R. David Andrews has served as President and Managing General Partner of Gryphon since founding the firm in 1995. He also heads the General Industry Group and is the Chairman of the Investment Review Committee. Mr. Andrews serves as a Director of Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers, Bright Now! Dental, DLC, Delta Career Education (Chairman), Intelligrated, Joe's (Chairman) and Update Legal. He was a former Chairman or Director of Allied Security, Celerity, Consolidated Fire Protection, Cummins Utility Supply, Eight O'Clock Coffee, Foxfire Consulting, The Gingiss Group, Nursefinders, Outsourcing Solutions, PHNS, and TASQ Technology. Previously, Mr. Andrews served as Managing Director/Partner of Oak Hill Partners, the management company for Acadia Partners, L.P. Founded by Robert M. Bass, Acadia was a $1.8 billion investment partnership focused on leveraged acquisitions and public high-yield securities. While at Oak Hill, Mr. Andrews was responsible for sourcing, analyzing, executing, and monitoring private equity transactions. More specifically, Mr. Andrews successfully executed investment strategies substantially similar to the Partnership's through Oak Hill's investments in CapStar Hotel Company, Pinnacle Automation and Holophane, and then served as a director with each company. In addition, Mr. Andrews was a director responsible for monitoring Oak Hill's control investments in Butler Aviation, Butterick Patterns, and Multi-Local Media Corporation. Prior to joining Oak Hill, Mr. Andrews was a private equity investor at Adler & Shaykin, a $300 million leveraged buyout fund. Previously, he was an investment banker in the corporate finance and restructuring departments of Salomon Brothers and Shearson Lehman Brothers. Mr. Andrews earned his B.A. in Economics, J.D. and M.B.A. from Stanford University.

 

Patrick J. Fallon joined Gryphon in 2003 primarily to assist in the day-to-day management of Gryphon, as well as the management of strategic and limited partner relationships and the origination of firm deal flow. More recently, Mr. Fallon has also assumed responsibility as co-head of Gryphon's General Industries Group. Mr. Fallon serves on the Board of Directors of Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers, Celerity and Kinetics Systems and previously served on the Board of Nursefinders. Mr. Fallon began his career in the financial services industry in the mid 1980s with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette ("DLJ"), serving from 1994 to 1997 as a Managing Director focused on the coverage of leading private equity firms, including Oak Hill where he first met Mr. Andrews in 1993, and ultimately rising to the position of Global Head of DLJ's Technology Banking Group prior to that firm's merger with Credit Suisse First Boston ("CSFB") in late 2000. In this capacity, Mr. Fallon had responsibility for approximately 120 professionals domestically and internationally and oversaw a doubling of the revenue of the Global Technology Group under his leadership. Following the merger of DLJ with CSFB, Mr. Fallon served for two and a half years as the West Coast Head of Corporate Finance and Head of Private Equity Coverage for the CSFB Technology Group. Mr. Fallon earned his A.B. in Economics from Harvard College and his M.B.A. from The Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

 

Kurtis J. Kaull joined Gryphon in 2000 and is head of Gryphon's Consumer/Retail Group. He serves as a Director on the Board of Intelligrated and Joe's, and previously was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eight O'Clock Coffee and a Director at Bright Now! Dental and The Gingiss Group. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Kaull served as a Partner and Chairman of the Investment Committee at American Industrial Partners ("AIP"), a private equity firm with over $1 billion under management. At AIP, Mr. Kaull was responsible for sourcing approximately half of the firm's investment opportunities and managing an advisory network of over 20 former Fortune 500 CEOs. He also served on the Board of Directors of Central Industrial Supply Co. and Stanadyne Corporation, and co-led AIP's investments in Great Lakes Carbon Corporation, Westinghouse Air Brake Corporation and MBA Polymers. Prior to AIP, Mr. Kaull was a principal of Pexco Holdings, Inc., where he led leveraged buyout, turnaround and venture capital investments in both private and public companies. During his tenure at Pexco, he served on the Board of Directors of Worldwide Sports & Recreation, National Tobacco Company, FLA Orthopedics, Malibu Comics, and CapMac Reinsurance, and assisted in Pexco's investments in Marmot Mountain and American Maize Corporation. Before joining Pexco, Mr. Kaull was an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co. focused on merger, acquisition, divestiture, and recapitalization transactions. He earned his B.A. in Economics, J.D. and M.B.A. from Georgetown University.

 

Williard E. Lynn was an original member of Gryphon I's "Executive Investor Board" in 1996, and later joined the firm on a full-time basis in 1999 to lead Gryphon's Operations Resources Group, working closely with the senior management teams of the firm's portfolio companies. Mr. Lynn also assists deal teams in evaluating prospective investments. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Intelligrated and as a Director on the Board of Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers, Delta Career Education, DLC, Joe's, Staffing Now, Trust House Services and Update Legal. He was also previously on the Board of Bright Now! Dental, Consolidated Fire Protection, Cummins Utility Supply, Eight O'Clock Coffee, The Gingiss Group, MSD Ignition, Miller Heiman and Nursefinders. Prior to joining Gryphon, Mr. Lynn served as President of the LaChoy/Rosarita foods division of ConAgra. Previously, he was a Group Vice President of the Clorox Company. During his 27-year tenure with this consumer brand leader, Mr. Lynn developed multi-disciplined experiences in manufacturing, marketing, distribution, product development, management information systems, acquisitions, start-ups, restructurings, and divestitures. At different periods during his Clorox career, Mr. Lynn had operations responsibility for the household products business, including products such as Clorox Liquid and Dry Bleaches, Liquid Plumber Drain Opener and Softscrub Cleanser. Additionally, he served as President and General Manager of the Kingsford Charcoal, KC Masterpiece Barbeque Sauce and Hidden Valley Ranch divisions, and led the venture team which launched Brita Water Filters. Mr. Lynn also led the acquisitions of Pine-Sol Cleaner, Combat Insecticide and KC Masterpiece Barbeque Sauce, as well as the divestitures of the bottled water and restaurant equipment divisions. After resigning from Clorox, he evaluated numerous investments with Mr. Andrews, first while Mr. Andrews was with Oak Hill in 1994 and thereafter with Gryphon since 1996.

 

Dennis F. O'Brien joined Gryphon in 2008 as a partner in the Operations Resource Group. Mr. O'Brien will be working with senior management teams of the firm's portfolio companies to maximize their operating and financial performance over the short and long term. He will also support deal teams in evaluating potential investments. Mr. O'Brien serves as a Director on the Board of TrustHouse, Staffing Now, and Sheplers. Prior to joining Gryphon, Mr. O'Brien served as the CEO of Penta Water. Previously, he was President and COO of ConAgra's $8.5 billion Retail Products organization. Mr. O'Brien has 27 years of operating experience in the consumer packaged and durable goods industries with ConAgra Foods, Armstrong Industries, Campbell's Soup, Nestle Foods and Procter and Gamble, beginning his career in Field Sales and Brand Management and progressing into General Management. In these various roles he has built and restructured multiple well-known branded consumer businesses, developed and managed joint ventures and divestitures and led the integration of acquisitions. Mr. O'Brien earned his B.S. degree in Marketing from the University of Connecticut.

 

Nicholas A. Orum co-founded Gryphon in 1995 and is head of its Business Services Group. Although Mr. Orum initially co-founded the firm as an Associate, his consistently strong performance and value creation for Gryphon ultimately resulted in his promotion to Partner in 2002. Mr. Orum is a Director of DLC, Staffing Now, Trust House Services and Update Legal and a former Director of Allied Security, Consolidated Fire Protection, Foxfire Consulting, Miller Heiman and Nursefinders. He was formerly a principal investor at Oak Hill Partners, where he was responsible for sourcing, analyzing, executing, and monitoring private equity investments, including assisting Mr. Andrews in leading Oak Hill's investment in CapStar Hotel Company. Mr. Orum served as a Director of CapStar Hotel Company and The Berton Company. Additionally, he assisted with Oak Hill's investments in Specialty Foods Corporation and United Building Materials. Prior to joining Oak Hill, he was a member of Merrill Lynch's High Yield Finance Group, where he was involved in financings for various leveraged acquisitions and corporate clients. Mr. Orum earned his B.A in Quantitative Economics from Stanford University.