David Walden

David Walden is a Director on the Transaction Team at MiddleGround Capital, a Lexington, Kentucky-based private equity firm founded in 2018 by John Stewart, Lauren Mulholland, and Scot Duncan. According to the firm, David was the first hire on its Transaction Team, giving him a foundational role in building out MiddleGround's deal-execution function as the firm scaled from its debut ~$460M fund (2019) to more than $2–4 billion in assets under management across multiple funds.

Before joining MiddleGround, David spent three years at J.P. Morgan as a Consumer investment banker, where he focused on M&A transactions. That background in sell-side/buy-side M&A execution maps directly to his current work sourcing and structuring control acquisitions of B2B industrial and specialty distribution businesses.

David earned both a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina and a Master of Accounting, also from UNC. While at UNC he was a member of the Men's Varsity Soccer team and earned a national championship ring. The firm's bio describes him as "a tremendous networker (which helps sourcing!)."

• Invests via MiddleGround Capital's strategy: acquiring control equity stakes in lower-middle-market, B2B industrial and specialty distribution companies across North America and Europe.
• Target companies are typically in the lower middle market, with enterprise values roughly up to $200M.
• Sector concentration includes auto parts, capital equipment, engineered components, and logistics — asset-heavy, operationally intensive businesses.
• MiddleGround's differentiator is hands-on operational value creation: an in-house Operations Team applies lean manufacturing, supply-chain optimization, and shop-floor improvements at portfolio companies, rather than relying on financial engineering alone.
• ESG/operational improvement is part of the firm's stated value-creation playbook.
• As a Transaction Team Director, David's role centers on deal sourcing, structuring, and execution of these control buyouts — his J.P. Morgan M&A background and networking are cited as sourcing strengths.