Professionals and Advisory Board
James B. Naylor
Jim is a global business executive and private equity investor with over twenty years of large and small company investing, transaction and operating experience.
Prior to co-founding Teton Capital Group, Jim was an industrial partner affiliate of Ripplewood Holdings LLC, a private equity buyout firm now managing committed funds in excess of $3 billion. During his affiliation, the fund invested in and successfully sold a $200 million industrial equipment service provider. Also, over $40 million of equity was raised to launch an industrial MRO distribution, eCommerce-enabled business in Japan, where Jim served as chairman and as a director.
Jim was also a principal in Aberdeen Group, Inc., a private investor funded holding group. During his tenure there, he was president of the industrial group including several manufacturers and distributors of industrial products. Jim also served as CFO, Executive Vice President and a board member of NCS HealthCare, Inc., a professional service provider to long-term care facilities, taken public in 1996, that grew to over $700 million in revenue. Both parts of Aberdeen were built through over 40 platform and add-on acquisitions.
Previously, Jim was an operating executive with a leading worldwide manufacturer and distributor of durable home medical equipment and a management consultant with Booz, Allen & Hamilton, Inc.
Jim is a director of four industrial manufacturing and service businesses. He earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and an A.B. from Dartmouth College.
Philip A. Stark
Phil has 30 years of corporate finance experience in mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, asset management and divestitures, and in dealing with the public debt and equity markets.
Before co-founding Teton Capital Group, Phil worked for 16 years in investment banking and banking as a Managing Director at NatCity Investments, at McDonald & Company, and as a commercial banker at Bankers Trust. He was responsible for public equity and debt offerings, and a variety of mergers, tender offers, and private financings.
Phil also founded and built an investor relations consulting practice working with CEOs and CFOs of public companies with market caps ranging from $50 million to $4 billion. During the tenure of investor relations programs established by him, Phil’s clients increased their total market capitalization by more than 60%.
Phil has served public companies as well, both on the Treasurer's staff at Republic Steel, a Fortune 100 company, and as Vice President, Corporate Development at Collaborative Clinical Research, Inc. Phil earned an M.B.A. and a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.
Advisory Board
Rex G. Mason
Rex is a CEO who has built his reputation by leading the marketing of some of America’s largest consumer brands. He began his career with General Foods (now Kraft) where he rose to lead the marketing of brands like Maxwell House coffee and Birdseye frozen foods. He then moved to Bristol-Myers Squibb where he led all marketing for their US Mead Johnson nutritional products before moving to Montreal, Canada as president of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Canadian Consumer business. In Canada, he had responsibility for a broad range of franchises including the Clairol, Excedrin, Bufferin, and Keri lotion businesses. He guided these brands through periods of dramatic change that included transformational work on all elements of marketing.
Following his stint in Montreal, Bristol-Myers Squibb moved him to Cleveland in 1997 where he was senior vice-president and general manager for Matrix Essentials. In a very short period, he led the marketing team in the restaging of the largest brand in the salon industry (Biolage), introduced a major new product line (Amplify) that became the most successful new product introduction in the industry, and relaunched the core Matrix salon hair coloring line (Socolor). In 1999, he left Bristol-Myers and moved to Harry London Chocolates, an 80 year old private manufacturer of fine chocolates in Canton, Ohio where he assumed leadership of a company facing significant financial challenges. Over the course of two and a half years, he led a team that resolved the issues confronting the company using a combination of marketing and sales changes, operational initiatives, and financial restructuring.
Rex now has nearly 30 years of marketing experiences in a wide array of categories. He has managed billion dollar, global brands; he has marketed small, highly segmented and regional franchises; he has operated successfully in a variety of industries within the US and internationally; and his businesses have been recognized with national awards for marketing excellence.
Rex is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School.
Lee Poseidon
Lee has global operating management and leadership experience in a variety of settings, from start-ups to mature businesses in multiple industries. He is a Venture Partner with the JumpStart Ventures Team at JumpStart Inc., and also serves on the boards of Shaker Housing Associates and ARI Network Services (OTC: ARIS).
For over 25 years, Lee has been involved in technology, manufacturing, distribution, and professional services businesses, primarily in the healthcare, automotive and powersports industries. He has experience in general management, operations, marketing, sales, global account management, product development, product management, finance, strategic planning, and corporate development. Lee’s experience spans product and service offerings including hardware and software systems, service and support; enterprise-wide information systems; medical practice management software; electronic medical records; software duplication and distribution services; tax processing systems and services; business forms; training products and services; consulting; microfiche production; and electronic publishing. Lee brings a successful track record in originating and managing more than 15 transactions on four continents.
Lee’s prior experience includes the positions of: COO of Quorum Information Systems (TSX-V: QIS); Senior V. P. and General Manager of ProQuest Global Automotive (fka Bell & Howell Publishing Solutions) and, COO of the National Automobile Dealers Association. Lee also spent 15 years with The Reynolds & Reynolds Company where he held a variety of senior management positions, including co-responsibility for establishing and managing Reynolds & Reynolds’ Healthcare Systems Division, growing revenues from $8 million to $65 million in 3 years.
Lee earned an MBA from Xavier University and a B.A. degree in Economics from Ohio Wesleyan University.
Nathaniel T. Smith
Nathaniel is a senior executive with more than 30 years experience in operations, finance and business development, particularly in high-growth businesses. He began his career and rose to head manufacturing planning with Bendix-Warner & Swasey Co. He moved into finance with The Little Tikes Company, where he rose to the position of VP Finance. He then served as President of Little Tikes Commercial Play Systems where he oversaw sales growth in that business unit from $19 million to $90 million per year. Recently, Nathaniel was Chief Financial Officer of FFr, Inc., a supplier to the retailing industry.
Nathaniel has been active in mergers and acquisitions, on both the buy and the sell side of the table, through much of his career. He has strong experience in expanding production facilities to match the needs of internal growth as well. Through his career, responsibilities have included finance, strategic planning, MIS, purchasing, and manufacturing engineering, as well as overseeing international operations in Ireland and South Korea.
Nathaniel is active in community service. He leads the Cleveland Museum of Natural History as President of the Board; he has been a Trustee for more than twenty years.
Nathaniel is a graduate of Colby College and Boston University School of Management.
Kenneth A. Wakeen
Ken, a former Ernst & Young partner, has combined his financial and advisory expertise with hands-on management and operation of an industry-leading, privately-held manufacturing and distribution company.
Ken was executive officer and a director of this US and Canadian supplier to the heavy-duty truck parts aftermarket. Under his leadership, by combining sales and key account programs to gain market share with innovative supplier programs and alliances, sales grew organically from $45 million to over $100 million, while relative operating earnings increased. Ken also negotiated major growth deals with customer-formed buying groups, cementing the company’s leading market position.
Ken led initiatives to keep pace with this rapid growth, which included development of pricing and quoting systems, customer service improvements and purchasing disciplines. The implementation of a $2 million ERP system enabled the company to continue enhancing its industry-leading customer service initiatives. After years of growth, and in anticipation of significantly changing market dynamics, Ken led the quick sale of the company at a significant premium.
Previously, Ken was a partner in Ernst & Young’s national office where after the merger with Arthur Young, Ken led development of the firm’s new audit methodology, materials, integration, and training worldwide. Ken also helped develop the audit guide on internal controls for the profession’s standard setting body. Before transferring to the national office, Ken held client responsibility for private and public multinational companies in different practice offices.
Ken earned a BBA from the University of Michigan Business School, and attended Ernst & Young’s Northwestern University Executive Program. He has been both a CPA and a CMA.
Beyond our Advisory Board members, Teton Capital Group has strong relationships with a number of successful and skilled operating executives and investment partners with backgrounds in a variety of industries.