Members on the Move

LaPorta Joins The DAK Group

Len LaPorta has joined boutique investment bank The DAK Group as managing director. As a veteran with three decades in this space, LaPorta has advised on and negotiated transactions for a diverse set of industries. Prior to joining The DAK Group, he was a managing director at several investment firms, the most recent being Pickwick Capital Partners where he led the firm’s diversified industrial and manufacturing sector practice. Previously, he was the owner of Crystal R&D, a precision contract manufacturing firm specializing in medical devices, aerospace and highly engineered products. He also served in the United States Navy for five years as a Surface Warfare Officer.

Launching Hospitality Management Division, Capstone Equities Names Sparacino as President, CEO

New York-based private equity firm Capstone Equities has announced that it will self-manage its portfolio of hotels with the launch of Rebel Hospitality. To lead this venture, Capstone Equities hired hospitality veteran Brian Sparacino as president and chief executive officer. Sparacino was formerly managing director with Evolution Hospitality. He previously spent more than a decade in various senior leadership roles with Interstate Hotels & Resorts, which included overseeing Blackstone-owned portfolios, and creating and leading Interstate’s independent lifestyle division, INTRIGUE Hotels & Resorts.

Prairie Adds Waller As Managing Director

Prairie Capital Advisors, a corporate advisory and investment banking firm headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, has added John Waller as a managing director in the firm’s investment banking group. Waller boasts nearly 25 years of investment banking experience, and has provided mergers and acquisitions services to private companies, large corporations and PE firms. His work includes the sale of companies in industries ranging from medical device components to video surveillance systems to heavy-duty trucks and industrial pumps. Prior to joining Prairie, Waller worked at Lincoln International, Credit Suisse and Plaisance Advisors, a firm he founded and ran for more than 10 years.

Mno-Bmadsen Names Martinez CEO 

Mno-Bmadsen, the non-gaming investment arm of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, has named Julio Martinez as chief executive officer of the independent entity. Martinez is the former chief financial officer of the investment vehicle, and has been serving as acting CEO since January. Martinez’s election to the CEO role was met with a unanimous vote by the board of directors, according to a press statement. The Dowagiac, Michigan-based firm Mno-Bmadsen, which is derived from the Pokagon phrase “the good path,” has grown its investment portfolio to include more than 300 employees within the family of companies, more than $140 million in combined annual revenues and a growing federal contracting operation.

Read more about Mno-Bmadsen and other investing activities by tribe-affiliated entities in a 2020 Middle Market Growth feature story, “Native American Investors Chart a New Path.”

Resurgens Expands Portfolio Operations Team

Atlanta-based private equity firm Resurgens Technology Partners has added a number of industry professionals to its team: Jon Ingram (top) as principal of portfolio operations, Edward Kenna (middle) as vice president of portfolio operations and Nigel Brown (bottom) as operating executive for sales. Ingram and Kenna will work together to manage value creation initiatives across Resurgens’ portfolio. Ingram brings more than 20 years of M&A, strategic planning, sales and marketing experience to the team, and was most recently senior vice president of corporate development at Applied Systems, an insurance technology firm. Kenna spent four years working at Raptor Technologies, a school safety solutions provider, and before this he was an investment banking associate in the technology group at Stephens. Brown has more than three decades of experience leading global sales organizations for technology-focused organizations and previously served as president of Global Channels and Alliances at Micro Focus.