Trident Announces Appointment of Kevin Obara as Director, Investments

Former Head of Corporate Development at Handshake joins minority and women-led private equity firm investing in U.S. small businesses

NEW YORK, September 22, 2022 – Trident, an institutional asset manager that utilizes proprietary technology and a systematic approach to invest in high potential small businesses across America, today announced that Kevin Obara has joined the Investment Team as Director.

Mr. Obara brings a suite of experience as both an investor and an operator in relevant sectors making him a strong addition to the investment team to source and build the next generation of small businesses while enhancing Trident’s proprietary technology and systematic approach. Mr. Obara joins Trident after more than a decade of experience transforming companies across a variety of sectors.  Most recently, Mr. Obara was the Head of Corporate Development at Handshake, a high growth software company in the human capital and education spaces. In this role, he led M&A, partnerships, strategic investments, and investor relations. Prior to that, Mr. Obara was a Manager of Corporate Development at JUUL Labs, and prior to that a hedge fund Senior Associate at Citadel covering financial services and housing sectors. Prior to Citadel, Mr. Obara worked at the Carlyle Group focusing on growth equity and buyout investments across the major African economies. Prior to that, Mr. Obara sourced and executed growth equity investments across the financial, technology and business services sectors at FTV Capital. Mr. Obara started his career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and holds a BS in Mathematics and Finance from William Paterson University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

“Kevin Obara has been developing his unique skillset of investing and operating lower middle market businesses for over a decade,” said Eric Taylor, CEO of Trident. “And key to Trident’s investment approach is data-driven strategies to sourcing and building the next generation of small businesses, in parallel maintaining optimal portfolio returns, which Kevin will be instrumental in. We look forward to working with Kevin as we invest in the considerably underinvested in small business asset class that represents over $8 trillion of asset value.”

ABOUT TRIDENT
Trident is a private equity firm focused on acquiring US-based small businesses across three core sectors: Industrials, Consumer, and Healthcare. Trident’s comparative advantage is in its systematic approach to sourcing and diligence of small-cap opportunities and the incorporation of proprietary technology to make the investment process scalable and repeatable. Trident’s strategy also encompasses reducing the racial wealth gap through investment in people and opportunities by using a post-transaction playbook that incorporates elements of diversity, equity and inclusion designed to amplify commercial outcomes for our Limited Partners. Trident was founded by Eric Taylor in 2017 and is both black-owned and women-led. For more information, please visit www.trident.co.
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