SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gryphon Investors, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, announced today that Robert E. Grady will join the firm as a Partner, effective March 2. Mr. Grady will head Gryphon’s General Industries Group, one of the firm’s four areas of investment focus.
David Andrews, Gryphon’s Founder and Managing General Partner, said, “We are delighted to welcome Bob, who is truly an exceptional person with an extensive track record of success and leadership that will help drive our General Industries Group and overall firm. Bob is a deeply-experienced private equity partner who has been an investor with us since Gryphon’s formation, both through our funds and directly as a coinvestor, and now all of our LPs will benefit from his considerable business and investment expertise. He also brings to the firm a wealth of experience in investment banking, government service and economic analysis, along with an extensive range of relationships which will enhance our deal flow and investment decision-making.”
Mr. Grady said, “I have known David for many years and I admire the excellent track record and differentiated business model Gryphon has built. In my view, the middle market in private equity offers the best value and the most interesting set of investment opportunities. Gryphon’s specialized and operationally-oriented strategies for transforming companies are especially motivating to me. Gryphon is recognized by industry analysts as one of the country’s most consistently-successful private equity firms with top-decile returns and I am excited by the opportunity to join the team and help continue to build a world-class firm.”
Mr. Grady, 57, is a seasoned private equity executive with over two decades of experience. Prior to joining Gryphon, he spent five years as General Partner and Managing Director of the Cheyenne Capital Fund, a $500 million private equity fund that achieved top-decile performance among similar vintage private equity fund-of-funds. Over the same time period, Mr. Grady was Chairman, as a non-paid volunteer, of the New Jersey State Investment Council, which oversees the state’s $78 billion pension plan. During his tenure as Chairman, the fund significantly outperformed its expected rate of return and its policy benchmarks, achieving over $35 billion in investment gains and income over four fiscal years.
From 2000-2009, Mr. Grady was a Partner, Managing Director, and Global Head of Venture & Growth Capital at The Carlyle Group. In addition to sitting on Carlyle’s Management Committee, he was the fund head for Carlyle Venture Partners, a growth capital partnership with $1.5 billion under management in three funds, while also sitting on numerous Carlyle investment committees and portfolio company boards of directors. While at Carlyle, he was a Director of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), where he also served as Chairman. Before his tenure at Carlyle, Mr. Grady spent seven years at Robertson Stephens & Co., including as a Partner and Managing Director who served on the firm’s Management Committee.
Earlier in his career, from 1989-1993, Mr. Grady served in the White House as a senior policy advisor to President George H.W. Bush. He held a number of key roles, among them Deputy Assistant to the President, Executive Associate Director of the Office of Management & Budget (OMB), and OMB Associate Director for Natural Resources, Energy and Science.
Mr. Grady also served on the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business from 1993-2004 as a Lecturer in Public Management, teaching courses on environmental policy, regulatory policy, and investing in highly regulated industries.
Mr. Grady holds an A.B. from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has been a Director of numerous private and public companies and non-profit organizations. He is currently a Director of Maxim Integrated Products (Nasdaq: "MXIM" and Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE: "SF"), as well as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
About Gryphon Investors
Based in San Francisco, Gryphon Investors (www.gryphoninvestors.com) is a leading private equity (“PE”) firm focused on profitably growing and competitively enhancing middle-market companies in partnership with experienced management. For numerous consecutive quarters and years, Gryphon has been ranked in Preqin’s prestigious quarterly PE report as one of North America’s top-decile firms based on consistency of strong investment returns. With approximately $1.5 billion of cumulative equity commitments, the firm has an extensive track record of leading equity investments of $25 to $150 million per portfolio company with sales ranging from approximately $50 to $500 million. Gryphon prioritizes investment opportunities where it can form proactive partnerships with owners and executives to build leading companies, utilizing Gryphon’s capital, specialized professional resources and operational expertise.
