Michael
McQueeney

Managing Partner Emeritus

One of Summer Street’s founding partners, Mike has over 30 years of experience investing in middle market companies. Mike oversaw the firm’s investment activities, operations, and investor relations. He was also active in fund marketing activities and sourcing transactions.

Across the Summer Street portfolio, Mike led several transactions to a successful close and actively participated on company boards. Prior to co-founding Summer Street, Mike was founder and President of Buffalo Ventures, Inc. He previously held positions in finance, operations, sales, and marketing across a breadth of industries including banking, manufacturing, and construction.

Mike earned his MBA at the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College, and received his undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College.

Mike has been actively engaged in several industry associations as well as charitable not-for-profit organizations, both locally and internationally. He currently serves as a Director for All Hands & Hearts-Smart Response, a non-profit organization providing assistance to survivors of natural disasters around the world.

Representative Portfolio Company Involvement

Fun Facts About Michael

Mike celebrates over 35 years of marriage with his wife and has two children. Mike enjoys golf, tennis, kayaking, biking, skiing, and traveling.

What Michael Enjoys About His Career

“The relationships. I enjoy talking to business owners about both their successes and challenges, and what role we could play in helping them to achieve their goals.”

mmcqueeney@
summerstreetcapital.com

Brian
D’Amico

Managing Partner

A founding partner of Summer Street with over 20 years of experience in equity investing, Brian oversees the firm’s investment activities, operations, and investor relations. Brian leads the firm’s sector-focused investment strategies.

Brian actively manages Summer Street portfolio companies and holds several board positions. He has experience across all sectors, with a focus in the environmental services sector.

Prior to co-founding Summer Street, Brian managed corporate finance activities with a regional M&A advisory firm, and was Vice President of Buffalo Ventures, Inc. Throughout his career, Brian has advised entrepreneurs, invested in small companies, and shepherded transactions to a successful close.

Brian is a graduate of Canisius College, where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance.

Representative Portfolio Company Involvement

Fun Facts About Brian

Brian and his wife have two children. Brian enjoys golf, reading, and traveling with his family.

A Summer Street Achievement Brian is Proud of

“Participating in the dramatic growth of our solid waste platforms. We have helped transform local providers into regional leaders, completing nearly 40 add-on acquisitions across our solid waste platforms. It’s been fun and rewarding.”

bdamico@
summerstreetcapital.com

Jennifer
Balbach

Partner

A founding partner of Summer Street, Jennifer is involved in most aspects of the firm’s operations. Her responsibilities include portfolio company development, marketing support, and administrative management. Jennifer has served on the boards of several portfolio companies, including those in manufacturing and services sectors.

Prior to Summer Street, Jennifer served as Vice President at Buffalo Ventures, where she placed equity investments in and provided advisory services to numerous small businesses in Western New York. She also served as a management consultant at Bain & Company, Coopers & Lybrand, and American Management Systems, where she advised clients in manufacturing, defense, and services sectors.

A graduate of Harvard College, Jennifer also received an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College.

Jennifer serves as a director for several local and regional boards, including the Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo, the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation for New York State, the Harvard Alumni Association of Western New York, and the Lifetime Healthcare Companies, parent of Blue Cross/Blue Shield affiliated health plans of Upstate New York. She also chairs the investment committee for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo’s pension and investment funds.

Fun Facts About Jennifer

Jennifer and her husband are proud parents of three sons. Jennifer enjoys skiing and traveling, as well as being a hockey, soccer, and lacrosse mom.

What Jennifer Enjoys About Her Career

“Learning from our CEO’s. While each company we invest in has a completely different story, they often share similar challenges and successes. I love it when we can use the insights from one company’s experience to help a team in a completely unrelated industry to achieve their goals.”

jbalbach@
summerstreetcapital.com

John
Collins

Partner

A member of the Summer Street team for over 10 years, John assists in Summer Street’s investment process, including due diligence and transaction support. He takes an active role in supporting the management and financial teams at our portfolio companies. John is a board member with several of our portfolio companies across all sectors of focus. He is also responsible for managing the junior investment team.

Previously, John was an Investment Banking Analyst in Deutsche Bank’s Leveraged Finance group in New York City.

John earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics with distinction from Cornell University.

Representative Portfolio Company Involvement

Fun Facts About John

John and his wife have three young children. John is a sports enthusiast who enjoys football, baseball, and basketball, and is the reigning office ping-pong champion.

What John Enjoys About His Career

“I’m a numbers guy, but what I really enjoy is digging in to learn the story behind the numbers. Each company’s financial statements reflect the challenges that are specific to their industry, and the strategies that they’ve employed to get ahead. They all have a unique story to tell.”

jcollins@
summerstreetcapital.com

Christian
Gorino

Partner

Christian joined Summer Street in 2010, and assists in the investment process, including due diligence and transaction support. In his role, Christian also supports the management and financial teams at our portfolio companies across environmental services, manufacturing and business services sectors.

Prior to joining Summer Street, Christian was in the Structured Capital Markets group at Barclays Capital in London.

Christian earned a BS in Finance from Georgetown University, and is a CFA charterholder.

Representative Portfolio Company Involvement

Fun Facts About Christian

Christian is an avid skier. He also enjoys running and traveling abroad.

What Christian Enjoys About His Career

“I’ve had the opportunity to support the acquisitions strategies at several companies, and when our partners see the value we bring to the process, we earn their trust. I take pride in closing deals for our companies, but also becoming part of their team.”

cgorino@
summerstreetcapital.com

Aleks
Spellman

Senior Associate

Aleks assists in the investment process, including extensive due diligence and transaction work. She also supports the firm’s valuation and reporting process, as well as the financial analysis needs of portfolio companies.

Aleks came to Summer Street from our former portfolio company Dwellworks, where she served as the Director of Financial Planning and Analysis.

Aleks earned a Master’s degree in Economics from Cleveland State University, and a BS in Economics from John Carroll University. She is a CFA charterholder.

Representative Portfolio Company Involvement

Fun Facts About Aleks

Aleks enjoys running, yoga and reading. Aleks and her husband are avid travelers.

What Aleks Enjoys About Her Career

“Working with entrepreneurs. We get to work with ambitious business owners and managers who have built successful companies, helping them to accelerate their growth by adding new product lines or growing into new territories. It makes the hard work fun and energizing.”

aspellman@
summerstreetcapital.com

Abby
Fleissner

Origination &
Marketing Manager

Since joining the Summer Street team in 2007, Abby has been active in the team’s origination, marketing and business development efforts. She is also responsible for office management and administrative support.

Formerly, Abby worked in M&T Bank’s legal department processing legal and court documents.

Abby earned her BA in History and Political Science from the University at Buffalo.

Fun Facts About Abby

Abby enjoys athletic and outdoor activities including tennis, hiking, and gardening. Abby and her husband share their home with a rescue cat and dog.

What Abby Enjoys About Her Career

“I enjoy the opportunity to jump in to assist our portfolio companies with their marketing efforts or finding add-on acquisitions. It’s a great learning experience supporting companies across diverse industries.”

afleissner@
summerstreetcapital.com

Mark
Zogaria

CFO, CCO

Mark is responsible for Summer Street’s financial administration and reporting. Mark also manages investor relations and company compliance.

Prior to joining Summer Street, Mark spent nine years as CFO and Director of Finance & Operations at SoftBank Capital and Z80 Labs. He also served as CFO at CCS Healthcare, a leading multidisciplinary medical group in Buffalo, NY. Mark started his career in public accounting at Tronconi Segarra & Associates.

Mark attended Canisius College, graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Accounting, and earned an MBA at the University at Buffalo. Mark is a Certified Public Accountant.

Fun Facts About Mark

Mark and his wife are proud parents of three daughters. Mark enjoys playing basketball and tennis.

What Mark Enjoys About His Career

“I enjoy working with our Portfolio Companies – sharing new ideas and tools to help make their reporting easier and more useful, or working to assess the advantages of an add-on acquisition.”

mzogaria@
summerstreetcapital.com

Krista
Jurs

Controller

Krista is responsible for the internal accounting and compliance operations, including financial reporting, budgets and audit and tax support. Krista also participates in managing Intralinks, benefit plans, and human resources.

Prior to joining Summer Street, Krista served in a Finance role at Discover Financial Services. Prior to that she served in various finance and accounting roles at Citigroup, Bank of America and Fleet Bank.

Krista holds an accounting degree from SUNY Cobleskill.

Fun Facts About Krista

Krista and her husband Eric have one daughter, Halle, and enjoy spending time with family. Her coworkers enjoy when she brings in her homemade treats!

What Krista Enjoys About Her Career

“Even after years of working in finance & accounting, I still get excited when I find a new tool that I can use to make our investors’ assets safer, or that enables me to present our results in a more meaningful way.”

kjurs@
summerstreetcapital.com