An independent investment firm started by a pair of Western Michigan University professors is making big strides in its first year of operations.
Doug Lepisto and Derrick McIver — associate professors of management and co-directors of the Center for Principled Leadership and Business Strategy at the Haworth College of Business at WMU — are co-managing partners of Sleeping Giant Capital, a private equity firm they co-founded in August that “operates at the intersection of investment management and executive education,” which the Business Journal first reported on in September.
Sleeping Giant Capital is targeting $50 million with the aim of generating economic, social and educational returns in West Michigan through acquisition of small businesses. The fund will take equity positions in companies generating $3 million to $30 million in revenue and transition a new owner-operator into leadership of the company.
The fund will pursue at least two acquisitions per year, with 80% of acquisitions located in West Michigan, and a portion of the profits from acquired companies will be distributed by Sleeping Giant Capital back to the Haworth College of Business to maintain and expand the Center for Principled Leadership and Business Strategy.
