Lane to Join Friedman Fleischer & Lowe as an Operating Partner

Jeffrey Lane will join Friedman Fleischer & Lowe as an operating partner. He was most recently a SVP and GM of packaging at Boise. Lane Will join FFL on Aug. 15.

PRESS RELEASE

Friedman Fleischer & Lowe (FFL), a private equity firm focused on growth investments in middle market companies, today announced a further expansion of the firm’s operating team with the appointment of Jeffrey P. Lane as an Operating Partner.
Lane will join FFL on August 15, 2011, from Boise Inc. (NYSE: BZ), where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager, Packaging with responsibility for managing a $1.0 billion business unit and for leading a variety of growth and performance improvement initiatives that had a significant impact on profitability amidst a challenging economy. Among the strategic initiatives Lane focused on at Boise were pricing and channel strategies, enhancing product mix, and implementing manufacturing quality and efficiency improvements. He also led the acquisition and integration of a $300 million manufacturing business.
“Jeff is a seasoned executive with tremendous experience identifying areas for growth and operational improvement, as well as successfully building companies through acquisition, integration, and implementing needed change,” said Spencer Fleischer, President of FFL. “He brings very broad experience across both industry sectors and functional areas. We are fortunate to add Jeff to our experienced operating team, and confident he will deliver enormous value to our portfolio.” Last month, FFL announced that Richard H. (Rick) Lenny, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Hershey Company, had joined the firm as an Operating Partner.
Prior to Boise, Lane was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he led growth and performance enhancement programs at several global companies that addressed marketing and sales, operations, organization and strategy. He previously held senior executive positions as President of Microcoating Technologies and as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Westinghouse Security Systems. Lane also served in a variety of brand management positions at Procter & Gamble earlier in his career, and held profit/loss responsibility for a $1 billion consumer business.
“I believe this is a great opportunity to apply the skills I developed working with large, global enterprises to mid-size companies, and to help them really accelerate growth and improve performance,” said Lane. “I am pleased to join the team at FFL, which has built an excellent reputation for driving growth and operational improvement in partnership with the management of their portfolio companies.”
Lane earned a Master’s in Management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and he holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Georgia Tech.
About FFL
Friedman Fleischer & Lowe, LLC (FFL) is a San Francisco-based private equity firm with approximately $2.5 billion under management that is focused on investing in U.S. middle-market companies. Formed in 1997, FFL’s strategy is to invest in market-leading companies that generate high returns on invested capital and that have strong, defensible competitive positions, attractive growth prospects and outstanding management. Representative investments include: Tempur-Pedic International, Milestone AV Technologies, Korn/Ferry International and GeoVera Insurance Group. For more information on FFL, visit www.fflpartners.com.