Jeff Stone

Jeffrey Stone is a Managing Director of Speyside Equity, an operationally focused private equity firm, where he is responsible for sourcing, executing, managing, and exiting investments. He has served both in operating roles and as a member of the boards of directors of Speyside portfolio companies. He is now also listed as a Managing Director at TRM Equity, a Southfield, Michigan-based private equity firm that describes itself as the successor to the Speyside Equity Fund I team and pursues the same lower-middle-market manufacturing and distribution strategy.

Before private equity, Stone was an investment banker with Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance, where he focused on middle-market mergers and acquisitions. Earlier in his career he served as President of a niche manufacturer of commercial playground equipment and worked as a business development executive for a finance-and-accounting consulting firm — operating experience that fits Speyside's hands-on, "Fix & Build" turnaround approach.

Stone graduated from Hillsdale College and earned his MBA from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. In 2012, at age 38, he was named to Crain's Detroit Business "40 Under 40" as a Managing Director and Partner at Speyside Equity, recognizing him as a notable young leader in the Detroit-area business community.

• Invests in mature, historically profitable manufacturing and distribution companies in North America, typically with revenues up to ~$500M — not startups or venture-stage companies.
• Pursues complex, operationally intensive deals: corporate carve-outs from multinationals, industry consolidations, family-owned business successions, bankruptcies, work-outs, and other special situations.
• Looks for businesses "undergoing financial or operational stress" that "possess some form of balance sheet, legal, labor, or transactional complexity" — i.e., underperformers where operational improvement and margin enhancement can unlock value.
• Employs Speyside's stated "Fix & Build" strategy — taking a hands-on operating role, then bolting on acquisitions to build platforms.
• Full deal lifecycle ownership: Stone personally handles "sourcing, executing, managing, and exiting investments," and often sits on portfolio company boards or steps into operating roles.