Co-Founder & Managing Partner
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Nick has over 20 years of private equity experience. An accomplished President and COO, Nick leverages his expertise in sales and marketing, operations, and direct line executive management to provide unique and valuable insight into managing, building, and profitably scaling organizations. Prior to co-founding Vicente Capital Partners, he was a Partner at Kline Hawkes & Co., a Los Angeles-based growth equity firm, and he served as a member of the investment committee for Kline Hawkes Pacific, L.P. Nick was Chairman and CEO of Rayne Water Corporation, which was sold to Advent International through their portfolio company Culligan International. Rayne Water Corporation was the leading residential water services company in the Southwest with both extensive company owned and dealer operations. Previously, he was a Board member of Keylime Software, which was acquired by Yahoo. In addition, he was Chairman of the Board of Environmental Services Group and IPMobileNet, Inc. and a Board member of Bluetrain Software. Prior to his time at Kline Hawkes & Co., Nick was a Founding Executive and member of the Board of Directors of USFilter Corporation (NYSE: USF), a Fortune 300 company and the leading global provider of water and wastewater treatment systems, products, and services. He was at the center of USF’s strategy to consolidate the water industry and played a key role in the growth of the company’s revenue from $17 million to $5.2 billion. He was President and COO of the USF Process Water Group, which was a $1 billion revenue water equipment services business. It focused on many markets, including the microelectronics, pharmaceutical, power, laboratory, universities, and hospitals. He identified, executed, and led the buildup of the largest and most profitable recurring revenue business inside USF. Today, this business remains the most profitable and attractive segment in the water industry, which many investors and managers have been trying to emulate. Nick currently serves on the Board of Advisors of the UCLA Anderson School of Mangement’s Entrepreneurial Studies Center and was a recipient of the Drexel University College of Engineering Alumni Circle of Distinction Award. He received an M.B.A. from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, where he was a Venture Capital Fellow, and a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University.
