The Mangrove team has completed over 160 deals in 60+ industries. What sets us apart, however, is our balance of transactional experience, operational depth, and a healthy positive culture.

Glenn Oken
Glenn Oken
Managing Director

Glenn Oken

Glenn's primary focus at Mangrove is originating deal opportunities and qualifying acquisition candidates.

He also assists Mangrove portfolio companies with corporate development issues and is a member of Mangrove's Investment Committee. Prior to co-founding Mangrove, Glenn was the most tenured partner at Florida Capital Partners. Between Mangrove and FCP, Glenn has helped to build two of the most experienced and successful lower middle market private equity funds in the nation.

Over the past 28 years as a private equity partner, Glenn is well known for his candid and effective "win/win" partnering with company owners, managers, and their advisors.

Glenn is a firm believer in the power of internal operating partners in private equity, to bring more than just the commodity of cash to portfolio partners. Glenn worked in the southeastern headquarters of L.F. Rothschild and at NCNB National Bank early in his career, and holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia.
Hunter Reichert
Hunter Reichert
Managing Director

Hunter Reichert

Hunter leads Mangrove's transaction execution team. In addition, he contributes to both Mangrove's deal sourcing efforts and to portfolio company operating initiatives. Hunter is a member of Mangrove's Investment Committee. Prior to co-founding Mangrove, Hunter was a founding partner of Harren Equity Partners. Previous to HEP, Hunter spent six years with Charlottesville, Virginia-based Quad-C, Inc. He began his career at RFE Investment Partners, a $200 million venture capital partnership located in New Canaan, CT. Hunter received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with Honors from Hamilton College and a Masters in Business Administration from The Darden School at the University of Virginia.
Matt Young
Matt Young
Managing Director

Matt Young

Matt is a Founding Partner, a member of Mangrove's Investment Committee, and leads Mangrove's internal operating team. In his operating role, Matt guides the firm's efforts to build value in the portfolio. He sits on the boards of all Mangrove portfolio companies, leads strategic planning efforts, mentors management partners, recruits senior talent, and leads special projects at the portfolio company level. Matt also plays a crucial role during the vetting of new investments and when selling Mangrove to prospective portfolio company teams.

Prior to co-founding Mangrove, Matt was a partner and Managing Director at Florida Capital Partners. Matt joined FCP in 2001 as the firm's first operating partner. During his five years at FCP, Matt served on FCP's investment committee and participated in the evaluation, negotiation, and closing of multiple platform and add-on investments.

Before joining FCP, Matt held several key operating positions in small to medium sized companies, including president of Pacific Bag, a small private equity owned packaging company, as manager of North American operations for Melitta KG (a $2BB German family-owned company), and as the senior product manager for an AMF related company. Matt spent seven years consulting with Booz-Allen & Hamilton and a small engineering consulting firm in Washington, D.C.
Matt holds a Bachelors Degree in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech, a Masters Degree in Industrial Engineering from Virginia Tech, and a Masters in Business Administration from The Darden School at the University of Virginia.
Roger Bates
Roger Bates
Operating Partner

Roger Bates

Roger has been a consultant to small and mid-sized companies for over 30 years.

He has a solid record of successful partnerships with several management teams; engaging the workforce, developing a culture of ownership, implementing "focused" improvement processes, and accelerating profitable growth.

Roger has the ability to help integrate quality and performance management tools into lower middle market companies while preserving their entrepreneurial spirit.

Roger is a founding partner at Mangrove. Previously, he built considerable value within the portfolio at a predecessor fund. Mr. Bates serves on several boards, is a "peer resource" to company leaders, and has temporarily stepped into critical leadership roles when needed.

Mr. Bates founded a performance management consulting practice in 1993 after an intensive career in Quality/Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management.

He held several positions of increasing responsibility within the defense/aerospace and automotive industries.

Roger holds a Mechanical Engineering Degree from the University of Notre Dame.
Mark Danzi
Mark Danzi
Managing Director

Mark Danzi

Mark’s main focus at Mangrove is transaction execution. Prior to joining Mangrove, Mark was an M&A and corporate transactional attorney for over twelve years. During his tenure as a deal lawyer, Mark worked extensively with private equity funds and their portfolio companies in connection with investment, M&A and financing transactions. Mark also frequently worked with entrepreneurs and middle market businesses in a wide range of corporate transactions, including investments by financial and strategic partners and liquidity events. Mark no longer practices law, but he continues to draw from this prior experience in his efforts at Mangrove. Mark holds a JD from American University, Washington College of Law (summa cum laude) and a BA from Bucknell University.
Andrew Winner
Andrew Winner
Principal

Andrew Winner

Andrew is a Principal at Mangrove and is primarily involved with transaction execution and portfolio company management activities. Andrew has been with Mangrove since 2013 and was previously an Associate and then Vice President with the firm, working closely with each Fund II investment as well as several Fund I portfolio companies. Prior to joining Mangrove, Andrew was an investment banking analyst at Stephens Inc. in Atlanta where he worked on a broad array of mergers & acquisitions and equity capital raising transactions in the industrial distribution and specialty finance industries.

Andrew received both his Master of Science in Finance and B.S.B.A. degrees from the University of Florida, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude was a member of the Florida Blue Key leadership honorary. Andrew currently lives in Tampa, FL with his wife and is an active volunteer with the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization.
Matt Kane
Matt Kane
Director

Matt Kane

Matt's primary focus at Mangrove is originating investment opportunities and qualifying acquisition candidates. Before joining Mangrove, Matt worked with start-up companies in the real estate and technology industries, overseeing growth and new market expansion initiatives. Prior to his time with start-ups, Matt spent over a decade in the sports and entertainment industry, where he led business development efforts for Aramark, and for the front offices of the Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia 76ers.

Matt received his B.A. in Finance from Pennsylvania State University and currently resides in Tampa, FL with his wife and daughter.
Jordan Hopper
Jordan Hopper
Director, Portfolio Operations

Jordan Hopper

Jordan is a member of the internal operations team at Mangrove where his primary focus is to build value within the portfolio. Prior to joining Mangrove, Jordan was with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where he managed consulting teams that advised clients on various topics including but not limited to customer acquisition, market expansion, merchandising, pricing, operations, organizational restructuring, procurement, and change management. He has also held progressive leadership roles at Boeing, Amazon, and an eCommerce startup.

Jordan received his MBA from Duke Fuqua and his bachelor's degree from Oregon State University. Originally from the Portland, Oregon area, he now lives in Tampa with his wife, Caitlin
Alex Montgomery
Alex Montgomery
Vice President

Alex Montgomery

Alex is a Vice President at Mangrove and is primarily involved with investment analysis, transaction execution and portfolio company management activities. Alex has been with Mangrove since 2018 and was previously an Associate with the firm, working closely with both Fund II and Fund III investments and portfolio companies. Before joining Mangrove, Alex co-managed a small hedge fund located in South Florida that specialized in volatility-based, options trading strategies. Prior to that, Alex worked as an Investment Banking Analyst in the Mergers & Acquisitions group at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey in Atlanta, GA.

Alex received both his Master of Science in Finance and B.S.B.A. degrees from the University of Florida. While at the University of Florida, Alex held positions as President of the Gator Student Investment Fund and President of the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation Ambassadors.

Alex lives in Tampa, FL with his wife and two boys.
Kristen Bistany
Kristen Bistany
Vice President

Kristen Bistany

Kristen is a Vice President on the Deal Origination and Sourcing team at Mangrove Equity Partners. With a tenure that began in 2007, Kristen has played a pivotal role in building out many of the processes, systems, strategies and tools that contribute to our team’s effectiveness. Kristen’s primary focus today at Mangrove is originating investment opportunities and qualifying acquisition candidates.

Before joining Mangrove, Kristen started her career in the financial industry with the private banking group at Brown Brothers Harriman in the Charlotte, NC office. Kristen is a proud alumna of the University of Central Florida where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance.

Outside of her workplace responsibilities, Kristen can likely be found on one of the many soccer fields across the Tampa Bay area cheering on her two boys, Brooks and Cooper.
Erik Vosatka
Erik Vosatka
CFO

Erik Vosatka

Erik is responsible for managing Mangrove’s accounting and compliance activities including audit and tax, investor reporting and communications, and management of our administrative services team. Erik is actively involved in portfolio monitoring and analysis, and works closely with each of our portfolio companies to provide accounting, audit, tax compliance, financial, analytical and operational support.

Prior to joining Mangrove in 2017, Erik worked as an actuarial consulting analyst at Mercer in Tampa for over six years where he focused on a broad array of pension fund valuation and risk mitigation services for clients in multiple industries. Additionally, Erik conducted valuation and financial analysis, and raised capital for several startup businesses.

Erik is a graduate of the University of Florida where he received a B.S. in Finance and minor in Actuarial Science.
Cameron Paley
Cameron Paley
Vice President

Cameron Paley

Cameron is actively involved in evaluating new investment opportunities, executing active transactions and working with current portfolio companies. Prior to joining Mangrove, Cameron worked as an investment banking analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey in Atlanta where he focused on sell-side and buy-side M&A transactions across a wide variety of industries.

Cameron received his Master of Science in Finance from Vanderbilt University and his Bachelor’s degree from Florida State University.

Katie Welch
Katie Welch
Associate

Katie Welch

Katie’s primary focus at Mangrove is sourcing investment opportunities and advancing them through Mangrove’s deal process. Katie is a licensed CPA in Florida and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Prior to joining Mangrove, Katie began her career at Ernst & Young in Washington, D.C. in the assurance practice, with a focus on a public company in the biotechnology industry. She then moved back to her hometown, Tampa, FL, continuing her practice with Ernst & Young, primarily auditing private companies in the telecommunications and insurance industries.

Katie holds a Bachelor of Science of Accounting from the University of Florida and a Masters of Accountancy from George Washington University.


Ryan Wierzbicki
Ryan Wierzbicki
Associate

Ryan Wierzbicki

Ryan is actively involved in evaluating new investment opportunities, executing active transactions and working with portfolio companies. Prior to joining Mangrove, Ryan worked as an investment banking analyst and senior analyst at Aleutian Capital in New York, NY where he focused on sell-side and buy-side M&A transactions across various industry verticals.

Ryan received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Canisius University’s Wehle School of Business.
Paola Pales-Lugo
Paola Pales-Lugo
Office Administrator

Paola Pales-Lugo

Paola is the welcoming face of our firm, managing day-to-day office duties with professionalism and positive energy. Paola’s primary focus is to provide support to the office by maintaining records, managing inventory, and assisting with scheduling/travel arrangements. Additionally, she works closely with Mangrove's sourcing team to help increase their efficiency and overseeing the group's CRM system.

Outside of work, Paola enjoys spending time with her cat and playing video games, which she finds to be a great way to unwind and recharge.

Paola received her Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of South Florida where she also received a certificate in Applied Business Analytics. She also holds certifications in Tableau and Data Science.