Firelight Capital Partners Team

Rick Perkal is the Chief Executive Officer and a Managing Partner of Firelight Capital Partners. Previously, Rick was a Senior Managing Director with IPC, where he focused on investments in the consumer & retail sectors. During his time at Irving Place, Rick was instrumental in the founding of Star Avenue Capital, a growth equity firm focused on investments in the consumer & retail sectors. Prior to joining Bear Stearns Merchant Banking (the predecessor to Irving Place Capital) in 2000, Rick headed the corporate practice of the Washington, D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis, where he served on the finance and operations committees. Rick is currently on the Boards of: Chalk Couture Holdings, LLC; RECW Holdings, LLC (Hobo); Three Dog Bakery Holdings, LLC; Pet Supplies Plus Holdings, LLC, the third-largest pet specialty retailer in the U.S.; It’Sugar, LLC, a 96-store chain of specialty candy and gift stores; and Maximum Human Performance, LLC, a marketer and manufacturer of sports nutrition products. He is also the Non-Executive Chairman of: Cartoon Cuts, L.P., the first chain of children’s hair salons in the U.S., which he co-founded in 1991. Rick previously served on the Boards of Aeropostale, Inc., Vitamin Shoppe, Inc. (NYSE:VSI), New York & Company, Inc. (NYSE: NWY), Camelbak, LLC, Stuart Weitzman, LLC, Cabi, LLC and Millennium Laser Eye Centers, LLC, a laser eye surgery center company that he co-founded and successfully sold in 2002. Rick also served as Lead Director at Vitamin Shoppe, Inc. as Chairman of Pet Supplies “Plus” and as Non-Executive Chairman of Willagirl, LLC, a teenage healthy skincare social selling company that he co-founded in 2014. Rick is a member of the Board of Overseers of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.