity Investors in Boston, a $4 billion private equity firm focused on investing in financial technology, online media, and information service companies. Before Spectrum, Peter was a Leverage Finance analyst at Citigroup and worked at Graham Partners, a middle-market LBO firm based in suburban Philadelphia. Peter graduated from Villanova University, where he played Division 1 lacrosse, started and managed an industrial cleaning company while attending night school, and co-founded the Villanova Entrepreneurial Society.

Richard Venn was Chairman and CEO of CIBC’s Investment Bank, where he created and led the Merchant Banking business and then continued to chair the Investment Committee of CIBC for almost two decades. Most recently, Richard is a Founding Partner of Further Global Capital Management, a New York-based midmarket private equity firm focused on financial services. Richard has invested directly and indirectly in more than 50 private and Search Fund-originated companies, starting with his investment with Rob in Stealth Monitoring. Richard has served on more than a dozen private and public company Boards, including as Chair. He received a BASc (Engineering Science) from the University of Toronto and completed his MBA at Harvard.

Rob Cherun has been an active investor for over ten years. He has invested in over 50 companies and 20 search funds. Prior to founding Legate, Rob was CEO of Stealth Monitoring for 12 years where he led 2,000 employees across 4 countries. Under his leadership, the company grew to become the industry leader in remote monitoring services and a top 10 security company in North America. The company grew at a 35% CAGR over his tenure to over $100 million annual recurring revenue and 40+ offices. During Rob’s tenure, Stealth raised over $300 million of equity and debt. Prior to Stealth, Rob worked in strategy and business management at Morgan Stanley in New York and as a consultant at McKinsey & Company in Toronto. He has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an Honors Business Administration (HBA) from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, where he was an Ivey Scholar. He received Canada’s Top 40 under 40 award and is a member of YPO NY Metro.

Will was the CEO of Peerless Events & Tents from 2018-2023, where he is most proud of developing an outstanding team and culture by getting the right people in the right seats and aligning incentives throughout the organization. Will acquired Peerless through Dunmore Capital Partners, which he founded in 2016 as a traditional search fund with the backing of 16 investors. Before Peerless & Dunmore, Will worked for UBS Investment Bank (M&A Group) and Frontenac (a private equity investment group).

Tom Jackson has two decades of experience of investing and operating in the technology industry. Tom currently serves as the President of Datacor, a leading provider of software to the process manufacturing industry. Tom has led Datacor since acquiring the business in 2016 via a search fund, WJT Partners. Over that time, Datacor has grown to 280 employees and seen >8x recurring revenue growth. Outside of Datacor, Tom is an active investor in over 30 search funds or operating companies. He currently serves on the boards of Campminder and Inerva. Prior to launching his search fund, Tom worked as a technology investor at Bregal Sagemount, Blackstone, and Woodside Fund, and started his career as an engineer at Sun Microsystems. He holds a MS and BS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Tomas Bergstrand is the founder of Archipelago Ventures, LLC, a Boston-based private investment firm established in 2008. Archipelago Ventures serve as a vehicle for diversifying assets into privately held investments. Since its founding, Archipelago has made investments in search funds, search fund acquisitions and in select startup ventures in the United States and in Europe. Prior to Archipelago Ventures, Tomas owned and managed a custom boat building business based in Massachusetts. He also served as chief financial officer at institutional brokerage Enskilda Securities, Inc in New York City and held operational positions for the Swedish banking group SEB in Singapore and the United States. Tomas holds a Master’s degree in Finance from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree from Bryant University in Rhode Island.

Will Bressman is a Partner at BK Growth, a family office that invests in lower middle-market companies. Previously, he was CEO of RIA in a Box, a regulatory compliance consulting company serving financial advisors. Over the course of ten years, Will and his partner, G.J., transformed the business into a recurring revenue, software-as-a-service company, growing both revenues and profits significantly. In 2018, they partnered with Aquiline Partners in order to recapitalize the business and accelerate its growth. In 2021, RIA in a Box was acquired by ComplySci, a portfolio company of K1 Investment Partners, with Will staying on as President. He holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.