HGGC Expands Team After Fast Start to 2021 Achieves $30 Billion in Historical Transaction Value

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading middle-market private equity firm HGGC today announced it has added new team members and promoted top talent to support its rapid growth. Most notably, Bill Conrad was promoted from Principal to Partner and Brian Slobodow joined the firm as an Operating Partner after 14 years as an executive with Golden Gate Capital.

"We are proud to hire and promote great talent, reinforcing HGGC's reputation as a great place to work and build a successful, rewarding career," said Rich Lawson, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of HGGC. "As we continue to scale, it's great to add diverse talent with varying backgrounds and perspectives to our team—which is critical for portfolio company value creation and the creativity we bring to sourcing and completing deals."

Earning a promotion from Principal to Partner, Conrad has been active in HGGC's Fund IV investments in Marmic Fire & Safety and Aceable, as well as Fund III investments in AMI, Monotype Imaging, Beauty Industry Group and Nutraceutical International Corporation. Before joining HGGC in 2017, Conrad was a Vice President at KPS Capital Partners, where he was responsible for identifying, evaluating and executing control investments across a diverse range of industries. Previously, he worked as an Investment Banking Analyst in the industrial group of UBS. He holds a bachelor's degree in Finance from the University of Iowa.

Slobodow joins HGGC's Operational Resource Group (ORG), where he is responsible for advising the firm and portfolio companies on a broad range of leadership, supply chain and procurement issues. He spent nearly 14 years as a senior executive at Golden Gate Capital, including the last several years as an Operating Executive, playing a key leadership role in several investments, including U.S. Silica, ANGUS Chemical Company, Cole-Parmer, Springs Window Fashions, Atrium and several others. Earlier in Slobodow's career, he held multiple leadership positions within Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products, including Vice President Global Supply Chain and was a Principal with A.T. Kearney. Slobodow earned an MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor's degree in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Rhode Island.

Additionally, Pat Dugoni and Phil Sampognaro have both been elevated from Vice President to Principal. Dugoni is active in HGGC's Fund III investments in HelpSystems and IDERA and Fund II investments in FPX and Aventri. He previously was involved with HGGC's exited investments in Innovative, Selligent and Citadel. Prior to joining HGGC in 2014, he was an Investment Banking Analyst in the Natural Resources Group at Goldman Sachs. Dugoni holds a bachelor's degree in Quantitative Economics and International Relations from Tufts University.

Sampognaro is active in HGGC's Fund IV investment in Marmic Fire & Safety, Fund III investment in Beauty Industry Group and Fund II investment in Pearl. He was also involved with HGGC's exited investments in Mi9 and MyWebGrocer. Previously at Deutsche Bank, he was an Investment Banking Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group. Sampognaro earned an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor's degree in Finance and International Business from Georgetown University.

Anna Ike, formerly a Senior Associate, will rejoin HGGC as a Vice President following the completion of her MBA program at Harvard Business School. Ike was previously active in HGGC's Fund III investments in AMI and HelpSystems, as well as the Fund II investment in FPX. She graduated magna cum laude from Davidson College with a bachelor's degree in Economics and Hispanic Studies.

Other promoted team members include Fariha Mirza and Holland Reynolds. Mirza was promoted to Vice President of Finance and previously served as Controller. Mirza joined HGGC in 2014 and holds a bachelor's degree in Accounting from Santa Clara University. Reynolds is now a Senior Associate in Business Development after serving as an Associate in Business Development and Investor Relations. Reynolds, who joined HGGC in 2019, has a bachelor's degree in Art History and Spanish, cum laude, from Colgate University.

New additions to the HGGC team include Naznin Jahan as Investor Relations Associate, Sean Kersten as Assistant Controller and John Byers as Senior Associate.

Jahan was previously a part of the Investor Relations and Fundraising group at Goldpoint Partners, a $15B New York City-based private equity firm, following two years as an Investment Banking Analyst at Duff & Phelps, a consumer focused middle-market investment bank. She earned a bachelor's degree in Finance and Accounting from Fordham University.

Kersten joins HGGC after more than four years as a Fund Accounting Manager at Vista Equity Partners and nearly five years as an Audit Manager at Deloitte. He graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a bachelor's degree in Economics.

Byers started at HGGC in October 2020, after more than three years of experience at energy-focused private equity firm First Reserve Corporation and two years of investment banking work at Simmons & Company International.

The promotions and additions cap a highly successful start to 2021, which has included acquisitions of Marmic Fire & Safety and Specialist Risk Group, the sale of Dealer-FX and recapitalizations of IDERA and Davies Group. Since inception in 2007, HGGC has completed more than 200 platform investments, add-on acquisitions, recapitalizations and liquidity events with an aggregate transaction value of over $30 billion.

About HGGC
HGGC is a leading middle-market private equity firm with over $5.4 billion in cumulative capital commitments. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., HGGC is distinguished by its Advantaged Investing approach that enables the firm to source and acquire scalable businesses through partnerships with management teams, founders and sponsors who reinvest alongside HGGC, creating a strong alignment of interests. Since its inception in 2007, HGGC has completed more than 200 platform investments, add-on acquisitions, recapitalizations and liquidity events with an aggregate transaction value of over $30 billion. More information, including a complete list of current and former portfolio companies, is available at hggc.com.

SOURCE HGGC