Bio

Ms. Harman is Founder & Chairman, and former CEO, of Avante Capital Partners. Based in Los Angeles, Ms. Harman's responsibilities include fund strategy and management, Investment Committee, portfolio management, investor relations, and brand management. Ms. Harman has over 30 years of financing and M&A experience, involving well over $1 billion in aggregate investments. Prior to founding Avante, Ms. Harman started-up and led the Los Angeles offices for two multi-billion dollar publicly traded private equity and mezzanine investment funds - American Capital and more recently Allied Capital, where she was also a member of Allied’s Investment Committee. Earlier career highlights include various senior-level positions with Prudential Capital. Over the course of her career, she has held (as an active board member or observer) Board roles in over 20 private middle market companies across the U.S. in a variety of industries, including healthcare, business services, consumer products, and industrial. She currently sits on the board of NN Inc., a publicly traded manufacturer of highly engineered components and Engineered Performance Technologies, a private manufacturer of automotive performance aftermarket products and solutions. She has received numerous recognitions over the years including most recently being named to the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2018 and 2019 LA 500 Most Influential People in Los Angeles. In January 2016, Ms. Harman was on the cover of Mergers & Acquisitions magazine and named one of the Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A, a recognition she again received in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. In March 2017, she was recognized as one of 15 Trailblazers by Buyouts Magazine. In 2015, she was named one of the Most Influential Private Equity Investors in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Business Journal (LABJ). In 2013, the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Los Angeles inducted Ms. Harman into their Hall of Fame. Ms. Harman is a Co-Chair of the Association for Corporate Growth - Los Angeles Business Conference, an Ex-officio Board Member and Past Chair of the Small Business Investor Alliance, Executive Advisory Board member of JGSI (Jewish Graduate Student Initiative), and a Steering Committee Member of PEWIN. In 2018, Avante Capital Partners was named Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) of the Year by the U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The firm was also named Women-Owned Firm of the Year 2018 by Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN). She received a MBA from the University of California – Berkeley, and a Bachelors’ degree in Business from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee (summa cum laude).