MANAGING PARTNER
Rob is the President and CEO of Alterna Financial, a private investment firm which is the sole or majority owner of several leading financial services businesses in the private equity, specialty finance and family office industries with oversight of approximately $1.5 Billion in assets. After his career in the NFL, Rob served as a gubernatorial appointee to the Florida State Board of Administration - Investment Advisory Council. The SBA managed 30 investment funds comprising over $184 billion in assets for the Florida Retirement System. Rob served as the Chairman of the IAC in 2009. Rob is a graduate of Syracuse University, and is a currently a member of the Advisory Board for the Falk School of Sports Management.
PRINCIPAL
Danny is a Principal at Alterna Equity Partners and joined the firm in 2021. Danny is responsible for identifying, evaluating and executing new investment opportunities, performing due diligence and supporting AEP’s portfolio companies. Previously, Danny was a Vice President at Capitala Group where he spent seven years executing lower middle market private equity and direct lending transactions across multiple industries. Prior to joining Capitala, Danny spent two years as an Investment Banking Analyst in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey where he focused on sell-side and buy-side transactions, divestitures and provided strategic advisory services. Danny graduated from Sewanee: The University of the South with a degree in Economics.
PRINCIPAL
Ron serves as a Principal at Alterna Equity Partners and joined the firm in 2023. He leads the firms Alternative Investments platform and works to create bespoke investment solutions. Ron has over 20 years of experience as an institutional investor and is an expert in portfolio construction, asset allocation and alternative asset manager research. Prior to joining AEP, Ron was Director of Investments at JM Family Enterprises where he was responsible for managing significant pools of capital for corporate, insurance and retirement assets. Prior to his work at JM Family Enterprises, he held positions at Wells Fargo and Wachovia, where he developed and managed model portfolios, conducted investment research and manager due diligence for the wealth advisory divisions. Ron received a bachelor’s degree in banking and finance from the University of North Florida.
Richard Wilson is the Founder and President of Patrician Capital, a large single family office established in 2010. In 2019, Mr. Wilson co-founded Lokahi Capital, a private equity arm of the single family office. Prior to his current position, Mr. Wilson served as a Vice President of Citi Trust where he managed trust relationships and settled estates throughout the world. Prior to Citi, Mr. Wilson was an Assistant Vice President with Grand Bank and Trust of Florida, where he oversaw business development as well as trust and estate administration. Mr. Wilson received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a minor in Economics from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He also received his MBA from University of Miami. Mr. Wilson is a member of the YPO Palm Beach Chapter.
Thomas W. Hurley has served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Becker Holding Corporation in Vero Beach, Florida since 2005. He also served as Vice President of Marketing and Sales from 1997 to 2005 and from 1993 to 1997, held various positions with increasing responsibility. Mr. Hurley facilitated the transition of ownership from the second to the third generation as well as installing an outside board of directors. Mr. Hurley started his career working in and ultimately managing the Company’s Citrus Processing business, Indian River Foods. Becker Holding Corporation and its subsidiaries currently own and operate 3,000 acres of agricultural and development land located in the heart of Florida's Treasure Coast. Becker Tree Farm & Nursery is one of Florida’s largest nursery operations as well as being its most innovative, deploying technology across the operation to improve efficiency and customer engagement. The company has also entitled and sold more than $250 million in development land on the east coast of Florida. Most recently, Becker has partnered with Discovery Land Company to create Atlantic Fields, a 317-home luxury golf and equine community in Hobe Sound Florida. Mr. Hurley also previously served as a Managing Partner of 79 Capital Securities, a FINRA registered broker/dealer, and is the Co-Founder of Valuations.com, an online business valuation engine. Mr. Hurley currently holds positions on several boards of directors and is a member of YPO. Mr. Hurley received an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University where he was a full scholarship member of the men’s golf team.
Daniel R. Sheehan is President of Vista Bank, a commercial bank headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with approximately $2 billion in total assets. Based in Palm Beach County, Florida, Dan is responsible for supporting existing Vista Bank markets, overseeing the expansion into Florida, and executing on specific bank-wide initiatives. Previously, Mr. Sheehan was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Professional Bank, which he co-founded in 2008. Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Professional Holding Corp (NASDAQ:PFHD) since its inception in 2014, he was responsible for the development and execution of its growth, capital and leadership plans. Under his leadership, Professional Bank grew its balance sheet approximately 14x before selling to Seacoast Bank in 2022.
From 2016 until 2019, Mr. Sheehan was a real estate investment banker with Walker & Dunlop, Inc. and previously held a similar position with Cohen Financial. Mr. Sheehan started his career at Bear Stearns, and subsequently has been directly involved in the investment and deployment of over $10 billion of institutional real estate capital throughout the U.S. while holding various positions at national real estate investment banks and financial intermediaries. Mr. Sheehan has significant experience in capital markets, structured finance, investment banking, community banking and shadow banking industries that provided him with valuable strategic insight on capital flows and associated risk as well as transactional and execution experience. Mr. Sheehan was an economics major and varsity football letterman at Duke University prior to receiving his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Florida and his M.B.A. from the University of Miami.
Jack Franke is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Franke Property Management (“FPM”). Prior to founding FPM, Mr. Franke served as a macro Portfolio Manager at Moore Capital Management. Prior to Mr. Franke’s role at Moore Capital, he was the Co-Founder, Co-Chief Investment Officer and a Managing Partner of Blockhouse Capital Management. Prior to co-founding Blockhouse Capital Management in 2016, Mr. Franke was a Principal, Portfolio Manager, Director of Research and Founding Partner of PointState Capital Management. He was responsible for the coordination of the firm-wide investment process as well as macro and commodity investments. Prior to joining PointState, Mr. Franke was a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager with Duquesne Capital Management and started his career as an analyst at Lehman Brothers. Mr. Franke graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts in Government and was a captain of the baseball team.
Eric Winston is the Chief Partnerships Officer at OneTeam Partners, a firm maximizing the commercial value of intellectual property rights holders in the sports world. At OneTeam, Mr. Winston works with existing rights holders to maximize their commercial value and leads the effort to grow the business by adding additional rights holders to OneTeam. Since inception, OneTeam has changed the way its partners, and its members, participate in business of sports. Prior to OneTeam, Mr. Winston played in the NFL for 12 years. A third-round pick in the 2006 NFL Draft, the University of Miami alum started 127 games for the Texans, Chiefs, Cardinals and Bengals. During his playing career, Winston was elected to three terms as the NFL Players Association (“NFLPA”) president, serving for six years in that capacity. During his tenure at the NFLPA, Mr. Winston helped improve the day-to-day lives of the players by helping them better prepare for life after football, in terms of both finances and health. Widely respected by his peers, Mr. Winston is known as being an outspoken voice for player’s rights. In 2020, Mr. Winston successfully led an effort to renegotiate the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, which was ratified by the board of representatives in March of 2020. Since his retirement from the NFL, Mr. Winston graduated from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with an MBA.
Dr. Peter M. Bonutti, M.D. is a surgeon, inventor, author, professor, consultant and entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience. He is the Founder of Bonutti Research, a medical device incubator that has developed products and technology used around the world, including UVCeed, and maintains his clinical and surgical practice, focusing on adult knee and hip arthroplasty and integration of robotics into surgical procedures. Dr. Bonutti created UVCeed, the smart UVC disinfection system to help limit the spread of infections, particularly COVID-19. Dr. Bonutti is a pioneer in Minimally Invasive Surgery, has over 500 patents and applications, more than 700 licenses and multiple FDA-approved products to date. Major corporations leveraging his technology include Hitachi, Medtronic, Kyphon, Covidien, US Surgical, Biomet, Arthrocare, Synthes, Zimmer/Biomet and Stryker. He is a prolific speaker, lecturing internationally, and has trained over 100 surgeons on his surgical techniques. In his career, Dr. Bonutti has received more than a dozen industry honors and awards for his achievements. Dr. Bonutti earned his medical degree at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and completed his Orthopaedic Surgery Residency at Cleveland Clinic Foundation with international fellowships in Canada, Australia and Austria
Mr. Willens is a seasoned chief executive officer, board member and advisor with over 30 years of experience in healthcare, consumer services and product companies, private equity and residential and commercial real estate. He is a strategic innovator who drives results with differentiated approaches and a collaborative leadership style.
David currently oversees his family office and serves as Senior Healthcare Advisor to Norwest Venture Partners, Vice-Chairman of Sage Dental Management Services (“Sage Dental”), a leading regional multi-specialty dental services organization sponsored by Linden Capital, Chairman of the Boards of Smile Management Services, an orthodontic specialty dental services organization operating as Epic Smiles, Simply Keto Nutrition, a ketogenic packaged foods manufacturer, AW Property Funds, a private equity fund investing in on-campus, medical office properties, and Board Member of Blue Cloud Pediatric Surgery Centers, a national organization of ambulatory surgery centers providing pediatric dental care sponsored by TPG and On-Site Dental, the leading national workplace dental services organization sponsored by Norwest Venture Partners. Mr. Willens co-founded Sage Dental in 2002 and served as Chief Executive Officer until 2013. Previously, he held senior executive roles at Dental Care Alliance, InterDent and Universal Standard Medical Laboratories. Previously, David was a corporate lawyer in the venture capital/private equity group of Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago and New York City. He holds a B.A. in Finance earned his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.
SENIOR ADVISOR
Mr. Willens is a seasoned chief executive officer, board member and advisor with over 30 years of experience in healthcare, consumer services and product companies, private equity and residential and commercial real estate. He supports AEP from an advisory capacity on portfolio management and oversight, as well as industry and new investment diligence.
ASSOCIATE
Ryan is an Associate at Alterna Equity Partners and supports the team on all aspects of evaluating and executing new investment opportunities as well as portfolio management. Previously, Ryan served as an Investment Banking Associate at Cross Keys Capital in Fort Lauderdale, working with lower middle market businesses. Prior to Cross Keys, Ryan worked as an Analyst at PNC, where he was responsible for underwriting credit transactions for middle market and large corporate clients. Ryan graduated from Elon University with a degree in Finance.
ASSOCIATE
Valentina is an Associate at Alterna Equity Partners and supports the team on all aspects of investment and portfolio management. Previously, Valentina served as an Analyst at BDT & MSD Partners, providing investment banking and investment advisory services to large corporate clients. Valentina graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a degree in Industrial Engineering: Data Science.
Operations Manager and Chief Compliance Officer
Ms. Panuthos serves as the Operations Manager and Chief Compliance Officer at AEP and has held positions with the broader Alterna Financial platform dating back to 2011. She previously served as a Client Advocate and Director of Operations for Socius Family Office and joined Alterna Equity Partners in 2021. Nora began her career with Huizenga Holdings in 2002. Having worked in multi-family and single-family offices with ultra-high net worth and high net worth individuals, she has also worked in commercial real estate, with investors and private equity investments. Ms. Panuthos is a graduate of Marist College.
PARTNER
Casey is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and structuring new investment opportunities within AEP. Casey served as the Director of Capital Strategies at Capitala Investment Advisors and joined the firm in 2013, opening its Fort Lauderdale office. Casey was responsible for cultivating relationships with current and prospective investors across a variety of Capitala-sponsored investment products and strategies. In addition, Casey focused on origination and sourcing for Capitala nationally. Previously, Casey worked for Hamilton Lane Advisors, where he co-led the investment activities of the Florida Growth Fund, and was a member of Hamilton Lane’s Fund Investment Team. Prior to Hamilton Lane, Casey worked with Wilshire Associates, a general investment consulting firm for institutional clients worldwide. Casey is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Finance.
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