Heather Hubabrd

Heather Hubbard is the Managing Partner of Valesco Industries, a Dallas-based private equity firm founded in 1993 that invests in small and lower-middle-market companies. In this role she oversees all Valesco entities, their operations, and employees, and sits on portfolio-company boards focused on strategic planning, acquisitions, corporate budget and finance, executive recruitment, and growth. She also leads fund and LP management, the investment pursuit process, and the firm's investment-performance initiatives.

Hubbard's connection to Valesco runs deep: she first interned with the firm during college, when Valesco operated as an independent, deal-by-deal sponsor. She joined full-time during the firm's transition to a formal, dedicated-fund structure and helped build its foundational infrastructure — diligence processes, financial models, fundraising strategy, and hiring protocols. She has described the experience as being "an entrepreneur amongst all these entrepreneurs we get to invest in." She has served as Managing Partner since roughly 2019.

She holds an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin and a BBA in Entrepreneurship and Venture Management (Summa Cum Laude) from the Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma. An entrepreneur from childhood — she ran grocery-resale, pool-cleaning, and gift-wrapping ventures as a kid and was active in the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization in college.

Beyond Valesco, Hubbard is an Executive Officer of the Small Business Investor Alliance (SBIA) and a member of the Endowment Board of Trustees for Catholic Charities of Dallas. She was named D CEO's Private Equity/Investment Professional of the Year, recognizing her leadership of one of the most active lower-middle-market PE funds in the Dallas market.

• Backs established, profitable, family- and founder-owned businesses — not startups. Valesco's criteria explicitly exclude VC/startups, real estate, financial services, and turnarounds.
• Targets companies with $15–$100M revenue, $4–$10M EBITDA (>10% margins), and minimum cash flow of ~$3–4M in manufacturing, value-added distribution, and product-centric business services.
• Flexible structuring: majority equity, minority equity, or subordinated debt, supporting owner succession, management buyouts, recapitalizations, growth financing, and liquidity events. "There is not a one-size-fits-all transaction or partnership with an equity partner."
• Sees family-owned businesses as an "attractive chance for outsized opportunity," where Valesco adds management teams, financial acumen, and a strategic plan "to add to the legacy."
• Emphasizes that this is "above all, a people business" — alignment with owners and management, not just capital, drives her decisions.
• Focuses operationally on sales growth, EBITDA, gross-profit margins, and working-capital efficiency, while tailoring metrics to each business.