Roger Goddu

Roger V. Goddu is a Senior Advisor at Brentwood Associates, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm. Brentwood says he transitioned from Partner to Senior Advisor in July 2020. He joined Brentwood in 2004 as an Operating Partner after previously serving as an Operating Advisor and portfolio-company director beginning in 2002.

At Brentwood, Goddu has focused heavily on retail, consumer, and brand-led companies. He continues to serve on the boards of Boston Proper and J.McLaughlin. Brentwood also lists him as a former board member of Allen Edmonds, Filson Holdings, Marshall Retail Group, Paper Source, Soft Surroundings, and Sundance Holding Company, all former Brentwood portfolio companies.

Before Brentwood, Goddu was Chairman and CEO of Montgomery Ward. He was recruited from Toys “R” Us, where he served as President of U.S. Toy Stores and Executive Vice President of Toys “R” Us Corporation after joining in 1989 as Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer. Earlier, he spent nine years at Target, including service as Senior Vice President and General Merchandise Manager from 1985 through 1988.

Goddu began his retail career in 1970 and spent ten years with R. H. Macy & Co. and Federated Department Stores. He attended Adrian College and the University of Toledo, and completed the Executive Development Program at Harvard Business School.

• Brentwood’s current strategy emphasizes middle-market companies, not seed-stage angel investing. The firm describes its investment types as buyouts, growth equity, and founder recapitalizations.
• Brentwood states: “We look for exceptional essential services businesses with evidence of true customer loyalty.”
• The firm targets companies with revenue of $20 million to $500 million, growth above 10%, EBITDA up to $50 million, and EBITDA margins above 10%.
• Brentwood prefers resilient or durable industries, non-discretionary purchases, large addressable markets with secular growth, exceptional customer loyalty, and strong leadership teams.
• Goddu’s personal background and Brentwood board history point to a particular strength in specialty retail, branded consumer products, apparel, direct-to-consumer, catalog/e-commerce, and multi-channel retail growth.
• Brentwood says it supports portfolio companies through site analytics and expansion, sophisticated marketing, data-driven pricing, product or service innovation, operations and logistics improvements, and management-team building.