VSI Global Announces Jesse B. Blackwelder as new Chief Financial Officer

CLEVELAND, July 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of VSI Global, LLC ("VSI"), a portfolio company of Lakewood Capital, LLC and Spartacus Partners LLC, announced Jesse B. (JB) Blackwelder as the new Chief Financial Officer of VSI, effective July 11, 2016.  Mr. Blackwelder joins VSI having most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Crown Battery Manufacturing Companies, where he led the company's finance function, including numerous data analysis initiatives that contributed to the company achieving the highest profits in its history.

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JB began his career at Arthur Anderson after graduating with a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University and having played for the Stanford Golf Team. Following Arthur Anderson, JB rose to Regional CFO at Enterprise Rent-A-Car before becoming CFO of Thorson Companies in Sandusky, OH. JB stated, "I had been looking for a business where I felt I could contribute not only in the finance space but across all key areas of a growing business. VSI's entrepreneurial spirit, institutional ownership, and focus on building a world class organization was a perfect fit for me."

Roger Knight, Chairman of VSI and Managing Partner of Lakewood Capital and Spartacus Partners, noted, "I am extremely pleased to have someone of JB's caliber and experience joining the senior management ranks of VSI. Since our acquisition of the Company in February 2015, we have been putting in place the infrastructure and building blocks to ensure state-of-the-art service and care to our rapidly expanding customer base. JB is an integral part of that process and we are confident he will contribute significantly to managing our growth over the coming years."

Max Lambright, Chief Executive Officer of VSI added, "JB has spent many years in larger organizations developing best practices across all aspects of those organizations. I look forward to teaming with him and the rest of the VSI team in furthering our goals for VSI as a world class provider of repair and remanufacturing services to national and multi-national customers across a wide spectrum of industries and disciplines."

VSI Global is an international provider of repair and remanufacturing services to a broad client base, including a number of the largest retail companies in the world. The Company's services provide its customers with a turnkey operation, lowering overall maintenance costs, increasing efficiency at the operations and corporate levels, and providing data analytics valuable to identifying and supporting best practice initiatives. Additional information is available at www.vsiglobal.com and by contacting Max Lambright, Chief Executive Officer: 800-997-8227 x212 [email protected].

About Lakewood Capital:
Lakewood Capital was formed in 2007 to team with operating management to make control investments in private companies active in the lower middle market. Lakewood targets businesses that have developed a strong position in their core markets and are facing opportunities/challenges/transition as they move toward the next stage of their developments. Lower middle market businesses often reach a point where their existing resources, be they financial, operational or human, need to be expanded, adjusted and/or reallocated to continue to prosper. These times often occur when founding management seeks less active involvement, new market opportunities arise, growth outstrips current capacity, and/or the competitive landscape changes. Lakewood prides itself on partnering with existing management to capitalize on these times of transition, with the mutual goal of building stronger, more dynamic, more competitive operations in the process. Additional information is available at www.lakewoodcap.com and by reaching Roger Knight, Managing Director: 203-604-0863 [email protected].

About Spartacus Partners:
Spartacus Partners was established in 2015 as a sister company to Lakewood Capital, providing capital from family offices, and high net worth individuals to opportunities with an initial requirement below the target markets for Lakewood's institutional partners. The close connection with Lakewood enables Spartacus investments to access resources atypical for businesses in their size range, while expanding the universe of potential opportunities investors associated with Lakewood can access.

Media contact:

Roger Knight

203-604-0863

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SOURCE VSI Global, LLC