Rick Organ has joined Resilience Capital Partners as an Aviation Operating Executive. Mr. Organ will work alongside longtime Resilience partner and current Aviation and Aerospace Operating Executive Kenn Ricci, the Chairman and CEO of FlexJet.
Before joining Resilience, Mr. Organ had been the CEO of two private equity backed aviation businesses. From September 1998 to April 2012 he was the CEO of Schneller, a portfolio company of Graham Partners that was sold to Transdigm Group in September 2011. Schneller is a manufacturer of flame retardant materials used in the interiors of commercial aircraft. His second private equity owned company was Align Aerospace where he was the CEO from April 2012 to June 2014. Align is a distributor of assembly hardware for aerospace and defense OEMs and was a portfolio company of Greenbriar Equity. Greenbriar sold Align to AVIC International in March 2015.
Resilience has long invested in the aerospace sector so the addition of a new operating partner with experience in the sector makes sense. “For over 15 years Resilience has been an active investor in aviation and aerospace and we are pleased to welcome Rick who has nearly 20 years of aviation experience to Resilience,” said Steve Rosen, Co-CEO of Resilience Capital Partners.
“I was initially attracted to Resilience by their capabilities and culture. The firm is comprised of experienced, hands-on professionals who are committed to and passionate about partnering with lower middle market companies to improve and grow the business and its underlying value,” said Mr. Organ. “With more than half the Resilience team having been CEOs or senior level operators, we are uniquely qualified to partner with and bring value to this segment of the market.”
Resilience specializes in investing in middle market companies with $25 million to $250 million in revenues across a range of industries. Resilience is particularly focused on opportunities in the aviation industry having formed and committed capital to a new platform company, Resilience Aviation Holdings. This platform will invest in MRO, aerospace distribution and aerospace components parts manufacturing businesses.
“We are particularly enthusiastic about investment opportunities within the aviation industry and see many favorable situations where we are able to apply our experience as investors and operators, to aid in the growth and development of aviation companies challenged with the need to build scale to meet the ever increasing demands of their customers,” said Mr. Rosen.
Before his time at Schneller and Align Aerospace, Mr. Rosen was the Vice President – Strategy & Development at Valvoline from 1994 to 1998. He was also a managing director in investment banking at KeyCorp from 1991 to 1994. Mr. Rosen has an MBA from Harvard and a BBA in Accounting and Finance from the University of Notre Dame.
Since its founding in 2001, Resilience has acquired 43 companies under 23 platforms with over $2 billion in revenues. The firm is based in Cleveland (www.resiliencecapital.com).
© 2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 6-18-15
