Team

Patrick Keane – President & Chief Executive Officer

Patrick is an accomplished entrepreneur with a history of translating business vision into success and over 25 years’ experience in sales and marketing and leading manufacturing and distribution operations. Prior to forming Cobalt Capital, Patrick founded and profitably grew the Keanall Group of Companies, a leading North American manufacturer and distributor of after-market gas grill parts and accessories to the recreational and home improvement retail market. Keanall operated three diversified manufacturing facilities in North America and established international sourcing relationships, including procurement and value-add manufacturing, with leading edge suppliers located in North America, Asia and Europe. Keanall was the recipient of numerous vendor awards from many of North America’s leading retailers in recognition of its excellence in overall vendor performance. The Keanall Group was acquired by a large publicly traded North American manufacturer of home products in January 2002 as part of a well planned exit strategy.

With specific expertise in consumer products marketing, supply chain management and mass retail, Patrick is also active as an investor in, board member of, and advisor to other private businesses, including other North American consumer products companies.

 Scott Dunlop – Managing Director

Scott is a senior executive with many years experience in a wide range of business areas, including general management, sales and marketing, corporate development, strategic planning and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Cobalt Capital, Scott was Vice President and General Manager of the Specialty Home Products business of CFM Corporation, a key operating division responsible for all sales, marketing and customer-fulfillment activities relating to the core specialty dealer/distributor selling channel. Prior to this, Scott led and managed all company-wide corporate development activities as Vice President, Corporate Development, with a focus on acquisitions aimed at product line and selling channel extensions, technology acquisition and operational improvement. He also served as Vice President and General Counsel, where he managed a complex portfolio of legal matters, including litigation, securities law and corporate governance matters, product liability management and an extensive array of intellectual property. In these varying roles, Scott was a key participant in the acquisition program that grew this enterprise from a small regional manufacturer with one plant and sales of $30 million to an integrated consumer products company with ten facilities in Canada, the US, Mexico and the UK and sales of over $600 million. Scott began his career as a lawyer at one of Canada’s leading national law firms, where his practice focused extensively on corporate/commercial law, securities law and mergers and acquisitions.

Scott’s diverse experience gives him a unique insight into the business growth process, its key strategic drivers, the systems necessary to achieve and manage this growth, the transaction structures that effectively align stakeholder interests and the operating and legal mechanics of making these ideas reality.

 Brian Van Allen - Director, Investments

Brian is an experienced investor with a strong background in private equity, corporate finance and commercial lending. Prior to joining Cobalt Capital, Brian was a member of the Mezzanine Finance team at one of Canada's oldest private equity firms. In his tenure there, his responsibilities included sourcing, structuring, and negotiating $3-12 million mezzanine and equity investments into mid-market companies. Brian has been a valuable observer on the Board of Directors of numerous companies, providing guidance and insights to their management teams. As part of his role with these investee companies, he worked closely with senior management in various areas including: refinancing senior and subordinated debt with third parties; helping to maximize the long term growth of these businesses through a focus on strategic goals; designing and implementing effective management reporting systems to better gauge key performance indicators; and working with management to review potential strategic acquisitions to help grow these businesses.

Prior to this, Brian was a senior debt lender with a fortune 500 US bank operating out of both their US and Canadian branches. As a Corporate Banking Officer, Brian's responsibilities included structuring, negotiating, and underwriting relationships typically between $5-50 million. While at the bank, Brian worked on transactions involving approximately 30 customers and $500 million in committed facilities.

Brian's contacts in the finance community, coupled with his experience with each layer of a business' capital structure, enable him to work with potential portfolio companies to try and find the optimal financing solution for all stakeholders while ensuring that the business is capitalized in a flexible manner that supports the achievement of long term objectives.

 Brian Hogan - Director & Chief Financial Officer

Brian is a senior financial executive with over twenty years of operating experience accross the consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, distribution and service sectors. Brian has held senior financial positions at a number of companies over the course of his career, including Iovate Health Sciences Inc. (a market leader in sports nutrition and diet products sold under the MuscleTech and Hydroxycut brands), where he was responsible for all financial, IT and human resources functions, CFM Corporation, where he led all operational accounting and financial planning, analysis and reporting matters, Amkor Technology (a global provider of semiconductor assembly and test services), where he oversaw all business-level accounting, planning, analysis and reporting for this company's operations in Japan and the Philippines, Andersen Logistics (the distribution and fulfillment subsidiary of Andersen Windows), where he was responsible for all financial management and financial reporting functions, and Siebe, Inc. (a global engineering and manufacturing business), where held various corporate and business unit financial management roles.

Brian has extensive experience in all matters relating to financial operations in a broad variety of environments, including financial operating process development and improvement, IT system design and implementation, business acquisitions and integration, corporate finance, organizational risk management and strategic development and planning.