GTCR Announces Several Promotions

Growth in firm leadership reflects breadth and tenure of investment team

CHICAGO, Oct. 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GTCR, a leading private equity firm, announced today the promotion of Luke Marker, Stephen Master and KJ McConnell to Managing Director. These three long-tenured investment professionals have contributed significantly to numerous GTCR investments while helping build the firm's culture and franchise.  Additionally, GTCR announced the promotions of two investment professionals, Christopher Smith and Geoffrey Tresley, to Principal as well as the hiring of Ashwin Krishnan as a Principal.  

On behalf of the firm, Co-CEOs Collin Roche and Dean Mihas stated:

"We are particularly pleased to announce the promotions of Luke, Stephen and KJ to Managing Director, which directly reflects the meaningful impact that each of these team members has had in their investing roles while also contributing in other ways to the growth and quality of our business. The talent of our people is critical to achieving our goal of delivering consistent, strong returns to our investors. These three professionals exemplify the attributes of business building, collaboration and individual impact that characterize our culture.  We want to extend our congratulations as Luke, Stephen and KJ join our existing group of 20 Managing Directors at the firm.  We look forward to working together for many years to come."

Promoted to Managing Director from Principal:

• Luke Marker
  Mr. Marker joined GTCR in 2009. He currently serves as a Director of Corza Health, Maravai LifeSciences and Regatta Medical. In addition, he played an instrumental role in GTCR's past investment in Devicor Medical Products. Mr. Marker holds an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School and a BA magna cum laude in mathematics and economics from Kalamazoo College. 
• Stephen Master
  Mr. Master joined GTCR in 2008. He is currently a Director of Dreamscape, Lexipol and Simpli.fi and played an instrumental role in GTCR's investment in Landmark Aviation. He was previously a Director of Beeline, Cision, Inteliquent, Protection 1 and Park Place. Mr. Master holds an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago and a BA summa cum laude from Northwestern University in mathematical methods in the social sciences and economics.
• KJ McConnell
  Mr. McConnell joined GTCR in 2014. He is currently a Director of Cisive, Paya, RevSpring, and Ultimus Fund Solutions and works closely with CAPTRUST. He was previously a Director of GTCR investments Convergex and Dash Financial Technology and played a key role in GTCR's past investments in The Townsend Group and Premium Credit Limited. Mr. McConnell holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar, and a BS in finance with highest honors from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. 

Mr. Mihas and Mr. Roche continued: "We are very fortunate to have great depth within our existing team of professionals, and as we continue to expand our investment activities, we will also selectively add talented, experienced professionals who fit well with our culture and investment approach.  We are pleased that Chris and Geoff have taken on greater leadership roles as Principals and that Ashwin has also joined the firm as a Principal to further expand our investment capacity. We expect all three will make meaningful contributions to our success going forward, particularly as the current investing environment presents enhanced opportunities for GTCR to creatively apply its unique investment approach to acquire and improve companies."

Promoted to Principal from Director:

• Christopher Smith
  Mr. Smith joined GTCR in 2013. He is a Director of Antylia Scientific and PathGroup and works closely with Cedar Gate Technologies, Ceba-Tech and TerSera Therapeutics.  He previously played an integral role in GTCR's investments in Cole-Parmer, Crealta Pharmaceuticals, Curo, Maravai Life Sciences and Riverchase Dermatology. Mr. Smith graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with a BBA in finance.
• Geoffrey Tresley
  Mr. Tresley joined GTCR in 2018. He currently serves as a Director of Harpula and AQUA Dermatology and works closely with Curia. Mr. Tresley holds an MBA with honors from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA summa cum laude in economics and political science from Northwestern University, where he graduated first in his class and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He is also a CFA charterholder. 

Recently hired as Principal:

• Ashwin Krishnan
  Ashwin Krishnan joined GTCR in 2022. Prior to joining GTCR, Mr. Krishnan was a Principal at Advent International where he focused on investments in software and information services. He graduated from Duke University with a BS in economics and biology. 

Each of these senior investment team members works to deploy GTCR's pioneering management partnership approach, The Leaders Strategy™. The foundation of this strategy is the ability to source and build relationships with exceptional, proven leaders with deep sector experience, who can then build and transform market-leading businesses with the support of GTCR.

About GTCR

Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm that pioneered The Leaders Strategy™ – finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through organic growth and strategic acquisitions. GTCR is focused on investing in transformative growth in companies in the Business & Consumer Services, Financial Services & Technology, Healthcare and Technology, Media & Telecommunications sectors. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $24 billion in over 270 companies, and the firm currently manages over $27 billion in equity capital. GTCR is based in Chicago with offices in New York and West Palm Beach. For more information, please visit www.gtcr.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

GTCR Contact
Andrew Johnson
212 835-7042
[email protected]

SOURCE GTCR