Vincent Mai is Cranemere’s Founder and Chairman.
Prior to Cranemere, Vincent was CEO and / or Chairman of AEA Investors, a private equity firm founded to make investments on behalf of S.G. Warburg & Co., as well as the Rockefeller, Mellon, and Harriman families. During Vincent’s 20+ year tenure, AEA was ranked in the top 10 of 5,600 firms worldwide for the most consistent high performance by research firm Preqin1. At AEA Vincent served on numerous boards in a period where more than 80% of the value creation was driven by revenue growth and margin improvement. Vincent also served as Chairman of the AEA Mezzanine and Small Business funds.
Vincent was the former chairman of the board of Sesame Workshop, producers of Sesame Street, has been a director of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has served on the boards of the International Center for Transitional Justice and the Juilliard School, among others.
1 Based the period of Vincent’s tenure, 1989 – 2011
Jeffrey Zients is the CEO of Cranemere.
Prior to Cranemere, Jeff served as the Director of President Obama’s National Economic Council. Jeff previously served as the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget and also was responsible for the technology turnaround of healthcare.gov.
Before serving in Government, Jeff served as the Chairman, CEO, and COO of the Advisory Board Company and Chairman of the Corporate Executive Board. During his tenure, these companies created more than $2 billion in equity value for shareholders.
Jeff also founded Portfolio Logic, an investment firm focused on healthcare and business services, serving on several portfolio company boards. With his wife Mary, he was part of the founding group of the Urban Alliance Foundation which provides economically disadvantaged youth with job training.
Our Team
Vincent and Jeff are joined by a team of dedicated professionals with business building expertise across the United States and Europe who have collectively created several billion dollars of equity value and made more than 50 acquisitions.
Europe
London (Head Office)
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Rosario Corcione
Managing Director
Rosario has over 15 years of private equity experience, some of which were spent working with Vincent Mai and Chris Mahan at AEA Investors. He now leads our investment activities in Europe. Prior to Cranemere, Rosario was a Senior Principal in the Direct Private Equity team at CPPIB responsible for the European Industrials and Business Services verticals, and leading major investments in the technology and information industries as well. Previously, he worked at First Reserve, Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity and Goldman Sachs. Prior to business school, Rosario was a Lieutenant of the Italian Air Force, graduating first in his class from the Italian Air Force Academy. He received a MSc from Bocconi University's School of Management in Milan and a BA from the University of Naples.
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Frank Jehle
Senior Advisor
Frank has over 20 years of leadership experience in cross continental management roles. Prior to Cranemere, he served for 10 years as the Deputy CEO and CFO of Mann und Hummel GmbH, a global leader in filtration. Prior to this, Frank spent 10 years at Ford Motor Company in the UK, US and Germany, and other management positions in production, strategy and finance. Across the course of his career, Frank has led 12 acquisitions with transaction values from €20 mm to €1 bn and directly managed financial investments of over €400 mm. Frank holds supervisory and advisory board positions and is Chairman of Marmite.
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Eddie Gandevia
Vice President
Eddie has seven years of experience acquiring and building businesses. He focuses on identifying, evaluating and partnering with Cranemere's operating companies. Prior to Cranemere, Eddie spent several years working for McKinsey & Company and founded and sold an EdTech company. He has an MBA with honors from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, and a Bachelor of Laws with honors and a Bachelor of Science from the University of New South Wales.
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Chad Rowe
Finance Director
Chad is a Chartered Accountant with 15 years of experience in finance and accounting. He manages the finance and accounting functions of Cranemere. Prior to Cranemere he worked at as an auditor for Deloitte, and in Manager and Financial Controller roles at public companies, including Anglo American PLC, and Subsea 7 S.A.. He has a Bachelor of Business and a Bachelor of Information Technology from the Queensland University of Technology.
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Catriona Brown
Vice President - Legal
Catriona has over eight years experience representing founder led businesses and investors in those businesses. At Cranemere, Catriona advises on all aspects of our acquisition and operating work. Prior to Cranemere, Catriona worked in the London office of Orrick, Herrington & Suttcliffe, representing clients in the UK, US, Europe and Africa in relation to investments and M&A, often with a cross border element. Catriona obtained her Bachelor of Laws with honors at Aberdeen University.
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Bartlomiej Grabowy
Associate
Bartlomiej focuses on identifying, evaluating and partnering with Cranemere's operating companies. Prior to joining Cranemere, Bartlomiej worked as Consultant at Simon-Kucher & Partners. He studied at University of Freiburg and received a Master of Science in Finance and Accounting from Warsaw School of Economics.
North America
New York & Washington DC
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Christopher Mahan
Senior Managing Director
Christopher has been acquiring and building businesses for over 25 years including 20 years working with Vincent Mai at AEA Investors where he retired as a Partner and CFO. He has led, co-led or been an integral executive with respect to the acquisition and development of 12 operating companies, including Cranemere’s first two operating businesses. He serves on the Board of Directors of Exemplis and Marmite and has served as Chairman of the Board of Marmite, Convenience Food Systems and CPG International (now AZEK). He has served as a board member of virtually all the companies he has worked with. He started his career at Bain & Company and was an original partner of OceanBridge Partners prior to joining Cranemere at its founding. He graduated from Amherst College with honors.
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Vivake Bhalla
Managing Director
Vivake has 20 years of experience acquiring and building businesses. He focuses on identifying, evaluating and partnering with Cranemere's operating companies. Prior to Cranemere, Vivake worked in management consulting for McKinsey & Company and as an investor in the clean energy, real estate and consumer sectors for Terra Firma Capital Partners and Qatar Holding. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Masters in Engineering from Imperial College, London.
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Evan Farber
General Counsel
Evan has more than twenty years of transactions, compliance, governance and legal experience, consisting of more than ten years as the Chief Legal Officer of The Advisory Board Company, which was a publicly-traded company focused on the health care and education industries until its successful sale. At The Advisory Board Company, Mr. Farber also managed its legal, privacy, information security, business affairs, real estate and information technology functions. Prior to The Advisory Board Company, Evan was a partner at Hogan & Hartson LLP (now Hogan Lovells). Mr. Farber is a graduate of Binghamton University (SUNY) and The George Washington University Law School.
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Eric Minkove
Managing Director
Eric has been acquiring, building and leading businesses for nearly 20 years, including more than 10 years working with Jeffrey Zients. He leads Cranemere’s Healthcare and Business Services groups. Prior to Cranemere, Eric has been the CEO of PSA Healthcare and BestPractices and a Partner with TPG Growth and Portfolio Logic. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BBA in Finance from James Madison University.
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Diana Propper de Callejon
Managing Director
Diana has over 20 years of experience backing and building purpose-led companies. She focuses on identifying, evaluating and partnering with Cranemere's operating companies. Prior to Cranemere, Diana was co-managing partner at Expansion Capital Partners, providing growth capital and was a board member of companies in sustainability markets including green building, energy services, and resource efficiency. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University.
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Harry Crosby
Senior Advisor
Harry has over 25 years experience advising and acquiring businesses. He focuses on identifying and evaluating Cranemere’s potential operating companies. Prior to Cranemere, Harry was a Partner at Snow Phipps, a private equity firm, and was Group Head and Managing Director of the Financial Sponsors Group at Merrill Lynch, in addition to working at Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers earlier in his career. Harry has an M.B.A. from Fordham University and a B.F.A. from LAMDA College.
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Sanford Krieger
Special Counsel
Sandy has been advising private holding companies and investment vehicles for more than 35 years with a focus on legal strategies, fundraising, deployment of capital, compliance, regulation and governance. He was a senior partner in the New York and London offices of Fried Frank, was a partner and General Counsel at AEA Investors from 2003- 2013, and has been with Cranemere since 2013. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Cornell University.
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Minesh Mistry
Principal
Minesh has nearly 20 years of experience as an investor, entrepreneur and operator. He focuses on identifying, evaluating and partnering with Cranemere's operating companies. Prior to Cranemere, he co-founded a consumer technology business that was acquired by Groupon and spent nearly a decade as an investor at General Atlantic focused on healthcare technology and services. Minesh began his career at Morgan Stanley. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School, and a Bachelor of Science of Public Health with Honors from UNC-Chapel Hill.
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Meagan Barkett
Vice President
Meagan has over fifteen years of experience as a health care operator. She focuses on identifying, evaluating and partnering with Cranemere operating companies. Prior to Cranemere, Meagan spent over ten years at The Advisory Board Company in a variety of roles, including leadership of the revenue cycle consulting and technology division. She also led the development of the firm’s value-based care technology and consulting assets. She has an MBA from The Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.
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Jackie Kier
Vice President
Jackie focuses on identifying, evaluating and partnering with Cranemere's operating companies. Prior to Cranemere, Jackie served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the National Economic Council (NEC) at The White House in the Obama Administration, working alongside Jeffrey Zients. Jackie began her career working in financial services at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Jefferies & Co. She has an MBA from The Wharton School and an AB from Dartmouth College.
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John Morley
Vice President
John has seven years of experience investing in and advising businesses. He focuses on identifying, evaluating and partnering with Cranemere's operating companies. Prior to Cranemere, John spent several years at Greenbriar Equity Group, a private equity firm focused on investments in the logistics, distribution and transportation sectors. John began his career at Citigroup in its investment banking division. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, with a concentration in Finance.
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Conor Fennessy
Associate
Conor focuses on identifying, evaluating and partnering with Cranemere's operating companies. Prior to joining Cranemere, Conor was an Investment Banking Analyst in Citigroup's Global Industrials Group. He received a Bachelor of Applied Science with Honours in Economics and Management from the University of St Andrews.
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Yanpei Huang
Associate
Yanpei focuses on identifying, evaluating and partnering with Cranemere's operating companies. Prior to joining Cranemere, Yanpei was an Investment Banking Analyst in Morgan Stanley's Global Industrials Group. She received a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service with Honors in International Political Economy from Georgetown University.
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Tiki Mpofu
Associate
Tiki focuses on identifying, evaluating and partnering with Cranemere's operating companies. Prior to joining Cranemere, he worked at McKinsey & Company where he worked on private equity engagements in the industrial sector. He received a B.S. in Economics with Honors from the University of Pennsylvania.
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Eric Welter
Associate
Eric focuses on identifying, evaluating and partnering with Cranemere's operating companies. Prior to joining Cranemere, Eric was a Private Equity Associate at Castanea Partners, and he began his career as an Investment Banking Analyst in Lazard's Middle Market Advisory Group. He received a B.B.A. in Finance and a B.A. in Spanish, both with High Distinction, from the University of Iowa
Our Shareholders
Our shareholders are major families and institutions from the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, Latin America, and the Middle East.
Many of our shareholders have built businesses over multiple generations. They share our vision of long-term value creation and play an active role by lending their expertise.
Our shareholders have joined us because we manage risk carefully with conservative leverage; our model is a highly cost-efficient model for compounding free cash flow; we have an engaged, shareholder-led governance structure; aligned management incentives; and a long-term orientation that builds greater value in our companies.