CEOs and Investors
AARON GABBART (B2B Services CEO)
Aaron was the CEO of BenefitGuard, a 401(k) fiduciary that grew from startup to $200MM AUM under his leadership and sold to NASDAQ:HQY (CEO 2009-2013; Chairman 2013-2017). He has served on several Board of Directors. Aaron has played soccer in the US, Holland, Italy, Mexico, and Costa Rica and is an avid skier. Aaron graduated from BYU with a BS in Finance and an MBA.
RAMEEZ ANSARI (Vertical Software CEO)
Rameez is most recently the Co-CEO of FieldEdge, a vertically focused SaaS company which he acquired, grew more than 5x in three years, and sold to Advent International. He is also a Lecturer in Management at the University of Toronto. Rameez is a Director at Synergy Corporation, a family-owned power generation and turnkey engineering firm. Rameez has a BBA with High Distinction from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
JEFF CHAMBERS (TA Associates CA office founder, Fmr. Board Member at Asurion, McAfee, Jenny Craig, 5.11 )
Jeff has more than 38 years of investment experience. Jeff joined TA Associates in 1980, focusing on investments in the services sectors. He opened the firm’s California office in 1982 and became a Managing Director in 1984 and a Senior Advisor of the firm in 2013. Jeff served on TA’s Executive Committee from 1988 to 2010. Jeff graduated from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with an MBA and received a BA, cum laude in Economics from Harvard College. He has been a board member of 5.11, Inc., Apex PC Solutions (now Emerson Network Power), Asurion, Jenny Craig, and McAfee Associates. Jeff’s other board service has included the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford Management Company, and Stanford Health Care.
WILL THORNDIKE (Housatonic Founder, Author of The Outsiders - #1 on Warren Buffet's Reading List)
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, Lincoln Peak Holdings, OASIS Group, 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. Will holds an A.B. from Harvard College and M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
ANDREW SALTOUN (Healthcare CEO)
Andrew acquired Integra Partners, a healthcare services company in 2011. During the first five years as CEO, he grew the company by more than 10x. Andrew stepped down as CEO of Integra in 2019. Prior to acquiring Integra, Andrew held roles at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker and Vestar Capital Partners as an investor. He is the chairman of Cambridge Spa Group and a board member of Light Wave Dental, Datacor, and the Brooklyn Museum. Andrew received a bachelor degree in business administration from Emory University and an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
JEFF JENSEN (Consumer Retail CEO)
Jeff founded Mission Belt Co, which revolutionized the age-old accessory of belts. Mission Belt's no holes belt was a hit on Shark Tank and the company's success has allowed it to fund tens of thousands of micro-loans in over 70 developing countries. Before founding Mission Belt, Jeff was the CIO of PICS Auditing (contractor screening). He graduated from BYU with an MBA and a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Spanish.
CHRIS LUECK (Enterprise Software CEO)
As CEO of FastSpring, Chris Lueck was responsible for leading the company towards their mission of becoming the end-to-end eCommerce solution for digital goods and software sellers to start and grow their online businesses. With more than 15 years in technology and engineering, Lueck has a proven track record of developing, managing and scaling innovative products to meet the needs of business executives worldwide. Lueck earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia, and a Masters of Business Administration Degree in Finance & Entrepreneurship from the University of Southern California. He currently lives in sunny Santa Barbara, California.
ALEX GELMAN (Enterprise Software & Services CEO)
Alex is the CEO of mTAB, a global leader in research data analysis and visualization technology. Alex acquired mTAB in 2015 and has since acquired two international competitors to form a market-leading platform that gives market researchers a single source of truth for data-driven decision making. Prior to acquiring mTAB, Alex was an operations executive at KKR & CO. Inc. and a consultant at McKinsey and Company. Alex received a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.
TOM CASSUTT (Manufacturing CEO)
Mr. Cassutt is the CFO of American Security Products, a leading manufacturer of high-security safes. From 1984 to 2011, Mr. Cassutt was Co-President of Nelson Nameplate Company, a manufacturer of membrane switches and product identification based in Los Angeles, California. From 1978 to 1984, he was the Controller of Bristol Corporation, the parent company of 10 manufacturing entities.
Mr. Cassutt currently sits on the boards of American Security Products, Columbia Sanitary Products, Dynamic Growth Dental, and Positive Coaching Alliance. He received a Bachelor of Physics Degree in 1982 from the University of California, Irvine, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate. In 1986, he received an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar and the recipient of the Alexander A. Robichek Award, given each year to the top student in finance.
DAVID LAZIER (Manufacturing CEO)
Mr. Lazier the president of American Security Products, a leading manufacturer of high-security safes. From 1984 to 2011, Mr. Lazier served as Controller, Vice President of Sales and then Co-President of Nelson Nameplate Company, a manufacturer of membrane switches and product identification based in Los Angeles, California. From 1982 to 1984, he worked as an engineer for IBM Corporation.
Mr. Lazier currently sits on the boards of American Security Products, Columbia Sanitary Products, Datum Technologies, and Gogotech. He has previously served on the boards of Glendale Memorial Hospital Foundation, the San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from Northwestern University.
RICH AUGUSTYN (B2B Services CEO)
Rich is the Founder and CEO of NIP Group, a leading national provider of risk management and insurance brokerage services, and Extensis Group, one of the nation's largest Human Resource solutions and outsourcing services.
STEVE LAU (Vertical Software CEO)
Steve is a Lecturer in Management at the University of Toronto. Previously, he was Co-CEO of FieldEdge, a vertically focused SaaS company which he acquired, grew more than 5x in three years, and sold to Advent International. Steve spent his early career at CPPIB where he completed $11B in direct private equity transactions and at TD Securities in investment banking. In 2018, Steve received an EY Entrepreneur of the Year award. Steve graduated with a Bachelors in Business Administration with High Distinction from the University of Toronto and earned a Masters in Business Administration from the Wharton Business School.
KENT WEAVER (Healthcare CEO)
Kent Weaver is currently Executive Chairman and former CEO of Progressive Home Care, a Northern California-based health care company. Previously, Mr. Weaver held executive positions in marketing and product management for a VC-backed marketing automation startup, as a regional CFO and business analyst in Pepsico's Pizza Hut Division, and as a management consultant at Ernst & Young.
He received his MBA from the Fully Employed Program at the University of California, Los Angeles and BS in finance from the University of Southern California. He is a member of the Board of Directors at Integra Partners, Change Academy Lake of the Ozarks, T-Base Communications, and Neuro International.
HAL MOTTET (Manufacturing CEO)
Hal is an experienced CEO and board member. In 2007, Hal purchased Empire Packaging and Displays, a manufacturer of corrugated retail packaging, improving its operations, sales, and profitability. He sold the company to Smurfit-Kappa. Prior to leading Empire Packaging, Hal started Environmental Logistics Company, a plastics recycling firm which was successfully merged into NW Polymers. Hal earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS degree in Forestry from the University of Washington.
SANDRO MINA (Retail CEO)
Sandro Mina is a co-founding Managing Director of Relay Investments and is based in Boston. In early 1993, Sandro co-founded Sverica International, where he spent 20 years as a Partner. He currently serves on the Board of Oasis, an Ireland based document storage company, as well as a local non-profit, the Swedish School of Boston, and WholeSalePet. During Sverica’s early days, Sandro served as President and CEO of Cameraworld.com, one of Sverica’s pre-fund portfolio companies that he sourced, managed and eventually sold. Mr. Mina earned his BSc degree in Computer Engineering from Imperial College at the University of London and his MBA degree at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.
MARTIN STEBER (B2B Services CEO)
In early 1993, Martin co-founded Sverica International. During his early tenure, Mr. Steber was CEO of two pre-fund investments in Birmingham, Alabama, Automatic Detection Systems Inc, an electronic security company, and AccuDocs LLC, a billing services company. Both of these entities were eventually sold to larger industry leaders. Mr. Steber completed his BSc in Computer Engineering from Imperial College at the University of London and his MBA degree at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.
TROY PORRAS (B2B Services CEO)
Troy Porras is founder of a professional towing services company based in Denver, Colorado and has extensive experience in growing through acquisition. He has an A.B. from Princeton University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.
MICHAEL F. O’CONNELL (Anhalt, O'Connell & Steffanci Founder)
Michael F. O’Connell is the Senior Managing Director at M2O, Inc. He oversees the assessment of investment opportunities and reviews the ongoing performance of portfolio companies. For most of his career, Michael was President and Managing Director of Anhalt, O’Connell & Steffanci Inc., a Los Angeles-based investment management firm with almost $1 billion under management.
In 1992, Michael purchased the National Lines Bureau, a ship mooring company operating at the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors, the largest (combined) commercial port in America. This initial, successful investment prompted many more and Michael soon shifted his focus from investment management to venture capital. Today, he leads M2O with a portfolio of more than 40 companies. Michael also sits on the board of American Biosurgical Inc., Veri-Tax, and Yates & Associates Insurance. Michael holds a B.A., with high honors, from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
M-K O'CONNELL (M2O Managing Director)
Michael-Kevin (M-K) O’Connell joined M2O, Inc. as a Managing Director in 2009. He is responsible for sourcing and reviewing new investment opportunities as well as monitoring the performance of portfolio companies. Prior to joining M2O, M-K was a Manager with L.E.K. Consulting. During his tenure there, M-K led project teams across a diverse range of industries and business issues. His projects included the strategic due diligence of a $1 billion building materials company, the development of a customer contact and support strategy for a legacy airline, the strategic realignment and long-term plan for a major Los Angeles attraction, and the strategic due diligence of a leading equipment supplier to solar cell manufacturers.
Before L.E.K., M-K worked in commercial real estate as the Director of Research for CB Richard Ellis in New England. M-K also sits on the board at Origo Commodities Management and is an advisor to Veri-Tax and Yates & Associates Insurance. M-K received his B.S, magna cum laude, from Boston College and his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania where he was the recipient of the Thomas P. Gerrity Leadership Award for achieving “excellence in both academic and co-curricular pursuits.”
Aaron was the CEO of BenefitGuard, a 401(k) fiduciary that grew from startup to $200MM AUM under his leadership and sold to NASDAQ:HQY (CEO 2009-2013; Chairman 2013-2017). He has served on several Board of Directors. Aaron has played soccer in the US, Holland, Italy, Mexico, and Costa Rica and is an avid skier. Aaron graduated from BYU with a BS in Finance and an MBA.
RAMEEZ ANSARI (Vertical Software CEO)
Rameez is most recently the Co-CEO of FieldEdge, a vertically focused SaaS company which he acquired, grew more than 5x in three years, and sold to Advent International. He is also a Lecturer in Management at the University of Toronto. Rameez is a Director at Synergy Corporation, a family-owned power generation and turnkey engineering firm. Rameez has a BBA with High Distinction from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
JEFF CHAMBERS (TA Associates CA office founder, Fmr. Board Member at Asurion, McAfee, Jenny Craig, 5.11 )
Jeff has more than 38 years of investment experience. Jeff joined TA Associates in 1980, focusing on investments in the services sectors. He opened the firm’s California office in 1982 and became a Managing Director in 1984 and a Senior Advisor of the firm in 2013. Jeff served on TA’s Executive Committee from 1988 to 2010. Jeff graduated from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with an MBA and received a BA, cum laude in Economics from Harvard College. He has been a board member of 5.11, Inc., Apex PC Solutions (now Emerson Network Power), Asurion, Jenny Craig, and McAfee Associates. Jeff’s other board service has included the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford Management Company, and Stanford Health Care.
WILL THORNDIKE (Housatonic Founder, Author of The Outsiders - #1 on Warren Buffet's Reading List)
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, Lincoln Peak Holdings, OASIS Group, 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. Will holds an A.B. from Harvard College and M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
ANDREW SALTOUN (Healthcare CEO)
Andrew acquired Integra Partners, a healthcare services company in 2011. During the first five years as CEO, he grew the company by more than 10x. Andrew stepped down as CEO of Integra in 2019. Prior to acquiring Integra, Andrew held roles at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker and Vestar Capital Partners as an investor. He is the chairman of Cambridge Spa Group and a board member of Light Wave Dental, Datacor, and the Brooklyn Museum. Andrew received a bachelor degree in business administration from Emory University and an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
JEFF JENSEN (Consumer Retail CEO)
Jeff founded Mission Belt Co, which revolutionized the age-old accessory of belts. Mission Belt's no holes belt was a hit on Shark Tank and the company's success has allowed it to fund tens of thousands of micro-loans in over 70 developing countries. Before founding Mission Belt, Jeff was the CIO of PICS Auditing (contractor screening). He graduated from BYU with an MBA and a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Spanish.
CHRIS LUECK (Enterprise Software CEO)
As CEO of FastSpring, Chris Lueck was responsible for leading the company towards their mission of becoming the end-to-end eCommerce solution for digital goods and software sellers to start and grow their online businesses. With more than 15 years in technology and engineering, Lueck has a proven track record of developing, managing and scaling innovative products to meet the needs of business executives worldwide. Lueck earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia, and a Masters of Business Administration Degree in Finance & Entrepreneurship from the University of Southern California. He currently lives in sunny Santa Barbara, California.
ALEX GELMAN (Enterprise Software & Services CEO)
Alex is the CEO of mTAB, a global leader in research data analysis and visualization technology. Alex acquired mTAB in 2015 and has since acquired two international competitors to form a market-leading platform that gives market researchers a single source of truth for data-driven decision making. Prior to acquiring mTAB, Alex was an operations executive at KKR & CO. Inc. and a consultant at McKinsey and Company. Alex received a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.
TOM CASSUTT (Manufacturing CEO)
Mr. Cassutt is the CFO of American Security Products, a leading manufacturer of high-security safes. From 1984 to 2011, Mr. Cassutt was Co-President of Nelson Nameplate Company, a manufacturer of membrane switches and product identification based in Los Angeles, California. From 1978 to 1984, he was the Controller of Bristol Corporation, the parent company of 10 manufacturing entities.
Mr. Cassutt currently sits on the boards of American Security Products, Columbia Sanitary Products, Dynamic Growth Dental, and Positive Coaching Alliance. He received a Bachelor of Physics Degree in 1982 from the University of California, Irvine, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate. In 1986, he received an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar and the recipient of the Alexander A. Robichek Award, given each year to the top student in finance.
DAVID LAZIER (Manufacturing CEO)
Mr. Lazier the president of American Security Products, a leading manufacturer of high-security safes. From 1984 to 2011, Mr. Lazier served as Controller, Vice President of Sales and then Co-President of Nelson Nameplate Company, a manufacturer of membrane switches and product identification based in Los Angeles, California. From 1982 to 1984, he worked as an engineer for IBM Corporation.
Mr. Lazier currently sits on the boards of American Security Products, Columbia Sanitary Products, Datum Technologies, and Gogotech. He has previously served on the boards of Glendale Memorial Hospital Foundation, the San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from Northwestern University.
RICH AUGUSTYN (B2B Services CEO)
Rich is the Founder and CEO of NIP Group, a leading national provider of risk management and insurance brokerage services, and Extensis Group, one of the nation's largest Human Resource solutions and outsourcing services.
STEVE LAU (Vertical Software CEO)
Steve is a Lecturer in Management at the University of Toronto. Previously, he was Co-CEO of FieldEdge, a vertically focused SaaS company which he acquired, grew more than 5x in three years, and sold to Advent International. Steve spent his early career at CPPIB where he completed $11B in direct private equity transactions and at TD Securities in investment banking. In 2018, Steve received an EY Entrepreneur of the Year award. Steve graduated with a Bachelors in Business Administration with High Distinction from the University of Toronto and earned a Masters in Business Administration from the Wharton Business School.
KENT WEAVER (Healthcare CEO)
Kent Weaver is currently Executive Chairman and former CEO of Progressive Home Care, a Northern California-based health care company. Previously, Mr. Weaver held executive positions in marketing and product management for a VC-backed marketing automation startup, as a regional CFO and business analyst in Pepsico's Pizza Hut Division, and as a management consultant at Ernst & Young.
He received his MBA from the Fully Employed Program at the University of California, Los Angeles and BS in finance from the University of Southern California. He is a member of the Board of Directors at Integra Partners, Change Academy Lake of the Ozarks, T-Base Communications, and Neuro International.
HAL MOTTET (Manufacturing CEO)
Hal is an experienced CEO and board member. In 2007, Hal purchased Empire Packaging and Displays, a manufacturer of corrugated retail packaging, improving its operations, sales, and profitability. He sold the company to Smurfit-Kappa. Prior to leading Empire Packaging, Hal started Environmental Logistics Company, a plastics recycling firm which was successfully merged into NW Polymers. Hal earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS degree in Forestry from the University of Washington.
SANDRO MINA (Retail CEO)
Sandro Mina is a co-founding Managing Director of Relay Investments and is based in Boston. In early 1993, Sandro co-founded Sverica International, where he spent 20 years as a Partner. He currently serves on the Board of Oasis, an Ireland based document storage company, as well as a local non-profit, the Swedish School of Boston, and WholeSalePet. During Sverica’s early days, Sandro served as President and CEO of Cameraworld.com, one of Sverica’s pre-fund portfolio companies that he sourced, managed and eventually sold. Mr. Mina earned his BSc degree in Computer Engineering from Imperial College at the University of London and his MBA degree at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.
MARTIN STEBER (B2B Services CEO)
In early 1993, Martin co-founded Sverica International. During his early tenure, Mr. Steber was CEO of two pre-fund investments in Birmingham, Alabama, Automatic Detection Systems Inc, an electronic security company, and AccuDocs LLC, a billing services company. Both of these entities were eventually sold to larger industry leaders. Mr. Steber completed his BSc in Computer Engineering from Imperial College at the University of London and his MBA degree at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.
TROY PORRAS (B2B Services CEO)
Troy Porras is founder of a professional towing services company based in Denver, Colorado and has extensive experience in growing through acquisition. He has an A.B. from Princeton University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.
MICHAEL F. O’CONNELL (Anhalt, O'Connell & Steffanci Founder)
Michael F. O’Connell is the Senior Managing Director at M2O, Inc. He oversees the assessment of investment opportunities and reviews the ongoing performance of portfolio companies. For most of his career, Michael was President and Managing Director of Anhalt, O’Connell & Steffanci Inc., a Los Angeles-based investment management firm with almost $1 billion under management.
In 1992, Michael purchased the National Lines Bureau, a ship mooring company operating at the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors, the largest (combined) commercial port in America. This initial, successful investment prompted many more and Michael soon shifted his focus from investment management to venture capital. Today, he leads M2O with a portfolio of more than 40 companies. Michael also sits on the board of American Biosurgical Inc., Veri-Tax, and Yates & Associates Insurance. Michael holds a B.A., with high honors, from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
M-K O'CONNELL (M2O Managing Director)
Michael-Kevin (M-K) O’Connell joined M2O, Inc. as a Managing Director in 2009. He is responsible for sourcing and reviewing new investment opportunities as well as monitoring the performance of portfolio companies. Prior to joining M2O, M-K was a Manager with L.E.K. Consulting. During his tenure there, M-K led project teams across a diverse range of industries and business issues. His projects included the strategic due diligence of a $1 billion building materials company, the development of a customer contact and support strategy for a legacy airline, the strategic realignment and long-term plan for a major Los Angeles attraction, and the strategic due diligence of a leading equipment supplier to solar cell manufacturers.
Before L.E.K., M-K worked in commercial real estate as the Director of Research for CB Richard Ellis in New England. M-K also sits on the board at Origo Commodities Management and is an advisor to Veri-Tax and Yates & Associates Insurance. M-K received his B.S, magna cum laude, from Boston College and his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania where he was the recipient of the Thomas P. Gerrity Leadership Award for achieving “excellence in both academic and co-curricular pursuits.”
Operating Partner
RICK GUSTAFSON (Enterprise Software CFO)
Rick has spent the majority of his career in Silicon Valley as a serial technology company CFO, with the last fifteen years focused on guiding enterprise SaaS companies through key growth and transition stages.
He most recently spent eight years as the CFO of ServiceMax, the industry’s leading field service management SaaS company, where he was a key contributor to the company’s strategy, rapid growth and $1 billion acquisition by GE Digital (NYSE: GE). Previously, he served in CFO roles at Genius.com, a marketing automation SaaS company (acquired by CALD), Coupa Software (IPO: COUP), an eProcurement SaaS provider, and Ketera Technologies, a spend management SaaS company.
Rick earned an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and a BA in Economics/Business from UCLA.
Rick has spent the majority of his career in Silicon Valley as a serial technology company CFO, with the last fifteen years focused on guiding enterprise SaaS companies through key growth and transition stages.
He most recently spent eight years as the CFO of ServiceMax, the industry’s leading field service management SaaS company, where he was a key contributor to the company’s strategy, rapid growth and $1 billion acquisition by GE Digital (NYSE: GE). Previously, he served in CFO roles at Genius.com, a marketing automation SaaS company (acquired by CALD), Coupa Software (IPO: COUP), an eProcurement SaaS provider, and Ketera Technologies, a spend management SaaS company.
Rick earned an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and a BA in Economics/Business from UCLA.