Granite Hall Partners (GHP) creates private investment vehicles in select categories of the liquid and illiquid alternative investment universe. The firm currently manages multi-manager funds in the following categories: leveraged buyouts, private real estate, alternative credit and hedge funds. Each fund is category specific and built to solve a particular problem that investors face in the marketplace. The firm applies a macroeconomic overlay when constructing its funds in order to provide investors with exposure to the alternatives category that has the most attractive risk/reward characteristics at the time of the fund’s launch. Once the macroeconomic analysis is complete, the firm utilizes its deep roster of relationships with many of the world’s most talented investment managers to construct its funds.
GHP is owned entirely by its employees and is completely independent. GHP aligns its interests with those of its partners and is devoid of conflicts of interest which exist at many larger and more diversified financial service firms.
Granite Hall Partners was founded in 2000 and has invested successfully through a wide variety of market environments and crises, including the Tech Wreck, 9/11 and the Credit Crisis.
James M. Flanigan, Co-Founder and Managing Director
Jim Flanigan is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Granite Hall Partners. As Co-Founder, Mr. Flanigan is responsible for the strategic direction of the firm and is accountable to all of its clients. He is a member of the Investment Committee and participates in the evaluation of prospective underlying managers. Mr. Flanigan also maintains many of the firm’s client relationships.
Prior to co-founding the firm, Mr. Flanigan played ten seasons in the National Football League as a defensive tackle. As a player, he was highly active in the community, forming a foundation that donated more than 1.3 million books to disadvantaged children. Mr. Flanigan was named the 1999 USA Today Most Caring Athlete and the 2000 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year for his efforts on and off the field.
Mr. Flanigan earned a B.B.A. in Management Information Systems from the University of Notre Dame in 1994.
John R. Wagner, Co-Founder and Managing Director
John Wagner is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Granite Hall Partners. As Co-Founder, Mr. Wagner is responsible for the strategic direction of the firm and is accountable to all of its clients. He is a member of the Investment Committee and participates in the evaluation of prospective underlying managers. Mr. Wagner also maintains many of the firm’s client relationships.
Prior to co-founding the firm, Mr. Wagner was the Director of Marketing for the Washington Redskins, where he was responsible for creating and overseeing sponsorship packages, advertising, official licensing and all team-related corporate associations.
Mr. Wagner received a B.S. in Marketing in 1990 from the University of Illinois and an M.B.A. in Marketing in 1992 from the University of Illinois.
Patrick Barry, Director and Chief Investment Officer
Pat Barry is Director and Chief Investment Officer of Granite Hall Partners. As Chief Investment Officer, Mr. Barry oversees fund construction, the firm’s investment processes and underlying manager due diligence. He is a member of the Investment Committee.
Prior to joining GHP, Mr. Barry led the efforts of Frontier Partners as it expanded into private equity by assisting domestic and European private equity firms in raising institutional assets domestically and abroad. Prior to Frontier Partners, Mr. Barry spent eight years with JP Morgan Asset Management and its heritage organizations focused upon alternative asset programs, including construction of customized products for Institutional and Sovereign Wealth Fund clients in the Middle East and Europe.
Mr. Barry earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Georgetown University in 1996.
Bradley T. Leshnock, Director of Finance
Brad Leshnock is Director of Finance of Granite Hall Partners. As Director of Finance, Mr. Leshnock oversees GHP’s financial reporting, advises on internal financial matters, assists in fund administration and is a member of the Investment Committee.
Previously, Mr. Leshnock was a Senior Consultant at Deloitte & Touche in the firm’s Risk Intelligence group.
Mr. Leshnock earned a B.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame in 1993 and an M.B.A. from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 1998. He is a Certified Public Accountant.
Advisory Board
Dr. David J. Brophy
Director of the Office for the Study of Private Equity Finance & Professor of Finance,
The Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan
Professor David J. Brophy is a member of the Finance Faculty and the Entrepreneurial Studies Faculty at The Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan where he teaches courses in entrepreneurial finance, venture capital, private equity and valuation. He serves as Director of the University of Michigan Center for Venture Capital and Private Equity Finance. He is a founding member of the editorial board of the Journal of Private Equity, the Journal of Business Venturing and the International Journal of Venture Capital. Dr. Brophy has been a consultant to a variety of government agencies in the U.S., Australia, France, India and Russia.
Education: B.A., St. Francis Xavier University; M.B.A., University of Detroit; Ph.D., The Ohio State University
Michael Donovan
Managing Director for Private Capital Investments
The University of Notre Dame
Mr. Donovan is responsible for investment activities in the private equity portfolio of Notre Dame’s $9 billion endowment. Under Mr. Donovan’s direction and leadership, the University Notre Dame’s investment performance has consistently ranked in the top five of university endowments nationally.
Education: B.B.A. Finance, University of Notre Dame; J.D., University of California – Los Angeles; M.B.A., Harvard
Patrick C. Eilers
Managing Director
Madison Dearborn Partners
Mr. Eilers concentrates on investments in the energy and power sector and currently serves on the Board of Directors of First Wind Partners, LLC, Magellan GP, LLC, Magellan Midstream Holdings GP, LLC, and US Power Generating Company. Mr. Eilers is also a member of the University of Notre Dame College of Engineering Advisory Council and serves on the Board of Trustees of Hales Franciscan High School and Cristo Rey Jesuit High School.
Prior to joining MDP, Mr. Eilers was with Jordan Industries, Inc. and IAI Venture Capital, Inc. and played professional football with the Chicago Bears, Washington Redskins, and Minnesota Vikings.
Education: B.S., University of Notre Dame; M.B.A., Northwestern University J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management
William M. Landes
Professor Emeritus of Law and Economics and Senior Lecturer
The University of Chicago Law School
Dr. Landes is a renowned economist, writer and professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Law School. He has published extensively on a wide variety of subjects since the 1960s, including multiple pieces on mergers and joint ventures. Previously, Dr. Landes taught at Stanford University, Columbia University, City University of New York, Fordham University and The University of Chicago. He also held a position at the National Bureau of Economic Research for over 10 years.
Education: B.A., Columbia University; Ph.D., Columbia University
Steve Quazzo
Co-Founder and President, Pearlmark Real Estate Partners, LLC
From 1991 to 1996, Mr. Quazzo served as President of Equity Institutional Investors, Inc., a subsidiary of investor Sam Zell’s private holding company, Equity Group Investments, Inc. Mr. Quazzo was responsible for raising equity capital and performing various portfolio management services in connection with the firm’s real estate investments, including institutional opportunity funds and public REITs. Prior to joining the Zell organization, Mr. Quazzo was in the Real Estate Department of Goldman, Sachs & Co. where he was a Vice President responsible for the firm’s real estate investment banking activities in the Midwest.
Mr. Quazzo holds undergraduate and MBA degrees from Harvard University, where he serves on the Board of Dean’s Advisers for the business school. He is a member and former Trustee of the Urban Land Institute, a member of the Pension Real Estate Association, and is a licensed real estate broker in Illinois. In addition, Mr. Quazzo serves as a Director of Starwood Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: HOT) and is an Investment Committee member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra endowment and pension plans. Mr. Quazzo has served as a Trustee of The Latin School of Chicago since 2001 and since 1994 has been a Chicago Advisory Board member of City Year, a national service organization
John Vojticek
Co-Head and Chief Investment Officer of Liquid Real Assets, Deutche Asset and Wealth Management
Mr. Vojticek is Co-Head and Chief Investment Officer of Liquid Real Assets for Deutche Asset and Wealth Management (“DeAWM”), which encompasses Listed Real Estate, Listed Infrastructure and Commodities. Mr. Vojticek is a member of the DeAWM ARA Executive Committee. Mr. Vojticek joined DB in 1996 and was responsible for launching the Company’s first listed infrastructure securities strategy in June 2008 and was previously the Head of Listed Infrastructure Securities business. Mr. Vojticek has a BS in Business Administration from University of Southern California and is a member of the National Association of Real Estate Investments Trusts (NAREIT).