Martin Stein
Founder and Managing Director
Martin Stein is the Founder and Managing Director of Blackford
Capital. Mr. Stein has ten years of private equity experience
and leads the firm's acquisition sourcing activities and serves
on the boards of portfolio companies. Prior to founding Blackford
Capital, Mr. Stein worked as a consultant with Mercer Management
Consulting where he developed growth strategies for Fortune 500
clients such as Sears, Dow Chemicals, Searle Pharmaceuticals,
Pfizer, and PacifiCare Health Systems. While at Mercer, Mr. Stein
also played a leading role in helping develop the firm's intellectual
property and knowledge management systems. Mr. Stein has experience
in a variety of different industries including plastic injection
molding, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, industrial equipment, packaging,
retail, health care, and home furnishings.
Previously, Mr. Stein worked as a consultant with the Council
for Excellence in Government where he implemented private sector
management strategies to improve the organizational efficiency
of various executive branches of the federal government such as
the Department of Labor, the Federal Aviation Administration,
and the Department of Energy.
Mr. Stein has published three Harvard Business School cases.
He received his BA, with honors, from the University of Chicago,
where he was a College Honors Scholar and was selected by USA
Today as one of the "Best and Brightest Leaders in America."
He received his MBA from Harvard Business School.
|
Tony Kiehn
Managing Director
Tony Kiehn is a Managing Director at Blackford Capital, LLC.
As Managing Director, Mr. Kiehn oversees all of Blackford Capital’s
global operations including finance, IT, and recruitment.
Prior to Blackford Capital, Mr. Kiehn had an extensive career
as both an operator and an investor, with a particular focus on
start-up, high tech, international, and manufacturing businesses.
Most recently, Mr. Kiehn was CEO for PowerFile, Inc., a leading
manufacturer of optical storage device manufacturer, and he led
the successful recapitalization of the business with Sequoia Capital.
Prior to PowerFile, Mr. Kiehn served as the Managing Director
for Conxion Europe, one of the largest hosting and content distribution
firms on the continent. While at Conxion, Mr. Kiehn was responsible
for developing and servicing key strategic relationships with
Microsoft and Symantec. Prior to Conxion, Mr. Kiehn served as
the Managing Director of SpeedPort, an Amsterdam-based start-up
that built and maintained data centers throughout Europe. Mr.
Kiehn was responsible for the sale of SpeedPort to Conxion in
August of 2000.
Mr. Kiehn has also held various senior positions while in Hong
Kong at Jardine Matheson, one of the largest holding companies
in the non-Japan Asia. While at Jardine Matheson, Mr. Kiehn served
as General Manager of Matheson PFC, one of Asia’s largest
mutual fund intermediaries. He was responsible for managing the
strategic and financial relationships with 82 fund houses representing
1,100 funds. Mr Kiehn also held various strategic roles related
to Jardine’s commercial technology group. He managed partnerships
with Sun, Netscape, and Hong Kong's largest ISP.
Mr. Kiehn began his career in finance and operations at General
Electric. While at GE, Mr. Kiehn he worked in the Power Generation,
Plastics, Electrical Distribution & Control, and Appliance
businesses. He also participated in GE Capital’s initial
acquisitions throughout Asia and worked on the Corporate Audit
Staff.
Mr. Kiehn has lived in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, China,
The Netherlands, and Hungary. Mr. Kiehn received an MBA from the
Harvard Business School and holds a BA from the University of
Nebraska at Omaha. |
