Management Team
Highly Successful Investment Professionals With Complementary Consumer Products/Retail Investment Skills
The team has extensive expertise in strategy, finance, operations, merchandising, marketing and competitive analysis. In addition, the team has decades of experience in due diligence, negotiating and structuring investments and benchmarking.
Richard Baum is a founding partner of Consumer Growth Partners. Prior to founding CGP, he spent over 15 years as one of Wall Street’s leading equity research analysts covering the specialty retailing sector at Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs and Sanford C. Bernstein. He was consistently ranked at the top of the annual Institutional Investor and Greenwich Associates polls for most of his years on Wall Street. Mr. Baum led nine initial public offerings and six secondary offerings for many retailers including Abercrombie & Fitch, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Cabela’s, Gymboree, Life Time Fitness, Talbots, Urban Outfitters, Yankee Candle Company and Zale Corporation.
Previously, Mr. Baum spent six years in the merchandising organization at Bloomingdale’s. He also served as the Director of Strategic Planning for the predecessor company of Musicland and began his career as a consultant with The Boston Consulting Group. Mr. Baum serves as a Board Observer at Shoe Sensation Inc. and an Executive Committee Member of Peruvian Connection, Inc. Mr. Baum earned a BS degree in economics from the University of Michigan where he graduated magna cum laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors. He also earned a JD degree from Harvard Law School.
Bill Reisler is a founding partner of Consumer Growth Partners. He has over 25 years of experience in private equity and venture capital. He was a co-founder of Kansas City Equity Partners (KCEP) which, with affiliates, grew to over $3 billion in assets. While serving as Managing Partner of KCEP, he served as Chairman of the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies, which is one of two major venture capital trade associations. Previously, he worked in new product development at Hallmark Cards and strategic planning at Sprint Corporation.
Mr. Reisler is a Director of Build-A-Bear Workshop (NYSE:BBW) and serves as a member of both the Audit and Compensation Committees. He also serves as a Director of four private companies, B Cellars, Baskins, Three Dog Bakery and Wild Things Gear, and serves as an Executive Committee Member of Peruvian Connection, Inc. Within the civic community he currently serves as President of the Board of Directors of the Kansas City Arts Incubator.
Mr. Reisler earned a BS in Economics from the University of Illinois where he graduated with Honors in Commerce and Distinction in Economics. He earned an MBA in Entrepreneurship from the University of Southern California where he was named outstanding graduate student of the year.
Jeff Teeven is a founding partner of Consumer Growth Partners. Prior to founding CGP, he spent 9 years at Kansas City Equity Partners (KCEP), a $125 million private equity fund focused on investments in the specialty retail/consumer, energy and services sectors. During his tenure at KCEP, Mr. Teeven co-led the investments in the specialty retail/consumer sectors.
Previously, Mr. Teeven spent five years as a senior consultant with KPMG in the Corporate Transaction Services Group. In this role, he focused on multiple buy-side and sell-side engagements for his clients with a focus on valuation and transaction structuring.
Mr. Teeven earned a BS in Finance from the Boston College Carroll School of Management. He also earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business with a concentration in Corporate Strategy and Marketing Management.