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Jay
Kern is a founder and General Partner of Kern Whelan Capital, LLC.
Prior
to founding Kern Whelan, Jay spent over a decade building a successful
track record in private equity investing as Managing Director of Reynolds,
DeWitt & Co. in Cincinnati, where he led all acquisitions and venture
financings. Among Reynolds, DeWitt’s more notable holdings are the St.
Louis Cardinals, acquired in 1996 from Anheuser Busch by a group led by
Bill DeWitt, Co-Chairman of Reynolds, DeWitt, and Reynolds Plantation, a
10,000 acre golfing community and resort developed by Mercer Reynolds, also
Co-Chairman. During his time sourcing, structuring and financing investment
transactions while at Reynolds, DeWitt, Jay served
as Chairman of the Board of Tech Lighting from 1998 to 2004 and led the
firm’s equity investment in and purchase of this Chicago based manufacturer of
architectural lighting systems. The Tech sale provided a net return of over
twenty times invested capital. Jay’s early stage investment in Provider
Synergies, a pharmaceutical services business sold in early 2006, led to a
net return of over twenty five times invested capital.
Prior
to joining Reynolds, DeWitt in 1997, Jay was with McKinsey & Company as
a management consultant to manufacturing and financial services firms.
Jay serves or has served on the boards of numerous
portfolio companies, among them, Pallet Logistics of America, a
manufacturer and distributor of pallets; Cohera
Medical, a medical device company located in Pittsburgh, PA; Dixon Midland,
a $50 million fund for leveraged acquisitions; Pro Service Hawaii, a $140
million professional employment organization; Arcadia Communications, a
developer of and owner of cellular communications towers; Shopatron, Inc.,
an ecommerce solutions provider; The Sundberg
Company, a distributor of replacement parts for household appliances; and
Tab Products, an $88 million manufacturer of document management systems. Jay
was also a member of the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Services and
Financial Industries, which is administered jointly by the US Department of
Commerce and the US Trade Representative.
Jay serves on the board of the Bay Area Discovery
Museum and as Vice President of the Ross School Foundation. Among Jay’s many charitable involvements
in Cincinnati, he served as a Trustee of the Cincinnati Symphony, Trustee
and development Chair of the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, Trustee
and Treasurer of The Taft Museum, and Trustee of the Visiting Nurse
Association. Jay serves as President of his class at Phillips Exeter
Academy and chaired his 25th reunion giving campaign.
Jay received a JD and MBA with Honors from the
University of Chicago and his BA cum laude from Princeton University. He
lives with his wife and three young children in Marin. Jay enjoys golf and many
other outdoor sports, classical music and fine arts.
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