Brian Degen

Brian Degen is the Managing Director of Fieldstone Advisors, a Waitsfield, Vermont-based executive coaching and management consulting practice. His current work focuses on coaching CEOs, senior leaders, investors, and leadership teams at investor-backed companies, drawing on his background in private equity investing, startup capital raising, M&A, and operating roles.

Degen began his career with six years in high-tech manufacturing at Data General Corporation, then joined Fidelity Investments as an Operations Consultant and led a cross-company business-process reengineering effort across ten Fidelity organizations. He later launched operating divisions at Fidelity Investments and IDC, working on electronic publishing, digital media, eCommerce strategy, business models, and technology implementation. He also served as VP of Consulting for Learning Objects Network, advising clients on internet-based content management strategies.

He later moved into operating and investor-facing roles: COO/CFO and Director of Marketing at an environmental services company; COO of a solar power company; partner at a buy-side private equity advisory firm; advisor to owners seeking to sell companies or raise capital; and Founding Managing Director of a Vermont-based private equity firm. Aegis Renewable Energy’s website identifies him as “Managing Partner - Fieldstone Capital Partners,” and third-party company profiles list him as Aegis Renewable Energy’s Chief Operating Officer.

Degen also spent seven years as CEO, CFO, and Lead Board Director of Step Ahead Innovations, the company behind the MindStream water-quality monitoring system. His biography says he helped move the company from R&D through product engineering, organization-building, market development, commercialization, and sale of its business and IP portfolio, while raising $10 million in investment capital. He earned both a BS in Industrial and Operations Engineering and an MBA in Strategic Marketing from the University of Michigan / Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

• Focuses on hands-on support for early-stage and growth-stage companies, especially where capital formation, business planning, financial planning, board governance, operations, and leadership execution are central risks.
• Publicly states that he has “many years of advising early/growth stage company owners in raising equity capital” and that his private-investing skills were developed through a buy-side private equity advisory role and founding a Vermont-based private equity firm.
• Appears most relevant to founders building technically ambitious, capital-intensive products where execution, manufacturing, commercialization, and investor alignment matter. His own operating example is Step Ahead Innovations, an IoT water-tech company that raised $10 million and commercialized a water-quality monitoring product.
• Sector pattern is strongest around water technology, environmental services, renewable energy, manufacturing/operations, and technical products rather than software-only venture investing.
• His Fieldstone Advisors positioning emphasizes execution: he writes that leaders often fail to reach potential not because of weak vision or market opportunity, but because of “professional execution skills” and leadership challenges around alignment.
• His approach is advisory and operator-heavy rather than purely financial: testimonials and his own biography repeatedly reference financial planning, investor pitch support, fundraising, board/investor consensus building, and major business decisions.