Yellow Wood recruits Kirk as operating partner

Yellow Wood Partners has named Scott Kirk as an operating partner. Previously, Kirk was chief financial officer and chief operating officer of High Ridge Brands Co.

PRESS RELEASE

BOSTON, September 25, 2018 – Yellow Wood Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm focused on investing in consumer brands and companies, today announced the appointment of Scott Kirk, a senior executive with private equity and multinational corporate experience, as an Operating Partner.

Dana Schmaltz, Founding Partner of Yellow Wood Partners, said, “We are extremely proud of the team and talent that we’ve developed at Yellow Wood over the last eight years. With the continued growth of our portfolio and investment activities, we continue to strive to develop the best operational, strategic, managerial, and financial functions that support our investments. We have known Scott for some time and have always been impressed with the success that he has experienced with the various businesses with which he has been associated. Scott’s diverse and complementary experiences will support our operations as well as our portfolio company management teams to build bigger and more valuable businesses through increased scale and growth. We look forward to working with him full time to help continue to provide strong returns to our investors.”

Prior to joining Yellow Wood, Mr. Kirk was Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of High Ridge Brands Co., which he started in 2011. Prior to his experience with High Ridge, he was Executive Vice President of E.J. Brooks Company, the world’s largest provider of tamper evident seals and locking devices. He was also Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Utrecht Art Supplies.

Mr. Kirk began his career in private equity when he started Lincoln Snacks Company which was a carve-out of brands from Sandoz / Novartis. Prior to his private equity sponsored career, Mr. Kirk held various financial positions at three large multinationals: Nestle, Continental Grain Company and Amstar Corporation. He is a graduate of Villanova University.

Mr. Kirk increases to six the number of Yellow Wood’s team of senior Operating Partners who utilize their expansive consumer products experience to develop strong partnerships with management teams that maximizes strategic value creation.

Yellow Wood’s most recent acquisition was Paris Presents, Inc., a rapidly growing provider of branded cosmetic and bath accessories, which it merged it with Yellow Wood’s current portfolio company Freeman Beauty.

About Yellow Wood Partners
Yellow Wood Partners is a Boston-based private investment firm that invests exclusively in the consumer industry in the middle market. The firm seeks to acquire branded consumer products that sell into a variety of consumer channels, including mass, drug, food, specialty, value, club and e-commerce. Yellow Wood’s investment and operating strategy is based on utilizing the firm’s functional operating resources to help maximize brand performance by driving organic growth and increasing operating efficiencies while acquiring additional brands into a limited number of platform companies in its concentrated investment portfolio. For more information, please visit www.yellowwoodpartners.com.