Ryan Nolan

Ryan Nolan is a Principal at American Securities, a New York–based private equity firm founded in 1947 (as the investment vehicle of William Rosenwald, of the Sears, Roebuck family) that today manages approximately $23–26 billion. He joined the firm in 2017 and works on the investment team that sources, executes, and oversees the firm's control buyouts of established North American companies.

Before joining American Securities, Nolan was an investment banking analyst in the Energy Group at J.P. Morgan. He earned a BBA in Finance and Physics from the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business.

At the firm, Nolan has been closely involved with several portfolio companies. He currently serves as a Director of BELFOR (a global property damage-recovery and restoration services company American Securities acquired in April 2019) and of NAPA (North American Partners in Anesthesia, a physician-led anesthesia and perioperative services organization). Earlier in his tenure he was a Director of Milk Specialties Global, a human- and animal-nutrition ingredients company American Securities owned from 2016 until its sale to Butterfly Equity, agreed in December 2022.

American Securities pursues a long-term, value-oriented, partnership-driven buyout strategy, emphasizing capital preservation, operational improvement, and multi-year holds (historically four to seven years). As a Principal, Nolan operates within that institutional strategy rather than making individual angel or seed-stage bets.

• Invests through American Securities' private-equity funds (its most recent flagship fund closed at a $7 billion hard cap), not personal angel capital.
• Targets control buyouts of market-leading North American companies with roughly $200M–$2B in revenue and $50M–$250M of EBITDA.
• Core sectors: industrials, business and consumer services, healthcare, consumer products, and energy — durable, cash-generative businesses rather than early-stage technology.
• The firm's stated philosophy centers on capital preservation through disciplined investing, hands-on operational engagement, and repeatable value-creation processes with typical holds of four to seven years.
• Nolan's own deal footprint (BELFOR — restoration services; NAPA — healthcare/anesthesia services; Milk Specialties — nutrition ingredients) reflects a focus on services and specialty-manufacturing platforms with recurring demand.