Jeff Case joined Advent in 2001 and is a Managing Director in Boston. He advises on investments in the consumer sector. Jeff originally joined Advent as an Associate focusing on buyout and growth equity investments. Following business school, he rejoined Advent to specialize in investments in the consumer and retail sectors. Jeff also has private equity experience in the business services, healthcare, software, and technology sectors. He has advised on 18 investments while at Advent.
Earlier in his career, Jeff worked at Bowles Hollowell Conner/First Union, a leading middle market M&A investment bank. Prior to joining to Advent, he also specialized in transaction execution in the corporate development group of Danaher Corp.
Jeff received a BA in Economics from Davidson College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
What career advice would you give to a new associate joining Advent?
Execute your day job well while taking time to think about what we’re trying to achieve as a team and as a firm. To be successful in private equity, you need to evolve your skill set from one of strong analytical rigor and competency to one where you’re able to navigate complex relationships. No matter your role or title, make yourself uncomfortable – that’s the best way to develop and to learn about yourself. Finally, share your ideas!
How do you identify interesting companies in your sector of focus?
For us in the consumer space, it’s all about where and how people spend their time and resources. We’re constantly looking for the opportunity to help create household brands. Finding that potential requires using the pattern recognition we’ve developed over 40 years to detect the market opportunities, and to see something inherent in a brand that’s special or unique.
“We can now accelerate the potential of businesses in ways we weren’t able to 20 years ago.”
Jeff Case
Managing Director, Advent
How do you partner with management teams to achieve your shared goals?
The foundation to our partnerships is always trust and alignment. We want healthy debate that leads to sound strategic decision-making and once a path has been chosen, we embrace it with our full support and capabilities. I’m also a big believer in ‘doubling down’ on what’s working well. A great example of that was Sovos Brands. We saw the Rao’s brand responding extremely well to the marketing and innovation investments from the Sovos team, and we quickly reallocated focus to further lean into these initiatives. More tactically, we can bring in Advent-developed or outside resources to accelerate the potential of businesses in ways we weren’t able to 20 years ago – artificial intelligence, salesforce effectiveness, pricing optimization, supply chain efficiency, etc.
Since you joined Advent, what has changed most in the industry?
In the early years of my career, the economic environment enabled a lot of private equity firms to be successful simply with good asset selection. Over the past 10 or 15 years, the amount of capital flowing into the industry and more volatile macro conditions have required private equity firms to differentiate themselves by how well they can impact the growth of their portfolio companies. It’s why the capabilities we’ve developed at Advent are really an advantage for us and our partners.
Did you always foresee yourself entering a career in private equity?
Since I didn’t know what private equity was until my senior year in college, the answer would have to be ‘no’. As a kid, I wanted to be a professional baseball player, but a career in investing has been an amazing back-up plan! I was an economics major in college and I really enjoyed the different thought processes around how different market environments impacted various parts of the economy. That led me to think much more about how companies could navigate these conditions, which is a foundational element of investing. That led me to enter this world.
