ACG Detroit | Hammering out Value: Private Equity Perspectives on Home Services & Construction Deals

Event Details

When:

September 17, 2025 4 PM - 6 PM EDT

Where:

Location Name

The Iroquois Club

Location Address

43248 Woodward Avenue
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302
United States

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Overview

Body

The home services and construction sectors have seen a surge in private equity interest, with investors drawn to their fragmentation, recurring revenue models, and essential service offerings. But what makes this space truly compelling from a deal perspective and where are the opportunities (and risks) emerging in today’s market?

Join ACG Detroit for a dynamic panel discussion featuring industry insiders and advisors who are actively working in the space:

Gary Lewis, Managing Partner at Aquila Equity Partners, whose firm helped has deep expertise in field services and recently exited a leading platform in the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing space.

Adam Wise, Founder of Penstock Equity, an investor focused on independent sponsor deals including those in home services and the construction sectors. Prior to Penstock, Adam was an independent sponsor and owned several residential construction related businesses and exited a residential pest control/fertilization company.

Moderated by: Carrie Schochet, Founder & CEO of Purple Squirrel Advisors, a boutique executive search firm specializing in leadership talent for private equity-backed businesses.

They’ll explore:

What makes the home services and construction sector attractive to investors?
Lessons learned from building and exiting a platform company
Deal trends and valuation shifts in today’s market
The role of independent sponsors in consolidating fragmented industries

Whether you’re an M&A advisor, investor, or business owner, you’ll walk away with real-world insights on how value is created and captured in this dynamic market.

Members $80 • Non-members $100

Speakers

Gary Lewis

Aquila Equity Partners

Managing Partner

Gary N. Lewis is the founder and Managing Partner of Aquila Equity Partners, an entrepreneurial private investment firm focused on partnering with growth-focused management teams and operating businesses which generate between $1mm and $20mm in EBITDA. He brings greater than 20 years of private equity investing, investment banking and operational experience to the firm, including involvement in approximately $8 billion in transaction and advisory assignments.

Gary began his career in investment banking with Banc of America Securities in New York City. While working in the firm’s Global Industrials and Services Group, he assisted middle market and Fortune 500 clients with mergers, acquisitions and divestitures and capital-raising transactions. After Banc of America Securities, Gary spent the next 8 years as a private equity investor with Michigan-based Bainbridge Ventures, and Chicago-based Winona Capital and Goense Capital Partners. During this time, he invested in and worked with growth-focused middle market companies across a variety of industries, including consumer / retail, healthcare, niche manufacturing and labor-based business services.

In 2013, Gary moved home to his native Michigan and, prior to starting Aquila, spent the last several years in investment banking, including serving as a Managing Director and on the management committee with Cascade Partners, a leading middle market, Midwest-based firm. During this time, he advised entrepreneurial driven & family owned businesses primarily operating in the consumer / retail, healthcare, business services and value-added distribution industries. Today, Gary also serves as a board member of a leading independent wireless retail dealer, a merchant services and payments organization and as Co-Chairman of both a rapidly growing HVACR & Mechanical services company and a Asset-Light Logistics company.

Gary graduated from Kalamazoo College with a B.A. in economics. He also holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and has studied at L’Ecole Superieure de Commerce in France. Outside of his professional life, Gary and his wife spend most of their time keeping up with their young and active children.

Adam Wise

Penstock Equity

Managing Partner

Adam Wise is founder and Managing Partner of Penstock Equity, an investment fund with the explicit mandate to invest equity into independent sponsor-led buyout transactions. Penstock invests $1-$5m million per transaction with a focus on deals under $35 million of total enterprise value located anywhere in the United States. Adam also operates as an independent sponsor himself under the firm name Credo Private Capital, which currently has four portfolio companies located in Southeast Michigan.

Before Penstock and Credo, Adam spent 15 years at Strength Capital Partners, a lower middle market private equity and independent sponsor firm, and prior to that he spent 3 years as a CPA in the audit practice at KPMG.

Adam has participated in over 50 transactions as a principal investor or co-investor across various industries. He has significant expertise in sourcing and evaluating acquisition opportunities, facilitating due diligence, raising capital, negotiating transaction documents, and ultimately helping management teams with strategy development as well as growth opportunities (both organically and through acquisition).

Outside of work, he enjoys traveling with his family, and participating in sporting clays tournaments across the country.

Carrie Schochet - Moderator

Purple Squirrel Advisors

Founder & CEO

Carrie Schochet is the Founder and CEO of Purple Squirrel Advisors, a boutique executive search firm based in Troy, Michigan. With a passion for helping companies grow by building exceptional leadership teams, Carrie has spent the past 20+ years identifying senior-level talent for small to mid-size businesses, with a strong emphasis on Private Equity-backed companies. Her expertise spans connecting C-level and senior executives to leadership roles in finance, accounting, human resources, operations, sales, and marketing.

After graduating from the University of Notre Dame, Carrie began her career in Chicago, spending over a decade climbing the ranks at one of the nation’s leading recruitment and staffing firms. In 2012, she returned to her hometown of Rochester to be closer to family. By early 2015, she launched Purple Squirrel Advisors with the mission of creating a consultative, “white glove” recruitment process tailored to each client. Carrie’s team combines an expansive network with proactive direct sourcing to connect PE-backed, family-owned, and entrepreneurial companies with top-tier candidates, solving even the most challenging searches.

Beyond recruitment, Carrie’s compassion and values fuel her dedication to philanthropy and community leadership. She co-founded 100 Businesses Who Care, an organization uniting business leaders to create a significant impact across Southeast Michigan. In 2013, she launched CFO Next, a networking group designed to support transitioning or unemployed senior financial executives. Carrie also serves on several boards, including the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), where she chairs the Women’s Forum Committee, and the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), where she is Learning Chair and President-Elect for the 2026/2027 program year.

When she’s not working, Carrie loves spending time outdoors with her husband Blake, their three children—Brendan, Nick, and Mia—and their Bernese Mountain Dog, Chloe. Whether hiking, skiing, or exploring new destinations, she brings her enthusiasm for life to everything she does. Carrie is also an avid traveler and hobbyist photographer, always seeking inspiration in the beauty of the world.

Hosted by: ACG

Chapter

Detroit