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Justin is a Founding Partner of Shore Capital, and sits on the FirmaPak board of Directors. Justin is responsible for investment sourcing and valuation, transaction structuring, the securing of acquisition financing, fundraising and all administrative activities. 

Justin received his Juris Doctorate from Vanderbilt University Law School. Justin earned a Certificate of Law and Business from the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management and a B.A. in Accounting from Michigan State University. Justin is a member of the State Bar of Illinois and a Certified Public Accountant.

Outside of the office, Justin is member of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust and Board of Directors Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, and a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). 

Richard is a Partner at Shore Capital, a microcap private equity firm focused on partnering with companies that have between $1-10 million of EBITDA. Richard is the Chairman of the FirmaPak Board, and is responsible for leading the Shore Food and Beverage Fund including the sourcing and evaluation of investment opportunities and operating executives.

Richard received his M.B.A. with distinction from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University and a B.S. from Michigan State University.

Tom is a Principal at Shore Capital, a microcap private equity firm focused on partnering with companies that have between $1-10 million of EBITDA. Tom’s responsibilities include sourcing, evaluating, and enabling the growth of Shore’s investments in the food and beverage industry.

Prior to joining Shore, Tom was the Vice President of Strategy and Growth at ATI Physical Therapy. In this role, Tom rebuilt ATI’s de novo machine which resulted in a 5x increase in new store production and new store growth ahead of budget. Previously, Tom was the first junior hire at Shore Capital and focused on unlocking growth at Michigan Rehabilitation Specialists and Fast Pace Urgent Care.

Tom received an M.B.A., summa cum laude, from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University.

Brad has 20+ years’ of experience in various leadership roles in the food, beverage and packaging sectors. Brad is CEO of Soteria Flexibles, a specialty film manufacturer and flexible packaging company serving the healthcare, consumer products and industrial segments. Since founding the platform in 2019, Brad has rapidly scaled the business through a series of acquisitions and growth acceleration programs. Brad is also the founder and Principal at 21 Elephants LLC, an independent advisory firm providing strategy, M&A, and operational improvement services.

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Prior to Soteria, Brad spent twelve years at Amcor PLC (NYSE: AMCR) in various, global leadership roles including Vice President of North American Flexible Packaging and Vice President of Corporate Development & Strategy. During his time at Amcor, Brad oversaw several acquisitions and integrations that transformed Amcor into the largest, global flexible packaging company. Prior to his tenure at Amcor, Brad was a Management Consultant within the Strategy and Process Improvement Practice at Arthur D. Little.

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Brad serves as Lead Independent Director for FirmaPak, a Shore Capital portfolio company. He also serves as Independent Director for 360Pack and OnDex, both Shore Capital portfolio companies. Brad received a B.S. from Purdue University and earned his MBA from Loyola University of Chicago. Brad lives with his wife, Lara, and their three children in Glenview, IL.

Dan currently serves as Executive Vice President at Longview Asset Management. He has extensive experience investing in lower middle market industrial companies, having built Quality Products Inc. (the predecessor to Right Lane Industries) from $12 million to over $50 million in revenues during his tenure as its major shareholder. Prior to his current roles, Dan served as an independent business and financial Consultant of Enprotech Corp and served as Director of Corporate Development and Planning at Allied Products Corporation. He has served as a Member of the Advisory Board of Arbor Lodging Partners and has served on the Board of Directors of Albany Bank & Trust since 2008. Dan has also been a Member of the Advisory Boards of Madison Capital Partners, Hadley Capital and Fort Point Capital.

Dan is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a BA in Accounting.

Ben is the Founding Partner of Thompson Oak Partners, LLC. He previously served as President of Plastics & Devices at Gerresheimer, where he managed their $450M revenue Medical Devices, Injection Molded and Blow Molded plastics business. Prior to Gerresheimer, Ben served as COO of The Waddington Group, an $850M revenue manufacturer of disposable packaging for the industrial, food, and retail markets. Waddington’s capabilities included injection molding, thermoforming, blow molding, and high-speed decorating. Ben also served as the President of AptarGroup’s $400M B+H division, serving the personal care, skin care, food and beverage, industrial, paint and aerosol markets, among others. Ben has spent most of his career managing and advising packaging companies focused on injection and blow molding.

Ben attended undergrad at the University of Evansville.

Jim Forrest currently serves as Chairman of Shore Capital, in addition to serving on many Shore Boards, including FirmaPak. Prior to Shore Capital, Jim spent 20 years as a Managing Director of Wind Point Partners, a private equity firm in Chicago, Illinois, where he focused on investments in industrial manufacturing, business to business services, healthcare, and the software and electronics industries. He was also frequently involved in managing troubled portfolio companies, having served as interim CEO of a variety of Wind Point’s investments. Prior to joining Wind Point Partners in 1988, Jim was with Gould, Incorporated, Chicago, Illinois, a diversified industrial company where he ran several international electronics businesses during his 14 years with the Company.

Jim earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering, Magna Cum Laude, from Michigan State University in 1971, and received his MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1975. He and his wife, Alice, met at Michigan State University in 1968, and have been married 51 years.

Jim and Alice have residences in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Naples, Florida. He is blessed with a son, Patrick, a daughter, Emily, and four grandchildren.

Lou is the former COO of TemperPack, where he helped successfully raise the Company’s Series C and D investment rounds. He is also the former CFO of WayForth, leading the diligence and integration of four acquisitions. Lou previously served as the CFO of Liqui-Box, where he led a robust sale process with the CEO. Prior to his role at Liqui-Box, Lou spent 13 years at Precision Partners, serving as the Treasurer and VP of Finance before being promoted to CFO, where he led a variety of internal cost saving projects that helped grow the businesses’ EBITDA by 80%.

Lou received his BS in Business Management from the University of Mary Washington and his MBA from Monmouth University.

John is the former CEO of DazPak Flexible, and he currently serves as a Member of the Board of Directors for TIPA Compostable Packaging, a manufacturer of fully compostable flexible packaging solutions. John previously served as an Executive Partner and M&A Consultant for AEA Investors LP, a global private investment firm with over $14 billion assets under management, where he specifically focused on labels and packaging M&A. He also served as the CEO of Tapp Label, a specialty prime label converter within the wine and spirits end markets. Prior to Tapp Label, John spent 18 years at York Label, building one of the largest pressure-sensitive label converters in North America.

John earned a BS in Business from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.