Meet our 2025 M&A Excellence Award Winners!

Meet Our Second Annual ACG Pittsburgh M&A Excellence Award Winners

ACG Pittsburgh will host its second M&A Excellence Awards Dinner on March 13th at the Fairmont Hotel from 5:00-8:00 p.m. The awards dinner will recognize and celebrate excellence in dealmaking and the middle-market community across our region. Join us for a night of recognition, celebration, and inspiration, bringing together our vibrant network of executives, business leaders, M&A professionals, advisors, strategic planners, and capital sources.

Join us as we recognize the following honorees:

Lifetime Achievement Award: Stephen J. Gurgovits, Jr. CPA, CFA

Tecum Capital Partners

Stephen J. Gurgovits, Jr. is the Managing Partner and co-founder of Tecum Capital, a $750+ million private investment firm based in Pittsburgh, PA, which oversees pools of committed capital focused on mezzanine debt, subordinated notes, and private equity, along with a separate strategy via a multi-family office platform for control equity investments. Currently, Tecum Capital is investing out of its third committed fund, Tecum Capital Partners, III, LP, a $305 million fund licensed as a Small Business Investment Company by the SBA with the intention of raising its fourth fund in early 2025. In his current role, Mr. Gurgovits, Jr. is responsible for providing strategic, operational and investment management leadership to the funds, including its overall planning, fund raising, growth and execution of strategy. Mr. Gurgovits, Jr. previously served on the board of directors of Auburn Gear, Uncle Charley’s Sausage, Oberg Industries, Gibraltar Cable Barriers, and was also former Chair of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG). He currently on the board of directors for Adherex, ASW, and Iron City Express.

During his career, Mr. Gurgovits, Jr. has been directly involved in over $1 billion of aggregate financial transactions, both public and private. Mr. Gurgovits, Jr. has also served as the investment and portfolio manager for over $200 million of publicly-traded securities.

Prior to founding Tecum Capital, Mr. Gurgovits, Jr. was President and C.E.O. of F.N.B. Capital Corporation, LLC, a wholly-owned merchant banking subsidiary of F.N.B. Corporation (NYSE: FNB) from its inception in 2005. Mr. Gurgovits, Jr. started his career with KPMG and was also the controller for The Sports and Exhibition Authority prior to joining F.N.B. He graduated with High Distinction from Pennsylvania State University after earning a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and subsequently obtained his MBA from the Katz School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. Mr. Gurgovits, Jr. holds a CFA Charter designation and is a licensed CPA in the state of Pennsylvania. A native of western Pennsylvania, he currently resides in Gibsonia, PA.

Deal of the Year Award Over $50M: Wabtec Corporation acquires Bloom Engineering

Deal Value:$69 Million

Closing Date:2024-12-01

Company Description:Wabtec is a leading global provider of equipment, systems, digital solutions, and value-added services. Whether it's freight rail, transit, mining, industrial, or marine, our expertise, technologies, and people - together - are accelerating the future of transportation.

Deal Description:In December 2024, Bloom Engineering Holdings, Inc. ("Bloom"), a portfolio company of Caledonia Private Capital, was acquired by Wabtec Corporation (NYSE: WAB) ("Wabtec"). Founded in 1934 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, Bloom is a leading provider of custom industrial burners and combustion systems for high temperature, high-efficiency, low NOx, and low CO2 applications. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, Wabtec is a global provider of equipment, systems, digital solutions, and value-added services for the freight and transit rail industries, as well as the mining, marine, and industrial markets. Bloom will join Wabtec as part of its Freight and Industrial Components Group..

Impact:Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Bloom Engineering, Inc. (bloomeng.com) is a global company with employees and offices in the United States, Germany, India and China. Since its founding in 1934 by Fred S. Bloom, the company has led the way in providing custom-engineered industrial combustion products. The company has been awarded more than 80 U.S. and foreign patents for advances in combustion and furnace technology and continues to hold innovation as a core value. With this being an "All-Pittsburgh Deal", it strengthens our economy and keeps vital jobs here. Wabtec is committed to continuing its investment and growth in the Pittsburgh market.

Deal of the Year Award Under $50M: Unified Doors acquires A.G. Mauro Company

Deal Value:$28 Million

Closing Date:2024-04-30

Company Description:Founded in 1949, A.G. Mauro is a distributor of doors, frames, and hardware serving healthcare, education, and other commercial sectors. With facilities in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Baltimore, and Lake Mary, FL, the company was owned by the Mauro and Miles families for two generations. The ownership group, comprising six individuals, included three active members who had managed the business since 1984, growing it to over 100 employees. The family sought a succession plan to address varying transition needs among active and inactive shareholders.

Deal Description:Confluence Advisors, LLC acted as the exclusive advisor to The A.G. Mauro Company and its Florida counterpart in their sale to Unified Door and Hardware Group, a portfolio company of Dunes Point Capital. The deal terms were undisclosed.

Confluence worked with A.G. Mauro for three years, addressing challenges like cash flow issues, separate legal entities, and varying ownership structures. They excluded unprofitable locations, consolidated fiscal years, and improved financial performance, ultimately driving competitive bids and exceeding client expectations. Metz Lewis Brodman Must O'Keefe provided legal counsel, and Totum Realty Advisors handled the real estate sale.

Impact:A few months after A.G. Mauro was sold to Unified Door, Dunes Point Capital sold the company to Foundation Building Materials, owned by American Securities and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), a leading private equity firm managing $30 billion in assets.

Both sales were notable as A.G. Mauro was one of the largest independent door, frame, and hardware distributors in the U.S. Joining a larger organization provided employees with new opportunities. The Mauro family also reinvested part of their sale proceeds, receiving a premium when Unified Door was later sold—an uncommon return within such a short timeframe.

Women in Transaction: Leslie Skolnekovich

Tecum Capital Partners

Leslie Skolnekovich currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer at Tecum. In this position, Leslie is responsible for leading the fund accounting and reporting, valuation, statutory compliance and limited partner relations.

Prior to joining Tecum in 2017, Leslie was the VP of Finance for Cheetah Technologies, LP. Previously, she worked for over ten years in public accounting with Ernst & Young, where she focused on financial services clients.

Leslie earned a B.A. in Accounting from Grove City College and is a Certified Public Accountant.

M&A Service Provider of the Year Award: Bruce Martin

EHS Support

Bruce Martin has more than two decades of experience in environmental management consulting. A certified professional environmental auditor (CPEA), he brings a wealth of knowledge and leadership to EHS Support’s Business Services Group. During his career, Bruce has managed and participated in due-diligence efforts for over 500 sites throughout the world including Canada, China, Europe, South and Central America, and the United States. His diverse portfolio includes environmental, health, and safety auditing; merger and acquisition environmental due diligence; environmental compliance and management systems; site assessments, training, and environmental investigations. Bruce has provided leadership on projects for clients in a variety of industries including chemical manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, petroleum, wood treating, electric generation, steel, electronics, transportation, food and beverage, and other manufacturing. His work has included the evaluation of environmental liabilities as part of environmental due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, ranging from single-site property acquisitions to portfolios of sites as part of multi-billion-dollar acquisitions of industrial companies.

Non-Profit Impact Award: Jim Nickel

CIBC Bank USA

Professionally, Jim Nickel is Pennsylvania Region Head for CIBC Bank USA in Pittsburgh. Over his 30+ year senior lending career in Western PA, Jim has focused on providing relationship-driven corporate banking services to middle market companies.

A native of Pittsburgh, Jim has a finance degree from Bucknell University and a master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

In his extra-curricular life, he has served on the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania since 2004 and most recently served as Board Chair from July 2020 through June 2022. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Seneca Valley School District from December 2011 through December 2023, serving in either the Board Vice President or Board President role for 8+ years of his time there. As part of his service with Seneca Valley, he has also served on the Joint Operating Committee overseeing the Butler County Area Vocational School for nine year and served on both the Finance Committee of the Pennsylvania School Board Association and as Trustee for the Pennsylvania School District Liquid Asset Fund (PSDLAF). Jim is currently Chair Emeritus of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth.

He has been married to his high school sweetheart for nearly 34 years, has two grown sons and a young granddaughter. He is passionate about Christian ministry with both middle school and high school students and embraces God’s direction in his life.