For our Season Five finale, we turn the microphones on ourselves. With no guest to keep us in line, Denver-based marketing guru Kim Kelty steps in as moderator, referee, and occasional peacekeeper.

We reflect on nearly 90 episodes, the lessons we've learned from exceptional founders and investors, and where we think private equity and the M&A market are headed. We also discuss the two forces reshaping the industry: technology and a more demanding investment landscape.

If you're expecting a sentimental moment between the hosts, you'll have to keep waiting. Instead, expect spirited banter, an unnecessary debate over music, and the familiar competitive dynamic that has somehow kept both our relationship and the podcast alive and humming over the past five years.

John Connaughton is chair of Bain Capital, the Boston-based private equity firm with roughly $225 billion in assets under management.  Discussion begins with John’s childhood in Baltimore and the pace set by his Irish emigre parents.  College at UVA and business school at Harvard followed.  John joined Bain in 1989, an early employee in the private equity effort that spun out of the Bain & Co. management consulting firm.   He and the hosts take a fast-paced tour through early days at Bain Capital, the mindset of Mitt Romney and other leaders, his ascent in the practice, John’s own tenure in leadership, and Bain’s determination to remain private even as its peers entered the public market. One constant theme:  the pursuit of extraordinary returns on every deal.  

Morgan Witham, a stellar product of the Harris Williams “coaching tree,” stops by Middle Market Musings – akin to starting your career with the New York Yankees and ending up in the dugout with Ricky Vaughn and Willie Mays Hayes.  Morgan recently launched Ficus Advisors, a new firm that helps private equity clients guide management teams dealing with first-time institutional capital, post-deal integration issues, and PE growth imperatives.  Before that, Morgan takes us on a tour of showpiece Southern cities – childhood in Lexington, college in Nashville, then a first job in Richmond at Harris Williams, the market-leading investment bank. She rose through deal execution and business development roles to become the youngest member of HW’s executive team as Director of Strategy.  The episode begins and ends with Morgan reflecting on a life-changing event – the fire that destroyed her family’s home earlier this year, and what the experience has taught her about leadership, resilience and human kindness.  

Emily is a Managing Director at Permanent Equity, a St. Louis-based private equity firm that his made its reputation as its name suggests – by investing out of 30-year funds that enable longer term holds and relationships with founding entrepreneurs.  Emily and the hosts sail through her childhood in Indianapolis, college as a journalism major at the University of Missouri and a first job in marketing in Los Angeles.  There, she connected with Permanent Equity founder Brent Beshore, returning to the Midwest and joining the firm in 2009.  Much discussion ensues on how the Permanent Equity model differentiates the firm in a market largely defined by investor liquidity requirements. Emily also has the misfortune of dealing with the hosts after a spring layover.  Rusty?  No.  Bristling with sports rivalries and other resentments ?  Always. 

This one is as action-packed and varied in scene as a James Bond movie.  John Ferrara is founder and CEO of Capstone Partners, the middle market investment bank.  John’s story rolls through his upbringing in hardscrabble Brockton, MA to college at liberal arts enclave Wesleyan to an early career stop with Lehman Brothers on Wall Street, to two years of professional baseball in Australia.  Then business school at UCLA, partnership at Arthur Andersen and, in 2002, the founding of Capstone.  John discusses his ambitious early plans for a new investment bank, the buildup of Capstone through a series of acquisitions, and the decision to sell to Huntington Bank in 2022.  John and the hosts wrap up discussing some personal challenges and life philosophy that applies to but transcends the world of finance.   

Rocky is Senior Manager Director and Co-Head of Investment Banking at Mesirow, the Chicago-based employee-owned, diversified financial services firm.  A Chicagoland native who survived Eastern stops for college at Penn and a first job at Merrill Lynch, Rocky has been at Mesirow since 2001. He has charted and contributed to the firm’s emergence as a significant force in middle market M&A.  On the personal side, Rocky talks about his youthful athletic prowess, something he shares with one or none of the MMM hosts, depending on who you ask.  Interesting discussion about the near extinction of publicly traded middle market companies outside of growth sectors like health care and tech.  Also of note – the correct plural form of Pontikes, which is apparently “Pontiki.” 

Rick Horowitz misses the off ramp and ends up on a podcast in the bad part of town.  Rick is chairman and CEO of RAF Equity, a Philadelphia-based private equity fund formed as a family office in 1979.  Rick has three singular stories to tell:  (1) the legacy of Robert A. Fox, the firm’s founder and a towering figure in Delaware Valley business circles; (2) RAF’s successful leadership transition from Bob Fox to Rick; and (3) the firm’s ability to maintain a long-term investment horizon even after extending the capital base to outside investors.  The storied history of Boston/Philly sports rivalries gets a workout, but Rick and the hosts unite eventually over an embarrassingly detailed assessment of The Boston Globe sports page circa 1985.  Talk about click bait!

Peter Fader is the Frances and Pei-Yuan Chia Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, as well as co-founder of Theta Equity, a next-generation data analytics firm.  Much discussion about Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), the concept that has animated Pete’s academic career and business endeavors.  Pete’s fascination with numbers and data leads to an array of other subjects – baseball player performance, the sales trajectory of hit records, and even the serial numbers on dollar bills.  The hosts and Pete trade notes on what their “walk-on” music would be, a topic that exposes stadium rock as a rare gap in Andy’s range of expertise.  If you think Charlie responds to this discovery with grace and restraint, you must be new around here.

Rit Amin is Executive Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets at Regions Securities, the investment banking arm of Regions Bank.  Rit has overseen the firm’s entry into capital markets, as well as the acquisition of BlackArch Partners in 2016 and Clearsight Advisors in 2021.  His visit to Middle Market Musings begins with frequent childhood moves – experiences that helped develop the adaptability and room-reading skills at the heart of the investment banking trade. College at George Mason followed by big bank experience led Rit to Regions Bank in 2013.  Much discussion about where 300+ bankers adhere to a common culture and where they focus on specialized practice strength.  The discussion also features a rare point of agreement between Andy and Charlie – the general suckiness of Ted Lasso.

Mark Sullivan rips the bandaid off of decades of repressed memories about past dealings with Andy and Charlie to join the show   Mark is co-founder and partner at Lineage Capital, one of the leading private equity firms devoted to leaving growth-minded business owners with board control, even after selling a majority stake. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Lineage and Charlie’s firm New Heritage Capital (NHC) evolved out of a common predecessor. Discussions commence with Mark and Charlie’s apocalyptic meeting in 1998, then circles back to Mark’s Atlanta childhood, college at Washington & Lee and early career.  Superb discussion about non-control investing and some fancy footwork from Andy when Mark asks who he would show a deal to first -- Lineage or NHC.