Today we are traveling through one of the great family business stories, that of Goya Foods, the formation of their family office, and the creation of a free-standing private equity firm that focuses on family businesses called AUA Partners.

Andy Unanue is the founder and Managing Partner of AUA Private Equity Partners, an operationally focused, lower middle-market investment firm with expertise in supporting and growing family-owned and demographic-driven businesses. Andy is a member of AUA Private Equity’s Investment Committee, and under his leadership, AUA has deployed over $600 million of capital to date.

AUA’s business model is driven by Andy’s own family background.  He is a member of the Unanue family, which owns and runs Goya Foods, the largest producer of Spanish- and Latin-American foods in the United States. Andy’s grandfather, Prudencio, founded the company in 1936, and Andy’s father, Joe, was a legendary CEO of the company himself. Andy was a leader of Goya for many years, ultimately serving as its Chief Operating Officer before founding AUA.

Andy currently serves on several corporate boards, including Raymundos Food Group and Westminster Pet. Additionally, he serves on several not-for-profit boards, including his family’s charitable foundation, The C&J Unanue Foundation. Andy is a member of the University of Miami’s Dean’s Advisory Committee, the New America Alliance, and is on the Columbia University Medical Center’s Board of Advisors.

Andy received his M.B.A. from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and his B.B.A. from the University of Miami.

Please enjoy my conversation with Andy Unanue.

AUA Website: https://auaequity.com/

Circulus Substack: https://circulus.substack.com/

If you like these discussions, please subscribe or leave a review.

NOTE: This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Anything said by the guests or host should not be construed as legal or investment advice. Thanks for listening.

Joe Reilly is the head of Circulus Group, a family office network, and the host of The Inheritance Podcast.

FOLLOW JOE: https://twitter.com/joereillyjr

WEBSITE: https://circulus.substack.com/

INHERITANCE PODCAST:   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inheritance-podcast/id1644964

If you like this show, do me a favor and send it to someone you think would enjoy it.  Just copy the link into an email or text.  I appreciate it.

S4E9

©2025 Joe Reilly

There’s a vast landscape of valuable but unconventional assets out there, but how do you find them, filter them, and properly value them? What frameworks can you use to understand them and how can you integrate them into a portfolio? Jeff Collins of Cloverlay, a seasoned investor in niche assets for decades, loves to explore these esoteric and overlooked opportunities. We delve into various topics, including litigation finance, data centers, the intellectual property behind Care Bears, refurbishing cargo planes, purchasing whiskey barrels, and modeling future revenues for Phantom of the Opera. Jeff shares his insights on how he selects these assets, mobilizes capital to catalyze their growth, and defines their exit strategies.

Cloverlay is located in Pennsylvania and currently manages about $2 billion. As the Managing Partner, Jeff Collins oversees the firm's investment strategy and serves on its Investment Committee.  Jeff founded Cloverlay after a successful career at Morgan Stanley, where he was a Managing Director in the Alternative Investment Partners group. In that role, he was a key member of the Private Markets Investment Committee, responsible for leading complex investments in special situations and buyouts around the world. His background also includes private equity investing at Petra Capital Partners and investment banking at Robertson Stephens. He holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and a bachelor's degree in Politics from Princeton University.

Please enjoy my conversation with Jeff Collins.

Circulus Substack:  https://circulus.substack.com/

Cloverlay website:  https://www.cloverlay.com

If you like these discussions, please subscribe or leave a review.

NOTE: This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Anything said by the guests or host should not be construed as legal or investment advice. Thanks for listening.

Joe Reilly is the head of Circulus Group, a family office network, and the host of The Inheritance Podcast.

FOLLOW JOE: https://twitter.com/joereillyjr

WEBSITE: https://circulus.substack.com/

INHERITANCE PODCAST:   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inheritance-podcast/id1644964

If you like this show, do me a favor and send it to someone you think would enjoy it.  Just copy the link into an email or text.  I appreciate it.

S4E8

©2025 Joe Reilly

Joan Solotar is global head of Blackstone Private Wealth and a member of the firm’s management committee.

Joan’s career tracks the fascinating evolution of Wall Street in the past thirty years.  Joan worked on three notable IPOs: DLJ in 1995, Goldman Sachs in 1999, and Blackstone in 2007, and we discuss the strategic reasons behind them.  She was tapped to lead the development of Blackstone’s private wealth group, which has since grown to $250 billion.  We talk about the state of the industry she covered in the 1990s, the challenge of building a two-sided marketplace in private wealth, Blackstone’s management committee, how they prioritize, and the wisdom of building businesses organically.

Before joining Blackstone in 2007, Ms. Solotar was Head of Equity Research at Bank of America Securities and a highly ranked Institutional Investor All Star financial services analyst at Credit Suisse and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Ms. Solotar is a member of the Board of Trustees of East Harlem Tutorial Program and East Harlem Scholars Academies. She wrote a Harvard Business Review article entitled, “Truths for Our Daughters,” and co-authored,  “Truths from My Daughter.” Ms. Solotar received a BS in Management Information Systems from the State University of New York at Albany and an MBA in Finance from New York University.

Please enjoy my conversation with Joan Solotar.

Circulus Substack:  https://circulus.substack.com/

If you like these discussions, please subscribe or leave a review. 

NOTE: This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Anything said by the guests or host should not be construed as legal or investment advice. Thanks for listening.

Joe Reilly is the head of Circulus Group, a family office network, and the host of The Inheritance Podcast.

FOLLOW JOE: https://twitter.com/joereillyjr

WEBSITE: https://circulus.substack.com/

INHERITANCE PODCAST:   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inheritance-podcast/id1644964

If you like this show, do me a favor and send it to someone you think would enjoy it.  Just copy the link into an email or text.  I appreciate it.

S4E7

©2025 Joe Reilly

Mark Strauch is a founding partner and president of the private equity firm Alpine Investors, known for its unique CEO training program.

With a background in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University and subsequent business studies focused on finance, his career spans operational roles at companies like Electronic Arts, entrepreneurial ventures such as the early cloud concept Desktop.com, and significant leadership challenges, including orchestrating a complex turnaround as CEO of Business Engine.

Mark provides a detailed look into Alpine's operational methodology. He explains the origins and mechanics of the firm's fascinating CEO-in-Residence and CEO-in-Training programs, illustrating how this focus on securing leadership talent prior to acquisition shapes their investment strategy, sourcing advantage, and approach to scaling portfolio companies, exemplified through the creation of the company Ascend. He also discusses the firm's distinct culture, its strategic focus on talent and add-on acquisitions, and offers his views on market dynamics, including exit strategies and the role of AI.

Please enjoy my conversation with Mark Strauch.

Alpine Investors:  https://alpineinvestors.com

Circulus Substack:  https://circulus.substack.com/

If you like these discussions, please subscribe or leave a review. 

NOTE: This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Anything said by the guests or host should not be construed as legal or investment advice. Thanks for listening.

Joe Reilly is the head of Circulus Group, a family office network, and the host of The Inheritance Podcast.

FOLLOW JOE: https://twitter.com/joereillyjr

WEBSITE: https://circulus.substack.com/

INHERITANCE PODCAST:   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inheritance-podcast/id1644964

If you like this show, do me a favor and send it to someone you think would enjoy it.  Just copy the link into an email or text.  I appreciate it.

S4E6

©2025 Joe Reilly

Today we are going to hear the story of one of the most interesting firms to spring from a significant family office.  JB and Tony Pritzker approached today’s guest, Paul Carbone, with the idea of expanding their direct investments into a free-standing firm called Pritzker Private Capital.  Paul takes us through that journey and we discuss the importance of a well-defined value system, the benefits of family capital, partnering with other families, the difference between flexible and patient capital, the problem with club deals, and why direct investing is not for everyone.

Paul Carbone is Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of Pritzker Private Capital. In 2012, Paul joined PPC’s predecessor company and later PPC as a managing partner and led the firm’s growth and development for more than ten years. Prior to PPC, Paul was the director and managing partner of Robert W. Baird & Co.’s Private Equity Group after serving as co‐director of investment banking responsible for Mergers and Acquisitions Advisory. Previously, Paul was senior vice president in the Investment Banking Group at Kidder, Peabody & Co.  Paul received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, from The College of the University of Chicago. 

Please enjoy my conversation with Paul Carbone.

Pritzker Private Capital:  https://www.ppcpartners.com

University of Chicago Booth School of Business Family Office Initiative:  https://www.chicagobooth.edu/research/family-office-initiative

Circulus Substack:  https://circulus.substack.com/

If you like these discussions, please subscribe or leave a review.

NOTE: This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Anything said by the guests or host should not be construed as legal or investment advice. Thanks for listening.

Joe Reilly is the head of Circulus Group, a family office network, and the host of The Inheritance Podcast.

FOLLOW JOE: https://twitter.com/joereillyjr

WEBSITE: https://circulus.substack.com/

INHERITANCE PODCAST:   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inheritance-podcast/id1644964

If you like this show, do me a favor and send it to someone you think would enjoy it.  Just copy the link into an email or text.  I appreciate it.

©2025 Joe Reilly

Jason Mudrick is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of the $3.4 billion Mudrick Capital Management, a firm renowned for its expertise in navigating complex credit situations and distressed opportunities. With a career spanning multiple market cycles, Jason brings a wealth of experience and a unique perspective on the evolving landscape of distressed investing.  Forgoing a law career at Skadden, he did M&A at Merrill and then joined Contrarian Capital where he learned debt at the right-hand of Jon Bauer.  Taking the leap after the financial crisis, Jason started Mudrick Capital with $5 million and faced the challenges of raising capital in a tough market that nonetheless contained many opportunities.  Jason has lots of great stories, and we explore his current take on the debt landscape, his toughest year, creditor-on-creditor violence, and the wild ride of AMC.

Please enjoy my conversation with Jason Mudrick.

Mudrick Capital Management:  https://www.mudrickcapital.com/team

Circulus Substack:  https://circulus.substack.com/

If you like these discussions, please subscribe or leave a review.

NOTE: This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Anything said by the guests or host should not be construed as legal or investment advice. Thanks for listening.

Joe Reilly is the head of Circulus Group, a family office network, and the host of The Inheritance Podcast.

FOLLOW JOE: https://twitter.com/joereillyjr

WEBSITE: https://circulus.substack.com/

INHERITANCE PODCAST:   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inheritance-podcast/id1644964

If you like this show, do me a favor and send it to someone you think would enjoy it.  Just copy the link into an email or text.  I appreciate it.

©2025 Joe Reilly

Today, we're charting the remarkable trajectory of a wealth management powerhouse: Pathstone. Joining us is Matt Fleissig, co-founder and CEO.   Pathstone is a great case study for the major trends in wealth management over the last ten years.  Pathstone’s DNA was from the well-known Harris MyCFO, which was the original dot-com family office formed by the founders of Netscape and WebMD.  Pathstone has since grown into a firm managing and advising on a remarkable $162 billion in assets. Matt has been a key architect of this growth story, and we'll explore how they navigated the complexities of multiple prominent acquisitions, how they developed their unique business model which has turned services into a revenue generator rather than a cost, and their recent notable acquisition of the $45 billion Hall Capital.

Earlier in Matt’s career, he held positions at Harris MyCFO Investment Advisory as a Principal and at Ayco, a Goldman Sachs Company, as a Financial Planner. He was a member of Harris Bank’s Outside Advisor Review Committee, which directed manager due diligence, search, and selection for the bank’s $60 billion platform, and was also a member of Harris Bank’s Investment Management Committee.  Matt earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Muhlenberg College and an MBA in Finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Please enjoy my conversation with Matt Fleissig.

Pathstone:  https://www.pathstone.com

Circulus Substack:  https://circulus.substack.com/

If you like these discussions, please subscribe or leave a review. 

NOTE: This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Anything said by the guests or host should not be construed as legal or investment advice. Thanks for listening.

Joe Reilly is the head of Circulus Group, a family office network, and the host of The Inheritance Podcast.

FOLLOW JOE: https://twitter.com/joereillyjr

WEBSITE: https://circulus.substack.com/

INHERITANCE PODCAST:   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inheritance-podcast/id1644964

If you like this show, do me a favor and send it to someone you think would enjoy it.  Just copy the link into an email or text.  I appreciate it.

©2025 Joe Reilly

Michael Fisch is a founder and the CEO of American Securities, a $23 billion private equity firm that originated in the Rosenwald family office.  This is a great story of a fabled family office turning their investment DNA into a thriving private equity firm by buying market-leading businesses.  William Rosenwald, son of Julius Rosenwald who built Sears Roebuck, started the family office back in the 1940s, investing in private companies.  Michael’s mentor, Chuck Klein, took them to the next level in the 1980s and offered a role to 30-year-old Michael, who turned around and proposed building what became American Securities today.  We talk about their first acquisition, why they seek out market leaders, the growth of the firm, and overcoming bottlenecks, and their unique resource group that creates efficiencies and growth in their underlying companies.

Before founding American Securities, he was a partner in two private equity funds, a consultant in the Paris office of Bain & Company, and a professional in the mergers and acquisitions department of Goldman Sachs.

Michael received a BA in Economics and Policy Studies from Dartmouth College, where he is a Member of the President’s Leadership Council, and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he has been a guest lecturer since 2006. Michael serves as a Director of the 1162 Foundation, a Member of the Atlantic Council’s Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, and Chairman of the Advisory Council of its Freedom and Prosperity Center, a Member of the Board of Trustees of Northwell Health, and Chair of the Board of Trustees of Princeton Theological Seminary.

He has authored a number of articles and appeared as a guest on national television programs, all on private equity and investing.

Please enjoy my conversation with Mike Fisch.

American Securities:  https://www.american-securities.com/en/team/michael-fisch

Circulus Substack:  https://circulus.substack.com/

If you like these discussions, please subscribe or leave a review. 

NOTE: This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Anything said by the guests or host should not be construed as legal or investment advice. Thanks for listening.

Joe Reilly is the head of Circulus Group, a family office network, and the host of The Inheritance Podcast.

FOLLOW JOE: https://twitter.com/joereillyjr

WEBSITE: https://circulus.substack.com/

INHERITANCE PODCAST:   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inheritance-podcast/id1644964

If you like this show, do me a favor and send it to someone you think would enjoy it.  Just copy the link into an email or text.  I appreciate it.

©2025 Joe Reilly

Today’s guest is Jim Tananbaum of Foresite Capital.  One of the most exciting places AI is revolutionizing is drug discovery, so I was very excited to have Jim on today.

Jim Tananbaum is the founder and chief executive officer of Foresite Capital, a U.S.-focused healthcare investment firm founded in 2011 that has approximately $3.5 billion in assets under management.  During the last three decades, Jim has been a thought partner for some of the most impactful and fastest-growth companies of their generation, including: 10x Genomics, Amerigroup, and Jazz Pharmaceuticals.    Jim’s first success came while he was still at Harvard Business School when he co-founded GelTex Pharmaceuticals, which brought two drugs to market and was acquired in 1999 for $1.4 billion.  Jim was the founding chief executive of Theravance, Inc., a co-founder of Prospect Ventures, and a partner of Sierra Ventures.  Jim studied engineering at Yale and earned an MD from Harvard Medical School, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and graduated from the Harvard MIT HST program.

We discuss what it takes to start a drug company, breakthroughs in obesity, AI, and the challenge of data in drug discovery, understanding the language of biology, advances in pain and cancer research, and his thoughts on brain implants.

Please enjoy my conversation with Jim Tananbaum.

Foresite Capital:  https://www.foresitecapital.com

Jim’s Homepage:  https://jimtananbaum.com

If you like these discussions, please subscribe or leave a review.

NOTE: This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Anything said by the guests or host should not be construed as legal or investment advice. Thanks for listening.

Joe Reilly is a family office consultant, and the host of the Private Capital Podcast as well as the Inheritance Podcast. 

FOLLOW JOE: https://twitter.com/joereillyjr

WEBSITE: https://circulus.substack.com/

INHERITANCE PODCAST:   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inheritance-podcast/id1644964

If you like this show, do me a favor and send it to someone you think would enjoy it.  Just copy the link into an email or text.  I appreciate it.

©2025 Joe Reilly

Today’s guest is Mark Gerson of 3i Members.

Mark is a remarkable entrepreneur, philanthropist, and master at creating networks.  He is most well known for founding Gerson Lehrman Group, the original and largest expert network in the world, and most recently, 3i Members, a global deal network for investors, all of whom have exited a company or led a family office.  Mark is also the chairman of United Hatzalah, a network of volunteer medics in Israel, and the cofounder of the African Mission Healthcare Foundation, which supports missionaries performing medical care in Africa.  Mark is a graduate of Williams College and has a JD from Yale Law School.  You should also know Mark is a big fan of Sinatra and Elvis.

We discuss the founding of GLG, his sports business Thuzio, the mechanics of 3i, and delve into the workings of United Hatzalah.  Mark was a real pleasure to talk to as he has such a broad range of interests.

Please enjoy my conversation with Mark Gerson.

Mark’s Podcast:  https://www.therabbishusband.com/

3i Members:  https://www.3imembers.com/

United Hatzalah: https://israelrescue.org/

African Mission Healthcare Foundation: https://africanmissionhealthcare.org/about-us/history/

If you like these discussions, please subscribe or leave a review.

NOTE: This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Anything said by the guests or host should not be construed as legal or investment advice. Thanks for listening.

Joe Reilly is a family office consultant, and the host of the Private Capital Podcast as well as the Inheritance Podcast. 

FOLLOW JOE: https://twitter.com/joereillyjr

WEBSITE: https://circulus.substack.com/

INHERITANCE PODCAST:   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inheritance-podcast/id1644964

If you like this show, do me a favor and send it to someone you think would enjoy it.  Just copy the link into an email or text.  I appreciate it.

©2024 Joe Reilly