Joseph Bartek

Joseph Bartek is a Partner and the Chief Financial Officer of Brightstar Capital Partners, a New York–based middle-market private equity firm founded in 2015 by Andrew Weinberg. In his role he is responsible for the financial, regulatory, and administrative operations of the firm and serves as Chief Compliance Officer. He also sits on Brightstar's Investment Committee, the body that approves the firm's deals.

Before joining Brightstar, Bartek founded a boutique accounting and administrative firm focused on the operational needs of private equity funds and their sponsors. Earlier in his career he worked at RSM US, LLP (formerly McGladrey) as a Senior Manager and Director in the firm's private equity assurance and transaction-support practices. Across his career he has advised numerous funds on financial operations, regulatory compliance, internal controls, risk management, investor reporting, equity allocation, valuation, and M&A.

Bartek is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). He earned an MBA from the Brennan School of Business and a bachelor's degree in accounting, cum laude, from Dominican University (Chicago area). He has served on the board of Gateway Dealer Network, a former Brightstar portfolio company.

• As CFO/CCO and an Investment Committee member, Bartek backs Brightstar's core strategy rather than writing personal angel checks; the focus below reflects the firm's thesis.
• Control investments in family- and founder-owned businesses: Brightstar buys closely held companies, often where succession or "generational wealth transfer" is in play (the firm cites a ~$105T U.S. wealth-transfer opportunity).
• "Us & Us" operating approach: an operationally intensive, partnership-oriented model that leverages the team's operating experience and relationship network to grow companies post-acquisition.
• Check size and targets: equity investments of roughly $50M–$250M into businesses with ~$50M–$1B in revenue / $10M–$100M EBITDA.
• Sectors: industrials, business services, government services & technology, and consumer.
• Firm scale: more than $5B in AUM across three flagship funds (Fund I ~$710M, Fund II ~$1.27B, Fund III ~$1.26B closed April 2024).