Thomas E. Lynch
Senior Managing Director and Founder
Mr. Lynch founded Mill Road Capital Management in 2004. He is responsible for overall management of the Firm and oversees the investment process and portfolio management for all Mill Road Capital Funds.
Mr. Lynch began his investing career at Blackstone and has since founded and organized two investment funds.
At Blackstone, Mr. Lynch was the first professional hired to work exclusively in the private equity group and was a managing director responsible for investing Blackstone Capital Partners I and Blackstone Capital Partners II.
Mr. Lynch then founded Lazard Capital Partners, the domestic private equity investing arm of Lazard.
Mr. Lynch has served on the board of over fifteen public, private and not-for-profit organizations, including the Panera Bread Company (“PNRA”), Noodles & Company (“NDLS”) and Physicians Formula (“FACE”). Mr. Lynch has served on not-for-profit boards in education and the performing arts.
Prior to becoming an investment professional, Mr. Lynch taught English and math to children with learning disabilities, worked in advertising and was a consultant and project manager at the Monitor Company, a management consulting firm founded by Michael Porter.
Mr. Lynch earned a B.A. with honors in Political Economy and Philosophy from Williams College, an M.Phil in Politics from Oxford University (graduating first in his class), and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.
Justin C. Jacobs
Managing Director
Mr. Jacobs joined Mill Road in September 2005, prior to the formation of Fund I. Mr. Jacobs previously worked at LiveWire Capital, an investment and management group focused on operationally-intensive buyouts of small companies. In addition to leading and executing investment opportunities at LiveWire, he held operational positions in numerous portfolio companies including interim Chief Operating Officer.
Prior to LiveWire, Mr. Jacobs was an investment professional at Blackstone, where he worked on transactions in a range of industries including oil refining, utilities, dredging, cable, and telecommunications. At Blackstone, Mr. Jacobs worked on investment teams that deployed approximately $450 million of equity capital. In addition, he had an active role in the raising of Blackstone Capital Partners III, a $4.0 billion private equity fund that was the second largest fund of its kind at the time of close.
Mr. Jacobs is a member of the Board of Directors of Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. (ticker “SWP”). He was formerly a member of the Board of Directors of Ecology & Environment (former ticker “EEI”), Galaxy Nutritional Foods Inc. (former ticker “GXYF”), Lignetics, Inc., Mother’s Market & Kitchen, National Technical Systems, Inc. (former ticker “NTSC”), PRT Growing Services Ltd. (former ticker “PRT”), School Specialty Inc. (former ticker “SCOO”) and Rubio’s Restaurants (former ticker “RUBO”).
Mr. Jacobs has volunteered his time to help socialize service dogs for wounded war veterans and first responders, as well as explosive detection canines for law enforcement. Prior to joining Mill Road, he also completed a six month trip circling the globe.
Mr. Jacobs earned a B.S. with dual concentrations in finance and accounting from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia where he graduated Beta Gamma Sigma, the highest academic distinction in the undergraduate business program.
Eric T. Yanagi
Managing Director
Mr. Yanagi originally joined Mill Road in 2008 as an Associate and returned in 2014 following his graduation from business school.
Mr. Yanagi currently serves on the Board of Directors of Performant Financial (NASDAQ: PFMT), Skullcandy, Mother’s Market & Kitchen, R.G. Barry, and Contrail Asset Management. He previously served on the Board of Directors of School Specialty (OTCPK: SCOO) and Vision7 International (formerly known as Cossette). He also served as a special consultant to Physicians Formula (NASDAQ: FACE) and was involved in the firm’s investments in National Technical Systems (NASDAQ: NTSC) and PRT Growing Services.
Prior to joining Mill Road, Mr. Yanagi was an investment professional at Nautic Partners, a middle-market private equity firm focused on healthcare, industrials, and services. Earlier in his career, he was an investment banker in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Credit Suisse.
Mr. Yanagi has also served on the Board of Directors of several nonprofit organizations focused on education.
Mr. Yanagi earned an A.B. (cum laude) in Economics from Princeton University and an M.B.A. (with Honors) from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Deven H. Petito
Managing Director
Mr. Petito joined Mill Road Capital in 2014 and is responsible for origination and execution of private equity transactions as well as portfolio company monitoring and management. He also leads new idea generation and investment due diligence for Mill Road’s public equity portfolio.
Mr. Petito began his investing career in the Private Equity Group at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), where he was involved in the firm’s investments in Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG) and Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. (NasdaqGS: ASO). Prior to KKR, Mr. Petito worked in the Investment Banking Division at Morgan Stanley.
During Mr. Petito’s tenure at Mill Road, he has been involved in the execution and oversight of Mill Road’s private equity investment in Mother’s Market and Kitchen and serves as a member of its Board of Directors. Within Mill Road’s public equity portfolio, he has led over twenty investments.
Prior to becoming an investment professional, Mr. Petito served as a mentor for middle and high school students in New York City through multiple community organizations.
Mr. Petito holds an A.B. in Economics from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Mr. Petito is originally from South Florida and currently lives in New Canaan, CT. In his free time, Mr. Petito is an avid golfer.
Ms. Heberle joined Mill Road in 2010 and has day-to-day responsibilities for the Firm’s public market operations. In this capacity, Ms. Heberle is responsible for Mill Road’s trading and shares responsibility for the overall management of the Firm’s public equity portfolio with Mr. Petito.
Prior to joining Mill Road Capital, Ms. Heberle was an Associate in the Advisory and Restructuring Groups at The Blackstone Group. Ms. Heberle started her career at Javelin Partners, a consumer long/short equity hedge fund.
Ms. Heberle has volunteered her time to prepare tax returns for low-income families through The United Way’s Earned Income Tax Credit Program, as well as at a local rehabilitation hospital.
Ms. Heberle earned a B.S. (summa cum laude) in Economics with Concentrations in Finance and Accounting from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where she was also a Joseph Wharton Scholar.
Ms. Heberle is originally from Pittsburgh, PA and currently lives in Charleston, SC with her husband, Allen and their daughter, Sophie.
Scott Isenburg
Senior Associate
Mr. Isenburg joined Mill Road Capital in 2020. Previously, he worked in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at J.P. Morgan.
Mr. Isenburg earned a B.S. in Business Management & Administration from Bucknell University.
Mario Robbins
Associate
Mr. Robbins joined Mill Road Capital in 2021. Previously, he worked in Natural Resources at Bank of America.
Mr. Robbins earned a B.B.A in Finance from Howard University.
Jeh Bains
Associate
Mr. Bains joined Mill Road Capital in 2022. Previously, he worked in the Global Energy Investment Banking Group at Moelis & Company.
Mr. Bains earned a B.A. in Economics from Rice University.