Mark Tresnowski

Mark Tresnowski is Co-Founder & Partner, Legal and Operations at Orchard Investment Partners, a Chicago-based secondary investment firm founded in 2024. Orchard says it is focused on private equity-backed continuation vehicles and related transactions, with a particular emphasis on single-asset opportunities in the lower and middle market.

Before Orchard, Tresnowski spent nearly fifteen years as General Counsel at Madison Dearborn Partners, where he led legal, compliance, government affairs, and media-relations functions. Orchard’s biography says he also advised MDP leadership and served on the firm’s investment committee across four flagship funds representing nearly $20 billion of total committed capital.

Earlier in his career, Tresnowski served for more than five years as General Counsel at Allegiance Telecom, an MDP portfolio company, and spent thirteen years at Kirkland & Ellis, where he became a partner in the firm’s private equity practice. He has also served as chairman of the American Investment Council, co-founded the Private Equity General Counsel Network, and served on the SEC Investor Advisory Committee.

Tresnowski earned an MLA from the University of Chicago Graham School, a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law, and a BA from the University of Illinois. The University of Chicago Graham School biography also notes that he was an editor of the Virginia Law Review and passed the CPA exam.

• Orchard’s stated strategy is “private equity investors, investing in private equity,” focused on GP-led continuation vehicles and related transactions.
• Orchard says the rise of GP-led continuation vehicles creates an opportunity to invest more deliberately in higher-quality, lower-risk private equity assets, but requires a different skill set than traditional secondary funds.
• The firm focuses on single-asset continuation vehicles and related transactions, especially in lower- and middle-market businesses.
• Sector focus is concentrated where Orchard and its advisors have direct experience: financial services, healthcare, industrials, and technology and business services.
• Tresnowski has emphasized Orchard’s “network-enabled approach,” applying direct-investing experience to curate opportunities, diligence efficiently, and act as value-added thought partners to financial sponsors and portfolio company management teams.