| Management |
| Dave and Ben Robinson are the founders and Managing Directors of Wheelock Partners LLC. Natives of rural New England, they are brothers with successful operating track records and complementary skill sets. Their experience growing revenues and improving operations creates a natural partnership to manage Wheelock Partners LLC and its portfolio companies. |
| Investment Team |
| Wheelock Partners LLC is backed by an investment team comprised of respected, experienced and successful business professionals with considerable transaction and operating experience. They currently sit on boards of private and public companies in a wide range of industries and they have performed operating duties in companies of all sizes. |
| The investment team assists in identifying, screening and analyzing potential transactions. Additionally, they provide direction on an ongoing basis as active advisors to our portfolio companies. |
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| David Robinson - Managing Director |
| Dave brings to Wheelock Partners LLC a decade of broad entrepreneurial management experience and training in the manufacturing, health care and software sectors. He has developed and managed new business organizations, created new markets and structured lasting partnerships with customers and suppliers. At Motive Inc. (NASDAQ: MOTV), Dave built and managed a regional business unit, closing millions in new and repeat business contracts with companies of all sizes. Dave holds a B.A. with Honors from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he concentrated in operations and sales & marketing. |
| Benjamin Robinson - Managing Director |
| Ben’s experience uniquely positions Wheelock Partners to identify and capitalize on the voids created by current globalization trends in production. At Abbott Laboratories, he established and managed strategic, worldwide partnerships with contract manufacturers. Ben executed several large-scale manufacturing outsourcing projects for Abbott, generating millions in annual cost reductions. Upon completion, he led the management of ongoing production for Abbott’s MediSense products. Ben earned a B.S. in Engineering from Dartmouth College and a Master of Engineering Management from the Thayer School at Dartmouth College. |
| William Alfond - Limited Partner |
| Bill was an owner/operator of Dexter Shoe Company, through its sale to Berkshire Hathaway. He has cross-functional expertise ranging from the production floor to the corporate office to customer interface. Bill also has extensive marketing and consumer brand management experience, including negotiating athlete and professional league contracts. He is on the Board of Trustees at Colby College and Governor Dummer Academy and is an owner of the Boston Red Sox. |
| Peter Bell - Limited Partner |
| Peter is Managing Director and founder of Stowe Capital, which specializes in providing capital and management expertise to emerging growth companies. Peter is a Senior Lecturer at The Sloan School of Management at MIT and a Distinguished Senior Executive in Residence at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. He served as Chairman and CEO of StorageNetworks, Inc., an information storage software and services company, from its founding through 2002. Peter took the company from pioneering concept to over $120 Million in annual revenue in three years. Peter is a summa cum laude graduate of Boston College and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. He also holds an Honorary Doctorate from Babson College. He sits on the Board of Trustees of Boston College and is a member of the Technology Advisory Committee for Boston's Catholic Schools Foundation. |
| Owen Colligan - Limited Partner |
| Owen is a Principal of RockWood Equity Partners, a private equity firm he co-founded. Prior to forming RockWood, Owen worked in the New York and Hong Kong offices of Kelley Drye & Warren as a corporate attorney specializing in mergers and acquisitions. Owen also worked as an investment banker at Schroder & Co. in New York. Owen received a BS in finance from the University of Buffalo, a JD from New York University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. |
| Barbara Couch - Limited Partner |
| Barbara is the VP of Human Resources at Hypertherm. Recognized as one of the best places to work in the United States and in NH, Hypertherm is ranked #12 on Fortune Magazine's list of the "100 Best Companies to Work for in the United States" as well as one of the Business NH Magazine's Ten Best Companies to Work for in NH. Hypertherm was recently recognized by the Principal Group as one of the top ten US companies providing employee financial security. She also heads Hypertherm's Corporate Philanthropic Committee. Barbara received a B.A. degree from Bradley University and graduated from Northeastern Illinois University with a Masters in Counseling Psychology. |
| Richard Couch - Limited Partner |
| Dick is the founder and CEO of Hypertherm, Inc., an innovator in plasma cutting technology. Under his leadership, the company has grown from two associates housed in a small garage to close to 600 associates in a 135,000-square-foot facility in Hanover, New Hampshire. Currently, he has over thirty patents in the fields of plasma cutting and pollution control and is serving on the Thayer School of Engineering Board of Overseers at Dartmouth College, as well as the National Electrical Manufacturers Association Board of Governors. Dick is also a founding member of the Ledyard National Bank in Hanover, NH. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering. |
| Jean Paul Fontaine - Limited Partner |
| Jean Paul is the President and owner of the Fontaine Group (Fontaine Inc., Stratton Lumber Inc., and Timber Resource Group Inc.), a forest products group operating in New England and in Quebec. Jean Paul has grown a small family-owned sawmill into a diversified group of businesses involved in softwood lumber manufacturing and in forest resources trade. |
| Rodney Irish - Limited Partner |
| Rod is a retired tax partner from the New England CPA firm of Berry, Dunn, McNeil & Parker in Portland, Maine. While at Berry, Dunn, he served for many years on the firm’s Management Committee and specialized in taxation of financial institutions. He currently is an owner and treasurer of Pleasant River Lumber Company, a large softwood lumber sawmill located in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine. Rod serves on a number of profit and not-for-profit boards, consults in the field of taxation and business acquisitions and also serves as a qualified intermediary in tax-free real estate exchanges. |
| Brett Keith - Limited Partner |
| Brett is a Principal of RockWood Equity Partners, a private equity firm he co-founded. Earlier in his career, Brett worked as an investment banker in the Mergers & Acquisitions group of Lehman Brothers' New York office, and as the Controller of Jacobson Machine Works, a turnaround company owned by the private equity firm of Goldner, Hawn, Johnson & Morrison. Brett began his career as a financial consultant and Certified Public Accountant at Grant Thornton LLP and Arthur Andersen LLP. Brett received a BA, with dual degrees in finance and accounting, from the University of St. Thomas, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. |
| Matthew Kelly - Limited Partner |
| Matt is a private equity professional with the JBG Companies, a real estate private equity firm in Washington, DC. Previously, Matt was the co-founder and CFO of ODAC Inc., a software company that was ultimately sold to Encoda Systems, Inc. Prior to founding ODAC, Matt was a private equity professional at the Thomas H. Lee Company in Boston, MA. Earlier in his career, he was an investment banking analyst with Goldman Sachs, & Co. in New York. Matt received his BA, with honors, from Dartmouth College and his MBA from Harvard Business School. |
| Angus King - Limited Partner |
| Governor King is an attorney at Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer and Nelson, a New England law firm. He is also a partner at Leaders LLC, a New England based M&A firm. He was the Governor of the State of Maine from 1995 until 2003, where he focused a great deal of effort and resources on economic development and job creation. Prior to entering the public sector, Angus founded and served as President of Northeast Energy Management, Inc. He currently teaches at Bowdoin College and serves on several corporate and non-profit boards including the Nature Conservancy, Lee Auto Malls and Hancock Lumber. Angus is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia Law School. |
| Michael O'Connell - Limited Partner |
| Michael is currently the Managing Director at 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, Michael owned and operated the National Lines Bureau, a ship mooring company for the Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbors. Michael is currently an investor in over 20 private companies. He received his BA, with high honors, from Harvard College, and his MBA from Harvard Business School. |
| Winfield Robinson - Limited Partner |
| Win is the president and founder of Flagstaff Ventures LLC, a provider of consulting services to the forest products industry and an importer of manufactured wood products. Prior to Flagstaff, he founded, operated and sold the Timber Resource Group LLC, a forest resource management and procurement firm. Win served as the VP of Operations for United Timber Corp., a lumber manufacturing firm, before founding TRG. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of UnitedKingfield Bank and is on the board of directors of Camden National Corp. Win earned a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Wharton MBA program at the University of Pennsylvania. |
| Petr Smetanka - Limited Partner |
| Petr is the COO and a partner of the Fontaine Group. Formerly General Manager of Fontaine Inc., a softwood lumber sawmill, Petr also founded and later sold Transforet, a wood trading company operating in Eastern Canada, and managed a forest management and logging company in Quebec. He is a graduate of Laval University, Quebec. |
| James Southern III - Limited Partner |
| Jim is the CEO and President of Continental Fire & Safety Services, a privately held company serving the fire suppression industry. Previously, Jim was the Chairman and CEO of Uniform Printing, a highly successful niche printing business, which he purchased in 1984 in a leveraged buyout. Jim currently serves on the boards of Viu Media, Inc. and Bay Communications, Inc., as well as two non-profit organizations. Jim received his BA from Southwestern University and his MBA from Harvard Business School. |
| Howard Stevenson - Limited Partner |
| Howard is the Senior Associate Provost for Harvard University. He is also the Sarofim-Rock Professor of Business Administration and Senior Associate Dean, Director of External Relations at Harvard Business School. He has authored, co-authored, or edited six books, forty-one articles, and over one-hundred-fifty Harvard Business School case studies. Howard was a founder and the first president of the Baupost Group, Inc., an investment management firm that manages partnerships investing in liquid securities for wealthy families, which he grew to over $400 million in assets. Howard is an investor and board member in numerous private and public companies. He received his BS in mathematics, with distinction, from Stanford University and his MBA, with high distinction, and DBA degrees from Harvard Business School. |
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