A. Philip Gryglas

A. Philip Gryglas is a Portfolio Manager and Research Analyst at Skylands Capital, a Milwaukee-based long/short equity investment management firm founded in 1983 that serves high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors. Phil joined Skylands Capital in 2004 after working as an equity research analyst at Strong Capital Management, Inc., which he joined in 2001. At Skylands, he contributes to the management of five private investment portfolios focused on U.S. equities, with the firm managing approximately $724 million in discretionary assets across 13 clients.

Before entering the investment world, Phil had a distinguished military career. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering. He then served over five years on active duty as a Field Artillery officer in the United States Army before resigning his commission with the rank of Captain. He subsequently earned a Master of Business Administration with high honors from the University of Notre Dame in 2001 and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

In addition to his role at Skylands Capital, Phil serves as Chief Investment Officer at Kazuri Capital, Inc., a real estate platform based in Orlando, Florida. Kazuri Capital operates across the full spectrum of real estate activities including acquisition, disposition, repositioning, financing, property management, construction, and development. This dual focus on public equities and private real estate, combined with his angel investing activity at the seed stage, gives Phil a broad and diversified investment perspective spanning multiple asset classes.

Phil's investment approach at Skylands Capital is rooted in a fundamental, research-driven philosophy with several key tenets:

As an angel investor, Phil participates at the seed stage, complementing his institutional public equities and real estate roles with earlier-stage private company investments.

• Cyclical Awareness: Economies, markets, and individual companies are exposed to a myriad of cycles. Rather than extrapolating recent trends, the firm seeks to identify turning points before they become obvious, creating competitive advantages.
• Price-Value Disconnect: Stock prices fluctuate far more than the underlying value of a business, enabling tactical trading around core holdings.
• Growth-at-Value Investing: Rather than choosing between growth or value approaches, the firm targets structurally advantaged growing businesses that can be purchased at a value price.
• Capital Allocation Quality: Management's skill in allocating profits -- through acquisitions, dividends, or buybacks -- is considered equally important as earnings generation.
• Management Quality: Strategy, incentive alignment, execution history, and capital allocation discipline are significant evaluation criteria.
• Portfolio Flexibility: The firm maintains liquidity and adaptability to respond to changing market conditions.