Bio

Fred Flegel has a long background in capital markets and has invested in and assisted emerging businesses in the St. Louis area and throughout the United States for nearly 40 years. Mr. Flegel began working in capital markets when he was selected by Grant Thornton, the fifth largest CPA firm in the world, as one of the initial six partners of Grant Thornton’s Capital Markets Group. This group managed Grant Thornton’s capital markets assignments in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. In 1990, Mr. Flegel with four others acquired the St. Louis office of Grant Thornton and started Lopata Flegel & Company. Lopata Flegel & Company become one of the 20 largest accounting firms in St. Louis. He served as the Managing Partner and specialized in capital markets until 2010 when he left the firm to focus entirely on private equity. During his career, Mr. Flegel assisted many entrepreneurs in successfully starting or acquiring their own companies. He also has significant experience as the principal partner for numerous merger and acquisitions, ranging from transactions involving New York Stock Companies, foreign entities and private equity firms. Locally, he assisted with the initial start-up of Build A Bear Workshop and acquisition of Airport Terminal Services (ATS). He is on the Board of Directors at ATS, which has expanded to serving over 40 airports in the U.S. and Canada with approximately 3,500 employees. Mr. Flegel is currently one of two principal owners of Fusion Marketing, LLC. Fusion is headquartered in St. Louis with additional offices in Atlanta, New York City and Dallas and they specialize in experiential marketing. Mr. Flegel’s expertise and interests include energy, sports promotional products, and real estate. As one of the founders of FSM General Partner, LLC, he has utilized his experience and network of contacts to be a source of new business leads for investment, deal structuring and operational assistance.