VICENTE CAPITAL PARTNERS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate
- Senior Associate With
Daren is a Senior Associate with Vicente Capital Partners, where he focuses on sourcing and evaluating new investments in B2B software and professional services businesses.
Prior to joining Vicente Capital, Daren was responsible for sourcing, identifying, evaluating, and executing investments in technology-enabled business services companies and portfolio company management for ClearPoint Investment Partners. He previously worked at Lincoln International as an investment banking analyst where he executed a variety of middle-market corporate finance and M&A transactions in the Mergers and Acquisitions and Financial Sponsors groups.
Daren earned his B.A. in Business Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and currently sits on the Associates board for the UCLA Economics Department - Board of Visitors.
Jason is a Principal with Vicente Capital Partners, where he focuses on sourcing and evaluating investments in software, internet, technology, and healthcare businesses, as well as providing operational and strategic support to portfolio companies.
Prior to joining Vicente Capital, Jason was responsible for sourcing new investments, performing due diligence, and working with senior management teams to structure and execute transactions at Shepherd Ventures. Prior to Shepherd Ventures, Jason worked in design engineering, project management, and technical marketing roles at Entropic Communications (Nasdaq:ENTR) where he was responsible for the design and development of cable home networking chipsets used by Verizon and DirecTV to provide high speed internet and cable TV service. An Entropic, Jason was also a key contributor to the development of the MoCA cable home networking standard (the de facto cable home networking standard in the U.S.) and a significant contributor to the company's patented intellectual property portfolio.
Earlier in his career, Jason founded and ran a business that provided design services and developed intellectual property used in a variety of integrated circuit and chipset applications. He also worked in design engineering and management roles at ViaSat, Broadband Innovations, Logic Innovations, and Tiernan Communications. Jason is the holder of multiple U.S. Patents related to Channel Response Calculations in OFDM Receivers and he also holds a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College with distinction, and an M.B.A. with high distinction as a Carter Fellow and a Venture Fellow from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.
Jay has over 25 years of private equity experience. Prior to co-founding Vicente Capital Partners, he was a Partner at Kline Hawkes & Company, a Los Angeles-based growth equity firm, which he joined at the firm's inception in 1995. During his tenure at Kline Hawkes & Company, he was actively involved in substantially all of Kline Hawkes' investments and was a member of the investment committees for both Kline Hawkes California, L.P. and Kline Hawkes Pacific, L.P. Selected past board seats and board observer positions include: Advanced Products Corporation, CampusLink Communications, Evant, MicroNet Technologies, Overture Services (formerly GoTo.com), TranSoft Networks, UFO Communications (which was acquired by Cogent Communications), and VXi Corporation. Jay began his career in the investment banking industry, having worked for both Merrill Lynch & Co. and Smith Barney Inc. While at Merrill Lynch, he was a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Group and the General Corporate Finance Group. From 1989 to 1994, he worked on over 30 public and private transactions for numerous emerging growth and middle market companies.
Jay received a B.B.A. in Finance from Southern Methodist University and an M.B.A. from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. At the Anderson School, he was named a Toigo Fellow and a Venture Capital Fellow. Mr. Ferguson is a member of the Board of Trustees for The Wildwood School, the Toigo Board of Directors and a member of the Board of Advisors at UCLA Anderson. In June 2006, he was named to Black MBA Magazine's list of "Top 50 Under 50" Corporate Executives for 2006. In 2017, he received the Leading By Example Award from the Toigo Foundation. Jay is a past-president of the UCLA Anderson School's Alumni Association, and was the recipient of the 2006 UCLA Anderson Outstanding Alumni Service Award. He is a former member of the Steering Committee for the Cedars-Sinai Sports Spectacular, and served on the Board of Governors for NASBIC from 1999-2001.
Job Titles:
- Director of Finance
- Partners' Director of Finance
Kimberly (Kim) is Vicente Capital Partners' Director of Finance. She has 20+ years of experience in private equity industry back-office finance department management. Kim previously worked at Kline Hawkes & Co. as the Director of Finance and at Brentwood Associates, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm as Controller. Her responsibilities include cash management and day-to-day financial and tax reporting functions.
Kim earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting at Loyola Marymount University, is a certified public accountant in California and began her career with Ernst and Young.
Klaus has over 22 years of private equity experience. Prior to co-founding Vicente Capital Partners, he was a Principal at Kline Hawkes & Company, a Los Angeles-based growth equity firm, which he joined in 1998. Mr. Koch began his career with the LEK Partnership where he focused on strategic M&A projects and privatization support for the German government. Mr. Koch later went on to work with Goldman Sachs in Mergers and Acquisitions where he worked on numerous M&A transactions in diverse areas such as medical devices, satellite equipment and services, paper products and car rental services. In 1996, Mr. Koch joined Bain & Co. in their LBO, Technology and Healthcare practices. During his time at Bain, Mr. Koch advised such firms as Apollo Advisors, McCown De Leeuw, TRW, and SGI. Mr. Koch has been involved with numerous successful investments including: Transoft Networks (sold to HP), Sensor Systems (MBO), Alta Healthcare (MBO), VXi (Sold to GN Nord), iBwave (Sold to Corning), Rent.com (sold to Ebay) and CaseStack (Sold to Hub Group).
Klaus received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School with distinction and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Wharton School, summa cum laude. He is also an active participant in the Southern California growth capital and private equity community. He previously served on the board of the Los Angeles Venture Association (LAVA) for several years. Klaus has also been involved with and spoken at numerous events sponsored by UCLA, USC, Harvard, and Cornell.
Krishnan is a Special Advisor to Vicente Capital Partners and has been a senior investment professional in three prior private equity partnerships over the last fifteen years.
Krishnan previously was a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Kayne Anderson Private Investors, helping to raise and invest three institutional private equity funds focused on growth capital and buyouts for profitable middle-market companies. He has invested across all sectors including software, business services, telecom, consumer goods, manufacturing, retail and government contracting.
Before Kayne Anderson, Krishnan held senior positions in the private equity groups of Thomas Weisel Partners and Trust Company of the West. Prior to that, he was a consultant with McKinsey & Company and served clients in the energy, healthcare and financial services industries. Earlier in his career, Krishnan was an investment banker with Merrill Lynch, raising growth capital for public and private middle market companies.
He received an M.B.A. in Finance from The Wharton School and a Bachelor of Science and Engineering from Princeton University.
Krishnan is registered as a General Securities Representative (Series 63 and 79) with Fallbrook Capital Securities Corp.
Nick has over 20 years of private equity experience. An accomplished President and COO, Nick leverages his expertise in sales and marketing, operations, and direct line executive management to provide unique and valuable insight into managing, building, and profitably scaling organizations. Prior to co-founding Vicente Capital Partners, he was a Partner at Kline Hawkes & Co., a Los Angeles-based growth equity firm, and he served as a member of the investment committee for Kline Hawkes Pacific, L.P.
Nick was Chairman and CEO of Rayne Water Corporation, which was sold to Advent International through their portfolio company Culligan International. Rayne Water Corporation was the leading residential water services company in the Southwest with both extensive company owned and dealer operations. Previously, he was a Board member of Keylime Software, which was acquired by Yahoo. In addition, he was Chairman of the Board of Environmental Services Group and IPMobileNet, Inc. and a Board member of Bluetrain Software.
Prior to his time at Kline Hawkes & Co., Nick was a Founding Executive and member of the Board of Directors of USFilter Corporation (NYSE: USF), a Fortune 300 company and the leading global provider of water and wastewater treatment systems, products, and services. He was at the center of USF's strategy to consolidate the water industry and played a key role in the growth of the company's revenue from $17 million to $5.2 billion. He was President and COO of the USF Process Water Group, which was a $1 billion revenue water equipment services business. It focused on many markets, including the microelectronics, pharmaceutical, power, laboratory, universities, and hospitals. He identified, executed, and led the buildup of the largest and most profitable recurring revenue business inside USF. Today, this business remains the most profitable and attractive segment in the water industry, which many investors and managers have been trying to emulate.
Nick currently serves on the Board of Advisors of the UCLA Anderson School of Mangement's Entrepreneurial Studies Center and was a recipient of the Drexel University College of Engineering Alumni Circle of Distinction Award. He received an M.B.A. from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, where he was a Venture Capital Fellow, and a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University.
Job Titles:
- Operating Executive
- Special Advisor
Todd Tappin is a seasoned investing and operating executive spanning multiple stages of a company's growth. Todd has generated high positive returns from his investments as both a Managing Partner in private equity as well as a CFO leading M&A strategies. His operating experience includes building two start-ups to large public companies, leading two IPO's, successfully restructuring a $1 billion company and executing lucrative exits. He is a strategist with strong leadership skills guiding companies through growth (domestic and international) and challenges, which has yielded billions in shareholder value.
Todd has been recognized for exceptional execution, governance and financial success, including being awarded the CFO of the Year by the Los Angeles Business Journal. Todd has extensive experience in public speaking and presenting, including appearances on CNBC and many of the largest investor conferences. Todd also serves on the Board of Directors (Audit Committee Chair) of Spin Master [TOY.TO], one of the world's largest toy companies.