Top 50: Americas Private Equity Dealmakers

“Distinction in Dealmaking”

Published exclusively by Global M&A Network, the 9th annual list spotlights 50 most accomplished, influential, and creative private equity dealmakers from the North and the Latin Americas. 126 firms and 645 professionals were evaluated for the current A-list.

All transactions are truly a team effort. Inclusion in the A-list also recognizes the firms’ leadership, investment focus and skills for executing growth transactions irrespective of deal size. We have range of identifiable criteria for making the often-hard editorial decisions.

Congratulations: Top 50 Private Equity Dealmakers, and firm’s they represent!


Ezra joined the firm in 2003 and serves on the board of directors of Avalon, bswift, Edifecs, Merative (formerly known as IBM Watson), QGenda, and Renaissance. His former board service includes Aconex, AdvancedMD, Aesynt, API Healthcare, Attachmate, Atteni, Availity, Connecture, CoverMyMeds, eSolutions, HealthcareSource, Healthland, Kyruus, Landmark Health, LYNX Medical Systems, myOn, Nextech, QuadraMed, RedPrairie, Smart Modular, T-System, and TRC Healthcare. He previously worked at Battery Ventures, Advanta, and Oliver Wyman.

Ezra has an A.B. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard College as well as an M.B.A. from Stanford GSB.

What he most enjoys and value about your career... For the last two decades, we’ve been one of the most active private equity firms in the healthcare and healthcare technology space. It’s extremely rewarding to work with companies that are leveraging their technologies, products and solutions to provide better access to care, better affordability, and better adherence to medications.


John C. Redett

John has led or been a key contributor to several Carlyle investments across various subsectors of financial services, including Duff & Phelps, TCW, BankUnited, Hilb Group, EPIC, DBRS, Central Pacific Bank, CFGI, Sedgwick, PIB Group and JenCap. He serves as a director on the boards of Sedgwick, PIB, Galway Insurance, Hilb, Vantage Group, Hurst Point, CFGI and Calastone. Prior to joining Carlyle in 2007, Mr. Redett was with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan in New York.

John received an M.B.A. from New York University and a B.S. from University of Colorado.


Rob Rutledge

Rob helps identify, evaluate, and execute acquisition and investment opportunities. He joined Genstar Capital as an Associate in 2003. He began his career in the investment banking division of Salomon Smith Barney in San Francisco and New York advising on mergers and acquisitions and capital market offerings.

Rob received his M.B.A. from Stanford University and Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University.


Monti Saroya

Monti joined Vista Equity Partners in 2008 and sits on Vista Flagship Fund Investment Committee. Additionally, he serves as a member of Vista’s Executive Committee, and Vista’s Private Equity Management Committee, the firm’s decision-making body for matters affecting Vista’s overall private equity platform. He currently sits on the boards of Advanced, Allvue Systems, Apptio, Cvent, Drift, Finastra, Gainsight, iCIMS, Infoblox, Mindbody, Olive, Pipedrive, Pluralsight, PowerSchool, Salesloft, Solera, TIBCO, Upside and Xactly. He is also actively involved in the firm’s investments in Jio and Vivid Seats.

Monti received B.S. in Computer Engineering, California Polytechnic State University, magna cum laude.


Loren co-founded and leads the Riverside Micro-Cap Fund. He guides investing and operating teams in the acquisition, growth and sale of portfolio companies, as well as the strategic direction of the fund. Prior to Riverside, he was an Associate for Claremont Capital Corporation and TCW Capital, and an Analyst for Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. In addition to his work with Riverside, he serves on the board of trustees for the Portland Oregon Art Museum. Loren is recipient of the prestigious USA and Americas Private Equity Dealmaker of the Year accolade at the M&A Atlas Awards, hosted by Global M&A Network (2012 and 2023.)

Loren holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from New York University.

What he most enjoy and value about your career... Transforming small companies with promise into larger market leaders never gets old. It’s a challenge every time and extremely gratifying when it works. I enjoy the people I work with and believe our efforts can lead to positive outcomes for our employees and communities.


Stephen W. Shapiro

Stephen joined CD&R in 2002. He has played a key role in the Firm’s investments in Cloudera, Epicor, TruGreen and Vialto Partners, as he did for CD&R’s prior investments in Capco, TRANZACT, ServiceMaster, Sirius, Solenis and Univar, as well as the sale of Kinko’s, Inc. to FedEx and the separation of TruGreen from ServiceMaster. Previously, he worked in the investment banking division of Merrill Lynch & Co. and at Perry Capital, a multi-strategy investment firm.

Stephen has an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a B.S. from Duke University.


Holden Spaht

Holden is responsible for finding and executing new deals, monitoring and growing the portfolio as an active board member, and helping to manage the firm. Previously, he was with Morgan Stanley Capital Partners in London, Thomas H. Lee Partners in Boston, and Morgan Stanley in New York. Additionally, he is a member of the Trustee of Schools of the Sacred Heart San Francisco and is the President and Chair of the Spaht Family Foundation, founded in 2019.

Holden was a Fulbright Scholar and earned his B.A. degree in Economics at Dartmouth and M.B.A. at Harvard Business School.


Martin leads our acquisition sourcing activities and has served on the boards of 15 platform portfolio companies, with over 18 years in the private equity industry. Additionally, he has served as the Chairman of the board for 9 of the firm’s platform investments. He has been involved in 50+ acquisitions, investments, recapitalizations, and exits, worth approximately $750 million in transaction value including multiple cross-border transactions spanning from Europe to Asia. Prior to founding Blackford Capital, Martin worked as a consultant with Mercer Management Consulting.

Martin received his bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of Chicago, where he was a College Honors Scholar and received a full-ride academic scholarship.


Waldemar Szlezak

Waldemar joined KKR in 2019 and leads KKR’s communications infrastructure investments in the Americas. He is actively involved in a number of investments, including CyrusOne, MetroNet, Hyperoptic, Global Technical Realty, Pinnacle Towers, On*Net Fibra Chile, and On*Net Fibra Colombia. Prior to joining KKR, he was a senior managing director with Soros Fund Management, where he was responsible for originating, structuring and monitoring the firm’s communications infrastructure and real estate investments. Prior to SFM, he served as an associate at Soros Private Equity Investors / TowerBrook Capital Partners and prior to that, in the mergers & acquisition investment banking group at Credit Suisse First Boston.

Waldemar holds a B.S. in Operations Research from Columbia University in New York and a B.A. in Mathematics from Knox College in Galesburg.


Harry Taylor

Harry helps lead TA's investments in enterprise software companies. He joined TA in 2005 and has more than 23 years of private equity experience focused on the technology sector. He has led investments in vertical and horizontal application, infrastructure, and security software companies.

Harry received his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and A.B., summa cum laude, from Hamilton College.