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Overview

Edward H. Ross
B. Bragg Comer, III
Thomas C. Lauer
Michael J. Miller
Paul E. Tierney, Jr.
Paul R. Charron
W. Andrew Worth
Cary L. Schaefer
 
Associates and Analysts

Edward H. Ross, Managing Partner
Prior to co-founding Fidus Capital, Mr. Ross was a managing director and the head of the Chicago office for Allied Capital Corporation, a publicly traded business development company with approximately $4.5 billion in assets focused on making debt and equity investments in middle market companies. Mr. Ross has over 15 years of alternative asset investing experience with middle market companies. Most recently, Mr. Ross was responsible for all investing activities of Allied's Chicago office and a member of Allied's Private Finance Investment Committee. Prior to joining Allied, Mr. Ross was with Wachovia Securities. Mr. Ross co-founded Leveraged Capital, the merchant banking arm of Wachovia's investment bank. Mr. Ross earned a bachelor of arts from Southern Methodist University and a master of business administration from the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business.

Phone: (847) 859-3941
Email: eross@fiduspartners.com

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B. Bragg Comer, III, Managing Partner
Prior to co-founding Fidus Capital, Mr. Comer was with Wachovia Securities. Mr. Comer has over 17 years of broad leveraged finance experience, including senior debt, mezzanine debt, and bridge loans. Most recently, Mr. Comer was a managing director within Wachovia's Leveraged Finance group, focused on origination, execution and distribution of leveraged transactions from $150 million to over $1.0 billion within several defined industries including industrial growth, information technology and business services, and energy and power. Prior to this, Mr. Comer was one of four senior partners in Wachovia's Leveraged Capital Group, the merchant banking arm of Wachovia's Investment Bank. Mr. Comer began his career with JPMorgan's Leveraged Finance Group in New York. Mr. Comer earned a bachelor of arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master of business administration from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

Phone: (704) 334-2331
Email: bcomer@fiduspartners.com

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Thomas C. Lauer, Managing Partner
Prior to forming Fidus Investors, Mr. Lauer was a managing director of Allied Capital Corporation, where he was a member of the firm’s Management Committee, Private Finance Investment Committee and Senior Debt Fund Investment Committee. Mr. Lauer has more than 15 years of experience investing debt and equity capital in middle and lower-middle market companies. Mr. Lauer has served on the boards of several national franchise companies and has developed particular expertise working within the healthcare, business services and franchising industries. Prior to joining Allied, Mr. Lauer worked with GE Capital’s Global Sponsor Finance Group, the Leveraged Capital Group at Wachovia Securities, and the Platform Components Division of Intel Corporation. Mr. Lauer earned a bachelor of business administration and master of business administration from the University of Notre Dame.

Phone: (212) 750-6697
Email: tlauer@fiduspartners.com

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Michael J. Miller, Managing Director – Business Development
Prior to joining Fidus, Mr. Miller was managing director and head of business development for Allied Capital Corporation where he worked for five years until the company was sold. While at Allied, Mr. Miller was responsible for managing the origination activities for the firm including coverage of financial sponsors, intermediaries and entrepreneurs of middle market companies. Prior to joining Allied Capital, Mr. Miller spent more than 16 years with JPMorgan Chase and its predecessors where he worked in their middle market leveraged finance, asset based and corporate lending groups. Mr. Miller earned his bachelor of science in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University and his master of business administration from The Stern School at New York University.

Phone: (212) 750-6446
Email: mmiller@fiduspartners.com

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Paul E. Tierney, Jr., Chairman, Managing Partner
Mr. Tierney is a leader in the investment world with over 30 years of experience. He has proven his investment skill in a variety of partnerships, all of which he has founded or co-founded, grown and liquidated. In 1978, Mr. Tierney was a founding principal of Gollust, Tierney and Oliver ("GTO"), the general partner for Coniston Partners and other investment entities. From 1996 through 1999, Mr. Tierney was a managing member of the general partner of Corporate Value Partners, L.P. In 1999, Mr. Tierney was a founding principal of Darwin Capital Partners, L.P. Mr. Tierney is currently a senior principal of Aperture Venture Partners, LLC, a firm that primarily manages two venture capital funds that focus on investing in early-stage healthcare and healthy living businesses. Mr. Tierney currently serves on the boards of directors of Liz Claiborne, Inc., Earth Color, Inc., Nina McLemore, Inc., Altea Therapeutics, Prosperity Voskhod Fund and The Protective Group, Inc. Mr. Tierney also serves on the Advisory Board of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and as Chairman of the Foreign Policy School (SIPA) of Columbia University and Chairman of TechnoServe, Inc., a not-for-profit economic development company serving Africa and Latin America. He is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School, teaching a course on private equity. Mr. Tierney earned a bachelor of arts at the University of Notre Dame and a master of business administration as a Baker Scholar from Harvard Business School.

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Paul R. Charron, Operating Partner
Mr. Charron was recently named chairman-elect of the board of Campbell Soup Company and currently serves as a senior advisor at Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm, where he focuses on investment activities in the consumer and retail industries. He was chairman and chief executive officer of Liz Claiborne Inc. from 1996 until his retirement in 2006. He joined Liz Claiborne in 1994 as vice chairman and chief operating officer, becoming president in 1995 and chairman of the board in 1996. Prior to joining Liz Claiborne, Mr. Charron served as executive vice president of VF Corporation, the largest publicly-held apparel manufacturer in the United States. Prior to joining VF in 1988, Mr. Charron served in various executive capacities at Brown & Bigelow, Inc., Cannon Mills Company, General Foods Corporation and The Procter & Gamble Company. Mr. Charron earned a bachelor of arts from the University of Notre Dame and a master of business administration from Harvard Business School.

Phone: (212) 750-6686
Email: pcharron@fiduspartners.com

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W. Andrew Worth, Principal
Prior to joining Fidus Capital, Mr. Worth was a principal with Allied Capital, a publicly traded business development company with approximately $4.5 billion in assets focused on investing debt and equity capital in middle market companies. At Allied, Mr. Worth was responsible for all aspects of the investment process including origination, execution and portfolio management. Prior to joining Allied, Mr. Worth was an associate in Credit Suisse First Boston's Global Industrials and Services investment banking practice and an analyst in First Union's Leveraged Finance Group. Mr. Worth earned a bachelor of arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master of business administration from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Phone: (847) 859-3943
Email: aworth@fiduspartners.com

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Cary L. Schaefer, Vice President
Prior to joining Fidus Capital in 2006, Ms. Schaefer was an associate in Investment Banking at Credit Suisse First Boston, based in Chicago. There she was in the Global Industrial & Services Group and executed advisory, debt and equity transactions in the business services, education, transportation and manufacturing industries. Prior to Credit Suisse, Cary was an associate at Wachovia Securities (originally First Union Securities, Inc.), where she worked in the Leveraged Capital Group, the merchant banking arm of Wachovia’s Investment Bank. Ms. Schaefer earned a bachelor of science in analytical finance from Wake Forest University and a master of business administration with honors from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Phone: (847) 859-3942
Email: cschaefer@fiduspartners.com

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