Watch the Arctaris 2022 Year in Review Video!

Jonathan Tower

Posted on:

Jonathan is the Founder and Managing Partner of Arctaris, which has raised and manages six impact investment funds. He invests in growth-oriented operating businesses and infrastructure, with emphasis on creating growth opportunities in underserved and underrepresented communities.

Jonathan has 20 years of experience investing in private equity and private debt, including three interim Chief Executive Officer roles in private equity-backed companies. He has invested and worked closely with portfolio companies in the manufacturing, technology, and services industries to achieve their growth objectives, including Xoom (IPO), Capterra (acquired by Gartner), Verid (acquired by EMC), QuoteShip (acquired by ICGE), and Moguldom Media (acquired by InteractiveOne).

Prior to co-founding Arctaris, Jonathan was a Managing Director, Operating Partner and member of the Investment Committee at a Boston-based hedge fund, with responsibilities in private equity deal execution and value optimization in portfolio companies. Prior thereto, at Fidelity Ventures, Jonathan executed growth equity and venture capital investments, focusing on the enterprise technology, security and communications sectors, including the firm’s investment in Xoom, which grew its online money transfer service to a base of 1.3 million users, held an IPO, and was subsequently acquired by PayPal for $1 billion. Previously, at IBM, Jonathan was a member of the Corporate Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions and Debt Capital Markets groups, where he facilitated the issuance of more than $2 billion in term debt, launched the company’s credit derivative hedging program, managed $250 million of A/R factoring transactions, led venture investments in five expansion-stage technology businesses, and supported two business units in divestitures that generated $300 million in profit. Prior thereto, Jonathan was Co-Founder and Vice President of Business Development at Vodium.com, which was acquired by Vcall.com.

From 1996 to 1999, Jonathan was a Financial Journalist at Bloomberg News. He has published articles on corporate finance, derivatives and risk management in Bloomberg Magazine, International Herald Tribune, and the New York Times.

Jonathan earned a BA in English and Mathematics from Georgetown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He, his wife and two children live in Chestnut Hill, MA.

Uche Osuji

Posted on:

Uche joined Arctaris in 2014 and serves as Managing Director. He leads the portfolio management function and drives business development through relationships with banks, investors, program partners and local governments. With over 20 years of relevant industry experience, Uche sits with the Board of Directors in an advisory role for Norwich Technologies, Saddleback Ski Area, and Recaro Automotive.

Prior to Arctaris, Uche worked in finance for 13 years with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Bear Stearns. He worked in various roles of increasing levels of responsibility in relationship management, corporate credit, and portfolio management.

Uche earned a BSE from Duke University and an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. He has served as Co-Chairperson of the Duke NY Board, Alumni Council of Phillips Academy Andover, and co-manager of a non-profit soup kitchen in the East Village of New York City.

Uche and his family reside in New York City.

Benjamin J. Bornstein

Posted on:

Ben joined Arctaris in 2018 and serves as Managing Director. He focuses on fund structuring, investment evaluation, and investor development. Ben brings 25+ years of financial services experience in senior investment roles both domestically and internationally. He previously served as President of Prospero Capital Management, an investment adviser based in Chicago.

Prior to Arctaris, Ben served as CEO of Imerman Angels, the world’s largest support network for cancer fighters, survivors, and caregivers. He previously worked as a partner and portfolio manager at Omega Advisors in New York and covered the U.S. portfolio for the global fund products of Orbis Investment Management in London and Bermuda. He has a strong background in evaluating management teams, financials, and strategies for developing products.

Ben earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University. Ben graduated from Harvard Business School with high distinction as a Baker Scholar (top 5% of class), and Harvard Law School as part of the JD/MBA program. He received the John Loeb Award (awarded to the top four students in finance) and Sheridan Logan Fellowship (awarded to one Baker Scholar) at Harvard Business School.

Ben’s philanthropic interests and Board involvement include Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs (HAE), Lurie Cancer Center (Board 39), Above and Beyond Family Recovery Center, H Foundation, and Pets are Worth Saving (PAWS Chicago).

James Robinson

Posted on:

Jim joined Arctaris in 2018 and serves as Managing Director. As a consultant, Jim serves as an external advisor on investment strategies and industry excellence. Jim has over 25 years of investment management experience.

Jim founded Robinson Capital Management, LLC, the investment adviser to the Robinson Funds, in December 2012 where he oversees investment strategies and processes, risk management, regulatory compliance, asset allocation modeling, external manager due diligence and selection, trading, and personnel.

Jim was CEO and CIO of Southfield, MI-based Telemus Capital Partners, LLC (TCP) and its subsidiary Beacon Asset Management, LLC. He also served for five years as the Chairman and CEO of Birmingham-based Munder Capital Management and President of the Munder Funds, where he was responsible for an investment complex with approximately $38 billion in assets under management.

Jim earned a BBS in Finance and Economics from Wayne State University and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.

Anita Graham

Posted on:

Anita joined Arctaris in 2020 and serves as the Principal – Baltimore Market Manager. She leads the sourcing, due diligence and execution of debt and equity investment opportunities in Baltimore. Anita has over 25 years of experience as a private equity investor and has made direct investments in an array of sectors leading transactions that total in excess of $300 million.

Prior to joining Arctaris, Anita was co-founder and Managing Director of Graham & Associates, a company that assembled and partnered with professionals experienced in assisting management teams in developing processes to meet operational and financial objectives, identifying the appropriate source of capital to support the management team’s goals, and performing internal operational and financial audits to insure that the goals are being met. Previously, Anita served as a General Partner of Opportunity Capital Partners (“OCP”), a minority-owned private equity firm (that also included an SBIC and an SSBIC) with $135 million of capital under management that focused on providing later stage growth equity to companies primarily in the telecommunications, media, industrial services and healthcare industries. Prior to joining OCP, Anita served as the President of Renaissance Capital Corporation, a company that provided equity to small middle market companies in diversified industries.

Anita served on the Advisory Board and was a founding board member of Pacific Community Ventures, a fund with over $40 million of capital under management that targets markets primarily in California. She also served as a board member of the Maryland Small Business Development Financing Authority which provides financing to small businesses throughout the state of Maryland.

Anita earned a BA in Economics from Cornell University and an Executive MBA from Golden Gate University.

Lee Kimball

Posted on:

Lee joined Arctaris in 2021 as the Director -Pittsburgh Market Manager. He works with stakeholders to manage the Pittsburgh impact investment strategy, discover and evaluate investment opportunities, and work with portfolio companies to grow their businesses and broaden the Arctaris impact.

Prior to Arctaris, Lee was the COO and CEO of three venture and PE-backed international companies in Pittsburgh, building operations, supply chains, and sales teams in the US, Europe, Australia, and Central America. As a founding executive of a successful social impact business, he developed a passion for businesses that create jobs and impact where they are needed the most.

Previously, he served as the Director of Strategic Planning & Finance for a large professional services firm and as a Senior Financial Analyst in the real estate industry. He began his professional career in nonprofit management and continues that work through various volunteer positions.

He received his BS from Penn State University and MBA from University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business. Lee is a frequent startup advisor and speaker on entrepreneurship, impact, and operations. He and his wife raise their two children in Pittsburgh.

Neil Katz

Posted on:

Neil joined Arctaris in 2015 and serves as Prinicipal. He is responsible for all phases of the execution and due diligence process, including deal origination, transaction due diligence, and post-execution growth strategy development and achievement. Neil is a deals focused financial professional with over adecade of financial and operational experience.

Prior to joining Arctaris, Neil’sexperience includes tenures with both Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he helped large, multinational organizations assess risk and perform transactional buy and sell-side due diligence.

Neil has consulted to organizations in a broad set of industries, but specializes in working with companies in the broadband, automotive, manufacturing, and clean energy industries.

Neil earned both a BBA and MS in Accounting from Eastern Michigan Universityand he is a licensed Certified Public Accountant. In his spare time, Neil enjoys traveling, exploring the great outdoors, and spending time with his family.

Nihar Sait

Posted on:

Nihar joined Arctaris in 2020 and serves as Principal. He is responsible for underwriting new acquisitions, evaluating development opportunities and managing the firm’s real estate portfolio. Nihar has over 20 years of professional experience in technology, investment banking, private equity and corporate development.

Prior to joining Arctaris, Nihar was a Director at Apex Investments, a New York City-based real estate investment firm focused on the acquisition, renovation, and refinancing of commercial and residential properties.

He co-founded and successfully raised seed capital for an e-commerce company that ethically sourced goods from emerging markets. Nihar has also held a number of investment roles at SUN Capital, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, where he analyzed real estate, telecom and clean technology opportunities.

Nihar earned a BA from Northwestern University, a Masters from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.