Aj Gauthier

AJ Gauthier is a Principal at Shore Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm focused on the healthcare, food & beverage, business services, and industrials sectors of the lower-middle market. He sits within Shore's Healthcare Advantage Fund, a strategy led by founding partners Mike Cooper and John Hennegan that targets healthcare companies with approximately $10–50 million of EBITDA. In this role Gauthier is responsible for conducting diligence on new investment opportunities and driving value-creation initiatives across portfolio companies.

Before Shore, Gauthier was an Associate at Linden Capital Partners, a Chicago private equity firm that invests exclusively in healthcare and life sciences (medical products, specialty distribution, pharmaceutical, and services). The contact data on file ([hidden]; 312-506-5600) dates from that tenure. Earlier in his career he worked as an Analyst at Greenhill, the independent investment bank, in New York, where he advised on M&A and financing transactions.

Gauthier earned a B.S. in Finance, with high distinction, from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, where he was an Evans Scholar (a merit- and need-based scholarship for former golf caddies). His board and oversight roles reflect Shore's hands-on operating model: he serves as a Director of Everis Medical and as a Board Observer at Mission Pet Health and Point C, working directly with management teams to identify and execute growth initiatives.

• Invests through institutional private equity, not personal angel checks — buyouts and growth investments in profitable, established healthcare businesses (the "Angel Investor / Seed Round" label in the source stub does not match his actual work).
• Focus on the lower-middle and middle market in healthcare: medical products/devices, specialty distribution, pharmacy and infusion therapy, pet/animal health, and healthcare business services.
• Shore's Healthcare Advantage Fund partners with companies of roughly $10–50M EBITDA, typically backing a platform and then compounding value through buy-and-build add-on acquisitions.
• Value-creation orientation: Gauthier's stated responsibilities are due diligence on new opportunities and implementing growth initiatives inside portfolio companies alongside management.
• Says "yes" to businesses in attractive, well-positioned healthcare niches where Shore's operating playbook (management partnership, M&A, professionalization) can accelerate growth.