TEAM
KKR Capstone Executives
Samuel D. Allen
Hong Kong
Samuel D. Allen joined KKR Capstone in 2006. He previously worked for McKinsey & Company, where he worked across a broad range of industries, and for AT&T Wireless where he was a Senior Manager focused on customer retention. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Allen has been involved with BIS, Seven Media, MMI Holdings, and Unisteel. He holds a B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
TopJamie Bolton
Hong Kong
Jamie Bolton joined KKR Capstone in 2008 from Accenture where he worked in a broad range of industries from Electronics and High Tech, Consumer and Industrial Products to Chemicals and Pulp and Paper. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Bolton has worked with Unisteel, MMI, SMG and Oriental Brewery. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) from the University of Technology, Sydney and an M.B.A from the University of New England, NSW.
Scott Bookmyer
Hong Kong
Scott Bookmyer recently transferred to Hong Kong to become CEO of KKR Capstone Asia. He originally joined KKR Capstone in New York in 2002. He was previously with The Boston Consulting Group in their Chicago and Paris offices. While at BCG, Mr. Bookmyer worked with companies in the industrial, consumer goods, retail and financial services sectors. Prior to business school, he was a Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Bookmyer has been involved with Energy Future Holdings (formerly TXU Corp.), Toys 'R' Us, Sealy and the Yellow Pages Group. He holds a B.A., with honors, from Indiana University, and an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago.
Arthur J. Brohinsky
New York
Arthur J. (A.J.) Brohinsky joined KKR Capstone in 2009. He was previously with SmartOps Corporation, a manufacturing and supply chain solutions provider, as Executive Vice President. Prior to SmartOps, he was a consultant at McKinsey & Company focused on operational improvement across a broad range of industries. Prior to McKinsey, Mr. Brohinsky worked in project, risk, and operations management roles for Shell Oil Company. Mr. Brohinsky holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with distinction from Cornell University and an M.B.A with honors from Harvard Business School.
Kermit Cook
Hong Kong
Kermit Cook joined KKR Capstone in 2007. Previously he worked for McKinsey & Company, where he focused on sales and marketing across a variety of industries. After McKinsey, he taught high school physics in St. Louis with Teach for America. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Cook has worked with U.S. Foodservice, Oriental Brewery, and BIS Limited. He holds a B.A. and B.E. from Dartmouth College, and an M.B.A. and M.A. from Stanford University, where he graduated as the Henry Ford Scholar of the business school.
Todd Cooper
Menlo Park
Todd Cooper joined KKR Capstone in 2008 from Honeywell, where he worked in the Aerospace Division. Mr. Cooper's most recent role at Honeywell was Vice President of Global Sourcing where he managed an organization of over 950 employees responsible for over $5 billion annual spend. Prior to Honeywell, he worked for Sun Microsystems and McKinsey & Company. He also served as a Captain in the US Army for five years stationed in Fort Lewis, WA. Mr. Cooper is a graduate of West Point and the MIT Sloan School of Management.
William L. Cornog
Menlo Park
William L. Cornog joined KKR Capstone in 2002. He was previously with Williams Communications Group as the Senior Vice President & General Manager of Network Services with P&L responsibility for Wiltel's $1.2 billion network business. Prior to Williams, he was a partner at The Boston Consulting Group. Mr. Cornog has also worked in direct marketing with Age Wave Communications and in marketing and sales positions with SmithKline Beckman. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Cornog has been involved with Accellent, Alliance Imaging, Avago Technologies, Biomet, BIS Cleanaway, MMI, NuVox (NewSouth Communications), Owens-Illinois, PanAmSat, NXP (formerly Philips Semiconductor), Seven, SunGard Data Systems, US Foodservice, Visant and Yellow Pages Group. He holds a B.A., with honors, from Stanford University, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Paul J. Douek
London
Paul J. Douek joined KKR Capstone in 2004. He was previously with The Boston Consulting Group, focusing on strategy, operations and business launch projects for industrial goods, retail and technology companies. During that time, he was also CEO of a procurement joint venture between four leading European steel companies in Belgium. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Douek has been involved in Argillon (Demag), Dixons Group and DIY Group Praxis/Brico/Plan-It (Maxeda) and at NXP. He is currently involved in a business improvement program at U.N Ro-Ro. He holds a B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering, with first class honours, from Imperial College, London University; an M.Phil in Economics from Oxford University; and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Chad D. Fargason
New York
Chad D. Fargason joined KKR Capstone in 2003. He was previously a Senior Vice President at El Paso Corporation where he ran Valuation and Analysis for Complex Derivative, Power and Liquefied Natural Gas transactions. He was also with The Boston Consulting Group where he focused on the high technology, telecommunications, consumer goods and energy industries. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Fargason has been involved with Accuride, Biomet, HCA, Masonite International, Owens-Illinois and Sealy. He holds a B.A., cum laude, from Rice University, and a Ph.D. from Duke University.
Boris Gorella
London
Boris Gorella joined KKR Capstone in 2008. He was previously with BASF as Senior Vice President of Construction Chemicals Asia Pacific, headquartered in Shanghai/China. Prior to BASF, Mr. Gorella has been with Evonik/Degussa as President in the Specialty Materials Division. Before that, he spent five years with McKinsey & Company serving a broad range of clients from the industrial sector focussing on growth and turnaround projects. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Gorella is currently leading a transformation program at KION. He holds a Ph.D. with high distinction in Chemistry from the Technical University Berlin/Germany and an M.B.A. from INSEAD/France. Mr. Gorella is fluent in English and German.
Ravi Gupta
New York
Ravi Gupta joined KKR Capstone in 2005. He was previously with McKinsey & Company where he worked across a number of industries including pharmaceuticals, medical products, and consumer goods. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Gupta has worked with Toys 'R' Us and Energy Future Holdings (formerly TXU Corp.). He holds a B.S. from Duke University.
Chris Hsu
London
Chris Hsu joined KKR Capstone in 2007, first working in Menlo Park and moving to London in 2009. Previously, he worked at McKinsey & Company where he was a leader in the retail and consumer industry group with functional expertise in marketing and operations. Prior to joining McKinsey & Company, he was a product manager at General Mills and a Captain in the U.S. Army. Mr. Hsu is currently working with Van Gansewinkel Group/AVR and previously worked with U.S. Foodservice and Dollar General. Mr. Hsu graduated as a Distinguished Cadet with a B.S. in mathematical economics from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He also holds an M.B.A. with distinction from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.
Karr Narula
Menlo Park
Karr Narula joined KKR Capstone in 2007. He was previously with Bain & Company where he worked across a number of industries including transportation/logistics, catalog/retail consumer products, high-tech OEM, software support services, and private equity. After his time at Bain, he spent time working in corporate M&A for Harrah's Entertainment on the acquisition and integration of Caesars. He also spent time in the private equity group at H.I.G. Capital executing lower middle market private equity transactions. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Narula has worked closely with Biomet and Energy Future Holdings. He holds a B.S. from Stanford University, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Vincent E. Letteri
Hong Kong
Vincent Letteri joined KKR Capstone in Menlo Park in 2007 and moved to the Hong Kong office in 2009 to assist in developing Capstone's Asia operations. He previously worked for McKinsey & Company in Boston where he focused on private equity, retail, and consumer goods companies. After McKinsey & Company, Mr. Letteri worked at Nike, Inc. in a number of roles including global corporate strategy, business development, and e-commerce, both in Oregon and in Shanghai, China. At KKR Capstone Mr. Letteri has been involved with First Data Corporation, U.S. Foodservice, MMI, Yageo, and Oriental Brewery. He holds a B.A. with honors from Harvard University and a M.B.A. from Stanford University.
Andrew Low Ah Kee
New York
Andrew Low Ah Kee joined KKR Capstone in 2007. He was previously with The Boston Consulting Group where he worked across a number of industries including consumer goods, industrials, telecom and pharma/biotech. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Low Ah Kee has worked with Toys 'R' Us and Sealy. He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of Toronto and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Andreas Krinninger
London
Andreas Krinninger joined KKR Capstone in 2007. He was Chief Supply Chain Officer and Member of the Board of Grohe AG, the leading global supplier of faucet and shower systems. Prior to that he worked at the global airline catering service company LSG Sky Chefs as the Senior Vice President Product Engineering and Operational Excellence and served as a member of the Global Executive Team where he was responsible for managing the operations restructuring. Previously, he spent six years with McKinsey & Company working on growth and turnaround projects in the automotive and industrial sector. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Krinninger is currently involved in ATU. He holds an M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Technology (RWTH) Aachen, Germany and an M.Sc. in Business from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Jerome Losson
London
Jerome Losson joined KKR Capstone in 2003. Before joining, he was COO of Causeway Technologies, a U.K. developer of software solutions for the construction sector, which acquired Mercadium, a company he had co-founded previously. Before that he had spent time at McKinsey & Company in their Brussels and London offices. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Losson has been involved with Demag (MPM and DCC), Tenovis, where he acted as interim MD of the French subsidiary, and then Toys 'R' Us Europe where he worked on various operational improvement initiatives. In 2006-2007 he led a transformation program at PagesJaunes, where is now serves as a Board member. Since 2008 he has been acting as interim COO at Northgate Information Systems. He has a B.Sc. (honors) and a Ph.D. with high distinction in Physics from McGill University/Canada, and an M.B.A. from INSEAD/France. Mr. Losson is fluent in English, French and Spanish.
Rebecca McKillican
New York
Rebecca McKillican joined KKR Capstone in 2007. Previously she worked for McKinsey & Company where she worked across a number of industries including telecom, retail, industrial products, and healthcare. At KKR Capstone, Ms. McKillican has worked with Dollar General and US Foodservice. She holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering, and a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School where she graduated as a Baker Scholar.
Dean B. Nelson
CEO of KKR Capstone
New York
Dean B. Nelson founded KKR Capstone in 2000. He was formerly a senior partner with The Boston Consulting Group, ran the firm's Chicago office and was on the management committee. At The Boston Consulting Group, he focused primarily on the consumer goods and retail, industrial goods and the high technology industries. Mr. Nelson previously worked at Shell Oil Company. At KKR Capstone, he has worked with Alliance Imaging, Dollar General, Energy Future Holdings (formerly TXU Corp.). Owens-Illinois, PRIMEDIA, Rockwood/Dynamit Nobel, Sealy, Toys 'R' Us, The Nielsen Company (formerly VNU Group) and Yellow Pages Group. Mr. Nelson is Chairman of PRIMEDIA and is a Sealy and Dollar General board member. He holds a B.S., Summa Cum Laude, from Purdue University; and an M.B.A., with High Honors, from The University of Chicago.
Paolo Notarnicola
London
Paolo Notarnicola joined KKR Capstone in 2006. He was previously an M&A and Restructuring banker at Lazard, based in Canada. Mr. Notarnicola also spent five years with McKinsey & Company in Montreal, Boston and Milan where he led multiple transformation programs for Fortune 500 companies and Private Equity firms. Since joining KKR Capstone, Mr. Notarnicola has spent more than three years at AVR / Van Gansewinkel, where he most recently managed a company-wide restructuring program. He currently works as ad-interim manager at Alliance Boots, where he leads a turnaround effort in one of its divisions. He holds an M.Sc. degree, summa cum laude, from L. Bocconi University, Italy and an M.B.A. with High Distinction from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.
Rushi Patel
Menlo Park
Rushi Patel joined KKR Capstone in 2006. Previously he worked for McKinsey & Company where he worked across a variety of industries. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Patel has worked with Accellent, Aricent and Energy Future Holdings (formerly TXU Corp.). He holds a B.B.A., with honors, from the University of Texas at Austin.
Steffen Pauls
London
Steffen Pauls joined KKR Capstone in 2004. He was co-founder and CEO of firstfive Inc., a Germany-based rating agency for professional asset management services that he sold to a private equity investor. Mr. Pauls also spent six years with The Boston Consulting Group in Frankfurt where he managed a wide range of projects in the chemical, agrochemical and financial service industry. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Pauls has worked with MTU, DCC, AVR, Duales System Deutschland (DSD) and KION (Linde Material Handling). Currently he is involved at Pro7Sat1. He holds a Ph.D., M.Sc., and B.A. with high distinction from the University of Mannheim (Germany)/Harvard University and a M.Sc. from the Ecole Superieure des Sciences Economiques (ESSEC), Paris, France. Mr. Pauls is fluent in English, German and French.
Derick Prelle
Menlo Park
Derick Prelle joined KKR Capstone in 2006. He was previously an Associate Partner in the Chicago office of McKinsey & Company, where he focused on retail and packaged goods clients and was a leader in the Pricing practice. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Prelle has worked with SunGard Data Systems, U.S. Foodservice, Dollar General and Real Mex Restaurants. Mr. Prelle holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from Cornell University as well as an M.B.A., with highest honors, from the University of Chicago. He is a recipient of the Bain Trophy, awarded to Chicago's most outstanding M.B.A. strategy scholar.
Steve Schepps
New York
Steve Schepps joined KKR Capstone in 2009. Previously he was a Director of Consulting Services at CGI Inc, a Canadian-based outsourcing, systems integration and consulting firm, and a Vice President at Silver Oak Partners, Inc., a boutique strategic sourcing/spend management advisory services consulting firm. While at CGI and Silver Oak he focused on providing cost optimization and indirect spend reduction solutions to clients across a wide range of industries. Prior to Silver Oak, he was a strategy consultant at the Mitchell Madison Group. He also served as a Captain and Senior Pilot in the U.S. Air Force. Mr. Schepps holds a B.S. with honors in Biology from CCNY and an M.B.A from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Jeffrey R. Smith
New York
Jeffrey R. Smith joined KKR Capstone in 2008 from Accenture in Chicago where he worked as global managing director of the $1.5 billion retail and consumer goods industry businesses. During his 29 year career, Mr. Smith served in various roles including CIO of a 400 store retail chain, Managing Partner for the SAP Consumer practice of Accenture and client partner for Wal-Mart and Sara Lee Corporation. His industry experience includes retail, wholesale distribution, consumer products, electronics and high tech, process manufacturing, automotive suppliers, office furniture manufacturing, health and life sciences, retail banking, utilities, publishing, eCommerce, chemicals, and higher education. Mr. Smith is a Certified Management Accountant. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Michigan, and an M.B.A. from the Ross Graduate School of Business, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Alain Vourch
London
Alain Vourch joined KKR Capstone in 2004. Prior to KKR Capstone, he co-founded Argus Interactive and led the business launch of argusauto.com, one of the largest automotive portals for used cars in France. Mr. Vourch also worked as a management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, with in depth experience in consumer goods, retail, industrial goods and business services. At KKR-Casptone, Mr. Vourch is involved with Maxeda (formerly Vendex KBB) and Tarkett. He holds an M.Sc. from the Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Mines de Paris, France. Mr. Vourch is fluent in English and French.
Scott W. Wagner
New York
Scott W. Wagner joined KKR Capstone in 2000. At KKR, Mr. Wagner has been primarily involved with Borden Chemical, PRIMEDIA, Sealy, Seven, SunGard, Tarkett and The Nielsen Company (formerly VNU Group). He is affiliated with the Media & Telecom Industry Group. During 2004-05, Mr. Wagner held a number of senior executive roles at Primedia's Enthusiast division, where he build the company's Interactive business, managed the Lifestyles publishing unit, and led all shared operations functions such as circulation, finance, production and IT. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Wagner was previously with The Boston Consulting Group in both Chicago and Madrid where he focused on the consumer goods, retail, media/publishing and industrial goods industries. He holds a B.A. in economics, magna cum laude, from Yale University; and an M.B.A., with honors, from Harvard Business School.
Xiaoyu Xia
Beijing
Xiaoyu Xia joined KKR Capstone in 2009. Before KKR, he had worked with McKinsey & Company for eight years. He was a partner at McKinsey and head of its Beijing office. While at McKinsey, Dr. Xia worked with leading private, state owned and multinational companies on a wide range of topics including operational transformations as well as strategy and organization design. Dr. Xia has a PhD in Physics from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He graduated from Tsinghua University with highest honors and is now a director of its Alumni Supervisory Committee.
Nicholas D. Zeitlin
New York
Nicholas D. Zeitlin joined KKR Capstone in 2005. He previously worked for McKinsey & Company in New York where he focused on the high technology, telecommunications and health care industries. At KKR Capstone, Mr. Zeitlin has worked primarily with Avago Technologies, The Nielsen Company, SunGard and Tarkett. He holds a B.A. with honors from Harvard University.
KKR Capstone is often involved in every phase of a transaction — from the initial due diligence to the implementation of operational improvements and strategic development initiatives.
