WMU-linked fund closes on first $21 million of fund, makes first acquisition
Targeted to be a $50 million buyout fund
Sees opportunity as enticing for executives who want to own a business
Doug Lepisto
An investment fund managed by two Western Michigan University professors, and affiliated with the university s Haworth College of Business, has held a first close of $21 million for what is targeted to be a $50 million buyout fund, and it has also closed on its first acquisition, a manufacturing firm in the Chicago area.
Doug Lepisto, the managing partner of Kalamazoo-based Sleeping Giant Capital LLC, which manages the fund, said that under terms of the sale, details won t be disclosed until the CEO updates employees and customers. He said that he would like eventually to move the company to western Michigan and that a replacement CEO has been selected.
GARDNER An original Norman Rockwell painting that hung for years outside the principal’s office in Gardner High School continues to be the gift that keeps on giving.
Members of the Williams-Rockwell Educational Gift Fund Committee met on March 1 to distribute this year’s round of grants to applicants from the Gardner Public Schools system.
The committee distributed more than $190,000 for 16 various projects, which will take place over the remainder of the year and beyond.
The fund, which was established in 2015, stipulates that any grant funding must be split evenly between arts and general educational purposes.
The largest amount awarded from the fund this year went to Gardner High School Band Director Doug Lepisto, who received $100,000 for renovations to the school’s Landry Auditorium.