About Us - Leadership

Board of Directors

Frank J. Hawley

Chairman of the Board

Mr. Hawley began his venture capital career in 1974 as a general Partner of Foster management Company, where he managed both a venture capital and buyout fund. Prior to Foster Management, Mr. Hawley was Executive Vice president of Laidlaw-Coggeshall Inc.. where he was responsible for corporate finance and venture capital activities. Formerly, he was associated with Lazard Freres, Eaton & Howard, Inc., and Stein, Roe & Farnham. Mr. Hawley founded Saugatuck Associates in 1982.

Mr. Hawley is the Chairman of Waterloo, and serves as a Director of Floor & Decor, and The Tharpe Company.

He Graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina with a B.S. degree in Physics and received an M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

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Kelly Thompson

Director

Stuart Hawley

Director

Stuart W. Hawley joined Saugatuck as a Partner in 1999. Mr. Hawley is the Chairman of MedScan, Inc. and PPI/Time Zero, Inc., and serves as a Director of Power Plus and TradeSource. Prior to joining Saugatuck, Mr. Hawley spent six years with Prudential Securities, most recently as a Vice President in the Health Care Investment Banking Group. While at Prudential Securities, he executed a wide range of transactions for emerging growth companies primarily within the health care industry, including public equity offerings; private debt and equity placements; mergers and acquisitions; and strategic advisory. Mr. Hawley has developed extensive financing and advisory experience across multiple health care sectors with a focus on service-oriented businesses. Mr. Hawley was with Fidelity Investments three years prior to entering graduate school.

Mr. Hawley graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School.

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Barry McGowan

President and Chief Executive Officer
Barry McGowan, a 22 year restaurant veteran with a reputation for operational excellence is the founder, president and chief executive officer of Waterloo Restaurant Ventures, Inc. As a results-oriented leader, Mr. McGowan has led Waterloo in the acquisition and strategic development of the Romano's Macaroni Grill brand in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California. In this role, he redesigned and evolved a flexible and competitive economic model allowing Romano's Macaroni Grill to successfully compete in urban and non prototypical environments in the casual dining industry.

Prior to founding Waterloo, Mr. McGowan lived in the United Kingdom and worked for Restaurant House UK as vice president of operations where he developed a new business model for the Brinker International concepts in the European market. In November of 1999, Mr. McGowan led a management buy-out team and founded Casual Dining Limited. This transaction combined Romano's Macaroni Grill and Chili's Grill & Bar concepts into one focused company. Under his leadership, the company continued to grow in sales and profitability and is currently Brinker International's strategic partner for Europe.

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Paul Acker

Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary
Paul Acker is the chief financial officer and co-founder of Waterloo Restaurant Ventures, Inc. Paul is responsible for all finance, accounting and administration functions. In this role, he leads strategic planning, finance, controllership, reporting and analysis. In addition, Paul directs the payroll and benefits for the 1,000 team members employed at Waterloo's Romano's Macaroni Grill restaurants.

Before joining Waterloo, Paul served as treasurer, director of financial planning and analysis, and assistant controller at Ez2get, Inc., a nationwide restaurant catering and meal-delivery service. From 1994 to 2000, Paul worked for Citigroup's credit card division (formerly Associates First Capital) as vice president of financial planning and accounting control. His responsibilities included business planning, financial analysis and accounting control for the British Petroleum, Amoco and Citgo oil private-label credit card programs totaling more than $1 billion in receivables.

A scholarship graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor of arts degree in 1988, Paul also earned a master’s degree in business administration in finance from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University in 1994. After receiving his bachelor’s degree, Paul served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy.

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Executive Leadership Team

Barry McGowan

President and Chief Executive Officer

Paul Acker

Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary

 


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