Management Team

Highly Successful Investment Professionals With
Complementary Consumer/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 (Managing Partner) has over 25 years of experience in the consumer and retail industry. For 15 years, he was one of Wall Street’s leading equity research analysts focusing on specialty retailing at Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs, and Sanford C. Bernstein. Richard was a top ranked retail analyst in Institutional Investor and Greenwich Associates polls for 12 years.

Richard has led nine initial public offerings and six secondary offerings for companies such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Cabela's, Gymboree, Life Time Fitness, Talbots and Yankee Candle. All these IPOs continue to be successful companies. Previously, Richard had retail operating experience as a merchant at Bloomingdale's and strategic planning experience as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group.

Richard earned a BS in Economics from the University of Michigan where he graduated Magna Cum Laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors. Richard also earned a JD degree from Harvard Law School.
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Bill Reisler (Managing Partner) has over 20 years of experience in private equity and venture capital. He is a founder of Kansas City Equity Partners (KCEP), which with affiliates, now manages over $1.7 billion in assets. He was the lead investor for the KCEP consumer portfolio. He has served as Chairman of the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies, which at the time represented over $12 billion in investment capital. Previously, he worked in new product development at Hallmark Cards and strategic planning at Sprint Corporation. Bill is a director of Build-A-Bear Workshop (NYSE:BBW) and serves as a director of the Harry S. Truman Library Institute.

Bill earned a BS in Economics from the University of Illinois where he graduated with Honors in Commerce and Distinction in Economics. Bill earned a MBA in Entrepreneurship from the University of Southern California where he was named outstanding graduate student of the year.
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Jeff Teeven (Partner) has over 13 years of experience in private equity and corporate finance. He joined Kansas City Equity Partners (KCEP) in 1997 with a focus on investments in the consumer sector. Previously, he served as a Senior Consultant for KPMG Peat Marwick's Corporate Transactions Group in Boston where he performed corporate finance and valuation advisory engagements for private and public clients.

Jeff earned a BS in Finance from the Boston College Carroll School of Management. Jeff earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business with a concentration in Corporate Strategy and Marketing Management.
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