Doug Rosenstein

Doug Rosenstein (age 39 as of mid-2026) is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Uplift Investors, a Darien, Connecticut-based private equity firm he launched in 2025 alongside Will Hausberg and Brad Skaf. The three founders had worked together on investments for roughly a decade, all at Gridiron Capital, the ~$9.5 billion New Canaan, CT buyout firm they departed. At Uplift, Doug leads the firm's investment committee and strategic direction and oversees investment research, business development, and marketing.

Before founding Uplift, Doug spent nearly a decade at Gridiron Capital, where he focused on sourcing new investments, due diligence, and value creation across portfolio companies. He joined Gridiron in 2015 as a senior associate, was promoted to vice president in 2016, to Principal in 2019, and to Managing Director in November 2023 — before leaving in 2024 to start his own firm. During his tenure he sat on the boards of Class Valuation, Colibri Group, Esquire Deposition Solutions, Travel Nurse Across America, and Vistage Worldwide.

Earlier in his career, Doug was an associate at Sterling Partners, where he was responsible for transaction execution and portfolio company management, and before that an analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He earned a B.S. in Business, with honors, from Indiana University and an M.B.A., with honors, from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

In July 2026, Uplift Investors closed its inaugural fund at its $670 million hard cap, validating the trio's spin-out and services-investing thesis.

• Model-first, not industry-first: Rather than organizing around specific industries, Uplift targets companies based on recurring, repeatable business models it believes can be replicated across multiple service sectors, then applies standardized value-creation playbooks.
• The "5-5-5 Framework": The firm's proprietary approach combines five business models, five services sectors, and five dedicated value-creation capabilities. The five sectors are legal services, financial services, knowledge & talent solutions, technical trades, and industrial services.
• Microsector platform-building: Within each sector, Uplift identifies "microsectors" — narrow market clusters with dozens of companies where fragmentation and repeatable models enable buy-and-build platforms through acquisitions plus organic growth.
• Check size / target scale: Businesses in roughly the $10M–$40M EBITDA range, funded from a $670M debut fund.
• People and alignment: Stated thesis — *"We uplift people and companies today to enable an even greater tomorrow."* The firm emphasizes management alignment, partnering with "exceptional management teams to build durable businesses," and "raising standards for how investment firms operate."