Firm
Swaney Group Capital is an operator-led investment firm in the lower middle market. We take control of manufacturing and industrial-services companies, put the Swaney Group Operating System to work inside them, and build businesses that are worth keeping.
Veteran-owned and operator-led. Everyone on the leadership team ran real operations under real pressure before they ever sat on this side of a deal.
Managing Partner & Founder
Paul founded Swaney Group Capital in 2022 after two decades running industrial operations followed by McKinsey’s manufacturing practice and seven years as an operating partner at a $150B global private markets firm.
He started out qualifying as an Electrician’s Mate on Navy nuclear submarines, and today he leads the investment committee, operates as the partner on every SGOS deployment, and stays accountable for each business from close to exit.
Chief Operating Officer & Partner
Bo runs the transformation work on the ground — building the management systems, developing frontline leaders, and holding the daily cadence that turns a plan into results inside every company we own.
He came up through US Army Special Forces and the Marine Corps before moving into PE transformation work, and brings the same standard to a plant floor: clear accountability and no gap between what gets said and what gets done.
Investment & Acquisitions Director, Head of Technology
Ben leads deal execution and technology, running the acquisition pipeline and diligence up front and owning the data and systems build-out once a business is ours.
His background is on the investment side, and he’s focused on making technology a lasting operating advantage rather than a line item.
Senior Advisor
Ted works with Swaney Group and its portfolio companies to accelerate growth through commercial strategy, organizational leadership, and hands-on operating execution.
He began his career at Bain & Company before joining DLJ, working on private equity acquisitions and portfolio value creation. Over two decades since, he has led sales, marketing, strategy, and business development across healthcare, technology, and consumer businesses as an operating executive, board director, and advisor.
Executive Assistant to the Managing Partner
Ivonne supports the Managing Partner and the firm’s operations, ensuring priorities stay on track and nothing falls through the cracks. She manages the calendar, coordinates across deal execution and portfolio operations, and helps keep things moving as the team grows.
She brings over a decade of experience across the United Nations, international NGOs, and international private sector companies, with expertise in operations, project management, and executive support in environments where precision and discretion were always non-negotiable.
Chief of Staff
Sebastian supports Swaney Group and its portfolio companies across project execution, operating cadence, process improvement, and PMO build-out, helping turn priorities into clear actions and follow-through.
He brings experience in manufacturing, project management, and entrepreneurship, with a background in Chemical Engineering, Lean Manufacturing, KPI management, and cross-functional execution. Before joining Swaney Group, he held production and PMO roles at AB InBev and TekniPlex.
Communications & External Relations Lead
Teresa leads communications and external relations for Paul, combining storytelling, production, strategic communications, brand positioning, and relationship building to strengthen his public platform and businesses.
She brings experience across film, television, journalism, digital strategy, and external relations, producing audiovisual projects from concept through post-production and distribution across Quito, LATAM, and Los Angeles, with work spanning private-sector, nonprofit, and international development initiatives.
We acquire controlling stakes in U.S. manufacturing and industrial-services companies. Real products, real machines, real people on a floor somewhere making something.
Most of these businesses don’t have a capital problem. They have an operating problem that capital alone won’t fix. We buy where operational control can change the trajectory, then we do the work to change it.
and the lower middle market is full of industrial companies that were built by founders and never had a second act planned for them.
Those businesses don’t fail for lack of money. They drift because no one with the authority to fix things is close enough to the work to see what’s actually wrong. A wire transfer doesn’t speed up a production line. An operator who knows how the line runs does.
That’s the gap we buy into. We look for industrial businesses where getting operations right is the difference between a slow decline and a step change, take control, and run them the way they should have been run all along.
SGOS is how we run what we own. Paul built it over two decades inside factories, not in a spreadsheet, and it travels with us into every company we acquire.
The point is throughput. We’ve raised line capacity without buying a single new machine, because most of what holds a plant back is process and behavior, not the steel running in the place.
Leadership behaviors
Technical system
Organizational Culture
Competitive Capabilities
Management Processes
Operational Excellence
Paul takes a board seat and serves as the operating partner on every deal, accountable for results from the day we close to the day we exit.
We also don’t buy companies to strip them for parts. When operations get fixed, jobs get protected and the business turns into something that can be handed to the next generation of operators instead of sold off in pieces. We’ve done restructuring when a balance sheet forced it, but layoffs have never been the plan walking in the door.
That’s the version of private equity we want our name on.
We bring capital, operators, and a system that’s proven inside industrial businesses. If the fit is right, we move fast.
You built something worth growing and you’re thinking about what comes next, whether that’s a full exit, a partner to help you scale, or a way to step back without handing your life’s work to someone who’ll gut it.
Full exit · Partial exit · Planned transition
I operate my companies myself. But no one transforms a business alone, so I surround every deal with proven operators: executives who’ve run plants, companies, and P&Ls. They join me as senior industry advisers and board members. If you’ve spent a career running things and want skin in the game, I want to know you.
Advisory roles · Board seats · Full-time operating roles
I build and revitalize industrial companies and report on them plainly. Wherever you sit in the stack, high-net-worth individual, family office, institution, or lender, you get a transparent partnership and a firm that earns its returns on the floor, not on the cap table.
HNW individuals · Family offices · Institutions · Lenders
I sit in the same seat you do. If you’re an independent sponsor or searcher with an industrial deal, bring it early. I’ll co-sponsor or co-underwrite what fits, and when it doesn’t fit I’ll tell you fast and tell you why.
Bring a deal · Bring a thesis · Bring a problem
