Tilton Builds Patriarch Partners Into Middle Market Force

Earlier this month, Forbes came out with its list of top 100 most powerful women and I was shocked that no female PE exec made the list. Now, I may have a contender.

Lynn Tilton has built Patriarch Partners into a force in middle market distressed investing, according to TheDeal.com. Tilton is CEO and sole principal of the firm, which manages around $7 billion of equity and secured loan assets. The firm has control positions in more than two-thirds of its 74 portfolio companies.

Recently, Patriarch made it to the final rounds of the auction for Newsweek but eventually lost to Sidney Harman.

Tilton says in the story she has personal wealth to make it onto the Forbes 400, but “chooses not to go through the process.” The Forbes 400 isn’t the same as the magazine’s Top 100 list mainly because it includes men and many on the ranking are more wealthy. So if Tilton’s claim is true, kudos to her.