Josh Gartner

Josh Gartner spent his private-equity career on the value-creation side of Imperial Capital Group, a Toronto-based mid-market private equity manager founded in 1989 that invests in healthcare, business services, and consumer services. He joined the firm in October 2017 as Vice President, Portfolio Management, where his focus was portfolio-company strategic, operational, and value-creation initiatives — the "building better businesses" work rather than sourcing new seed deals.

Before Imperial Capital, Gartner was at Bain & Company (Sept 2014 – Oct 2017), rising to Case Team Leader after joining as a Consultant. His earlier career spanned investment and advisory roles: Associate Consultant at Cambridge Associates (2008–2012), a Private Wealth Associate at Merrill Lynch (2007–2008), an MBA internship at Waste Management (2013), and volunteer consulting for VisionFund International (2012).

He holds a B.A. from Yale University and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

In February 2023, Gartner left the VP role at Imperial Capital to become Chief Operating Officer of Keplr Vision, an Imperial Capital portfolio company in the U.S. optometry/eye-care space — a move directly out of the value-creation work he had been doing on that platform. This is a common PE-to-portfolio-operator path and reflects his operational (rather than deal-sourcing) orientation.

• At the firm level (Imperial Capital): control-oriented mid-market buyouts in "fragmented, recession-resistant, service-based sectors" across healthcare, business services, and consumer services.
• Company size: roughly $20M–$250M revenue and up to ~$40M EBITDA; U.S. and Canadian mid-market.
• What makes them say yes: a "proven entrepreneur or executive with significant industry expertise and network" in a fragmentable sector where the firm can drive tuck-in acquisitions and organic growth. The firm frames its approach as "creating greater value, building better businesses" through partnership and a "growth-focused strategy."
• Gartner's personal lens: operational and strategic value creation inside existing portfolio companies (platform build-outs, tuck-in M&A, operating improvements) — not early-stage/angel checks.