MAKE AN IMPACT

Sean Cantwell

Managing Partner

“I admire  the tenacity and guts of the founders we work with. They possess a level of relentlessness that inspires me to push harder for them. I consider it my personal mission to help them reach their goals. I absolutely love investing, but my favorite part of this job, by far, is the people I get to work with. I strive to have a personal relationship with every founder and every management team I meet.”

Larry Cheng

Managing Partner

"I want to be and believe I am the go-to partner for my founders and CEOs. When things are challenging, I’d like to be the first call because they know I will do anything and everything possible to help support them. When things are going well, I’d like to be there celebrating all of the little and big wins during the journey. I hope to be the most trusted and most impactful partner they can imagine."

Andy Flaster

Managing Partner
& COO

"As the person behind the scenes, I am actively involved in every investment we make here at Volition. I have the privilege of seeing the big picture. Each partner has their own style, but as a firm, we do what we say we do – and that’s unique in this industry."

Roger Hurwitz

Managing Partner

“I see value in the investment opportunities others may not immediately see. I believe recognizing what’s beneath the surface is extremely powerful. I’ve helped several companies expand into market leaders in their segment by identifying what could be. At the end of the day, I have this passion for helping founders transform their businesses. My love for this job continues to grow. There’s really no other way to do this every day other than with your whole heart all in it.”

Tomy Han

Partner

“The businesses that I get the most excited about are those that have strong relationships with their customers, with a commitment to helping each other grow and improve. What I love most about working with entrepreneurs is the opportunity to form a true partnership – both inside and outside the boardroom.”

Jim Ferry

Principal

“I view investing as a true partnership and not a business transaction. Because of that, I spend the majority of my time on the road meeting entrepreneurs in-person and discussing how Volition can be a value-add partner. All startups have their unique challenges that I strive to understand and come up with tailored solutions to ensure Founders can realize their ambitions.”

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Dave Gordon

Principal

“The businesses that I find most interesting are those unconcerned with the spotlight or accolades and are just singularly focused on dominating their respective categories. My favorite part about this job is having the opportunity to be in the trenches alongside entrepreneurs and play a small part in helping them realize their aspirations.”

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Claude de Jocas

Vice President

"I love meeting with founders that have a deeply personal reason for starting their company. These are the leadership teams that have identified a truly broken customer journey and set out to make things better. These are businesses that are equal parts economics and empathy – how could you not want to help advance that goal?"

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Melanie Jordan

Vice President

Melanie joined Volition in 2022 and works on the Volition Capital Software team.

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Alexa Gellman

Sr. Associate

“What I love about researching and investing in high-growth companies is the combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis required to find the winners—Talent and relationships are just as crucial as business fundamentals. I am also passionate about discovering consumer brands and new technologies that will shape the future of consumer behavior.”

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Jake Wasserman

Sr. Associate

"Working with entrepreneurs who are gutsy, creative, and passionate is what makes me excited to come to work every day."

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Alex Chao

Associate

“I believe passion is just as important as a good idea or a technical business plan. I love that Volition puts such a high value on the people aspects of investing.”

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Emily Pawlak

Associate

"What excites me about joining Volition is not only the opportunity to provide passionate founders that extra boost towards their fullest potential, but also the simple fact that I get to identify and work with smart people and great ideas all day, every day."

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Kat Stepanek

Associate

“It energizes me every day to work with passionate, trailblazing entrepreneurs who are challenging the status quo. I’m grateful to be embarking on this journey with a team that has an undying drive to create value for its founders and makes growing with Volition an authentic and exceptional experience.”

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Michael Brannan

Analyst

"I wanted to work in growth equity because it allowed me the opportunity to work with different founders and companies, helping them to achieve their goals and make a difference in their respective fields."

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Katharine French

Analyst

"What drew me to working at Volition, and specifically within the growth equity space, was having the opportunity at such an early stage in my career to work directly with passionate and innovative entrepreneurs to grow their ground-breaking products and ideas."

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Sinjon Goldberg

Analyst

"The Volition team has a real appreciation for the hard work and grit that goes into starting a business and I am excited to partner with entrepreneurs to help accelerate growth."

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Aaron Hou

Analyst

“Joining Volition allows me to work in an environment and with individuals that value passion and grit – something I think the world has less and less of.”

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Wells Johnstone

Analyst

"I am excited to join Volition because doing work centered around learning and improving is extremely fulfilling to me. Being able to set other people and companies up with long-term success by helping them grow and gain adaptability while experiencing the same thing for myself is an opportunity I can’t get anywhere else.”

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Matteo Palacardo

Analyst

"Analyzing and empowering growing businesses led by inspiring, go-getting founders is primarily what drives my interest in growth equity. Joining Volition allowed me to enter an environment in which the investment team matches the ambition behind the founding teams in our portfolio.”

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Estelle Spanneut

Analyst

”Don’t fear failure. Be afraid of not having the chance. You have the chance.”
– Sally, from Cars 3

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Carolyn Woll

Analyst

"I was drawn to work in the growth equity field because of the opportunity to interact with passionate founders every day and play a role in growing their companies to the next level. At Volition specifically, I am excited by our focus on creating partnerships with aspirational and authentic founders.”

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Rob Ketterson

Founding Partner

Beth Birnbaum

Senior Advisor

"My best work experiences have been in environments where a small group works together to surmount significant challenges. There's something magical about a passionate, scrappy group that organically learns to draw on the strengths of individual members, engage in healthy debate, and then move forward decisively in lockstep. Even with limited resources, teams like that can move quickly and accomplish a great deal."

Michael Giannetto

Senior Advisor

May your heart always be joyful

May your song always be sung

And may you stay Forever young
– Bob Dylan

Jenny Fleiss

Senior Advisor

"As an operator, I have seen directly how building and scaling incredible teams is the key driver of business success.  I look for teams that show flexibility, hustle, a love of learning, and optimism. "

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Mike Wilkens

Chief Financial Officer

"At its core, my role is to provide the reporting and controls every company needs from its finance and accounting team. But, what makes my job interesting and every day a little different is the fast-paced industry we operate within."

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Pete Keenan

Sr. Finance Manager

"I enjoy the precision of auditing and finance – but there’s something about working toward the common goal of industry impactful investments and exits that makes private equity and venture capital more interesting."

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Meghan Smith

Sr. Finance Associate

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Lindsey Eckerd

Vice President, Marketing

“There’s no crying in baseball!”
– Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own

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Chris Fahey

SVP, Talent & Human Resources

"Behind every business is an idea, but the success of that idea is the direct result of the humans operating and iterating behind it every day. Working in Talent at Volition, I get to help some of the best operators and leaders take their business to the next level through the addition of world-class talent."

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Kelly Barnum

Talent Manager

“It’s no use going back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”
–Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

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Aimee Tashjian

Sr. Executive Assistant

“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”
-Winnie the Pooh

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Ashley Harding

Executive Assistant

“The more you know, the more you know you don’t know”
– Unknown

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Kristen Murphy

Executive Assistant

“Some results are positive and some are negative, but all of them are data points”
– James Clear

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