Bruce MacRae | Managing Director

Prior to joining Hastings Equity Partners, Bruce co-founded Parthenon Capital where he led numerous investments in the business services, distribution, manufacturing, and publishing sectors. Before Parthenon, Bruce was the CEO/Director of Flow Control Equipment, Inc., an oil field & gas pipeline equipment manufacturer located in Houston, Texas. While leading Flow Control, Bruce was responsible for developing and executing a strategic plan that involved M&A, an expansion of international distribution, and a reduction of manufacturing costs - all of which led to a 50% growth in revenues and nearly 4x increase of earnings in less than two years. Other professional experiences include working as a senior strategy consultant at The Parthenon Group and CSC Index (where he received the Chairman’s Technology Award), a business analyst at the BOC Group, and a development engineer at AT&T where he led the design and implementation of JIT automated manufacturing processes.

Bruce holds a BSME with honors from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a MSIE from Purdue University. In addition, he received his M.B.A. with distinction from the University of Michigan.

Ted Patton | Managing Director

Prior to starting Hastings Equity Partners, Ted helped start Boston Light Software in 1998, which was sold to Intuit in 1999. He helped grow the organization from 4 to 80 people, grow revenues to $5 million in three years, make 2 acquisitions of add-on service providers and negotiate 15 strategic partnerships. Prior to that Ted ran the QuickBooks business at Intuit. During his tenure, operating margins tripled and revenues grew from $50 to $100 million. Ted has also worked at Intel, FMC Corporation and Goldman Sachs & Co. in Mergers & Acquisitions.

Ted was an Olympic Bronze medalist at the 1988 Olympics and was inducted to US Rowing Hall of Fame in 1991. He received his MBA from Northwestern University and his BA from Brown University. He is the Founder and President of Caring from a Distance, a national, non-profit focused on long distance caregivers, and is a Trustee of the National Rowing Foundation.

Joe Conlon | Director

Joe joined Hastings Equity Partners during the fund's investment in Seacon Phoenix where he participated in the due diligence process and went on to hold various titles including Controller, IT Manager and Interim Operations Manager through the April 2007 sale to Ametek, Inc. In these roles Joe implemented an integrated ERP system that provided a platform to support revenue and earnings growth of 75% and 300%, respectively; developed and executed a bid that tripled the backlog of the company providing for 50% forecasted growth over the subsequent two year period; increased shop floor production rate by greater than 50% through material and labor initiatives; and, implemented strategic IT plans that standardized existing infrastructure with logical add-ons.

Prior to joining Hastings, Joe prepared asset and business valuations to support a wide range of financial decisions from commercial lending to litigation support and estate planning. Joe started his career with KPMG where his clients included multinational entities in the technology and manufacturing sectors. Joe has held Certified Public Accounting and Certified Valuation Analyst credentials.

Joe graduated from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College with degrees in Finance and Accounting.

Tom Leaver | Director, Business Development

Prior to joining Hastings Equity Partners, Tom spent 27 years with financial service with firms such as Tucker Anthony and Legg Mason, helping individuals, families and institutions manage their wealth.

During his investment career, Tom has taken a leadership role in the funding of several companies in both the public and private sectors, including raising $45 million to recapitalize two regional thrift banks in the wake of the S&L crisis. He has also been involved in several growth equity positions, where he worked closely with the founders and the boards of small and mid-cap businesses to create, define and implement their respective business plans.

Tom draws on these experiences to manage the business development process for Hastings Equity Partners, where he actively reaches out to small and mid-cap business owners and intermediaries on a daily basis.

Tom graduated from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.

Tanner Moran | Associate, Business Development

Prior to joining Hastings Equity Partners, Tanner worked for State Street Bank in an operational finance role. Tanner performed daily securities processing, which includes domestic and international equities, fixed income and financial reporting of activities directed by brokers and advisors.

Tanner received a BA in Business Administration from St. Anselm College.

Amar Sheth | Associate

Prior to joining Hastings Equity Partners, Amar was a consultant for McKinsey and Company where he served clients in the consumer technology, pharmaceuticals, consumer packaged goods, financial and principal investment industries. During his time at McKinsey, Amar helped clients develop high level strategy, improve operations, conduct business development, manage credit risk, and evaluate investment decisions.

Amar graduated from the University of Pennsylvania where he studied Finance, Entrepreneurship, and Computer Science.

Ron Lemke | Operating Partner

Prior to joining Hastings Equity Partners, Ron was President & CEO of Exxel Container Inc. a specialty packaging company that manufactures and markets a proprietary delivery system for packaging consumer and industrial products. Ron successfully built Exxel from a floundering start-up to a solid niche specialty-packaging provider. Exxel was recently sold to a Pharmaceutical Company based in France.

Before joining Exxel, Ron was Vice President of Marketing and Operations for Fujitsu Imaging Systems. Ron was responsible for all aspects of marketing and strategic planning as well as the Aftermarket Supplies business unit. Prior to Fujitsu, Ron spent two years as head of marketing and as a key member of the turnaround team for Savin Corporation, a $400 million office products company. Before Savin Corp., Ron spent 13 years with American Can Co. in its $1.5 billion consumer paper products subsidiary. Prior to this, he rotated through positions of increasing responsibility in new product development, brand management, operations, and finance.

Ron received a BBA from the University of Wisconsin and holds an MBA from Pace University.

Omar Peraza | Operating Partner

Prior to joining Hastings Equity Partners, Omar led investor groups in the acquisition of a diverse group of companies, focusing on under-performing assets. He served as CEO of ROBMAR Corp., a $30 million consumer products company, specializing in development, manufacturing and distribution of wedding accessories and educational toys.

He has been active in the specialty chemical, automotive and publishing industries. Most recently, he was Executive Producer for “Winter of Frozen Dreams”, an independent film based on a 1990 book of the same title. The international rights to the film were sold to 20th Century Fox.

Omar is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo. He continued his graduate studies in economic history at Rutgers University.

Katrina Starr-Frederick | Chief Financial Officer

Prior to joining Hastings Equity Partners, Katrina served as Corporate Controller of Matritech, Inc. At Matritech, Katrina was responsible for all accounting operations, along with budgeting, SEC reporting, fundraising activities and financial controls including Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Before Matritech, she was the Controller of Peoplestreet, Inc. and Finance Principal of Cambridge Incubator; Peoplestreet was a portfolio company of CI. Katrina started her career in the Boston office of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where she worked in the Technology Business Assurance Practice.

Katrina holds a B.A. degree in Economics & Accounting from College of the Holy Cross and is a currently-licensed Certified Public Accountant.