About Us: our team

RICK RICKERTSEN. Mr. Rickertsen is a Managing Partner of Pine Creek Partners, a private equity firm specializing in partnering with management teams to acquire small companies. He has worked in private equity since 1987, bringing over 20 years of investment experience to Pine Creek.

Most recently, he was a Partner and COO at Thayer Capital, a Washington, DC-based private equity firm with over $1.5 billion of capital under management. At Thayer, Mr. Rickertsen was a founder of each of Thayer’s three funds: Thayer III ($364 M), Thayer IV ($880 M) and Thayer V ($230 M). While at Thayer, Mr. Rickertsen led numerous investments and served as Chairman and Director of several companies, most notably SAGA Systems. Thayer’s $30 M investment in SAGA yielded a return of over $300 M and an IRR of 458% per annum. Mr. Rickertsen was Chairman of the Board of this NYSE-listed company. During his tenure at Thayer, Mr. Rickertsen led or co-led over ten investments of approximately $400 M invested.

Prior to Thayer, Mr. Rickertsen was a partner at Hancock Park Associates from 1989 to 1993. Hancock Park, based in Los Angeles, specializes in acquiring small, family-held companies similar to those that will be targeted by Pine Creek. From 1987 to 1989, Mr. Rickertsen was an Associate at Brentwood Associates, a leading private equity firm in Los Angeles.

Mr. Rickertsen is the author of a book targeting entrepreneurial managers called “Buyout: An Insider’s Guide to Buying Your Own Company”. Buyout has sold more than 20,000 copies and has been translated into Japanese and Russian. He completed his second book in 2006, “Sell Your Business Your Way”, an in-depth guide for entrepreneurs on the process of maximizing value in the sale of their companies. Mr. Rickertsen is a graduate, with distinction, of Harvard Business School and Stanford University.

Mr. Rickertsen is a Director of MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ – MSTR) and Convera Corporation (NASDAQ – CNVR). He is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Semester-at-Sea, a not-for-profit,  global shipboard education institution affiliated with the University of Virginia.

To view Mr. Rickertsen's personal site please click here.

GEORGE McCABE. George McCabe is a Managing Partner and co-founder of Pine Creek Partners. Pine Creek manages a proprietary investment fund that provides capital to small and middle market businesses.  He invests in transactions that assist an individual or group seeking to buy an identified business, expand a business through growth or acquisitions, or provide full or partial liquidity to a corporate or individual owner.   The most important aspect of a Pine Creek transaction is the relationship with management and the alignment of their interests with those of investors.  Also, through its Executive First program, Pine Creek supplies resources and capital to CEO’s who are seeking to locate and acquire a business.  Pine Creek invests in the Eastern half of the U.S and is a generalist firm targeting manufacturing, distribution and consumer & business services. Minimum EBITDA is $ 1 M and valuations will range between $ 10 and $ 70 M.  George serves on the Boards of Pine Creek portfolio companies Noble Logistics, Engineering Support Personnel and Drew Foam Company.

Previously, he was Managing Director, Private Equity at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., Inc. (NYSE – FBR), Arlington, Virginia. He had co-responsibility for the activities of FBR Financial Services Partners, LP, and FBR Special Situations, LP. In total, he managed approximately $120 M dollars invested in growth equity and buyout transactions on behalf of institutional investors. He has served on the Board of Directors of FBR portfolio companies: Auction Finance Group, Finetre, Appro Systems, RevCare, Financeware and Sysdome. He served as a board observer for portfolio companies TRM (NASDAQ:TRMM), Future Financial UK, National Water & Power and Outsourcing Solutions, Inc.
 
Prior to joining FBR, George was one of four founding principals of Declaration Management & Research, McLean, Virginia, which was sold to the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company in December 1995. Prior to joining JHM in 1989, he was with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corporation (now Credit Suisse First Boston), New York, NY, as a corporate finance Associate in the DLJ Financial Institutions Group.
 
George is a registered securities principal with the NASD having passed the Series 7, 63, 24 and 65 examinations. Currently he serves as President of the University of Virginia T100, an organization of 100 alumni that support intellectual property commercialization initiatives at the University. He serves on the Board and as Treasurer of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and is a Vestry member and former Stewardship Chair of Christ Church Georgetown. George is a graduate of Leadership Washington and is a member of the Southern 7 chapter of the Young Presidents Organization. Originally from Richmond, Virginia, George graduated with a B.S. from the University of Virginia.

SCOTT BRYANT, CPA. Scott Bryant is a Principal. Prior to joining Pine Creek Partners, Scott was most recently with Friedman, Billings Ramsey Group (NYSE:FBR) as a Senior Associate in Merchant Banking where he analyzed potential investments and monitored the portfolio for senior management. His recent investment experience also includes analyzing, structuring, and managing the private equity investments in FBR Financial Services Partners, L.P. Scott was also involved in monitoring a number of investments made by FBR Private Equity Fund, L.P., and FBR Future Financial Fund, L.P.

Prior to joining FBR in 2002, Scott was the Assistant Controller for Codeon Corporation and a Senior Associate in the audit practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Washington. Scott earned an MBA from Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business and received a B.S. in Accountancy from the Richard T. Farmer School at Miami University of Ohio.

Scott is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, holds both a Series 7 and Series 66 registration with the NASD, is a member of Beta Alpha Psi accounting honorary, and is a June 2006 candidate for the Level II examination of the Chartered Financial Analyst program. Scott is also active with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Washington as a member of its Ball Executive Committee.

DAVID ROBERTSON. David Robertson is a Principal.

Before joining Pine Creek, Dave was a Managing Director with FBR Capital Markets’ (NASDAQ – FBCM) investment banking group. Previously, Dave was a Senior Vice President of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group (NYSE – FBR) where he served as a senior investment professional for the firm’s $400 million merchant banking portfolio. Prior to joining FBR in 2001, Mr. Robertson spent six years focused on executing middle market M&A transactions in the Consumer and Industrial Products group of PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities, LLC and its predecessor, Coopers & Lybrand Securities, LLC.

Mr. Robertson earned an MBA with Honors from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, a BS in Finance and International Business from the Pennsylvania State University Smeal College of Business, and a Bachelor’s degree in German from the Pennsylvania State University College of the Liberal Arts. Dave is a Certified Public Accountant and has received the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Dave is currently acting as the Chief Financial Officer and a Director of Pine Creek portfolio company the CrossGlobe Group and also serves on the boards of Pine Creek portfolio companies Noble Logistics and Hilden America.

DANIEL F. GILLIS. Dan is an Advisory Board member. Most recently, he was CEO of SAGA Systems (NYSE - SAGA), an information software company with over $200 M of revenue and 800 employees. While at SAGA, Dan led an MBO of the company from its German parent for $85 M in April of 1997. Following the MBO, he completed two acquisitions, led an IPO on the NYSE, and dramatically grew operating profit from $10 M to $45 M over three years. SAGA was ultimately sold back to the German seller for over $300 M, generating over 10 times the capital invested by the buyout sponsor. In leading the transaction, Dan partnered with Rick Rickertsen who was Chairman of SAGA from 1997 to 2000 and a Director until the company was sold in 2001.

Prior to SAGA, Dan was Executive Vice President of Falcon Systems, a $180 M Maryland-based interactive equipment company serving the federal market. He served on the CEO Advisory Board of the NYSE and as a Director of Cysive Systems (NASDAQ – CYSV), and is currently a Director of SciQuest, a web based procurement solutions company that was acquired by Trinity Ventures of California in 2004.

In 1999, Dan was selected as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island and is married with three children.