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By: Bailey McCann, Private Equity Strategies

Last week, Small Business Investor Alliance (SBIA), the leading association for lower middle market private equity funds and investors, held it’s National Summit for Middle Market Funds in Palm Beach, Florida. At the summit, the organization chose its officers and board of directors for the next year.

Charles McCusker, managing partner of Patriot Capital, was named Chairman of the Board. Carolyn Galiette, senior managing director of Ironwood Capital, joined the officers as Treasurer. Faraz Abbasi, a partner at Centerfield Capital Partners, was named Middle Market Committee Chair; Tom Aronson, principal of Monroe Capital Partners, was named BDC Committee Chair. Arjun Gupta, Founder of TeleSoft Partners, as Venture Capital Committee Chair; Steve Hobman, partner of NewSpring Mezzanine Capital, as SBIC Committee Chair; and Tim Rafalovich, vice president of Wells Fargo Bank, as Limited Partner Chair.

The SBIA also named the following new regional presidents: Curtis Hartman, senior managing director of Main Street Capital Corporation, as Southern Regional President; Thomas Affolter, an Investment Professional at Victory Park, as Midwest Regional President; Walter Beinecke, a partner at Brooks Venture Partners, as Northeast Regional President; and Jeffrey Holland, partner at Seacoast Capital, as Western Regional President.

Doug England with The Riverside Company, and Trevoir Gregg with RLJ Equity Partners, Tom Danis with RCP Advisors, and Michael Painter with Plexus Capital have also joined the board.

Private Equity Strategies first spoke with Monroe Capital Partners in 2012 for our inaugural issue, since then the company has grown its assets to $1.5 billion - a 100% increase in the last year. The firm is expected to complete $450 million in new financings over the next 75 days. We spoke with Riverside Company for the Dealmakers Q&A in our March issue.

At the same summit, the SBIA announced that Ashbrook Simon-Hartley (Ashbrook), a portfolio company of SBIA member firm Blue Sage Capital, and a provider of water and waste-water treatment solutions, has won its Portfolio Company of the Year Award. Ashbrook is based in an economically disadvantaged area of Houston, where it hires local employees. Ashbrook has additional offices and service hubs in the United States, the United Kingdom and Chile. From the time of Blue Sage’s investment in Ashbrook in 2005, to its exit in 2012, the company grew its workforce by 48%, from 160 to 237 employees.