Michael Green

Michael M. Green is the founder, CEO, and Managing Director of Operations at Tenex Capital Management, a New York–based private equity firm he co-founded in 2009. Tenex specializes in acquiring control of small and middle-market companies that are fundamentally sound but operationally underperforming, then using an in-house team of hybrid operator-investors to improve performance and create value. The firm closed its fourth fund (Tenex Capital Partners IV) at roughly $1.9 billion in 2024.

Green built his investing career on an operations foundation. He began at General Electric, working across several operating departments in engineering, manufacturing, sales, marketing, and general management. From 1999 to 2004 he was Managing Partner of TenX Capital Partners. In 2004, Cerberus Capital Management acquired certain TenX portfolio companies and Green joined Cerberus, where he became a Managing Director, founder and President of Cerberus Operations, and a senior member of the Investment Team and Investment Committee. He left Cerberus in 2008–2009 to launch Tenex — a spin-out that at formation sought roughly $400 million for its debut fund.

Green's expertise spans private equity, distressed and turnaround investing, and hands-on business operations leadership across industries including aerospace, transportation, telecommunications, and software systems. He holds a BSEE from the State University of New York at Buffalo and an MSEE from Villanova University.

Beyond Tenex, Green has served as an Independent Director of Air Canada since 2009, reflecting the aerospace/transportation operating background that runs through his career.

• Operations-first control investing: Tenex targets "companies with good bones, and valuable products, services, and people" that need operational support and reinvestment — describing itself as "operators and investors by trade, partners by nature."
• Buyouts, not venture/seed: The firm makes control acquisitions of established, cash-generating businesses, not minority or early-stage bets.
• Company profile: ~$3M–$40M EBITDA, fundamentally sound but operationally underperforming relative to sector peers; the stated aim is to move companies "from below market in their sectors to average" and beyond via operational improvement.
• Check size: Equity checks generally ~$25M–$125M; Fund IV is expected to make ~16–18 investments with ~$50M–$100M equity per deal.
• Sectors: Diversified Industrials (auto aftermarket, building products, equipment rental, food, packaging, solar, specialty distribution, tooling); Business & Tech-Enabled Services (B2B and residential services, managed service providers, outsourced HR/admin, staffing); Healthcare (behavioral health, outsourced services, physician practice management, post-acute care, staffing).
• Geography: North America, primarily the United States.