Economic Forces Shaping the Middle Market: Southwest Florida

Timothy Cartwright specializes in closely held businesses and alternative assets. Closely held and family businesses often represent a significant percentage of a family’s net worth. Tim leverages his extensive transactional experience to guide an intentional succession planning process required for the legacy and illiquid nature of this asset. Tim coaches and mentors our entrepreneurial families with his unique ability to distill complex, often time sensitive, issues into elemental components creating a simple and executable action plan. Across the expanse of alternative assets, Tim has deep experience in private equity, venture capital, and early and seed stage investing. He is the founder of the Tamiami Family of Angel Funds, the first ever member managed Angel Funds in Southwest Florida.

Tim started his career with Arthur Andersen rising quickly to Senior Consultant. Shortly thereafter, Tim recognized a void in the enterprise software market and founded Benchmark Solutions, Inc., a supply chain consulting company. Seven years later, he sold Benchmark Solutions and launched an internet trading exchange called By-Product Interactive, Inc.

On February 1, 2021, By-Products Interactive was acquired by Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC (LON:ERM). In 2006, Compass Advisory Group, an M&A Consultancy that Tim started in 2002, merged with Magnus Capital Management to co-found Fifth Avenue Family Office.

Bruce Eatroff has fourty years of private equity, private credit, fund investing, investment banking and operational experience through various senior roles including at Goldman Sachs, UBS, CIBC and BMO Capital Markets.

In 2000, Mr. Eatroff founded Halyard Capital, raising over $600 million, a U.S. lower middle-market private equity fund manager with sophisticated institutional investors including Goldman Sachs, Abbott Capital and Bank of Montreal.

Mr. Eatroff has a broad spectrum of private equity investing experience across technology enabled services industries including Human Capital Management, Digital and Direct Marketing and IT/Cybersecurity Services. He has in the past represented and currently represents Halyard on the board of directors of over a dozen portfolio companies. Mr. Eatroff has also overseen and helped integrate more than 40 add-on acquisitions for portfolio companies.

Mr. Eatroff started his career as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers in 1985. After business school, he then spent six years ending as a Vice President in investment banking and principal investing at Goldman Sachs. Mr. Eatroff then became a Managing Director at UBS, CIBC and later BMO Capital Markets where he was also US Head of Media & Communications Investment & Corporate Banking overseeing investment, corporate and merchant banking groups including oversight for a $3 billion loan portfolio. At Goldman Sachs, UBS, CIBC and BMO, Mr. Eatroff was on the principal / merchant banking investment teams making private equity investments, private credit investments and fund investments, in addition to investment banking activities.

Casey is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and structuring new investment opportunities within AEP. Casey served as the Director of Capital Strategies at Capitala Investment Advisors and joined the firm in 2013, opening its Fort Lauderdale office. Casey was responsible for cultivating relationships with current and prospective investors across a variety of Capitala-sponsored investment products and strategies. In addition, Casey focused on origination and sourcing for Capitala nationally. Previously, Casey worked for Hamilton Lane Advisors, where he co-led the investment activities of the Florida Growth Fund, and was a member of Hamilton Lane’s Fund Investment Team. Prior to Hamilton Lane, Casey worked with Wilshire Associates, a general investment consulting firm for institutional clients worldwide. Casey is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Finance.