CAMINO REAL CAPITAL PARTNERS - Key Persons


Bud Hamilton

Bud Hamilton attended DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana. Upon completing the BA requirements in 1964 as a Phi Beta Kappa, Bud went on to get his MBA at Harvard. Upon graduation from HBS in 1966, he joined the Procter & Gamble Company where he was employed for the next 37 years in various executive positions in Sales, Marketing, General Management. In the latter years of his career Bud served as President Eurocos (P&G Fine Fagrance Subsidiary), Vice President Customer Marketing North America, Vice President Customer Business Development North America, Vice President Global Innovation. Bud has broad board experience in both the national/international for-profit and local not-for-profit worlds. He is past Chair of the Promotion Marketing Association of America and served on the Domino's Pizza board (2005-2016). In Santa Fe he is past Vice Chair of The School for Advanced Research and currently serves on the boards of Santa Fe Community Foundation (Chair), Lensic Performing Arts Center, Cancer Foundation for New Mexico (Chair), Museum of New Mexico Foundation, Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, St. Vincent Hospital Support, and Santa Fe Municipal Airport Advisory.

Erik Wagner - Founder

Job Titles:
  • Co - Founder
  • Member of the Board
Mr. Wagner has been a co-founder, board member and held executive management positions in two venture backed spinal implant companies including Spinal Concepts (1996) and Flexuspine (2005). At Spinal Concepts, he and his partners raised over $45 million in venture capital leading the company to profitability in less than six years on sales exceeding $10 million/month and growing at 70% CAGR. He left Spinal Concepts following the sale of the company to Abbott Labs for $170 million in 2003. His proven record for innovation and leadership has continued at Flexuspine with the development and clinical investigation of the world's first spinal segmental reconstruction device. He has over 70 patents on devices ranging from spinal implants to cardiovascular atherectomy devices and currently serves on the board of directors at Flexuspine. He continues to serve as a business consultant and advisor to other medical device startups and investor groups.

Tom Nickoloff - Founder

Job Titles:
  • Founder
  • Managing Principal
tnickoloff@trnco.net Tom Nickoloff, Founder and Managing Principal at Camino Real Capital Partners, LLC ("CRCP"), is responsible for management and strategic planning activities. Mr. Nickoloff, as the founding member of CRCP, has been instrumental in building CRCP into a successful equity platform by leveraging his extensive management and technology experience developed in the Oil and Gas industry. Prior to forming CRCP, Mr. Nickoloff served in an executive management capacity for a number of Oil & Gas related entities, including: Estancia Oil and Gas, LLC, an upstream exploration and production company headquartered in Austin, Texas where Mr. Nickoloff has negotiated several large acquisition and divestiture transactions; and TRNCO Petroleum Corporation, a Geophysical Project Management company based in Midland, Texas where Mr. Nickoloff serves as President and Chief Geophysicist. Mr. Nickoloff has been credited in industry journals, and received awards for, the development, testing and implementation of many new seismic data acquisition methodologies and processing techniques and is considered one of the early adopters and innovators in the 3D seismic industry. Mr. Nickoloff is a proven technology innovator, successfully recognizing and developing emerging technologies, and has experience building and managing successful business ventures. Mr. Nickoloff earned a B.Sc. in Geophysical Engineering at The Colorado School of Mines.