BACKCAST PARTNERS - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Associate
• Member of the BACKCAST PARTNERS TEAM
• Vice President

Alex Menendez has joined Backcast Partners as an Associate on the investment team. Prior to joining Backcast in 2021, Alex was a Senior Consultant at FTI Consulting, a management consulting firm, where he provided restructuring advisory services to companies, lenders, and other creditors in both out-of-court and in-court workout situations. Prior to FTI, he was an Associate in the Asset Based Lending group at MidCap Financial, where he was responsible for underwriting senior financings to middle-market companies. Mr. Menendez received a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Virginia.

Job Titles:

• Head of Investor Relations
• Managing Director
• Managing Director of Investor Relations

Amon Johnson has joined Backcast Partners as a Managing Director and the Head of Investor Relations, with a primary focus on leading the firm's capital raising and investor relations activities. Amon joins after 3 years with PineBridge Investments where he served as a member of the senior management team for institutional sales in the Americas and a key member of PineBridge's Global Diversity and Inclusion committee. He was responsible for large market public and corporate pension plans, endowments and foundations across the US. Prior to joining PineBridge Investments in 2017, Amon enjoyed a 15-year career at BlackRock. At BlackRock, he was responsible for business development and relationship management in the Midwest and East regions, covering large market public funds and corporate plan sponsors. In previous positions at the firm, he covered corporates, endowments, foundations, and public fund plans nationally and managed a team supporting the coverage of the US plan sponsor market. Prior to BlackRock, Amon spent seven years at JP Morgan Investment Management, where he was responsible for all aspects of client services for a wide range of institutional clients. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business. "Amon is a world class investor relations and capital raising professional. Being able to secure the services of a talented professional like Amon is a testament to the kind of business we are building at Backcast, one that is focused on delivering value-additive, bespoke debt and equity capital solutions for both our borrowers and our investors," said David Petrucco, Managing Partner at Backcast Partners.

Job Titles:

• Member of the BACKCAST PARTNERS TEAM
• a Senior Support Specialist
• Author
• Senior Support Specialist

Andrea Campisi has joined Backcast Partners as a Senior Support Specialist. Prior to joining Backcast in 2021, Andrea was Director of Administrative Services at NGEN Partners, a private equity firm, where she managed the administrative and project management responsibilities for the firm. Prior to NGEN, Andrea was an Operations Manager at Icon Luxury Group, where she worked closely with clients to manage, coordinate, and execute deals globally. Andrea received a B.A. from Hofstra University's Lawrence Herbert School of Communication.

Job Titles:

• Author

Job Titles:

• Associate
• Member of the BACKCAST PARTNERS TEAM

Caelum Maloney has joined Backcast Partners as an Associate on the investment team. Prior to joining Backcast in 2022, Mr. Maloney was a Director in the Corporate Finance and Restructuring group at FTI Consulting, he provided strategic and financial advice to companies, lenders, and other creditors in out-of-court and in-court restructurings. Mr. Maloney received a B.S. in Management from Boston College.

Job Titles:

• Controller
• Member of the BACKCAST PARTNERS TEAM
• Controller for Backcast

Mr. Ng serves as the Controller for Backcast, working under Mr. Tomai. He serves in a similar role for Centre Partners which he joined in 2005. Prior thereto, he spent three years as a Senior Associate in the Financial Services Group at BDO USA, LLP which he joined after having worked five years as a Senior Associate in the Real Estate Group at McGladrey LLP. Mr. Ng received a B.B.A. in Accountancy from Baruch College.

Job Titles:

• Co - Founder
• Managing Partner
• Member of the BACKCAST PARTNERS TEAM
• Investor Information, Please Contact

Mr. Petrucco is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Backcast Partners. Backcast is a middle market direct investment business that invests debt and equity in traditional middle market companies, or companies with EBITDA typically in the $10M-$50M EBITDA range. Backcast invests alongside traditional PE firms, as well as with Independent (Fundless) PE Sponsors and family and management owned companies. Backcast prides itself on bringing differentiated value to its portfolio companies, including the use of its 50+ corporate operating partner network, that brings industry experience and contacts, IT and executive recruitment expertise and a host of other value added capabilities. Prior to Backcast, Mr. Petrucco was a Co-Founder of the middle market direct investment platform at Kayne Anderson, where he oversaw with his partner a team of 17 professionals located across the U.S. which invested in similar middle market companies across a variety of different credit funds. Prior to Kayne, he was a Managing Director in the Corporate Debt Group at Blackstone, a middle market focused direct debt and equity investment business. Prior to Blackstone, he assisted in the construction of a middle market debt and equity investment platforms at The Royal Bank of Scotland, where he headed North American debt and equity underwriting, syndications and sales and trading. Prior to RBS, he was the second hire in the construction of a similar platform at UBS. Mr. Petrucco began his career at Manufacturer's Hanover Trust after graduating from Boston College (1989) with a B.A. in Economics. He is a Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of the Executive Board of The Headstrong Project (www.getheadstrong.org), a non-profit charity that provides comprehensive treatment for Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans suffering the effects of PTSD and who are at risk for suicide. He is also a member of ProVetus (www.provetus.org), a non-profit that provides mentoring for returning U.S. combat veterans to assist them as they transition back into the civilian workforce. Additionally, he is a member of The Special Operations Fund, a charity whose primary mission is to provide financial support for higher education, in college or technical school, for families of personnel who have died in the line of duty while serving with certain units of the U.S. Special Operations Command (www.specialoperationsfund.com).

Job Titles:

• Co - Founder
• Managing Partner
• Member of the BACKCAST PARTNERS TEAM

Mr. Cerny is one of the longest tenured direct investors in the middle market, having begun his career in middle market investing at DLJ Merchant Banking Partners in 1993. Since that time, Mr. Cerny helped initiate a middle market leveraged finance and mezzanine effort at UBS Securities, served as a Managing Director in the formative years of The Blackstone Group's Corporate Debt Group which focused on structured debt and equity middle market investments, and was a Co-Managing Partner and Co-Founder of the middle market debt platform at Kayne Anderson. Mr. Cerny graduated from the University of Chicago (1999) with a J.D. / M.B.A. and from Pomona College (1992) where he received a B.A. in Government with honors and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. At Pomona he was an All American swimmer and was a captain of both the swimming and water polo teams. He currently serves on the Seton Hall University Board of Regents. Mr. Cerny is also an Eagle Scout.

Job Titles:

• Chief Financial Officer
• Member of the BACKCAST PARTNERS TEAM
• Chief Financial Officer for Backcast

Ms. Hurley serves as the Chief Financial Officer for Backcast. She serves in a similar role for Centre Partners which she joined in 2020. Ms. Hurley previously spent six years as the Management Company Controller at American Securities LLC and the 2 years prior to that role as Chief Financial Officer of The Arlon Group, both private equity firms. Prior thereto, Ms. Hurley spent 13 years at State Street Bank and Trust, where she held a variety of roles in their private equity fund administration business. She started her career at PwC. Ms. Hurley received a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Scranton, an M.B.A. from Seton Hall University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Job Titles:

• Managing Partner
• Member of the BACKCAST PARTNERS TEAM
• Managing Partner at Backcast
• Managing Partner at Backcast, Sai
• Managing Partner, Head of Sourcing and Transaction Development

Mark Gudis has more than 30 years of senior level experience investing in middle market companies at industry leading firms. Mr. Gudis began his career in the mid-1980's working in Leveraged Finance at Bank of America, Citibank, Toronto Dominion Bank and Barclays Bank. He later served as a Senior Vice President and the Head of Sponsor Finance in the middle market for GE Capital Corporation from 1993-1999, where he managed the Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York offices. Mr. Gudis joined The Blackstone Group's Corporate Debt Group in 1999 upon its inception where he focused on middle market structured debt and equity investments. As a Partner and investment committee member at Blackstone, he served as the head of sourcing and transaction development. Prior to Backcast, Mr. Gudis was the founder and Head of the Private Debt Capital Group at S.A.C. Capital where he sourced, invested, and managed over $2 billion of firm capital in a variety of debt and equity securities mainly in the middle market. Mr. Gudis graduated from USC (1985) with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business and is a long-time Advisory Board Member for the USC Marshall School of Business. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Nuvance Health and chairs its Investment Committee. Mr. Gudis was also the former Chairman of the Board of Norwalk Hospital. Mark Gudis, Managing Partner at Backcast, said: "the addition of Ryan and Ronen to the Backcast team further expands the bandwidth and strengths of the team. In Ronen's case, his nearly six years of experience in lending and working through complex situations will allow him to immediately contribute to the investment team. In Ryan's case, we've worked with Ryan for over six years as an L.P. in our funds and as an active co-investor in many of our investments. His diverse breadth of competencies and senior leadership will significantly increase our ability to execute as we continue to opportunistically expand our business and prudently deploy our investors' capital." Mark Gudis, Managing Partner at Backcast, said: "Caelum brings nearly five years of experience working on complex lending transactions which will allow him to immediately contribute to the investment team. His strong business and financial analytics, thorough understanding of credit documentation, and diverse transaction experience will leverage and enhance our growing team. We look forward to significant contributions from Caelum." Mark Gudis, Managing Partner at Backcast said: "We have known Ravi for a long time, so we're familiar with the wealth of leveraged credit investment experience he brings and know he will further enhance our already strong capabilities at Backcast. Ravi will also bring a powerful approach to investment execution given his business and legal knowledge. We are excited to have him join the team at a time when we are busy evaluating opportunities and investing our capital." Mark Gudis, Managing Partner at Backcast, said: "the addition of Alex and Andrea to the Backcast team further expands the core competencies and capabilities of the team. In Alex's case, his nearly five years of experience in lending and working through complex situations will allow him to immediately contribute to the investment team. The hiring of Andrea, with nine years of experience, will enable us to have a dedicated resource to support our research, marketing, and fundraising efforts, in addition to managing our CRM system".

Job Titles:

• Backcast As an Analyst

Mary King has joined Backcast as an Analyst on the investment team. Mary joined Backcast in July upon graduating from Northeastern University, where she earned a B.S. in Business Administration with concentrations in Finance, Accounting and Management Information Systems. Mary earned the distinction of being a Scholars Independent Research Fellowship recipient, graduated with Honors and was a published author in the Harvard Business Review. Mary participated in Northeastern's co-op program, working at PwC as a management consultant within the M&A group, Hercules Capital as an investment analyst and Goldman Sachs within the client relationship management group. Mary was named as one of the Best & Brightest Business Undergraduates of 2019 by Poets & Quants. Mr. Gudis added: "I can't recall ever interviewing a candidate who accomplished as much as Mary did while she was in college. She consistently excelled academically and spent a meaningful period of her time in school working for some of the best investment and financial services firms in the industry. In addition, Mary has invested meaningful time in various mentoring and charitable efforts, a character trait that really matters to us. We couldn't be happier to have her as a member of our team."

Job Titles:

• Controller
• Member of the BACKCAST PARTNERS TEAM

Ms. Zheng joined Backcast in 2024. She brings over nineteen years of diverse experience in financial services to her role as Controller at Backcast. Previously serving as Vice President at HPS Investment Partners, she oversaw financial reporting and compliance for foreign management company vehicles. Prior to that, she held positions at Ernst & Young, JPMorgan Chase, Sanne Group (acquired by Apex) and FIS, working with private capital firms with various types of investment strategies. Ms. Zheng holds a B.S.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from Georgetown University and is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the State of New York.

Job Titles:

• Member of the BACKCAST PARTNERS TEAM
• Principal

Neil Chirite joined Backcast in 2018. Mr. Chirite is focused in the sourcing, due diligence and monitoring of both debt and equity investments. Prior to joining Backcast, Mr. Chirite was an investment banking Associate in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Citi. Prior to Citi, Mr. Chirite was an analyst at Mooring Capital, a private investment group, and Cambridge Associates, an investment consulting firm. Mr. Chirite received a B.S. from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Job Titles:

• Associate
• Member of the BACKCAST PARTNERS TEAM
• Vice President

Peter Eiseman has joined Backcast Partners as an Associate on the investment team. Prior to joining Backcast in 2020, Peter was an Analyst at Lincoln International, a middle-market investment bank, where he evaluated investments made by private credit and equity funds. Prior to Lincoln, Peter was an Associate in the Banking & Capital Markets Group at PwC, where he earned a CPA auditing broker-dealers. Peter received a B.S.B.A, cum laude, from Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.

Job Titles:

• Member of the BACKCAST PARTNERS TEAM
• Principal
• Backcast As a Principal

Ravi Pillay joined Backcast in 2019. Mr. Pillay is focused in the sourcing, due diligence and monitoring of both debt and equity investments. Prior to Backcast, Mr. Pillay was a Director on the Leveraged Finance team of Citizens Financial Group, where he structured, negotiated and executed leveraged finance transactions for both private equity and non-private equity owned middle-market companies. Prior to Citizens, he was at MidCap Financial, a direct lender affiliated with Apollo Global Management, where he also focused on transaction execution for middle-market companies. Mr. Pillay started his career as a Leveraged Finance attorney at Paul Hastings representing issuers and investors in bank and bond transactions. Mr. Pillay earned a B.A. in Economics from Trinity College (CT) and a J.D., cum laude, from American University, Washington College of Law. At Trinity, he captained the Men's Lacrosse team and was an All-Conference player. Ravi Pillay has joined Backcast as a Principal, with a primary focus on transaction origination, execution and portfolio management. Ravi joins after six years with Citizens Financial Group, the middle market leveraged finance unit previously spun out of RBS. Ravi was a Director and responsible for all aspects of deal execution and credit underwriting. Prior to Citizens/RBS, Ravi spent three years at MidCap Financial, Apollo's middle market direct lending platform, where he focused on transaction execution. Upon graduation from law school in 2008, Ravi was an Associate for two years at Paul Hastings, where he worked on leveraged finance transactions. Ravi received a B.A. in Economics from Trinity College and a J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law. Ravi also has the distinction of having played professional lacrosse in Perth, Australia.

Job Titles:

• Associate
• Member of the BACKCAST PARTNERS TEAM

Ronen Barak recently joined Backcast Partners as an Associate. Prior to joining Backcast, Mr. Barak was a Senior Associate at Oak View Group, an investment firm specializing in sports, entertainment, and hospitality, where he was responsible for evaluating new investments and arranging financings for the firm's portfolio. Prior to Oak View Group, Mr. Barak was an investment banking Associate Director in the Leveraged Finance & Financial Sponsors group at UBS, and an investment banking Analyst in the Bank Debt Investment Group at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey (now Truist). Mr. Barak received a B.S. in Finance and Technology Management from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.

Job Titles:

• Member of the BACKCAST PARTNERS TEAM
• Principal
• Principal from Siguler Guff

Ryan Stuckert joined Backcast in 2023. Mr. Stuckert is focused in the sourcing, due diligence and monitoring of both debt and equity investments. Prior to Backcast, Mr. Stuckert was a Principal and Investment Committee member of the Siguler Guff credit team. At Siguler Guff, Mr. Stuckert led investments in both corporate credit and specialty finance opportunities including structured credit transactions and other alternative lending opportunities. Mr. Stuckert also served as a director or board observer for several portfolio companies. Prior to joining Siguler Guff in 2010, Mr. Stuckert was an Investment Banking Analyst at Jefferies & Company, Inc. He was a member of the firm's Technology Group where he focused on various sectors including the Internet & IT, communications and digital media. Mr. Stuckert holds a B.S. in Economics with a concentration in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Engineering with a concentration in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science. He has been a CFA charterholder since 2014.

Job Titles:

• Chief Administrative Officer
• Member of the BACKCAST PARTNERS TEAM
• Chief Administrative Officer for Backcast
• Chief Administrative Officier

Mr. Tomai serves as the Chief Administrative Officer for Backcast. He serves in a similar role for Centre Partners which he joined in 2001. Prior thereto, he was Senior Vice President and Assistant Treasurer of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp. which he joined after 13 years with the Bank of New York. Mr. Tomai is also a founding general partner of AspenTree Capital, a private investment firm specializing in public securities and venture capital investments for managed accounts. Mr. Tomai is not active in the day-to-day managing of individual accounts of AspenTree Capital. He currently serves on the advisory board of Palisades Ventures, LLC. He previously served on the Boards of Centre Pacific Holdings LLC, Gray Energy Services LLC, and MB Investment Partners and Associates LLC. Mr. Tomai received a B.S. from Vanderbilt University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.