Gregory J. Corona

Chairman & Founder
Greg is the Chairman and Founder of Lakewood & Company, the successor entity to Lakewood Capital which he founded in 2005. Greg has more than 30 years of operating and investment experience as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director in the areas of manufacturing, technology, financial services, private equity and venture capital. He has been the lead principal or a participant in more than 50 institutional investments and transactions across various industries in the United States, Europe and China. Greg was also an Executive Advisor to DE Shaw where he provided operational and strategic assistance to numerous investments in the Industrials and Special Situations sectors. He was one of the original partners of Paladin Capital Group, a multi-stage private equity firm with over $1 billion under management and currently serves as a member of the Boards of Directors of certain Lakewood investments.

Greg received a Bachelors Degree in Finance from Michigan State University and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Detroit. He has completed Executive Education Programs at the Harvard Business School and the National Association of Corporate Directors where he received the Certificate of Director Education.

greg@lakewoodcompany.com

Jim Aviles

Operating Partner – Financial Services
Jim has over 29 years as a senior executive in the electronic payments and financial services industries. He has served as an executive in the Merchant Services Division of Bank of America and subsequently as Senior Vice President of Product, Technology and Marketing for BA Merchant Services, Inc., where he led the IPO and contributed to the creation of more than $1 billion of market value. In 1999, he became a founder of Merchant e-Solutions, Inc. (“MeS”), an electronic payments technology company, which was sold to Cielo S.A. in 2012 for $670 million. Since the sale of MeS, Jim has maintained his engagement in the electronic payments and financial services industries and is active as a member of several Board of Directors. He is also an investor and advisor to several early and middle stage companies in financial services including businesses in both Brazil and the United Kingdom.

Jim graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Carter Brenneman

Partner
Carter is responsible for due diligence and underwriting for select investments and portfolio company monitoring. Previously, Carter was a Vice President at BaseRock Partners, a middle-market investment bank focused on the architecture, engineering and construction industries where he was responsible for executing merger and acquisition, ESOP and other financial advisory engagements. Prior to BaseRock Partners, Carter held roles at Lochearn Capital, FMI Capital Advisors and Brookwood Associates.

Carter received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics degree from the University of Virginia and a Masters of Business Administration from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School with a concentration in Corporate Finance and Sustainable Enterprise.

Sam Brill

Strategic Partner
Sam is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Seventh Avenue Investments, an affiliate of a prominent New York Family Office. Sam is a results-driven CIO, Portfolio Manager, and Corporate Executive with more than 25 years of experience and a proven track record of delivering superior returns through direct public and private investments in a wide range of industries. As a former public company COO, he possesses a deep understanding of operational excellence and business processes to help portfolio companies with strategic planning, operations management, and business development. Overall, highly adaptable and thrives in fast-paced environments, leveraging strong business analysis, risk management, and problem-solving skills, to deliver exceptional results. Sam has also served as a Director for a number of private and public company Boards.

Sam is a graduate of Touro University with a Bachelor of Science in Finance, Magna Cum Laude

Michael Grenier

Strategic Partner
Michael has over 30 years of extensive experience with mergers and acquisitions and private placements of debt and equity capital. He is also the founder of Ballard Canyon Capital, an advisory firm providing senior-level mergers and acquisitions expertise to companies across a broad range of industries in the lower middle market. Michael brings a very unique perspective to private equity, having been an advisor and an investor in over 100 lower middle market transactions. Additionally, Michael maintains significant relationships in the financial community, particularly with respect to debt capital providers, such as banks and finance companies.

Prior to founding Ballard Canyon Capital, Michael spent fifteen years in senior positions at Cerberus Capital Management and Houlihan Lokey.  Before attending graduate school, he worked at ING Equity Partners, a New York based private equity firm, and in Continental Bank’s leveraged finance group.  Michael has also served on the board of directors and advisory boards for companies across a variety of industries, including business services, software, media and entertainment, manufacturing and home building.

Michael is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Anderson School at UCLA.

Christopher J. Hagan

Outside Counsel, Perkins Coie LLP
Christopher Hagan is a Partner at Perkins Coie, LLP and serves as outside legal counsel and advisor to Lakewood. Mr. Hagan focuses his practice in the areas of private equity transactions, mergers and acquisitions, growth equity investments and general corporate law, with a specialty in representing portfolio companies of private equity funds. Chris has more than 25 years of experience representing private equity investment funds, hedge funds, family offices, fundless sponsors, mezzanine investors and institutional investors. He works with fund clients embarking on leveraged buyouts and buildups, industry consolidations and related formation documents, debt and equity financings, management equity arrangements, venture financings and divestitures. Mr. Hagan has worked on more than 350 mergers and acquisitions and has represented more 75 portfolio companies of private equity funds in his career.

Mr. Hagan earned a JD from Duke University and a B.A. in Economics and Management from Albion College.

Phil Jansen

Executive Advisor
Phil Jansen is a highly experienced automotive leader with 40 years of diverse industry experience, specializing in the areas of product development, product strategy, manufacturing, and production execution. He recently retired from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, holding the title of Vice President and Head of Product Development with full Engineering responsibility for all vehicle lines (Jeep, Ram, Dodge & Chrysler) and a $1.6B annual budget. In prior roles with the company, Phil was Vice President – Vehicle Systems & Components, Vice President – Vehicle Engineering, Vehicle Line Executive/Chief Engineer on multiple new model vehicle programs, and numerous cross-functional director roles over his OEM career.  He has demonstrated expertise in building and leading high-performance teams to deliver benchmark automotive products, on-time results, and corporate profitability. In addition to his past corporate leadership, Phil also brings board and advisory experience and is currently President of Sable View Advisors LLC.

Phil holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Michigan.

Brandon Stanford

Operating Partner – Financial Systems & Capital Markets
Brandon Stanford is a seasoned finance executive known for driving operational efficiencies and creating shareholder value. He brings a diverse industry perspective from holding senior finance positions in both public and private companies as well as a variety of industries including manufacturing, hospitality and human capital management. Brandon’s portfolio of companies include Callaway Golf Company, Marriott International, American Capital and Eastridge Workforce Solutions.

Brandon received a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Management with a focus on International Finance from the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University and a Masters of Business Administration from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Rhondia Turano

Executive Advisor
Rhondia Turano is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of experience leading global operations and supply chain transformation across Fortune 500 companies. Her credentials span sourcing, procurement, logistics, trade compliance, packaging engineering, accounts payable, supplier quality, and manufacturing quality. She has successfully managed global spend portfolios ranging from $500 million to $18 billion and led large-scale transformations focused on driving cost and cash improvements, operational efficiency, and supply chain resilience.

Rhondia has held executive roles including Chief Procurement Officer and Senior Vice President at 3M, and leadership positions at General Electric, General Motors, Libbey Glass, and Owens-Illinois. Her ability to navigate complex global environments and cross-functional teams has delivered measurable results in both operational performance and strategic growth.

In addition to her corporate leadership, Rhondia also brings more than 15 years of board and advisory experience across public, private, and nonprofit sectors. She currently serves on the Executive Advisory Council at o9 Solutions, Inc., providing guidance on digital transformation, supplier collaboration, and integrated business planning—leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance enterprise-wide decision-making. She has also founded and co-founded several businesses, most recently Memories In Writing Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping individuals and families preserve their life stories.

Rhondia holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from Tiffin University.

Chetan Venkatesh

Strategic Advisor – Software and Infrastructure
Chetan is CEO and President of Macrometa Corp. and a repeat entrepreneur and executive focused on building enterprise data center, cloud infrastructure and software products & companies. He brings a strong competency in helping early stage teams identify and exploit product-market fit, develop early customer wins, develop strong channel and enterprise direct sales motions for scaling startups from pre-revenue to growth stage and profitability. Chetan is very experienced in building strong and productive teams in sales, product development, product management, stage-centric positioning with customers and partners, venture scaling and capital raising.

Prior to founding and managing Macrometa, Chetan was founder, CTO and then CEO of Atlantis Computing – a pioneering software defined storage company that won international acclaim for its use of smart data virtualization to accelerate and deliver data tor mission critical applications to the Fortune 1000.