Hastings Equity Partners, LLC

INVESTORS

The Investors in the Hastings Equity Partners Fund I represent the personal capital and talent of 40 business executives, many of whom have either led Fortune 500 companies or large private equity firms. Hastings' Investment Committee is comprised of the following individuals:

Norm Alpert - Founding Partner, Vestar Capital Partners: Mr. Alpert is a founding partner of Vestar Capital Partners, a mid- to large-market private equity firm headquartered in New York. He was formerly a senior executive in the Management Buyout Group of The First Boston Corporation. He received an A.B. at Brown University.
John Brooke - Founding Partner, Brooke Private Equity: Mr. Brooke currently manages a family fund of investments called Brooke Private Equity Advisors in Boston. He was the fifth employee at Advent International, a mid- to large-market private equity firm headquartered in Boston. He spent 15 years at Advent, where he ran the Far East Group in Singapore, managed the associates/analyst programs in Boston, and led early stage technology investing and later stage buyout investing. After Advent, Mr. Brooke joined The Tucker Anthony Private Equity Group (Park Street Capital) and helped establish it as a leading private equity fund-of-funds management company with in excess of $800 million under management. Mr. Brooke earned his MBA at Harvard.
Rich Caputo - Senior Partner, The Jordan Company: Mr. Caputo joined The Jordan Company, a mid- to large-market private equity firm headquartered in New York, in 1990. Previously, he was with the High Yield Corporate Finance group of Prudential-Bache Capital Funding. Mr. Caputo received an A.B. in Mathematical Economics from Brown University.
Ed Carpenter: Mr. Carpenter was President and Chief Executive Officer of Barnes Group Inc., a diversified international company serving a range of industrial and transportation markets, from 1998 to 2006. Prior to joining Barnes Group, Ed was a senior managing director at the New York private investment firm of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. He served as chairman and CEO of General Signal, a leading manufacturer for the process control, electrical and industrial technology industries, from 1988 to 1995. Prior to joining General Signal, Ed was president and COO at ITT Corporation. Ed has also held senior management roles at Fruehauf Corporation, Touche Ross & Company, and Michigan Bell Telephone Company. He serves on the boards of directors of Campbell Soup Company, Inc.; Dana Corporation; and Texaco, Inc. Ed holds a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering and a master of business administration degree from the University of Michigan.
Paul Casey - Chairman Emeritus, Metapoint Partners: Mr. Casey started his career managing his family's business, Davidson Rubber Co., Inc. In 1965, Davidson was sold to McCord Corporation, and he succeeded as President of McCord the following year. Upon the merger of McCord and Ex-Cell-O Corp. in 1978, he became President and COO, and in 1981 he became CEO of Ex-Cell-O. Textron acquired Ex-Cell-O in 1986, and he became Vice Chairman of Textron. He resigned in 1987, and in 1988 founded Metapoint Partners, a buyout firm that acquires and grows small to medium-sized manufacturing companies. He is currently Chairman Emeritus at Metapoint. In addition to serving on the boards of directors of Metapoint portfolio companies, Mr. Casey is a director of Comerica, Inc. (Detroit, Michigan). He is also a member of the Chief Executives Organization, the Society of Automotive Engineers, and the Harvard Business School Club of Florida, and is President of Hobe Sound Community Chest. He has a B.A. from Yale University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.
David Gruber - Former Chairman, Wyman-Gordon Company: Mr. Gruber is Retired Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Wyman-Gordon Company, a manufacturer of forging, investment casting and composite airframe structures for the commercial aviation, commercial power and defense industries. Mr. Gruber joined Wyman-Gordon in 1991 and retired in 1999. He is a Distinguished Life Member of the Materials Information Society (ASM), Chairman of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Mechanical Engineering Advisory Committee, and a member of the Boards of Directors of State Street Corporation, Novelos Therapeutics Inc. and Worcester Municipal Research Bureau. He has a B.S. degree from Ohio State University.
Chris Hynes: Mr. Hynes is a co-founder of Hastings Equity Partners. Prior to Hastings, he was an Executive Vice President at State Street Bank & Trust Company. At State Street, Chris had managed the Private Asset Management division, doubling revenues and tripling contribution margin. Chris was also involved in the sourcing and negotiations of several acquisitions and joint ventures, as well as the evaluation of numerous additional opportunities. Chris also founded State Street Capital Markets, which is now the leader in the portfolio restructuring business. Before joining State Street, Chris was a founder of Investment Technology Group, a high-tech institutional brokerage firm with numerous proprietary products. Chris is a graduate of the University of Southern California and holds an MBA from Columbia University.