Operating Partners

Matt Arnold
CEO, Unimacts

Mr. Arnold has 15 years experience in manufacturing operations, strategic sourcing, and supply chain improvement. Currently he serves as the CEO of Unimacts, one of Blackford Capital’s portfolio companies. Prior to assuming this position, Mr. Arnold was a Vice President at i2 Technologies (supply chain software company) leading various Business Development, Sales, and Product Marketing efforts. Prior to that Mr. Arnold worked at GE Corporate managing cross-business global sourcing and supply chain management projects. Previously Mr. Arnold was a management consultant at AT Kearney leading strategic sourcing and operations improvement engagements. Mr. Arnold started his career at GE in various manufacturing leadership roles including Machine Shop Foreman, Production Control Supervisor, Manufacturing Engineer and Quality Manager.

Mr. Arnold has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Union College and an MBA from Harvard.

Paul Giobbi
President, Zumasys, Inc.

Paul Giobbi serves as an operating partner to Blackford Capital. Mr. Giobbi began his career at the age of 11 as he tested character-based terminals for a family business that sold manufacturing software and would eventually be acquired by Epicor, a publicly-traded software company based in Irvine, CA.

In 1995, Mr. Giobbi joined Jones Business Systems, a SCO/Informix distributor and four-time Inc. 500 company based in Houston, TX. JBS grew from $5M to $68M in sales and eventually went public when it merged with Ebiz Enterprises, a Ray Noorda Canopy Venture.

Mr. Giobbi moved back to Southern California in 2000 and started Zumasys with three former JBS co-workers. Zumasys helps legacy computing users "rejuvenate" their applications by integrating them with the Web and emerging 3G Wireless technologies from Qualcomm. Additionally, the company owns a proprietary hosting platform called TheDemandOffice.com, which targets small-to-medium business requiring web-based access to their core business applications, all of which run on virtual servers located in a hardened Data Center.

Mr. Giobbi has a bachelors degree in History from San Diego State University.

Stephen Hall
President and Chief Executive Officer, BSI

Steve Hall serves as an operating partner of Blackford Capital. Currently, Mr. Hall serves as the president and CEO of Best Securities Industries, a current portfolio company of Blackford Capital. As president and CEO, Mr. Hall is responsible for executing strategic initiatives for the business and managing day to day operations.

Prior to joining BSI, Mr. Hall was the Senior Vice President of Global Sales at Xterprise, Incorporated, a global leader in advanced RFID solutions. Mr. Hall managed relationships with customers such as ExxonMobil, L’Oreal, Sotheby’s, Dial, PepsiCo, and over 40 other consumer product goods manufacturers. Before Xterprise, Mr. Hall served as the Vice President, Sales and Marketing, for SAMSys, Mr. Hall was the Vice President, Business Development and Sales for PEAK Technologies, a leading systems integrator for the Automatic Identification and Data Collection Industry, with US revenues of over $170 million. Earlier in his career, Mr. Hall spent 9 years as Vice President of the Commercial/Industrial Division with Sensormatic Electronics Corporation, a worldwide leader in security solutions. In this role, Mr. Hall was responsible for building the country’s largest solutions team in electronic security of EAS, CCTV and Access Control solutions. He also managed the company’s dealer and distribution network for its product sales through this indirect channel.

Mr. Hall received his MBA in Management and Finance from the Crummer School of Finance and Business Administration, Rollins College, and his BA in Marketing and Management, from Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. He serves as an Emeritus Director for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, based out of Alexandria, Virginia. Additionally, Mr. Hall has been a featured speaker at the WERC National Conference, the International Security Conference (ISC), the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) Conference, and the International Association for Professional Security Consultants (IAPSC)

Michael Jones
President, Industrial Piping Inc.

Michael Jones serves as an operating partner of Blackford Capital and President of Industrial Piping Inc. Mr. Jones is overall responsible for meeting budget, schedule, and performance goals for all company activities for the Process Mechanical division, Fire Protection division, and Fabrication division of Industrial Piping, Inc. Mr. Jones has served as President of Industrial Piping Inc for over 30 years. In this capacity, he has been responsible for more than 1,000 construction projects including work in the following trades: process and utility piping systems; automatic fire sprinkler systems- layout, design, and hydraulic calculations; fabricated weldments such as tanks, heat exchangers, pressure vessels, skid mounted process modules, structural steel framework, pipe supports; concrete; grouting; instrumentation; insulation; and sheet metal; all requiring direct labor, subcontractor management, and project management activities in varying degrees depending on project scope and requirements. Industrial Piping Inc has performed projects for customers such as: Duke Energy, Bridgestone/Firestone, BMW, Calriant, Weyerhauser, Cargill, Allvac, Miliken, Parxair, TempurPedic, Questair.

Mr. Jones has a B.S. in Pre-Med/Zoology from Duke University.

Dave Neideffer
Executive Vice President of Property and Asset Management, former President and CEO, Rhinotek

David Neideffer serves as an operating partner of Blackford Capital. As such, he is responsible for assisting in the evaluation of new acquisitions and serving as a board member for existing portfolio companies. Mr. Neideffer currently works at Core Realty, where he is the Executive Vice President of Property and Asset Management. In this role, Mr. Neideffer is responsible for the performance of Asset and Property Management in addition to special projects.

Prior to Core Realty, Mr. Neideffer was the President and CEO of Rhinotek, an exited Blackford Capital investment. Mr. Neideffer joined Rhinotek in April 1999 as the president and CEO. He retired from the business in 2006, when Blackford Capital sold the company to Reliant Equity Partners. Before joining Rhinotek, Mr. Neideffer served as the President and CEO of $55 million revenue construction firm for six years. Also during that time, Mr. Neideffer owned and served as the president and CEO at N.D.S., an environmental consulting firm which he successfully sold to the company’s management team in 1996.

Mr. Neideffer also served as the president and CEO for 25 years for The Lee Group, an international consulting company specializing in designing and constructing computer systems for large corporate customers. Mr. Neideffer holds a B.S.E. degree in Economics from the University of Louisville, Kentucky.

Greg Stone
Operating Partner, Blackford Capital

Greg Stone is an Operating Partner at Blackford Capital, LLC. Mr. Stone has spent the past five years investing in and operating manufacturing and distribution companies. Most recently, Mr. Stone served as Chief Operating Officer of Homemade Baby, Inc., a fast growing organic food company. Previous to that, Mr. Stone purchased and operated Laptops for Less, Inc., a distributor of specialty parts for portable electronics. Mr. Stone grew revenues at a 21% CAGR before selling the firm to a private equity firm. Prior to his principal investing activities, Mr. Stone working in a variety of start-up and change-of-control situations in the publishing, software, and data communication fields.

Mr. Stone is an adjunct faculty member at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Management, where he teaches a popular course on entrepreneurial finance and management. Mr. Stone’s own education includes an undergraduate business degree from Wharton and an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management, where he earned Beta Gamma Sigma academic honors.