The People You’ll Partner With.
Every business we own gets the same people, the same standard, and the same level of attention. Behind Lake State Partners is a group with decades of experience across private equity, operations, and the industries we invest in. The people who meet you at the first conversation are the people you’ll work with years later. There’s no handoff.
Mike Kell
Mike spent over a decade at GCM Grosvenor, a $70 billion alternatives manager, investing in direct private equity and mezzanine debt. He sat on the investment committee of the firm’s California Impact SBIC Fund and was a lead deal team member for Michigan Growth Capital Partners. Before that, thirteen years in commercial lending at JPMorgan, National City, and RBS Citizens. He learned what institutional-quality diligence and governance look like from the inside — and what happens to a business when they’re absent.
In 2022, he left to build something smaller and closer to the work. He wanted to be near the operators, the boards, and the decisions that actually move a business forward, not one step removed from them. He started sponsoring deals on his own through Thornlea Capital, one at a time, and Lake State is where that work now lives: the same discipline he learned at scale, applied to companies built by founders and families.
Former: GCM Grosvenor, JPMorgan, RBS Citizens, National City · CFA charterholder · BA & MBA, Rollins College · Based in Birmingham, Michigan
Chester Wang
Chester leads deal execution at Lake State — sourcing, diligence, structuring, and the post-close work of turning a plan into results. He brings close to a decade of investment and industry experience across industrials, manufacturing, construction, and business services, with a track record of platform investments carried from acquisition through exit. That range is why he can carry a transaction from first conversation through integration without handing it off.
He stays close to management teams after closing, working on operational improvements, reporting and systems, and the add-on acquisitions that expand what a platform can do.
Focus: industrial manufacturing, building products, construction services · M.S. in Finance, University of Rochester · B.A., University of Washington
The right expertise, applied where it’s needed.
David runs Fencecrete America, our vertically integrated precast concrete platform serving the Texas Triangle. He turns our investment thesis into operating reality — integrating acquisitions, scaling production, and building the management bench a growing platform requires. Working alongside him keeps our investment judgment grounded in what actually happens after a deal closes.
Howe spent twenty-five years leading PalletOne, a multi-plant industrial manufacturer, so he knows firsthand where distributed production businesses break down and what it takes to fix them. That experience sharpens our diligence on operations and helps us underwrite management teams with a realistic view of whether they can scale. Post-close, he works directly with our companies on organizational structure, leadership development, and sales management — the areas where growth most often stalls.
John built and sold multiple facility services companies and then led ISSA, the global cleaning and facility services association, for a decade before becoming its Chairman Emeritus. His standing in the industry gives us visibility into owners considering a sale well before a banker gets involved, which is how we find better businesses at better prices. He also helps us separate the services models that hold margin over time from the ones that only look good in a trailing twelve months.
Meet the people. See the playbook.
Every business we own gets this group’s full attention, not a rotating cast. Here’s what that attention actually looks like in practice.
Helping Businesses Reach Their Horizon.
Whether you’re considering a business transition, representing a client, or exploring an investment opportunity, we welcome the conversation.