Dave Chandler

Dave Chandler is a Senior Advisor at ParkerGale Capital, a Chicago private equity firm that buys profitable, founder-owned B2B software companies. He was one of the five founders who spun ParkerGale out of Chicago Growth Partners, alongside Devin Mathews, Jim Milbery, Kristina Heinze, and Ryan Milligan. ParkerGale closed its debut buyout fund at $240 million in 2016.

Chandler has spent nearly four decades in finance and private equity. He entered the business in 1987 when he moved from Morgan Stanley's Investment Banking Division to William Blair & Company, where he partnered with Tim Murray and others to build the firm's merchant banking practice (William Blair Capital Partners). Over roughly 17 years there he helped raise, invest, and manage four private equity funds. In 2004, the team leading that effort established Chicago Growth Partners as an independent firm, where Chandler served as Managing Partner and Co-Founder. Across William Blair and Chicago Growth Partners, he managed four funds totaling approximately $1.5 billion in committed capital over 30 years, holding board seats at numerous privately held companies in education, healthcare, and technology services.

Chandler earned his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a BA in history from Princeton University. He is active in Chicago education philanthropy: he served as Board Chair of the Golden Apple Foundation from 2007 to 2016 (and remains on its Executive Committee) and has served on the board of the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), a nonprofit that manages a network of Chicago public schools.

• Buys profitable, founder-owned B2B software companies — not startups; ParkerGale's stated business is buying companies "from founders."
• Targets companies with ~$10–30M+ in ARR, predictable/recurring business models, and roughly $2M+ in profits; through its Big Band Software partnership it also participates in companies with under $10M ARR.
• Pursues majority/control buyouts rather than minority or seed rounds.
• Invests "where we bring an edge — through a thesis we've built, an executive we trust, or past experience solving similar challenges," pairing capital with a hands-on operating team focused on accelerating revenue and expanding margins.
• As Senior Advisor, Chandler's role leans on decades of fund management and board experience rather than day-to-day deal leadership.