Why Brightwood?

Our Approach

An experienced investment team active in sourcing, diligence, and driving growth for our portfolio companies.

Our People

Founded in 2010, Brightwood has 45 employees with a presence in New York and Chicago.

Meet Our Team

• Sengal Selassie

  Sengal Selassie

  CEO and Founder

  New York City P. +1-646-957-9534 E. selassie@brightwoodlp.com

  Sengal Selassie is the CEO and Founder of Brightwood. Mr. Selassie has been involved in all phases of the firm’s development since its founding in 2010. He is a member of the Executive Committee and serves on the Investment Committee of all Brightwood Managed Funds. Mr. Selassie currently participates on the boards of many of Brightwood’s portfolio companies and has managed capital for hundreds of limited partners, including a number of prominent public, private and corporate pension plans, endowments, family offices, and high net worth individuals.  Prior to forming Brightwood, Mr. Selassie led Cowen Capital Partners, LLC (“Cowen Capital”), where he served as managing partner from 2006 through 2009. Mr. Selassie joined Cowen Capital from SG Capital Partners LLC (“SG Capital”), Cowen Capital’s predecessor fund where he worked from 1998 through 2006. At SG Capital he was a Managing Director and served as group head starting in 2002. Prior to SG Capital, Mr. Selassie worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Morgan Stanley where he helped media and telecommunications companies execute strategic transactions. He began his career in the Corporate Finance Group of the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs in 1990.

  Education: A.B. in Economics, magna cum laude, Harvard College; M.B.A. and J.D., with honors, Harvard University

   

• Darilyn Olidge

  Darilyn Olidge

  Partner, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer

  New York City P. +1-646-368-8397 E. olidge@brightwoodlp.com

  Darilyn Olidge is a Partner, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Brightwood. Darilyn also serves on the Executive Committee. Darilyn’s responsibilities at Brightwood include providing strategic legal advice to the firm, setting and monitoring internal governance practices and policies, running the compliance program, overseeing our human resources team, and managing external counsel relationships.

  Prior to joining Brightwood, Darilyn was a Managing Director in the General Counsel Division of Credit Suisse, serving as Lead Advisory Counsel to the Prime Services Group, Co-Manager of GCD’s Center of Excellence Documentation Team and a member of the GC Americas Management Operating Committee.  Darilyn joined Credit Suisse from Morgan Stanley, where she last served as Executive Director, advising on various legal and regulatory matters in its fixed income and institutional equities businesses.  Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, she was an Associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York and clerked for the late Hon. Constance Baker Motley, United States District Court, Southern District of New York.   She began her career as a Certified Public Accountant in the Tax Division of Arthur Andersen.

  Education: B.B.A., Accounting, Loyola University; J.D., New York University Law School; member of the Law Review

• Russell Zomback

  Russell Zomback

  Chief Financial Officer

  New York City P. +1-646-957-9532 E. zomback@brightwoodlp.com

  Russell Zomback is the Chief Financial Officer of Brightwood and a member of the Executive Committee.

  Prior to joining Brightwood in 2011, Mr. Zomback was the Executive Vice President of Finance at Golub Capital, a lower middle market lender with more than $45 billion of assets under management. Over 12 years at Golub, Mr. Zomback oversaw three SBIC partnerships and several other investment partnerships and oversaw the growth in AUM from $250 million to $4 billion. Prior to Golub, Mr. Zomback was with Goldstein Golub Kessler as an audit manager in the financial services group.

  Mr. Zomback earned a B.S. in Accounting from Binghamton University.

• Sachin Goel – Chicago

  Sachin Goel – Chicago

  Managing Director

  New York City P. +1-646-368-8264 E. goel@brightwoodlp.com

  Sachin Goel is a Managing Director on the Investment Team and leads our capital markets activities.  Prior to joining Brightwood, Sachin was a Managing Director in Macquarie Capital USA’s credit trading division, where he was responsible for a portfolio of distressed and high-yield corporate credits. His duties included risk management, trading and investing in bonds and bank debt in various sectors, with a focus on energy, power, infrastructure and transportation in the U.S. and Australia. Previously, Sachin was a Vice President at Credit Suisse in the fixed income division of the investment bank, first in the U.S. credit trading group, where he was responsible for formulating and executing trades, and subsequently as a member of the special opportunities group, conducting principal investing in illiquid credit opportunities, primarily in middle market private lending.

  Education: BA from the University of Chicago

• Colin Keenan – New York

  Colin Keenan – New York

  Managing Director

  New York City P. +1-646-368-8091 E. keenan@brightwoodlp.com

  Colin Keenan is a Managing Director on the Investment Team.

  Prior to Brightwood, Colin was V.P. of Lazard Freres’ restructuring group, focusing on the execution of restructuring, distressed M&A, and rescue financing transactions in the U.S. and internationally. Prior to this, he was with Alix Partners in turnaround and restructuring services, providing financial and operational assistance to companies and their stakeholders. Earlier, he served as a U.S. Marine Corps Captain.

  Education: BS, Naval Academy; MBA, Columbia University

• Scott Porter – New York

  Scott Porter – New York

  Managing Director

  New York City P. +1-646-957-9531 E. porter@brightwoodlp.com

  Scott Porter is a Managing Director on the Investment Team with a focus on two core verticals — Transportation & Logistics and Franchising. Prior to joining Brightwood, Scott was a Partner at Uni-World Capital, a lower-middle market buyout fund, where he spent over five years sourcing, executing and managing private equity investments. Prior to Uni-World, Scott worked with Brightwood co-Founder Sengal Selassie as a Partner at CCP, where he spent nine years in a similar capacity to his role at Uni-World. While at Cowen, he was instrumental in assisting the company in a number of business development activities that included the company’s spin-out from Société Générale and subsequent IPO, the creation of a $500 million healthcare-focused private equity fund and the acquisition of an Asian boutique investment bank. Scott started his career working as part of Chase Securities High Yield Corporate Finance Group, where he executed over $3.5 billion in lead managed and $7.0 billion in co-managed transactions in the media, telecommunication, healthcare, chemical, consumer products, manufacturing and service industries.

  Education: BA, magna cum laude from SUNY Binghamton University

• Kunal Shah – New York

  Kunal Shah – New York

  Managing Director

  New York City P. +1-646-368-8114 E. shah@brightwoodlp.com

  Kunal Shah is a Managing Director on the Investment Team.

  Prior to joining Brightwood, Kunal was an investment professional at Solar Capital, a credit-focused investment firm, where he was responsible for evaluating, executing and managing middle market secured and mezzanine loans. Prior to joining Solar Capital, he was an analyst in the Leveraged Finance Group at Merrill Lynch.

  Education: BS, University of Southern California

• Jamie Allen – New York

  Jamie Allen – New York

  Managing Director

  New York P. 646-368-8334 E. allen@brightwoodlp.com

  Jamie Allen is a Managing Director on the Investment Team.  Prior to joining Brightwood, she was an investment professional at Golub Capital, a middle market lender, where she executed and managed investments.  Prior to Golub Capital, she was with IDB Bank in their corporate lending group.  Jamie began her career in the leveraged finance and financial sponsors group at UBS Investment Bank.

  Education: BBA, University of Michigan; MBA, Columbia University

• Aized Rabbani – New York

  Aized Rabbani – New York

  Managing Director

  New York P. 917-975-0070 E. rabbani@brightwoodlp.com

  Aized Rabbani is a Managing Director on the Investment Team.

  Prior to joining Brightwood, Aized was a Managing Director at Abacus Finance, a direct lending platform, responsible for originating, structuring, and executing new investments with lower middle market sponsors. Previously, he was an Executive Director at J.P. Morgan in the investment banking Corporate Credit group.  Prior to that, Aized was a Vice President in the JPMorgan Mezzanine Capital group and an Associate in the Leveraged Finance group at J.P. Morgan. He began his career with General Electric’s management program followed by technology roles at MicroStrategy, a data analytics software company. 

  Education: 

  BS in Electric Engineering, Lafayette College; MBA, University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)

• Edward Bayone

  Edward Bayone

  Mr. Bayone is the Earle W. Kazis Professor of the Practice of Finance and International Real Estate at Brandeis University where he has been on the full-time faculty since 2003.

  From 2009 through 2018, Mr. Bayone served as founding chair of the undergraduate Business Program; in the past, he also served as head of the graduate school’s Real Estate Specialization.  From 1979 through 2002, Mr. Bayone worked at BankBoston and its successor firm, FleetBoston Financial, in various senior capacities including Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer, responsible for overseeing U.S. and international lending. In that capacity, he held the highest level of signing authority in the bank.  From 2016 through 2018, Mr. Bayone served as an Independent Investment Professional for the offshore funds managed by Churchill Asset Management, a majority-owned affiliate of Nuveen/TIAA.

  Mr. Bayone has served on the boards of various organizations throughout his career including: IAP Worldwide Services, a leading provider of global-scale logistics, facilities management, and advanced professional and technical services, where he chaired the Audit Committee and sat on the Governance Committee (2014 through 2017);  SuperMedia, a publishing company until its merger with Dex One to form Dex Media, where he chaired the board’s Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee and served on the Audit Committee (2010 through 2013); and  Churchill Financial, a commercial middle market finance and asset management company, where he chaired the Risk Committee and sat on the Audit Committee (2006 through 2009).

  Mr. Bayone received his BA in history from Queens College, an MA in history from the University of Rochester, and an MIA in banking and finance from Columbia University.

• Raudline Etienne

  Raudline Etienne

  Raudline Etienne is the Founder and Managing Partner of Daraja Capital, an advisory firm providing strategic advice to start up and early stage/boutique asset managers.

  Ms. Etienne is a trustee of the Janus Henderson Funds Board of Trustees where she represents the interests of fund investors in all matters related to the mutual fund complex.  She serves on the Board of the Van Alen Institute, a not for profit founded in 1894, who has promoted innovative thinking about the role of architecture and design in civic life.  Ms. Etienne is a Senior Advisor of the global strategy firm Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG) where she focuses on developing business strategies and expanding opportunities in the investment sector for ASG.

  From 2008 through 2011, Ms. Etienne served as Chief Investment Officer (CIO) for the New York State Common Retirement Fund (CRF), the third largest public pension fund in the United States with assets of $226.4 billion. As CIO, she oversaw all aspects of CRF’s investment strategy, including asset allocation, policy and governance, investment structure, partner selection, and risk management.

  Previously, Ms. Etienne was a Managing Director, and Co-Head of Non-Traditional Investment Group at Rogerscasey in Darien, Connecticut.  Ms. Etienne was instrumental in creating the Connecticut Hedge Fund Association where she was a board member, and also served on the Toigo Foundation Governing Board. She was appointed to the International Accounting Standards Board and the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Financial Crisis Advisory Group, which considered financial reporting improvements to enhance investor confidence.

  Ms. Etienne earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA in finance from the University of California at Berkeley where she was awarded the Robert Toigo Foundation Fellowship.

• William E. Lighten

  William E. Lighten

  Mr. Lighten is the President of Lighten Holdings, LLC, a family private equity investment platform and President of Lighten Family Foundation, a family philanthropic foundation addressing concerns with at-risk-youth, family services, equal justice, educational and cultural enrichment.  Prior to his current roles, Mr. Lighten was the Managing Partner for Eland Capital a division of The Williams Capital Group, L.P.   Prior to founding Eland in 2011, Mr. Lighten was a former Managing Director, Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers Bank, FSB. He served as a member of both the Lehman Brothers Management Committee and its Fixed Income Operating Committee where he was involved in policy decisions and developing firm procedures within the Fixed Income Division. Previously, he was the Founder and Global Head of the Lehman Brothers Mortgage Capital Division (“MCD”), an industry-leading mortgage loan origination franchise with over 100 billion of loan originations annually and 5,000 employees globally. Prior to taking on his role in MCD in 2004, Mr. Lighten was Global Head of Lehman Brothers Structured Finance for over a decade. He has played the lead role in building out the firm’s robust U.S., European and Asian structured finance businesses. From 1986-1991, he worked in the Mortgage Finance and Asset-Backed Securities businesses at Merrill Lynch.  Mr. Lighten has been actively involved in various community organizations and boards including the  NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Apollo Theater of Harlem. Mr. Lighten has enjoyed many career accolades including ‘Top 25 African Americans on Wall Street’ by Black Enterprise magazine, ’Top 40 Players Under 40’ by Ebony magazine and ‘Top 100 Professionals in NYC by Crains’ Magazine.  Mr. Lighten holds a B.A. in economics from Yale University, where he currently serves as a Sterling Fellow and a member of the Yale Development Council.

   

• David M. Malcolm

  David M. Malcolm

  Mr. Malcolm is currently a Senior Adviser at Cowen & Company, LLC, where he was formally Executive Officer and Head of Investment Banking. Mr. Malcolm has extensive experience managing credit organizations. His prior experience includes serving as Head of Global Leverage Finance at Société Générale from 1996 through 2001. Mr. Malcolm also ran the High Yield/Leverage Finance Group at First Boston from 1983 to 1990. Additionally, he sits on the advisory committee of Echelon Capital Strategies, a peer to peer lending credit vehicle. He is a graduate of Wesleyan College and Harvard Business School.

• Warren Olsen

  Warren Olsen

  Mr. Olsen is the Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of SCB Global Capital Management, LLC (“SCB Global”), an investment partnership that invests in private companies in the healthcare services space and in the specialty coffee space.  Prior to founding SCB Global, Mr. Olsen was a co-founder of First Western Financial (“First Western”), a publicly listed bank holding company that is the parent company of First Western Bank & Trust, a private bank with offices in Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming and California.  Prior to co-founding First Western, Mr. Olsen was the President and Chief Executive Officer of IBJ Whitehall Asset Management and President of Morgan Stanley’s Global Mutual Fund Group.  Mr. Olsen serves on the boards of directors of the Taiwan Fund, Inc., and the Aetos Funds, in addition to several private companies in the SCB Global portfolio.  Mr. Olsen has been active in the community on both a national and local level, having served as Chairman of the Board of Colorado Public Radio and a Member of the Board of Regents of Georgetown University among a number of volunteer positions over the years.  Mr. Olsen is a graduate of Georgetown University and the Villanova University School of Law.

• Elan Schultz

  Elan Schultz

  Elan has more than 25 years of global experience in private equity, real estate and private credit. Over his career, he has invested in start-ups, small and mid-sized companies and multi-billion-dollar enterprises. He has cultivated a deep knowledge of investing in a range of sectors, including but not limited to manufacturing, technology, professional services, multi-unit healthcare and restaurants.

  Elan is the Co-Founder of TriSpan is a private equity firm with offices in New York and London supporting middle market companies. TriSpan is committed to creating value by bringing a combination of deep operational and financial resources to drive strong growth and performance. Has two investment programs:

  Opportunities I & II: ‘buy-and-build’ platform focused on healthcare services, business services and specialty manufacturing. It takes majority stakes in companies within fragmented markets with $5-$20m in EBITDA.

  Rising Stars I: growth equity platform dedicated to the restaurant industry. We have a broad mandate to take primarily majority stakes in companies wishing to accelerate their growth ambitions. We target concepts with 10+ units and $1-$10m in EBITDA.

  Prior to founding TriSpan, Elan helped lead Quilvest as Managing Partner and was integral in the success of its global private equity, real estate and private credit programs. He dedicated a decade of his career to Quilvest and served on its Board of Directors, investment committees and the boards of its US-based private equity investments.

  Prior to Quilvest, Elan was a founding member of SG Capital Partners, a $500 million private equity fund that invested in North America across a wide range of sectors, from venture capital to buyouts, and achieved top decile investment performance for its vintage.

  His career began with Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ), and he was a founding member of DLJ Merchant Banking where he helped establish its thriving private equity business.

  Elan holds a BA with honors from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Stanford Business School.