Peter Connolly

Peter Connolly leads Cobepa's North American investment activities as Group Managing Director and Head of North America. He joined the firm in 2015 to build out and run its U.S. platform. Cobepa is an independent, privately-held investment company that traces its roots to 1957 and has grown into a well-recognized private equity investor with roughly €5.5 billion in net asset value, ~22 portfolio companies, and offices in Europe and the United States. Unlike a fund with a fixed life, Cobepa deploys its own long-term capital, which shapes Connolly's patient, multi-year ownership approach.

Before Cobepa, Connolly spent more than a decade at Summit Partners in Boston (2004–2015), where he co-headed the healthcare team and led growth-equity and growth-buyout investments. Earlier in his career he worked in the investment banking division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York, and he began his professional career at Deloitte. He holds an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business and a BBA from the University of Notre Dame.

At Cobepa, Connolly sits on the firm's Executive Committee, Investment Committee, and investment team. He currently serves as a director of Ned's Home, Reaction Biology, Corsearch, Gen II Fund Services, Precision Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, and BioAgilytix, and as a board observer at Heartland Home Services. His prior board seats include CareCentrix, Solutionreach, ABILITY Network, MedSpring Urgent Care, Associa, Bartlett Holdings, and Aurora Diagnostics — a roster weighted heavily toward healthcare and services businesses.

• Invests Cobepa's permanent balance-sheet capital, enabling long holding periods rather than a fixed 3–5 year fund exit window — "partnering to build responsible prosperity for the long term."
• In the U.S., focuses primarily on healthcare, business services, and tech-enabled services sectors.
• Targets established, profitable "platform" companies and then pursues buy-and-build / consolidation strategies, deploying Cobepa's resources for both organic and inorganic (M&A-driven) growth.
• Partners with existing management teams and, at times, co-investors (e.g., The Jordan Company on Ned Stevens), rather than taking sole control.
• Cobepa has completed 9+ U.S. platform investments since 2017, indicating a steady multi-deal cadence in the North American mid-market.