Middle Market Musings

Since January, David Santoni has been Managing Director, Business Development at Audax Private Equity, now investing out of its seventh flagship fund, a $5.25 billion vehicle. Before Audax, David was a well-known middle-market investment banker based in Minneapolis with several firms, notably Lazard Middle Market (dating back to its Goldsmith Agio Helms days), Hennepin Partners, and Prestwick Partners. David delves into his career, the vibrant Minneapolis deal community and his current experience managing sponsor coverage relationships after so many years as a coverage banker himself. Discussion winds up on David’s Philadelphia sports loyalties – a source of mild pleasure for Andy and more than mild irritation for Charlie. https://lnkd.in/gmNGVBi

Sir William Felix Browder provides a distinguished start to Season 4. As CEO and Founder of Hermitage, Bill Browder became the largest portfolio investor in Russia. He traces his family’s early connections to Russia and then tells one of the singular tales of courage in this century. Browder went from Russian insider to mortal Putin foe. He was able to escape Russia, but his attorney and friend Sergei Magnitsky were imprisoned on phony embezzlement charges, tortured, and killed. Bill responded by pushing for the enactment of the Magnitsky Act in the United States, as well as laws in 16 other nations providing for asset seizure and sanctions in response to human rights violations. Bill talks about his ongoing interests in global politics as well as his post-Russia activities as a private investor in US Middle Market private equity.

Les Alexander takes MMM on a picaresque back-and-forth between the lowlands of Louisiana and the rolling hills of Virginia. Childhood in New Orleans, college at UVA, a private equity and business career back home, then a return to Charlottesville as an endowed professor. The lively discussion covers such critical questions as the right way to say “New Orleans,” the best restaurant in Charlottesville, the lineage of the hot sauce industry, and what makes someone an effective teacher, as distinguished from all of the practiced good talkers in the deal business.

Gabriel Gomez, O2X Human Performance Another episode, another chat with a Navy pilot / SEAL team member / US-Senate candidate / private equity star / private company CEO…. Gabriel Gomez stops by to talk about his boyhood in Washington state, his extraordinary military service, and his post-HBS success in business, including his most recent venture as CEO of O2X Human Performance, which provides science-backed training programs to hundreds of public safety departments nationwide, federal agencies, and the military. Falfurrias Capital invested in O2X in early 2024. This one does not lack in memorable moments, but Gabriel’s “you are there” account of how you stick the landing on an aircraft carrier is a particular highlight. 

Jeff Giles is the latest deal professional to run out of excuses and end up in the MMM studio. He is Executive Vice President for Corporate Development at Core & Main, a St. Louis-based publicly traded specialty distributor focused on water, wastewater, storm drainage and fire protection. Andy and Charlie join Jeff in recounting his days as a private equity newbie. Since joining Core & Main in 2018, Jeff has completed more than 30 acquisitions, deploying approximately $1.6 billion of capital. A lively conversation charts the evolution of Jeff’s childhood in St. Louis and his love of hockey, his early career progression, the table stakes for being a successful strategic buyer, and the St. Louis Blues’ earthshaking 2019 Stanley Cup win. https://lnkd.in/gmNGVBi

Episode 52 This episode features: a University of Missouri starting quarterback who tackled Brian Bosworth, a hardworking youthful entrepreneur, a standout networker in the M&A industry, a pioneer podcaster and a leader in the field of insurance / due diligence. Not five guests! Just one—Jeff Henningsen, President and CEO of Lockton Companies – Texas Series. A veritable Ben Franklin. The episode contains the standard animated discussion that seasoned listeners come to expect from Andy and Charlie. In a varsity move, Jeff refuses to get drawn in to the heated debate over who was responsible for the “lost” first taping attempt of this episode. To seasoned MMM listeners, the answer is obvious…

Episode 51—Special Video Edition Do the same thing as last time, everyone’s happy.”“ —Deputy Chief Hardy, 22 Jump Street  Andy and Charlie follow last year’s lighting strike of inspiration at ACG’s DealMax conference in Las Vegas by doing EXACTLY the same thing this year. Three M&A/private equity luminaries in a video extravaganza. Each segment includes that guest’s insights on the deals market, memories of past conferences and participation in a time-wasting game called “Gifford or Greenberg.”  The MMM team is grateful to ACG for hosting us.  Episode 51A, Brent Baxter, Association For Corporate Growth  Episode 52B, Gretchen Perkins, Avance Capital Management  Episode 53C, Steve Hunter, TM Capital 

Christina Pai is a partner at Fort Point Capital, a Boston-based private equity firm focused on service businesses with high growth potential. This episode begins and ends with Christina and Charlie swapping captivating Boston sports insights. In between, she charts her Massachusetts childhood, college at Dartmouth, and path to her current role at Fort Point. Discussion ensues around the strengths and appetites of the family office, the fundless sponsor, and the LP-based fund.  Andy attempts to get in on the Boston mojo with an origin story that sounds suspiciously like the opening of Good Will Hunting. Christina and Charlie (to no one’s surprise) see through the ruse. 

Mark Chesen is a founder and managing partner at SSG Capital Advisors, a special situations-focused investment bank that has completed more than 400 transactions since its founding in 2001. Mark zips through growing up in Iowa, college at the University of Texas and an early stint in public accounting before turning to the wide world of investment banking. He and the hosts chart SSG’s growth, its sale and repurchase by the founders, and the unusual continuity Mark and his partners have maintained over 23 years. There’s also some interesting discussion about the DNA of the special situations banker and how Mark both uses and plays off of his own good nature. This ones goes smooth “like buttah.”  (If you get the dated SNL reference—you are in the core MMM demographic.)

The Middle Market Musings tour bus rolls into southwestern Ohio for a discussion with Ashley Hess, Partner-in-Charge of Baker Hostetler’s Cincinnati office.  Ashley draws vivid stories out of a succession of stops in his journey:  Western Virginia boyhood, school at UVA and Washington & Lee, marriage and life as a young connector in the Cincinnati community, and finally, a demanding and varied corporate law practice.  Ashley’s clients include multi-national firms like Toyota and buyers/sellers in the middle market deal space.  He talks with equal verve about trends in the automotive industry and his enthusiasm for blues music.  One of the MMM hosts springs to life at the chance to talk about the blues, while the other struggles awkwardly for on-point references.