Private Equity Expert Joe Lambert, Lambert Private Equity LLC - "Investing in Youth pays best Dividends"
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Feb. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- For more than thirty years, Joe Lambert, Lambert Private Equity LLC, has made a name for himself as a private equity investor. For years he worked for major Wall Street money management firms. Working with Marty Zwieg's Avatar and Associates and Investco's National Asset Management, Lambert served on their investment committees to provide analysis and research and manage portfolios. At Mellon Bank he was successful in raising $400 million in just 18 months.
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But despite earning millions for his clients, Lambert claims the best investment he has made has been in youth.
Lambert is the founder and executive producer of Teen Star, the sensational singing competition for junior high and high school students he started five years ago, which has taken Santa Barbara County by storm.
"It was a serendipitous launch," Joe said. "I started the competition as a fun promotion for kids to see a Broadway star. I was producing a concert with my high school buddy Howard McGillin (he was the longest running Phantom of the Opera in Broadway history), and thought it would be exciting for the winner of the competition to attend the concert and meet with Howard."
What Lambert had not foreseen was that the competition took off with a life of its own: attendees were wrapped around the auditorium waiting for the doors to open to see the final sing-off. The students clamored for more.
And so Lambert held the contest again. And Teen Star was born as an annual event.
In the pattern of nationally televised competitions such as American Idol and The Voice, Teen Star singers audition before a panel of judges, and in the local contest, the young contestants are provided positive and encouraging feedback. Ten selected finalists then perform before a live audience who vote for the winner.
Lambert sees programs like Teen Star providing positive outlets for students, and a natural deterrent to drugs and gang activities. (A strong supporter of law enforcement, Lambert was asked by County Sheriff Bill Brown to serve as campaign treasurer in the 2010 re-election campaign.)
"I am both humbled and excited to see how and where Teen Star has taken the young people of this county," Lambert declared enthusiastically. "We attribute the success of the Teen Star program to the fact that we are providing an exceptional vehicle for our young people to showcase their talents."
Lambert's Teen Star program has garnered the support and endorsement of every high school performing arts department, and has attracted national corporate sponsors such as Decker's Outdoor Corporation and Mentor.
"We definitely see that students are hungry for opportunities to excel as individuals and to express their passion. And we support them in every step along the way." Lambert has added free audition workshops to the program, as well as mentoring sessions, and works to provide opportunities for the winners to perform at significant regional events.
This is not the first time Lambert has invested in youth, though perhaps it is the closest to home. Mr. Lambert's efforts in the nonprofit sector (serving as chairman, president, and treasurer) emphasize helping economically disadvantaged youth around the world. For an international philanthropic non-profit organization headquartered in Santa Ynez, he has traveled globally, providing due diligence in some of most needy nations such as Haiti, Honduras and Guatemala.
As such, the efforts of Lambert's Teen Star come full circle. One semifinalist two years ago was asked to perform on a people-to-people arts outreach to the city of Kotor in Montenegro.
While Lambert will enthusiastically announce the latest multi-million pre-funding of a new company, he is equally pleased to describe the dividends paid by investing in youth through programs such as Teen Star.
"It has been an unbelievable amount of work: coordinating the volunteers, the parents, the schools, right through to the production of the show," Lambert explains.
"But seeing the students pursue their passion and really work and reach for something is amazing to watch. Just amazing. We find that we are instilling lasting benefits not only for our youth but for all of our communities."
About Joseph Lambert: Lambert Private Equity LLC
Lambert Private Equity LLC invests, through its unique equity and equity-linked structures, in publicly traded companies around the globe.
Lambert Private Equity LLC generally looks to invest amounts from $10 million up to $500 million directly into listed companies for a variety of activities including working capital, accretive EBITDA acquisitions and other growth opportunities.
Lambert focuses on equity investments in public companies as well as private companies that will be listed on a securities exchange within six months of a funding commitment.
Lambert Private Equity LLC has no outside investors and is considered a private group run by its principals, similar to a merchant bank that invests its own capital and as such is seeking capital appreciation through the identification and funding of growth companies.
Lambert Private Equity LLC is not an underwriter and the funding it provides is based on specific terms and conditions, including the price and volume of the company's shares once the company is publicly listed. Lambert Private Equity LLC does not provide volume, liquidity, investor relations or public relations services. Contact: LambertFunds (at)gmail(dot)com
Contact: Joe Lambert, admin(at)lambertfunds(dot)com
SOURCE Lambert Private Equity LLC
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