Mark Sotir

Mark Sotir is President of Equity Group Investments (EGI), the private investment firm founded by Sam Zell in 1968. He oversees all aspects of the firm, chairs its investment committee, and serves as a member of the board and executive vice president of Chai Trust Company, LLC, the corporate trustee for the Zell family trusts. He joined EGI in 2006 as a managing director and, over nearly two decades, moved from operating partner to president, applying more than 20 years of board and CEO experience to actively engage with EGI's investment team and portfolio companies on strategy and operations. He has at times taken temporary in-house assignments inside portfolio companies to accelerate turnarounds.

Before EGI, Sotir was chief executive officer of Sunburst Technology Corporation and a member of its board. Earlier he served as president of Budget Group, Inc. — the parent of Budget Rent A Car and Ryder Truck Rental — and sat on that company's board. He began his career at The Coca-Cola Company in senior brand-management and sales roles, giving him an operating and consumer-marketing foundation that informs EGI's hands-on, value-creation approach.

Sotir holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Amherst College. He is an active board leader across EGI's portfolio, currently serving as board chair of Ardent Health (NYSE: ARDT), and as chairman/director of companies including Exterran, Lanter Delivery Systems (until its 2025 sale), Paper Transport, East Coast Warehouse & Distribution, CraneWorks, CIT Trucks, and Able Freight Services. Since Sam Zell's death in 2023, Sotir has publicly signaled he is weighing structural changes to the historically family-financed firm.

• Invests private, largely permanent capital rather than a traditional PE fund, which allows longer holding periods and a focus on durable, compounding growth rather than near-term exits.
• Targets North American mid-market businesses that can grow ~4–6x in value; screens on "industry dynamics, competitive advantages, and situational opportunities" rather than requiring deep prior expertise in a given sector.
• Deliberately sector-agnostic and opportunistic — EGI will pursue complex, contrarian situations across the debt and equity capital structure (its portfolio ranges from hospitals to trucking to a bluefin tuna farming operation chosen for its "regulated supply" and "proximity to the US market").
• Value-creation playbook emphasizes organic growth (expanding distribution, entering new markets), building strong boards stocked with industry experts, leveraging partnerships to add capabilities, and maintaining conservative leverage to manage risk.
• Prioritizes finding "good partners" — companies and management teams with differentiated market positions that EGI can back and actively help scale over years.