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!


Pablo is a member of the Investment Committee and oversees the firm’s Investor Relations and fund-raising activities. Pablo serves in numerous Corporate Boards as well as in the Board of the Mexican Private Equity Association and is a Member of the Board of Regents and Vice Chair of the Investment Committee of his alma matter, the Mercersburg Academy.

Pablo holds a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Management of Technology from Vanderbilt University and has an M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

What he most enjoys about his career... I enjoy having the opportunity to make an impact in my community. Our firm is a social impact investor that focuses on creating wealth and opportunities in Latin America, a region which is in deep need of private capital to continue its development.


Matt Cwiertnia

Matt currently serves as a member of the Boards of Directors for the parent entities of Convergint Technologies, Ryan, CoolSys, and Resource Label Group. Mr. Cwiertnia's previous Boards of Directors experience includes Valet Living, LLC and Insight Global LLC. He also serves as a member of the Ares Private Equity Group's Corporate Opportunities and Special Opportunities Investment Committees. Prior to joining Ares in 2005, Matt worked in the Financial Sponsors Group at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he focused on providing advisory and financing services to financial sponsors and their portfolio companies.

Matt holds B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of California Los Angeles in Business Economics and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson School of Management, where he graduated as a Carter Fellow.


John Danhakl

John joined LGP in 1995. Prior to LGP, John was a Managing Director in the Los Angeles office of DLJ, which he joined in 1990, and where he worked extensively with LGP as its lead investment banker. Prior to DLJ, John was a Vice President in corporate finance at Drexel Burnham Lambert from 1985 to 1990.

John earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.


Patrice Etlin

Patrice joined Advent in 1997 and started the firm’s investment operations in Brazil. As one of Advent’s global Managing Partners, he helps oversee the firm’s strategic direction and investment activities, with a particular focus on Latin America. He has worked on 26 Advent investments, including Caldic, GrupoBIG (formerly Walmart Brazil), Grupo CRM, International Meal Company, Merama, Terminal de Contêineres de Paranaguá and Tigre. Before joining Advent, Patrice was a partner at International Venture Partners in São Paulo.

Patrice received an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of São Paulo, a master’s in industrial engineering from École Centrale de Paris and an M.B.A. from INSEAD.


Steve Faraone

Steve co-leads the operations of the firm with Mike Murray and is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. He currently sits on the boards of 123Dentist, P3 Veterinary Partners, EHN Canada, Glass Lewis, Victoria Park Medispa and Unison Risk Advisors. Prior to co-founding PCM, Steve was a Managing Director at the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan where he led the firm’s Consumer & Healthcare team within Teachers’ Private Capital.

Steve holds a B.Comm (Honours) from the University of British Columbia and is a past CFA charter holder. He also completed the Directors Education Program at the Institute of Corporate Directors at the Rotman School of Management.


José Feliciano

José founded Clearlake Capital Group in 2006. In addition to his investing responsibilities, he is responsible for the day-to day management of the firm. Prior to co-founding Clearlake, he was a Partner and member of the investment committee at Tennenbaum Capital Partners, a senior executive at govWorks, Inc., and started his career in investment banking in the Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Finance Groups at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

José graduated with High Honors from Princeton University, where he received a B.S. in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. He received his M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.


Gabriel Felzenszwalb

Gabriel has been a member of the Board of Directors of several companies in the Vinci portfolio, such as Burger King, Unidas and Cecrisa, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Austral, CBO, Le Biscuit, Vero and Agibank. He joined the Private Equity group of UBS Pactual Gestora de Investimentos Alternativos in 2007. From 2008 to 2010, he was assigned to portfolio company InBrands, where he acted as CEO and CFO. Prior to that, he worked as an analyst at Banco BBM venture capital operations, as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co., as a M&A manager at Vivo and as an associate at GP Investimentos.

Gabriel holds a degree in Engineering from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and an MBA from Harvard Business School.


Álvaro Goncalves

Álvaro has extensive experience in the private equity industry and as an executive of important national and international companies. He has played a key role in the execution of the funds, leading important investments that directly contributed to the Group’s expressive track record.

Álvaro holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from FEI, with an extension in Business Administration from FGV-SP and an M.B.A. from IMD-International (Switzerland).


Matías Gutierrez

Matías joined Linzor in 2007. He serves or has served on the board of directors of the dental care chain Inversiones Dental Salud SpA (Uno Salud), the fiber-to-the-home provider Pacifico Cable SpA (Mundo), the post-secondary education providers Universidad Insurgentes Holding and Santo Tomás S.A., the apparel retailer Komax S.A., the white goods retailer and consumer finance provider EFE Holding S.A. (EFE, Curacao and Financiera Efectiva), the healthcare conglomerate Cruz Blanca Salud S.A., and the healthcare providers Integramédica, Clínica Reñaca, Clínica Antofagasta and Clínica Arica.

Matías holds an Industrial Engineering degree from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and M.B.A from Stanford University.


Justin R. Ishbia

Justin is a Founding Partner of Shore Capital, a microcap private equity firm focused on partnering with companies that have between $1-10 million of EBITDA. He is responsible for investment sourcing and valuation, transaction structuring, the securing of acquisition financing, fundraising and all administrative activities. Justin sits on the board of directors of several Shore Capital portfolio companies.

Justin received his Juris Doctorate from Vanderbilt University Law School. He 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.