Marksman Venture Partners Adds John Zugschwert as Partner / Search Fund CEO
February 2021
Chicago, IL – Marksman Venture Partners, LLC (‘MVP’) has brought on board John Zugschwert as its newest Partner. As a seasoned executive with broad service industry expertise, John’s mission in the role of MVP’s Search Fund CEO will be to intensify the firm’s focus on deploying value-added capital among private and entrepreneur-led companies in the lower middle-market.
John brings with him over 30 years of business development, client relationship-building, new product development, and strong revenue growth results. His extensive experience includes executive roles on the client-facing side of publicly traded companies, privately-owned businesses, and private equity/investor groups. John has a proven track record in an operational capacity as well, having built and managed large P&Ls, divisions, and front/back-office teams, with a particular ability to identify and develop the right individuals for the right roles.
John started his career at West Publishing Company in the Sales, Client Contracts, and Customer Service division. He spent more than 15 years at Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI), following its acquisition of West, and was instrumental in executing TRI’s subsequent acquisition and market penetration strategies as it built its legal online services and subscription base into a $2BN+ (revenue) division.
Most recently, John has spent the past 12 years serving as the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for a leading, private middle-market B2B outsourced services provider. John was instrumental in growing revenues to help the business more than triple in size, and in the last year he and the other executive team members participated in the successful transition to private equity ownership.
According to MVP’s Managing Partner, Scott Hales: “I am fortunate to have gotten to know John well – professionally and personally – over the last decade, and he’s a terrific match for our firm. John’s capabilities and achievements in fostering profitable growth in the middle-market realm will make MVP a strong partner for business owners seeking capital for growth or transition.”
“We now can deliver a powerful combination of front- and back-office leadership and resources as principal investors,” Scott continued. “For that essential differentiation in this lower middle-market ecosystem, we look forward to demonstrating the exceptional benefits of MVP’s entrepreneurial strategies and institutional-grade execution.”
The MVP Search Fund platform seeks investment opportunities with companies generating EBITDA between $500k - $2MM in the following industries: Business Services (including tech-enabled), Industrial Services (e.g., recycling, water, environmental, energy), and niche manufacturers. We have a particular interest in assisting entrepreneurs with their retirement/exit objectives, as well as facilitating carve-outs for larger corporations wishing to generate liquidity by divesting ‘orphan’ divisions and non-core activities.
About Marksman Venture Partners, LLC
MVP is a boutique corporate finance practice offering targeted solutions for entrepreneurial capital/ownership, focused on: (1) Principal Investment (sponsoring buyouts and recapitalizations, including originations via Search Fund); (2) CFO Services (full-time and interim); and, (3) Special Situations Consulting for private, middle-market companies. More information, including case studies, can be found at www.marksmanvp.com and by contacting Scott Hales (scott@marksmanvp.com) at (773) 960-3322, and John Zugschwert (johnz@marksmanvp.com) at (952) 807-6330.