In 2022, Luke Phenicie became the Founding Partner of Kissel Capital, establishing an organization with the goal of helping great management teams buy the companies they work for. His like-minded investor network includes many former executives, family office and high net worth investors, and select institutional investors who have invested with him over the past twenty years and who value the firm’s Guiding Principles.
Luke has a 25+ year history of successfully investing in and transforming middle-market companies in partnership with their operating teams. Prior to founding Kissel Capital, Luke spent nearly 20 years at Hammond Kennedy Whitney and Company, Inc. (“HKW”), a leading middle market private equity fund based in Indianapolis, IN, where he led the firm’s investment team in partnering with privately owned companies on behalf of HKW’s investment funds. Luke has investment attribution for 30+ platform company investments during his tenure at HKW. He served on its Investment and Exit Committees, and also as the Chairman and Director for numerous HKW portfolio companies.
Luke started his career working in the M&A group at A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. and also for Prospect Partners LLC, a private equity firm based in Chicago, IL. He earned an MBA from The University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business and a business degree with concentrations in Accounting and Finance from Indiana University’s Kelly School of Business.
Luke is the past President of ACG’s Indiana Chapter, and also serves on various economic development, alumni and non-profit boards in the State of Indiana. Luke, his wife Jenni, and their three boys reside in Zionsville, IN.
John is an Advisor to Kissel Capital. In his 20+ year private equity career, John has focused on partnering with management teams in the industrial and services sectors.
John was most recently a Partner at GreyLion, which spun out of Perella Weinberg Partners in 2020. GreyLion managed private equity funds with aggregate commitments of $1.9 billion. At GreyLion, John led all phases of the investment process from sourcing through exit, and was on seven portfolio company Boards in the industrial and services sectors.
Prior to GreyLion, John was a Partner at Weston Presidio, which managed private equity funds with aggregate commitments of $3.3 billion. At Weston Presidio, John was on the Board or a deal team member for nine investments in the industrial, services, and consumer sectors.
John started his career working in investment banking at JP Morgan and Compass Partners International, and also worked for Greenbriar Equity Group, a private equity firm focused on the transportation sector. John earned an MBA from The University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business and a Finance degree with a Computer Science minor from Georgetown University.
John is on the Executive Board of Inspirica, an organization that addresses homelessness and housing insecurity through an end-to-end platform offering housing integrated with support services.
John, his wife Sue, and their three children reside in Stamford, CT.