Investment Manager

Richard Levy is the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer, and Founder of VPC. He oversees the Firm’s investment and operational activities. Mr. Levy is also the chairman of the Firm’s Investment Committee and Valuation Committee.

Mr. Levy serves as chairman of the board of directors of VPC portfolio company, Giordano’s. He also serves as a member of the board of directors of VPC portfolio companies, Caribbean Financial Group, and United Automobile Insurance Company.

Previously, Mr. Levy served as head of the Small Cap Structured Products Group and co-head of the Solutions Group at Magnetar Capital. He also co-founded and served as managing partner at Crestview Capital Partners.

Mr. Levy received a B.A. in political science from The Ohio State University, an MBA from the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Stuart School of Business, and a J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law. He is a member of the Illinois Bar (inactive).

Mr. Levy sits on the Board of Trustees for the Illinois Institute of Technology (“Illinois Tech”) as well as the university’s Board of Endowment. He serves as the Co-Chair of The Chicago Difference Trustee Task Force (an Illinois Tech Initiative), a community transformation and scholarship initiative focused on developing and retaining talented, underrepresented science, technology, engineering, and math students from Chicago. He previously served on the Board of Camp Kesem.

Brendan Carroll is a Senior Partner at VPC, which he co-founded in 2007. He is responsible for strategic initiatives and firm operations in addition to sourcing, evaluating and executing investment opportunities. Mr. Carroll also oversees marketing, fundraising, business development and investor relations for the firm. He is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee and Valuation Committee.

Previously, as a member of the Solutions Group at Magnetar Capital, Mr. Carroll specialized in direct financings to lower middle market companies. He has held various investment banking positions at William Blair and Robertson Stephens, specializing in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Carroll has also worked in various capacities for former U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman (I- CT).

Mr. Carroll received a B.A. with honors in government from Georgetown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He speaks frequently on debt and private equity investing issues and has served as a guest lecturer and panelist at the University of Chicago’s Booth Global School of Business, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and Harvard Business School. Mr. Carroll is a member of the Finance Council of the Archdiocese of Chicago and previously served on the Board of Regents at Georgetown University and Loyola Press. He is also a director on the board of the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and is also a member of the board’s Finance Committee.

Jeffrey Schneider joined VPC in 2010 and is the Chief Operating Officer. He is responsible for firm operations and the execution of strategic initiatives and oversees compliance, finance, accounting, tax and fund operations. He is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee and Valuation Committee.

Previously, Mr. Schneider served as the controller and vice president of corporate finance for Citadel’s fund administrator, Omnium, now Northern Trust Hedge Fund Services, LLC, where he oversaw the development and build out the corporate accounting, financial reporting, budgeting and planning processes. Previously, he was an auditor in the Investment Banking Group at J.P. Morgan and led a middle office supporting a large proprietary commercial mortgage backed securities portfolio. Mr. Schneider also has held various finance and accounting roles at Divine, a start-up software company, and was an auditor at Arthur Andersen.

Mr. Schneider received a B.S. in accountancy from the University of Illinois. He is a registered Certified Public Accountant in the State of Illinois (inactive).

Scott Zemnick joined VPC in 2008 and is the General Counsel. He oversees the firm’s legal operations and the structuring, negotiation, execution and protection of the firm’s investment portfolio. Mr. Zemnick is an ex-officio member of the firm’s Investment Committee.

Previously, Mr. Zemnick was a partner in the Restructuring Group at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He focused on representing large domestic and international debtors, lenders, and strategic and financial investors in complex Chapter 11 bankruptcies, out-of-court restructurings, distressed investments, and other corporate and financing matters.

Mr. Zemnick received a B.A. in psychology from the University of Michigan and a J.D. with high honors from the Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he was selected to the Order of the Coif. He is an active member of the Illinois bar.

Olibia Stamatoglou joined VPC in 2019 and is a Managing Director, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer. She oversees business and fund operations, including finance, compliance and accounting. She is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee and Valuation Committee.

Previously, Mrs. Stamatoglou served as vice president of finance at Valor Equity Partners where she managed firm and fund finance activities. Prior to Valor, she served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer of First National Assets, a specialty finance private equity group specializing in tax lien purchases and real estate owned ventures. She joined First National Assets from Aurora Investment Management where she progressed through several accounting roles. Mrs. Stamatoglou was recognized as one of Crain’s Notable Women in Finance for 2019.

Mrs. Stamatoglou received a B.S. in accounting and finance from DePaul University. She is a registered Certified Public Accountant in the State of Illinois (inactive).

John Martin joined VPC in 2019. Based in Chicago, he serves as a Senior Partner and is primarily responsible for supporting the firm’s investment strategies while leveraging more than thirty years of experience in the private credit investment industry. Mr. Martin is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee.

Previously, Mr. Martin served as managing partner and co-CEO of Antares Capital, LP, a private debt credit manager. He was a founding partner of the original Antares Capital in 1996, a startup business that provided acquisition financing capital to the portfolio companies of private equity firms across North America. Over the course of nine years, Antares grew to become one of the largest providers of acquisition capital to private equity sponsors in the middle market. Following the firm’s acquisition by GE Capital in 2005, Mr. Martin became President and CEO of the newly branded GE Antares Capital and helped to direct the strategic vision of the business. Following the firm’s acquisition by CPPIB in 2015, he engineered a highly complex carve out of the business from GE Capital and remained as Co-CEO. Mr. Martin sat on the Antares Investment Committee throughout his tenure at the company and was a member of the board of directors. Prior to founding Antares John was a senior executive of Heller Financial, earning four Chairman’s Club awards for outstanding performance. He began his career with Continental Illinois National Bank and spent two years with Citicorp’s Leveraged Finance business.

Mr. Martin earned a B.S. from the University of Notre Dame and served as a member of the Mendoza College of Business Advisory Council for 12 years. In 2019, he was appointed as the first chair of the newly established Advisory Council for the IDEA Center, a hub of innovation at Notre Dame. He serves on the board of the Executives Club of Chicago, Automotive Keys Group LLC and Key Investment Partners. He is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and is a director of the Western Golf Association. Mr. Martin also serves as a Board member of the Midtown Educational Foundation, the Center for American Entrepreneurship and is actively involved in a number of non-profit organizations in the Chicagoland area.

Jason Brown joined VPC in 2014 as a Partner and manages the firm’s Los Angeles office. He is primarily responsible for sourcing, analyzing, executing and managing investments. Mr. Brown also actively works on value creation initiatives and strategic alternatives for the firm. Mr. Brown is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee.

Mr. Brown currently serves on the board of directors of VPC portfolio companies, Labs.Dental Holdings and Processing.com.

Mr. Brown has more than 25 years of experience in financial services. Most recently, Mr. Brown was a managing director for GE Capital, Corporate and Restructuring Finance for more than ten years where he and his team provided growth, working capital and turnaround finance to mid-size and large companies. His team also specialized in senior secured loans to distressed companies supporting Chapter 11 filings, plan-of-reorganizations and out-of-court restructurings. Prior to GE Capital, he worked at Comerica Bank as a manager in their northern Los Angeles office and for Manufacturers Hanover in Sydney, Australia. He has also served as the global chairman and president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG).

Mr. Brown received a B.S. in business administration from the University of Southern California.

Connell Hasten joined VPC in 2018 and is a Partner. He co-founded and manages the firm’s insurance services platform and is primarily responsible for sourcing, underwriting, executing and managing investment opportunities for insurers. Mr. Hasten is a member of the firm’s Insurance Services Investment Committee.

Previously, Mr. Hasten was a managing director at EquiTrust Life Insurance Company, an insurance company with approximately $20.0 billion in assets, where he oversaw a large portion of private and public debt and equity investments. Prior to EquiTrust Life Insurance Company, Mr. Hasten was a director at Guggenheim Partners and served as a portfolio manager, primarily responsible for investment portfolios on behalf of insurance companies. Beforehand, Mr. Hasten was a vice president at Bank of America in the special situations and real estate lending groups.

Mr. Hasten earned his B.S. from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

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Gordon Watson joined VPC in 2014 and is a Partner in New York. He is primarily responsible for sourcing, analyzing, executing and managing investments across multiple strategies including asset backed debt, late-stage growth equity and special purpose acquisition companies. Mr. Watson is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee.

Previously, Mr. Watson was a portfolio manager at GLG Partners, a London-based 31 billion multi-strategy hedge fund that concentrates on a diverse range of alternative investments. He joined GLG when it purchased Ore Hill Partners, a credit focused hedge fund where Mr. Watson was a partner.

Mr. Watson received a B.A. in political science from Colgate University and an MBA from Columbia University.

Tom Welch joined VPC in 2009 and is a Partner. He is primarily responsible for sourcing, analyzing, executing and managing investments. Mr. Welch also actively works on value creation initiatives and strategic alternatives for portfolio companies. Mr. Welch is a member of firm’s Investment Committee.

Previously, Mr. Welch served as a credit underwriter in the Cash-Flow Lending Group for CapitalSource, concentrating his investment efforts in the industrials, consumer products and business services industries. He also worked in the Global Multi-Industries Investment Banking Group at Merrill Lynch, focusing on mergers and acquisitions, leveraged finance and growth capital transactions.

Mr. Welch received a B.S. in finance with honors from the University of Illinois.