Jay Wilkins

John C. “Jay” Wilkins, Jr. was President of Harvest Partners, a New York-based private equity firm. Harvest’s in-memoriam page says he joined the firm in 2010 as a Principal and had served as President since 2021.

Before Harvest, Wilkins was a Principal at DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and North Castle Partners, where he focused on leveraged buyout transactions. He began his career with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

Wilkins received a B.S. degree from Vanderbilt University. Harvest described him as a mentor within the firm, a respected figure in private equity, and someone who led charitable initiatives at Harvest. He died in 2023.

• Harvest Private Equity describes its approach as “proactive, thematic and focused,” using independent research, sector-focused networking, and prior investment experience to build expertise in target sectors.
• The firm focuses on middle-market companies, not seed-stage startups. Its stated private-equity criteria are $100 million to $3 billion in revenue, $30 million to $300 million in EBITDA, and $300 million to $5 billion in enterprise value.
• Harvest emphasizes partnering with management teams and building businesses through organic growth and acquisition-oriented growth.
• In the Service Express acquisition, Wilkins highlighted adding “financial and strategic resources” to help a market leader expand.
• In the VetCor recapitalization, Wilkins pointed to a “fragmented and growing market” and a consolidation strategy as attractive elements.
• In Harvest’s Ownership Works announcement, Wilkins said Harvest believed employee economic participation was important to building “a culture of inclusion, drive and shared focus.”