Frank Capella

Founding Partner

Frank, in addition to being a member of the Investment Committee for all Oxer Funds, is responsible for marketing, originating, structuring, and managing mezzanine investments. He has more than 35 years of experience in lower middle-market mezzanine investing and commercial banking experience.

Prior to founding Oxer, he was a Senior Vice President at The Huntington Capital Investment Company where he was responsible for originating, structuring, and managing nearly $150 million in over 30 mezzanine investments and served 3 years on the investment committee. Frank’s extensive banking experience includes leading and developing commercial banking teams.

Frank has served on the boards of several private companies, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology and a MBA from the Max M. Fisher College of Business from The Ohio State University.

Daniel D. Phlegar

Founding Partner

Dan, in addition to being a member of the Investment Committee for all Oxer Funds, is responsible for fund operations as well as marketing, originating, structuring, and managing mezzanine investments. He has over 15 years of experience in middle-market direct investing and advisory experience.

Prior to founding Oxer, he provided corporate finance advisory services and investments with Aegis Advisors and worked in the Treasury and M&A department at Limited. He began his career at Banc One Capital and Stonehenge Partners where he was responsible for evaluating, structuring, and managing mezzanine and equity investments.

Dan has served on the boards of private companies, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from The Ohio State University and an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth Graduate School of Business.

Michael O’Brien

Partner

Mike, in addition to being a member of the Investment Committee for all Oxer Funds, is responsible for marketing, originating, structuring, due diligence, research and managing mezzanine investments. He has more than 20 years of experience in lower middle-market mezzanine investing and commercial banking.

Prior to joining Oxer, he was Senior Vice President at The Huntington Capital Investment Company where he participated in the origination, structuring, due diligence, financial analysis, and management of over $120 million of mezzanine debt and equity investments. Mike’s commercial banking experience includes relationship management, portfolio management and credit analysis.

Mike has served on the advisory boards of several private companies, holds an undergraduate degree from the College of Business at Ohio University and an MBA from the Max M. Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University.

Blake Sousa

Managing Director

Blake is responsible for investment originations and portfolio management responsibilities.

Prior to joining Oxer, Blake was a Managing Director at Huntington Capital Investment Company (HCIC) in Columbus, Ohio where he was responsible for sourcing, structuring, executing, and managing direct investment opportunities in debt and equity securities to lower middle market companies. In addition, Mr. Sousa established an SBIC fund investment program where he evaluated, invested, and managed Huntington National Bank’s SBIC fund portfolio and investment manager relationships.

Blake received his undergraduate degree from Ohio University with a BSBA with specialization in Finance and a minor in Spanish. He achieved the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation awarded by the CFA Institute in 2012 following a four-year course of self-study.

Derek Snyder

Vice President

Derek is responsible for portfolio and portfolio company management as well as new investment underwriting and due diligence responsibilities. Prior to joining Oxer, Derek was a Director at Huntington Capital Investment Company in Columbus, Ohio where he was responsible for leading the portfolio management efforts for direct and indirect SBIC fund investments and evaluating direct mezzanine investment opportunities and add-ons.

Derek received his undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University with a BSBA with specializations in Finance and Risk Management & Insurance.

Katie Lannan

Senior Associate

Katie is responsible for portfolio and portfolio company management as well as new investment underwriting and due diligence responsibilities.

Prior to joining Oxer, Katie was a Senior Commercial Portfolio Manager and AVP at Huntington National Bank in the Franchise Banking group. There she was responsible for structuring, underwriting, closing, and monitoring commercial loans for franchise companies nationwide.

Katie earned her B.S.B, in Marketing and Leadership with a Sales Management Emphasis from the University of Dayton in Ohio.

Michael Affinito

CFO

Michael is responsible for the accounting and financial reporting functions, audit and tax oversight, and investor and SBA communications. He has more the 25 years of experience performing these functions for lower middle-market private equity and mezzanine firms.

Prior to joining Oxer, Michael was the Chief Financial Officer of Stonehenge Partners in Columbus, Ohio responsible for the financial, regulatory, and investor reporting functions of five private investment funds including three licensed Small Business Investment Companies (SBIC). He has also been a consultant to private equity firms and an Adjunct Professor at Capital University in Bexley, Ohio.

Michael graduated from Miami University with a B.S in Accountancy and holds an active CPA license.