Charterhouse Group

Investment Team

Thomas C. Dircks Thomas C. Dircks Contact Thomas
Managing Partner
Tel: 212 584-3229

Tom became Charterhouse's Managing Partner in late 2001. Tom began his career in private equity when he joined Charterhouse Group in 1983 from Price Waterhouse.

During his early years, Tom was instrumental in analyzing, diligencing, structuring, monitoring and realizing many of the Firm's portfolio companies. These included industrial companies in the steel, textiles, batteries, furniture, auto parts and electronic components markets and consumer and business services companies in the food, apparel, cable television, retail and transportation sectors.

As part of his responsibilities for portfolio company monitoring, Tom gained significant exposure to the benefits of strong capital markets (7 IPO's, public debt issuance and excess credit availability), as well as the resulting credit contraction and portfolio company debt restructurings which took place in the late 1980's. In 1991, he was appointed a member of the Firm's investment committee and became directly responsible for sourcing and cultivating entrepreneur relationships and investment opportunities and led some of the Firm's largest and most successful platform investments and buildups including Charter Communications, Cross Country Healthcare and AAT Communications.

In the case of AAT, Tom developed the plan to acquire control of this existing platform company and invest an additional $140 million of Charterhouse equity to build a significant company in the wireless tower sector. At the time the industry was out of favor and he recruited Charterhouse Entrepreneur Jerry Kent, who had previously built Charter Communications into one of the largest cable television companies in the U.S., as CEO, to execute the strategy.

Today, Tom is responsible for Charterhouse's overall investment strategy and operations. He holds an M.B.A. and a B.S. in Accounting from Fordham University and serves as a director or observer of Cross Country Healthcare, The Camelot Schools, Inc., Suddenlink Communications, Towne Air Freight, Inc., Upstream Rehabilitation, Inc. and NewPath Networks, Inc.

 
C. Taylor Cole, Jr. C. Taylor Cole, Jr. Contact Taylor
Managing Director
Tel: 212 584-3212

Taylor joined Charterhouse Group in 1998. Taylor is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing new platform and add-on investments along with monitoring portfolio company activities within the Healthcare Services sector. He has also been actively involved in speaking engagements and most recently served as Chairman and Keynote Speaker of the Capital Roundtable MasterClass on Private Equity Investing in Middle-Market Healthcare Companies.

Prior to joining Charterhouse, he was a member of the Investment Banking Division of Morgan Stanley & Co. where he concentrated on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions across a wide array of industries.

Taylor holds an M.B.A. from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration and a B.A. from the University of Virginia. He serves as a director of Chamberlin Edmonds & Associates, Inc., The Camelot Schools, Cross Country Healthcare and Upstream Rehabilitation.

 
Jay M. Gates Jay M. Gates Contact David
Managing Director
Tel: 212 584-3239

Jay joined Charterhouse Group in 1994. Jay is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing new platform and add-on investments along with monitoring portfolio company activities within the Business Services sector.

He rejoined Charterhouse in February 2010, after having left the firm in late 2008 to start Townhill Capital Partners LLC, a private equity firm focused on making investments in the Business Services sector. Earlier in his career, Jay was employed by Arthur Andersen and Bankers Trust Company. Jay holds an M.B.A. from New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business and a B.A. from the State University of New York at Binghamton.

He serves on the board of directors of Towne Holdings, Inc. and was a director of former portfolio companies including MPTotalCare Inc., LogistiCare Inc., Harvard Custom Manufacturing LLC and Oakleaf Waste Management Inc., which have all been realized.

 
David G. Hoffman David G. Hoffman Contact David
Managing Director
Tel: 212 584-3234

David joined Charterhouse Group in 1985. David is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing new platform and add-on investments along with monitoring portfolio company activities within the Consumer Products and Services Sector. He is also responsible for overseeing the Firm’s Entrepreneur Outreach Program.

Previously, he served as Managing Partner of Hoffman & Company and as a Principal and Director of Business Development of Odyssey Partners, L.P. David holds an M.B.A. from Columbia University and a B.A. from Bucknell University.

He serves on the board of directors of Charter Baking Company.

 
William Landuyt William Landuyt Contact William
Managing Director
Tel: 212 584-3216

William joined Charterhouse Group in 2003 and is involved with evaluating and executing transactions and is Chairman of the Portfolio Review Committee, which oversees the performance and internal monitoring of the Firm’s portfolio companies.

Previously, Bill spent 20 years with UK-based Hanson PLC and its affiliates, most recently serving as the Chairman and CEO of Millennium Chemicals Inc., a NYSE-listed, diversified chemical company that had been a spin-off from Hanson PLC. He had previously served as the President of Hanson's $8.5 billion U.S. operations as well as the Finance Director (CFO equivalent) of Hanson PLC, the $18.5 billion parent entity. Bill managed and was actively involved in Hanson's substantial volume of mergers and acquisition activity across a variety of industries and transaction types.

Bill began his career (with Tom Dircks) as a Certified Public Accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.B.A. in Accounting. He serves on the boards of directors of MxEnergy, Inc., Towne Holdings, Inc. and NewPath Networks, Inc.

 
Robert Haisch Robert Haisch Contact Haisch
Vice President
Tel: 212 584-3237

Robert Haisch, Vice President, joined Charterhouse in 2008. He focuses primarily on sourcing, evaluating and executing new platform and add-on investments along with monitoring portfolio company activities.

Prior to joining Charterhouse, Rob was a Senior Associate at North Castle Partners, a private equity firm focused on consumer investments, where he originated, executed and monitored investments in the consumer health, fitness and personal care sectors. He was also previously employed in the Leverage Finance Group of J.P. Morgan Securities.

Rob received his B.A. in Economics from Vanderbilt University.

 
Todd Neustat Todd E. Neustat Contact Neustat
Senior Associate
Tel: 212 584-3210

Todd E Neustat, Senior Associate, joined Charterhouse in 2008. He is primarily focused on executing new platform and add-on transactions along with monitoring portfolio company activities.

Prior to joining Charterhouse, Todd was an Associate at Brera Capital Partners. He was previously employed at The NorthBridge Group, a consulting firm, and in the Investment Banking Division of Lehman Brothers, where he concentrated on mergers and acquisitions.

Todd received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and his B.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University.

 
Helis Zulijani Helis Zulijani Contact Helis
Associate
Tel: 212 584-3228

Helis joined Charterhouse in 2009. She is primarily focused on executing new platform and add-on transactions along with monitoring portfolio company activities. Prior to joining Charterhouse, Helis was an Associate at Carlyle Mezzanine Partners. Previously, she was employed as an Investment Banking Analyst in the leverage finance group at J.P. Morgan.

Helis received her B.A. in Economics from Harvard University.

   
The Information on these pages is intended solely for the benefit of persons who might be aware of investment opportunities that would interest CGI. CGI's services are provided only to a limited number of private investment funds; CGI does not make its services available to the public. COPYRIGHT 2007 CHARTERHOUSE GROUP, INC.