ACG St. Louis Private Equity Perspectives Breakfast

Holly Huels has broad experience financing and investing in lower middle-market equity transactions for over 25 years. Prior to co-founding Holleway Capital Partners, she spent 22 years with Capital For Business (“CFB”), the St. Louis-based SBIC private equity subsidiary of Commerce Bancshares. During these years, Ms. Huels was involved in every aspect of private equity fund formation, documentation, reporting, investing, board oversight, and harvesting. Ms. Huels was instrumental in the development and execution of CFB’s investment model and strategy.

Ms. Huels was the first woman Chairman of the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies (“NASBIC”), now called Small Business Investors Alliance (“SBIA”). SBIA is a national trade association of lower middle market fund managers and investors. Ms. Huels has been a member of the St. Louis Chapter of the Association of Corporate Growth (“ACG”) since 1993, a board member of the organization since 2011, and is currently service as the first female President of the Board. She is a member and a prior board member of the St. Louis Forum, a women’s executive and professional organization.

Ms. Huels earned an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and a BSBA in Accounting from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. She is a CPA.

Mark Leeker, President, joined Harbour Group in 1998 in the then newly created post of director of corporate development. He also previously filled several roles at the company, including posts involving business development and acquisitions. Prior to Harbour Group, he was in London as a senior manager in the Transaction Services Group at what's now PricewaterhouseCoopers, and before that, Leeker headed the accounting firm's M&A group in St. Louis. He holds bachelor's degrees in accounting and finance from the University of Tulsa.

Harbour Group, which is owned by the Fox family, is a holding company that buys manufacturing, distribution and specialty services companies. It reported 2019 revenue of $1.3 billion, making it one of the St. Louis region's largest privately held companies. Harbour Group has acquired 216 companies in 47 industries since its founding in 1976.

Kevin Prunty is Senior Managing Director and Head of Investments for RGA’s Private Debt & Equity team, which manages over $2.5B in assets. He is responsible for both direct and fund investments, focusing primarily on corporate subordinated debt and private equity. Kevin has over 22 years of experience in all facets of corporate and leveraged finance, including origination, underwriting, structuring, and portfolio management across a wide range of industry sectors, as well as workout situations and has directly managed more than $1.5B of credit exposure in his career. Kevin serves on multiple fund advisory boards and is a board observer for many portfolio companies.

He received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis, where he also played four years of basketball. He is a current board member and past president of the Association for Corporate Growth’s (ACG) St. Louis chapter as well as a global ACG board member.  Kevin also serves on the board of Addiction is Real (AIR), a nonprofit organization focused on parent-based drug addiction prevention for young people, founded by his wife Kelly.

John Huhn brings a 30-year track record of success in private equity, entrepreneurism and strategic consulting to his leadership of Compass Group. Over the course of his career, he has been involved in more than 75 transactions representing over $2 billion in revenue.

Prior to founding Compass Group, John launched and led HBM Holdings, a family office focused on diversifying its core holdings. Earlier in his career, he served as Senior Vice President of Strategy & Corporate Development for Aegion (NASDAQ: AEGN), where he was responsible for corporate strategy, mergers & acquisitions, joint-ventures and strategic alliances. His earlier experience also includes serving as Managing Principal of an international consulting firm, where he provided strategic and organizational consulting to Global 1000 customers.

John is a graduate of the University of Illinois, where he received degrees in Engineering and Business Administration.