XMS Capital Partners, LLC (“XMS”) has announced the hiring of Scott P. George as Managing Director in its Chicago office. Mr. George possesses a rare combination of investment banking and corporate development skills that will augment XMS’ core mission of delivering objective, value added advice and custom tailored solutions to help clients achieve their strategic goals.

“Scott brings to XMS a proven track record in investment banking, a long history of building and managing investment banking practices and recent experience as a senior corporate development executive at a NYSE-listed public company. We are thrilled to have Scott join our team,” said Ted Brombach and John “Yogi” Spence, Co-Founding Partners of XMS. “Joining an entrepreneurial, high quality firm like XMS will enable me to resume working with several people who I have known and respected since we worked together at Morgan Stanley. I am excited to help the firm as it continues to serve its clients well and successfully expand its footprint,” added Mr. George.

Prior to joining XMS, Mr. George was Senior Vice President, Corporate Development for Hillenbrand, Inc., a $1.8 billion in revenue NYSE-listed global company. Previous to helping transform Hillenbrand into a global diversified industrial company, Mr. George built the Chicago office of PMCF, LLC, the investment banking division of Plante Moran.

About XMS Capital Partners

XMS Capital Partners, established in 2006, is an independent, financial services firm providing M&A, corporate advisory and asset management services to clients globally. It has offices in Chicago, London and Dublin.

XMS provides Involvement Banking^TM, which goes beyond transaction oriented investment banking and focuses on providing objective, value added advice and custom tailored solutions to help clients achieve their strategic goals. It consistently creates value for its clients by giving them access to comprehensive, independent M&A, strategic advisory, financial restructuring, capital structure advisory and private capital advisory expertise. For more information, please visit www.xmscapital.com.

Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC (“MDP”), a leading private equity firm based in Chicago, announced that it has engaged industry leader John Lewis as an Executive Partner in pursuit of attractive investment opportunities for MDP’s funds across the information services landscape. In particular, Mr. Lewis, who most recently served as Global President of Nielsen Holdings PLC (NYSE:NLSN), will assist MDP in identifying and developing businesses with differentiated capabilities in data and business analytics.

Mr. Lewis has a proven track record of achievement over a multi-year career spanning a variety of business situations, including globally scaled businesses, start-ups and turnarounds. Most recently, in his capacity as Global President of Nielsen, he oversaw Nielsen’s global “Buy” business and its ex-North America “Watch” business, which comprised approximately two-thirds of Nielsen’s more than $6 billion of annual revenue during his tenure. In addition, Mr. Lewis completed and successfully integrated more than 10 strategic acquisitions while at Nielsen.

Mr. Lewis has also joined MDP’s TMT Services Advisory Group, which comprises outside industry executives who assist MDP with identifying new investment opportunities and generating value for MDP’s funds within existing investments. MDP leverages the expertise of this and other industry-specific advisory groups to supplement and enhance its investment strategy across each of its industry areas of focus. These advisory groups have provided MDP with direct introductions to target companies and management teams, unique insights on sector trends, due diligence assistance and post-investment value enhancement support.

About Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC

Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC (MDP), based in Chicago, is a leading private equity investment firm in the United States. Since MDP’s formation in 1992, the firm has raised seven funds with aggregate capital of approximately $23 billion and has completed approximately 130 investments. MDP is currently investing out of its most recent fund, $4.4 billion MDCP Fund VII, in businesses across a broad spectrum of industries, including telecom, media and technology (TMT) services; basic industries; business and government services; consumer; financial and transaction services; and health care. For more information, please visit http://www.mdcp.com.

Patty brings valuable experience building sustained, organic growth in materials-focused businesses. She most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer, at A. Schulman, leading all commercial efforts. Before that Patty worked at Dow Chemical for twelve years where she advanced through a variety of global marketing, commercial, and business development roles.

AboutCoorsTek: CoorsTek is the international partner of choice for companies requiring the unique, high-performance properties of products manufactured from engineered technical ceramics and advanced materials. CoorsTek delivers outstanding value through unsurpassed expertise in materials engineering; broad research, development, and manufacturing capabilities; collaborative relationships, and operational excellence. For more information about CoorsTek, including product information and company history since 1910, visit https://coorstek.com/

Congrats to SMP client, Frederic Jung, on his new role as Chief Financial Officer at Northwest Hardwoods!

A leading North American hardwood lumber brand, Northwest Hardwoods is recognized by the furniture, cabinet and millwork industries for its high quality and custom grades.

Frederic brings 29 years of finance expertise and global business experience in both public and privately-held companies. His latest role was Chief Financial Officer at Arizona Chemical, the world leading supplier of pine based specialty chemicals, for the last seven years, until the successful sale of the company. Before that, he was the Corporate Controller for Chicago-based Nalco Company, the world’s leading producer of specialty chemicals and services for water and waste treatment and industrial processes.

Congratulations to SMP client, Mark Overdyk, on his new role as General Manager, Latin America at Beam Suntory!

Mark Overdyk will be leading the Latin America business as the new GM, LATAM at Beam Suntory. As the world’s third largest premium spirits company, Beam Suntory is Crafting the Spirits that Stir the World. Owned by Suntory Holdings Limited, Beam Suntory has a dynamic portfolio with unparalleled expertise in whisky, led by Bourbon and Japanese Whisky, and global strength across many key categories including tequila, vodka, cognac, rum and cordials. Beam Suntory was created in 2014 by combining the world leader in bourbon and the pioneer in Japanese whisky to form a new company with a deep heritage, passion for quality, innovative spirit and entrepreneurial culture. https://www.beamsuntory.com/

Mark is a global business leader who has 20-plus years of experience in the beverage industry and a proven track record of using sound strategy and uncommon imagination to drive top- and bottom-line growth in established and emerging markets. Mark’s most recent role was Managing Director, Latin America at Brown-Forman. In that role, Mark was responsible for transforming their Latin American business into the company’s fastest growing region — taking sales from $20M to $300M in eight years.