PIONEER CAPITAL MANAGEMENT - Key Persons


J. Peter Pierce - CEO, Founder

Job Titles:
  • Chief Executive Officer
  • Founder
  • Private Equity Partner
Peter founded Pioneer Capital, LP in September of 2000. Peter also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Pierce Leahy Corporation and CEO of its predecessor company, Pierce Business Archives. He successfully orchestrated Pierce Leahy's Initial Public Offering on the New York Stock Exchange on July 1, 1997 as well as its $1.2 billion merger with Iron Mountain, in 2000 creating the world's largest records and information management company. In addition to his role with Pioneer, from October 2007 to October 2012, Peter was President and CEO of Retrievex, a firm he founded in a partnership with Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, the largest private equity investor in the information/business services and healthcare industries. Under his leadership, Retrievex emphasized the same outstanding commitment to customer service that was the hallmark of Pierce Leahy. The company was specifically formed to provide the necessary financial resources and leadership necessary to capitalize on the continuing trend of consolidation in the records and information management industry and to meet today's diverse customer needs for records information management services that now span a broad range of record types. The company was acquired by Access Information Management on October 5, 2012 and its operations throughout the United States and Costa Rica continue under the Access name. Peter also briefly served as CEO of Telespectrum in 2000, where he was responsible for the company's recapitalization. He also served on the boards of Pierce Leahy, Iron Mountain, Telespectrum, Houghton Chemical and Retrievex and currently serves as a member of the board of trustees of the Leo & Peggy Pierce Family Foundation. Peter attended the University of Pennsylvania and served in the United States Marine Corps. Peter has over 20 years of business, finance and investing experience. Beginning in 1997, Peter worked for Salomon Smith Barney's investment banking team in New York and London. His work primarily involved underwriting and M&A transactions (equity, leveraged finance, buy-side and sell-side) for private equity sponsors, technology and industrial companies. In 2000, Peter joined Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, a venture capital fund focused on investing in early stage technology companies. As a member of the UK and US venture capital investment team he helped source, evaluate and manage a portfolio of early stage technology companies. Since 2001 Peter has been working in various capacities for Pioneer Capital Management, LLC. In 2007, Pioneer partnered with Welsh, Carson, Andersen & Stowe to create Retrievex, a hardcopy records management company. Pioneer helped actively manage the company until 2012 when it was successfully sold to Access Information Management. Prior to starting his full-time career, Peter worked for Pierce Leahy Corporation in the operations and finance departments. Peter graduated from Tulane University's A.B. Freeman School of Business with a Bachelor of Science in Management Degree - Concentration in Accounting. Peter also served as a member of the Leo & Peggy Pierce Family Foundation investment committee, and is the founder of Pierce Investment Management, LLC.

Joseph A. Nezi

Job Titles:
  • Senior Managing Director - Merger & Acquisition Advisory & Consulting
Joe graduated from Villanova University and served in the United States Army Military Intelligence. Joe, who spent 15 years in various sales and sales management positions with Xerox, has over 25 years of experience in the records and information management industry. After leaving Xerox, Joe was the Vice President / General Manager of a Commercial Office Product Company orchestrating its turnaround, resulting in the companies ultimate sale as the Office Products industry consolidated. He then started his records management career at Pierce Leahy where he built the leading sales organization in the industry and helped grow the company's annual revenue from $50 million to $400 million. He continued his records management career at Retrievex where he was initially responsible for their sales and marketing effort and was subsequently given the additional responsibility for developing and implementing their acquisition strategy. As a result of understanding owners' goals and developing close and trusting relationships, Retrievex acquired 15 records management companies valued at $100 million. He has spoken at numerous PRISM conferences on the subject of sales and marketing and increasing company valuation through revenue growth.

Pierce Leahy

Pierce Leahy Corporation evolved from Pierce Business Archives and was founded by Leo W. Pierce, Sr. in 1969 to provide outsourced records storage services for customers. The business initially operated out of the family's garage but grew revenue organically over the next 20 years to $20 million annually by expanding its service offering in the north-east region of the United States. After becoming President of Pierce Business Archives in 1984, J. Peter Pierce orchestrated Pierce Business Archives' acquisition of Leahy Business Archives in 1990, making Pierce Leahy a national records and information management company with annual revenue of $40 million. Peter then led the company's successful initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange on July 1, 1997. As owner operators during the 7 years between 1992 and 1999, Pierce Leahy acquired and integrated more than 65 records and information management companies, both domestic and international. As a result of rapid internal and acquisition growth, Pierce Leahy expanded to nearly 250 facilities in 76 markets throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America and Europe. In February 2000, Pierce Leahy and Iron Mountain merged to create the world's largest records and information management company. At the time of the merger Pierce Leahy had an enterprise value of $1.2 billion, 3,500 employees and approximately $400 million of annual revenue. Following the merger Peter became President of Iron Mountain and a member of the Iron Mountain Board of Directors.