Team
William V. Glastris, Jr.
Managing Member
wglastris@evanstonpartners.com
(847) 868-3902 (direct)
Bill Glastris has spent his entire career as a lower-middle market private equity investor.
He is currently Chairman of the Board of Fabretto Children’s Foundation (Evanston, IL) as well as Chairman and/or board member and personal investor in several private companies including Acadian Kitchens, LLC (Lafayette, LA), Auto Driveaway Transport Logistics LLC (Lombard, IL), Felbro Culinary Specialties LLC (Los Angeles, CA), Heavy Duty Specialists LLC (Omaha, NE), Rainbo Sports & Skating, LLC (Northbrook, IL), Kouzina Foods LLC (Evanston, IL), Taratsa Hospitality Partners LLC (Chicago, IL) and Viobin Products LLC (Monticello, IL). He is a former Chairman and board member of numerous private companies.
From 1997 – 2013 he was a Founding Principal of Prospect Partners, LLC, a leading lower-middle-market private equity firm based in Chicago which managed three funds totaling $470 million. Prospect Partners focused exclusively on management-led leveraged recapitalizations and acquisitions of small companies with niche strategies and was backed by a premier group of institutional investors. Prospect invested nationwide in more than 140 unique companies in a broad range of niche markets, including consumer, commercial, manufacturing, distribution, and specialty business and consumer services.
Prior to forming Prospect Partners, Mr. Glastris was a partner at LaSalle Capital Group, a lower middle market leveraged buyout firm in Chicago, from 1990 to 1997. During this time, Mr. Glastris originated and completed nine acquisitions with management partners as a principal and as a personal investor.
From 1983 to 1989, Mr. Glastris was with Golder, Thoma & Cressey (later GTCR Golder Rauner, LLC), a large Chicago-based private equity investment firm managing over $400 million in three funds and specializing in consolidating fragmented industries. In six years at Golder, Thoma & Cressey, Mr. Glastris originated seven portfolio company investments for the firm.
Mr. Glastris is originally from St. Louis, Missouri and resides in Winnetka, Illinois with his wife Carolyn Moses Glastris, who is originally from Fargo, North Dakota. The couple met in 1979 at Northwestern University. They have three adult children - Georgia, Carina and Celia. They have vacation/rental homes in Vail, Colorado, Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, Varkiza, Greece and Redonda Bay, Nicaragua and greatly enjoy international travel with family and friends.
Bill received a B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University in 1982 and an MBA (Finance and Accounting) from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1984.
Mr. Glastris formerly served as Chairman of Avli Hospitality Group, LLC, Kronos Foods, Inc., Spirit Foodservice Products, Inc., Knight Packaging Group, Inc., First Texas Products Company, Gourmand Specialty Foods, Inc., Marine Accessories Corporation, Billiard Brands, Inc, PAC Holding Company, United Skylights LLC, Sinbad Foods, LLC, Wrap Pack Products Corporation, Regency Windows and Copperfield Chimney Supply, Inc., as Co-Chairman of Equestrian Products Corp., and as a Director of Main Street Gourmet Inc., Deflecta-Shield Corp., ELM Packaging Co., L.P., GolfMark L.P./IRI Golf Group, Barefoot Grass Lawn Service, Inc., Jim Colbert Golf, Inc and Direct Mail Corporation of America..
Jeffrey D. Ellis
Managing Member
Jeff Ellis’s career has been dedicated to corporate finance and principal investing in the lower-middle market.
He is currently the Chief Financial Officer, Director and personal investor in Auto Driveaway Transport Logistics LLC (Lombard, IL). During his time at Auto Driveaway, Jeff has completed over thirty add-on acquisitions of former franchised offices, Drivers On Call, LLC (now known as Drivers On Demand), and J&J Driveaway Systems, LLC.
He is also a Director and personal investor in Acadian Kitchens, LLC (Lafayette, LA), Felbro Culinary Specialties LLC (Los Angeles, CA), Heavy Duty Specialists LLC (Omaha, NE), Kouzina Foods LLC (Evanston, IL), Taratsa Hospitality Partners LLC (Chicago, IL), Viobin Products LLC (Monticello, IL), and Washos LLC (Los Angeles, CA).
Prior to forming Evanston Partners, Jeff was with High Street Capital, a lower-middle market leveraged buyout firm in Chicago. Before High Street, Jeff was with the Leveraged Finance Group at Wells Fargo where he completed over 25 transactions across a diverse set of industries including business and consumer services, manufacturing, distribution, and specialty retail.
Previously, Jeff was with Credigy, a principal investment firm in Atlanta, where he spent a majority of his time in Brazil and Puerto Rico building the asset management team to oversee the firm’s rapidly expanding investment portfolio. Jeff began his career as an investment banker at Macquarie Capital where he worked on mergers and acquisitions.
Jeff is originally from Knoxville, Tennessee and resides in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Lacey, his daughter Grayson, and his sons Reynolds and Bennett. Jeff received a B.A. in Finance from the University of Georgia and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Sylvia Anguelov
Chief Financial Officer
Sylvia Anguelov has focused her career on corporate finance. She is currently the Chief Financial Officer for Evanston Partners and charged with keeping and reporting accurate financial records for the portfolio companies. Prior to this role, Sylvia was a financial controller at RMS properties overseeing over five million square feet of commercial real estate investments, preparing annual CAM and Tax reconciliations, working on tax appeals and other legal matters, refinancing, overseeing HR, and managing all commercial insurance matters. She also has previous experience in hospitality industry due to her passion for culinary art.
Sylvia is fluent in Greek and Polish. She graduated from DePaul University with an accounting degree. With her free time, she enjoys her equally important role as a mother and wife, residing with her family in Schaumburg, Illinois.
S. Michael (Sy) Peck
Sy Peck received his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago and his law degree from the University of Michigan, cum laude. Sy has practiced law in Chicago for his entire career and been a partner at several prominent Chicago law firms, most recently Sidley Austin LLP. For over three decades, Sy has specialized in private equity, mergers and acquisitions and venture capital law and has represented numerous active Chicago-area private equity funds. Many of the legal rating agencies, including the prestigious Chambers USA, have rated Sy in the first tier of private equity attorneys in Illinois. “Chicago’s Best Lawyers” (a division of US News and World Reports) voted Sy “Lawyer of the Year” in Chicago in 2012 for leveraged buyouts and private equity law.
Investor / Advisors
Joseph P. Feldman
Joe is the President of Joseph Feldman Associates, a corporate development consultancy founded in 2003. Joseph Feldman Associates provides acquisitions and other strategic transaction consulting for growing companies and their investors.
Joe also serves as on the Advisory Board of Chicago Capital Partners, as a Senior Advisor to Liberty Advisor Group, and as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence for the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is Board President of Warming House Youth Center and past chairman of the Wilmette Youth Commission.
Joe has held leadership roles for Sandbox Industries, Chromatin, First Genetic Trust, Searle Pharmaceuticals, Monsanto and The NutraSweet Company, as well as serving on the boards of CES Optical, Morgan Street Document Systems, and XTEND.
Nat Rosasco
Nat Rosasco is a digital marketing entrepreneur and Founder of Olive Street Design, Olive & Ash Design and Ballot Box Digital, online digital marketing companies with proven records in devising web marketing strategies, delivering branded digital experiences for clients and brands, building and designing websites, forging strategic partnerships, driving revenue and increasing profits in competitive markets. Nat has a deep understanding of the sales and marketing sectors with proven expertise in business, operations and team building.
Olive Street Design currently has over 1,365 clients in the United States, Asia, Africa and Europe, including The Hasty Pudding of Harvard University, The Seattle Times, City of Chicago, Sweet Baby Ray’s, University of Michigan, Northwestern University, AARP, Seminole County Supervisor of Elections, the city of Pompano Beach and the University of Notre Dame.
Mr. Rosasco received his undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Michigan and his MBA in Marketing from DePaul University. He also serves on the Small Business Council for Small Business for America's Future. Nat is originally from Chicago, Illinois and currently resides in the Chicago area with his wife Patricia. Their four children and seven grandchildren all live the Chicago area as well.
Rodney Ruth
Mr. Ruth is the CEO of Auto Driveaway Systems, LLC and has led the company since being recruited by the prior owners/franchisees since 2006. During this time Auto Driveaway has grown significantly and very profitably as the result of office acquisitions and integration, streamlined operations, new processes, upgraded systems the introduction of technologies that are allowing continued growth. He is highly respected throughout the organization and industry for his leadership.
Previously, from 1999 to 2006, Rod served in increasing responsibility including as Vice President of Operations and General Manager of Nandorf, Inc. of Crestwood, IL, a private family-owned operator of 17 large format thrift stores under the Unique Thrift Stores brand in Chicago and Cleveland. Prior to Nandorf, Rod served as General Manager of Pulse Athletic Club (Raleigh, NC) and as both a college coach and professional basketball player. He earned a BS in Industrial Management from Michigan Technological University and an MS in Sports Management from Georgia State University.
