Team
Brad Brenneman
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Prior to founding Breck, Brad was a partner at Wingate Partners for 16 years, where he served as Co-Managing Partner and was Chairman of Nekoosa Coated Products, Dunn Paper, and Sunrise Oilfield Supply, as lead board member for Industrial Container Services, and as a board member of S&N Communications and Binswanger Glass.
Prior to joining Wingate, Brad was an executive with Entergy Wholesale Operations where he led project teams in acquiring and developing power generation assets. He joined Entergy from Lufkin Industries where he served as an Officer. In addition to his leadership roles in operations and finance, Brad developed and implemented Lufkin’s strategic planning process and coordinated the successful acquisition of companies in the U.S. and Europe to help implement the strategic plan. Previously, he was a consultant with Bain & Company where he advised clients on strategy and corporate turnarounds.
Brad holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting, summa cum laude, from Kansas State University and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School. He currently serves as an Elder at Preston Trail Community Church and is a Trustee of Legacy Christian Academy. Brad is married to Leanne and they are the grateful parents of Abigail, Stanley, Jonathan, and Matt.
Brian Steinbrueck
Co-Founder & Partner
Prior to founding Breck, Brian was a partner at Wingate Partners where he was actively involved in sourcing, screening and financing acquisition candidates, as well as providing strategic direction and execution support to portfolio companies. He served as a board member for Dunn Paper and Nekoosa Coated Products, and Chairman for Binswanger Glass.
Prior to joining Wingate, Brian was a senior associate at McKinsey & Co., an international management consulting firm. While with McKinsey & Co., he worked on projects in the areas of operational improvement, business strategy and acquisition evaluation. Prior to McKinsey, he was a High Yield Investment Associate with AIG Global Investment Group focused on investments in the energy industry and, prior to that, an Analyst at Enron Corp.
Brian holds a Bachelor of Science, cum laude, in Mathematics and Computer Science from the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering and a Master of Business Administration with Distinction from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He is involved in the Dallas chapters of the Turnaround Management Association and ACG. Brian lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife and three sons.
John Kaserman
Director of Business Development
Before joining Breck Partners, John served as a Principal at Waco Ventures, an early-stage investment firm that partners with research institutions to commercialize intellectual property. During his time at the firm John partnered with the portfolio companies on strategy and financial operations, performed due diligence on new investments, assisted with capital raising, and developed relationships with new research institutions seeking to commercialize intellectual property.
Prior to Waco Ventures, John worked at McNeill and Company originating and analyzing investments in private equity, real estate, banking, and venture capital. Other relevant experience includes business development roles at Transition Capital Partners, a lower-middle market private equity firm, and Vision Research Capital, a long-short equity hedge fund.
In between Transition Capital Partners and McNeill & Company, John and his family spent one-year abroad serving as missionaries in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
John holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Baylor University. He lives in Dallas, TX with his wife and three children.
Guy Roecker
Senior Associate
Before joining Breck Partners, Guy was a Senior Associate at Hillwood Energy, a privately held oil & gas investor and operator backed by the Perot family. While at Hillwood, Guy supported the investment team with financial modeling, valuation, diligence, and deal execution. Additionally, Guy partnered with senior management and portfolio company leaders to evaluate asset development strategies, project financing activities, and other organic growth initiatives.
Prior to Hillwood Energy, Guy started his career at Phillips 66, a midstream and refining company based in Houston, Texas. While at Phillips 66, Guy served as a financial analyst supporting the Commercial Supply & Trading organization. He also served in an internal consulting capacity as part of a special assignment focused on value chain optimization and organizational transformation.
Guy holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Texas A&M University. He currently lives in North Texas with his wife, and they are expecting their first child in the spring of 2024.
Advisory Board
Paul Charapata
Paul Charapata is currently the President and CEO of Nekoosa, a leading producer of media for the commercial print and visual communications marketplaces. Mr. Charapata joined a small private equity group in 2006 that purchased Nekoosa as a carve-out from Imation Corp. In 2012, Paul partnered with Brad Brenneman and Brian Steinbrueck to transform the business into a world class organization with global reach. The team’s success was found in part by redeveloping the organization, driving operational excellence and executing six add-on acquisitions. Today, Nekoosa is an industry-leading global operation with five manufacturing facilities, servicing customers in 65 countries. Nekoosa is now a partnered with Sentinel Capital Partners, which manages over $4B in capital. Mr. Charapata has worked in the paper, printing, graphics, and converting industries for nearly 25 years in a variety of roles: Corporate Engineer, Director of Operations, Business Director, COO, and President.
Prior to joining Nekoosa, Mr. Charapata spent five years working with Avery Dennison as a Business Director leading two different growth divisions within the Fortune 500 Company. Prior to Avery Dennison, he spent eight years working for Wisconsin based Dunsirn Industries as Corporate Engineer and then Director of Operations overseeing 250 people and four nationwide locations. Mr. Charapata earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering.
Brent Earnshaw
Brent has experienced a successful 30-year career in the paper industry culminated by the extraordinary story of Dunn Paper. After earning his BS in Chemistry from Oakland University and a Ph.D. in Paper Science from the Institute of Paper Chemistry, he served initially as Technical Director for multiple paper companies. He then transitioned to full plant operations, led sales and business development, and eventually served as general manager for companies such as Dunn Paper, James River, Crown Vantage and Curtis Paper. All of these experiences were to prepare Brent for his ultimate leadership opportunity – resurrecting the shuttered Dunn Paper.
Through a management buyout and years of hard work and partnership with Brad and Brian, Brent led Dunn to become a high performing specialty paper business. At the end of 2014, Brent guided Dunn to acquire five specialty mills from Clearwater Paper – creating a $320 million revenue paper company with solid profits, diverse customers and end markets, and employer for over 750 people. These mills were repositioned to create the next chapter of the extraordinary Dunn Story and in 2016, the company was sold to Arbor Investments. After serving as CEO at Dunn for 15 years, Brent continues to help lead the company as its Vice Chairman.
Calvin Lee
Calvin Lee is currently the Lead Director of Binswanger Glass, the largest multi-regional glass installer in the US focused on the repair and replace market.
Previously, Mr. Lee was President and Chief Executive Officer of Industrial Container Services, a private equity sponsored investment, until his retirement in 2016. Mr. Lee led ICS’s transformation into the world’s largest and market leading provider of reconditioned services and containers. In 2016, Mr. Lee was awarded by the Reusable Industrial Packaging Association the Morris Hershson Award of Merit for “distinguished and longstanding service” to the reusable industrial packaging industry. Mr. Lee is a former Board member and founding partner of Consolidated Foundries, Inc. (now known as Consolidated Precision Products, Inc.) an international provider of high precision castings to the aerospace industry.
Mr. Lee holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Brigham Young University and was a licensed Certified Public Accountant in California.