GTCR Appoints Don McDonough to Lead Business Development for its Strategic Growth Fund

Experienced Private Equity Executive Joins Growing Team of Professionals

CHICAGO, Sept. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GTCR, a leading private equity firm, announced today that Don McDonough has joined the firm as Managing Director, Business Development. In this role, he will lead business development efforts for the firm's Strategic Growth Fund and work with members of the GTCR investment teams to identify and develop investment opportunities for the fund. He will also have responsibility for building and maintaining relationships with investment banking organizations and other advisors across GTCR's investment domains. Mr. McDonough comes to GTCR with over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry and over a decade spent in business development for private equity.

GTCR closed its first Strategic Growth Fund in January 2022 with $2.0 billion of limited partner capital commitments. The fund supports GTCR's Leaders Strategy™ investment approach for smaller opportunities than those pursued by its most recent flagship fund, GTCR Fund XIII, which closed in 2020 with $7.5 billion in limited partner capital commitments. The firm's Leaders Strategy™ approach involves partnering with exceptional management leaders in its core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth. GTCR has successfully applied the Leaders Strategy™ for several decades and maintains a culture of partnership with management teams as they build strategically attractive businesses over time. 

To date, the Strategic Growth Fund has made several investments in partnership with experienced executives in its core industry sectors. Investment opportunities appropriate for the Strategic Growth Fund range from $50 million to $200 million of equity capital over time. GTCR's investment strategy typically involves multiple add-on acquisitions for each platform company, and those often involve the commitment of incremental equity capital in support of acquisitions and other growth initiatives. 

"The Strategic Growth Fund allows GTCR to apply our investment approach and domain expertise at different points in the lifecycle of a growing business," said Sean Cunningham, Managing Director and Co-Head of Healthcare at GTCR. "Adding a seasoned business development professional like Don will help us manage the fund's new investment opportunity set and support our management teams' efforts to identify and complete attractive platform and add-on acquisitions."

Mr. McDonough joins GTCR from private equity firm JLL Partners where he served as Managing Director and Head of Business Development for the past 10 years. While in this role, he led deal generation efforts across the firm's aerospace & defense, business services, healthcare and industrial sector verticals. Mr. McDonough has also served as Principal and Director of Business Development for international private equity firm 3i Group plc. Earlier in his career, he worked at Sentinel Partners and JP Morgan Securities. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in Politics and Economics from Princeton University.

Investment opportunities for the Strategic Growth Fund are managed both by investment professionals in the firm's industry groups in conjunction with a dedicated team of investment professionals who primarily focus on the Strategic Growth Fund. Mr. McDonough joins a growing team of professionals committed to the Strategic Growth Fund. Senior leaders of the dedicated team include Managing Director John D. Kos, who has fourteen years of experience at GTCR where he has contributed to a number of impactful healthcare investments for the firm, as well as new Principal Kirk Smith who joined earlier this year to focus on financial technology. Mr. Smith was most recently a Principal at private equity firm Bregal Sagemount and previously he was an Associate in the Special Situations Group at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Smith holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Finance with honors from the University of Kansas. 

"As a firm, we continue to invest in key resources to sustain the quality of our growing franchise. Our Strategic Growth Fund is focused on the four industry sectors we have invested in for many years, and this fund applies our investment approach of partnering with management leaders to execute transformational change. Don joins a talented, experienced team of dedicated professionals that work with investment teams from across the firm to support GTCR's priority of providing superior investment performance to limited partners of the Strategic Growth Fund," said Aaron Cohen, Managing Director and Head of Financial Services & Technology at 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