Bryan Wood
Partner
Bryan Wood serves as a Partner for MVC. Bryan is a well known venture capital thought leader, and was a Founding Partner of Alta Berkely, a London based venture capital firm. He has more than 25 years’ experience in venture capital, investing in Europe and the USA and has overseen 11 successful IPOs, and brings the “Homerun focus” philosophy to MVC. He gained a BSIE from Virginia Tech and an MBA from Harvard University. Alta Berkeley manages venture capital funds investing in communications, information technology, media and health care companies in Western Europe (12 countries), USA and Israel. Principal fundraiser for six Venture Capital funds. As an investor 25% of companies went public, 1 in 8 were “Home Runs”
Michael Gitelmaker
Chairman, Partner & CEO
Michael Gitelmaker is the General Partner at Maximus Value Capital Partners. MVCP is a multi-strategy private equity investment firm, an experienced generalist investor focused on value deals with a strong growth component making debt and equity investments across the middle market.
Michael has longstanding, deep personal and professional relations with some of the wealthiest family offices and syndicates in Europe and Asia, representing over $6 Billion dollars in capital for investments and acquisitions. He has participated in raising and managing large venture capital and private equity funds. A seasoned investor and thought leader in varied industries including life sciences, technology commercialization, real estate, enterprise software, agri-tech, entertainment investment, telecommunications technology, government contracting and government relations, internet and broadband infrastructure, direct sales and marketing and mass media advertising and promotions. Over the last few years has been focused on developing a new business paradigm, combining numerous aspects from variegated industries and drawing on his creative genius and on many decades of our teams experience and expertise in numerous fields, that we believe will allow us to unveil a number of major global industry disrupting and market dominating conglomerates.
John Cooper
Former President of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Partner, Asset Manager Capital
John Cooper has led a highly successful career of more than 25 years in the financial sector as an executive, advisor and partner. He is a recognized leader in piloting organizational growth and turnarounds as well as leadership development, demonstrating exceptional client engagement and business acumen. He also has substantial board experience in the capacity of director and committee member.
He is known as a leader in delivering on rapid growth, turnarounds, and leadership development, with strong client engagement and business acumen. Prior roles include serving as President of Morgan Stanley Distributor, Inc., and President and CEO of Invesco Distributors, Inc.
John received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Boston College, where he double majored in Marketing and Human Resources Management. John received the school’s highest honor for academic and athletic achievement, being named the Nathaniel Hasenfus Male Eagle of the Year, for his graduating class. He was a member of both the football and baseball teams, received eight varsity letters, and was inducted into the Boston College Athletic Hall of Fame.
Christopher Pair
Former CEO / COO of Herbalife, Partner, Live Longer Foods Wellness
Christopher Pair is a Partner with the Live Longer Foods & Wellness group of companies within the Maximus Value Group. With a focus on Consumer Products, Network Marketing, and International Expansion; Mr. Pair has effectively completed a wide range of significant projects.
These range from his Partnership with Mandalay Entertainment Production and Alticor as Co-Producer of ‘The Age of Nutrition” which was a multimillion dollar success and was presented on Discovery and multiple other media outlets. He served as Director of Neways during its successful sale to a Private Investment Fund for 400mm + and also was a Catalyst and active adviser with Cook Associates Capital on the effective refinancing of a Personal Care Co in Germany. He has been instrumental in the due diligence Team of Blackstone; launched an energy drink firm; as well as a Video capable social network . Prior to establishing his own firm Mr. Pair served for nearly 20 years as Executive Vice President and the principle executive, COO, responsible for International Expansion at Herbalife; the now 5 billion dollar public firm During that tenure which resulted in his responsibility as CEO after the passing of its founder, Mr. Pair served as the Vice Chairman of the Direct Selling Association, and the Boards of the Consumer Health Products Association and the Nutritional Products Association. He also serves as President and CEO of Cynergy Partners Inc.; an Investment and Consulting firm based in Beverly Hills, Calif. He received his BA as well as his MBA from the University of Redland; and also served as a reserve in the OC California Sheriff’s Office.
Sean Rowland
Partner / CIO, MVC Commercial Partners
Sean serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of MVCP. He brings over 25 years of experience in fund and investment management, commercial real estate and partner development to create significant value for MVCP investors. He gained significant experience while serving in a senior role at Chotin Fund Management, where he managed and ultimately liquidated an $8 billion residual and non-investment grade MBS portfolio. He successively created and led the structured product investment team where he was the senior portfolio manager of multiple debt portfolios totaling over $2 billion in assets under management. He subsequently formed Surge Capital Management, a real estate and structured credit investment firm, growing assets under management to over $800 million over the first year of operation. In these leadership roles, he established investor and venture relationships globally, including partnerships in the U.S., Dubai, Asia and Europe.
Rogerio Ramos
Partner
Rogerio Ramos brings his experience in fund management, portfolio management, and fund structuring. Ramos structured and invested in over 80 funds in more than 30 Emerging Markets. He advised HNWI, Family Offices, and Institutional Investors on VC investing, Fund Manager selection, and Corporate Governance. Solid experience working with start-up, early-stage, and mid-market companies. Ramos holds an MBA from Johns Hopkins University, a master’s in International Trade and Investment Policy from George Washington University, and an Executive Program in Venture Capital / Private Equity from Harvard Business School.
Irving Kau
Partner
Irving Kau brings extensive experience in the buy-side/investor, sell-side/advisor, and corporate side. Kau has successfully completed over $100M in investment for 15+ companies and taken 8 companies public on NASDAQ. Based on its unique niche, expertise in growth industry sector and capital markets, primary investments routinely return an average ROI of 50% – 90%. MBA from Rice University in Finance & Strategy and Ph.D. at USC in Business Strategy, and has held FINRA Series 7, 86 & 87 licenses.
Dr. Ralf Köster
Partner
Former CEO of Bartec, an enterprise software company which Ralf built to $500M EUR in annual sales, Germany Entrepreneur of the year. Ralf worked in various Executive and CEO roles in the European and US Technology & Manufacturing sectors e.g. for Honeywell, Lignum and Bartec. He is an experienced company builder and a known expert in the field of international business cooperations with deep expertise in the APAC region and China. Dr. Koester was Entrepreneur of the Year (2015) in Germany.
Operating Partners & Advisory Boards