Spencer Fleischer

Spencer C. Fleischer co-founded FFL Partners — originally Friedman Fleischer & Lowe — in 1997 alongside Tully Friedman, David Lowe, and Christopher Masto. The firm is a San Francisco–based private equity manager focused on the U.S. middle market, and it has invested in more than 50 companies with roughly $4.6 billion in assets under management since inception. Fleischer served for years as a Managing Partner (and, in earlier descriptions, co-CEO and President) and today is identified on FFL's team page as Founder and Chairman. In June 2020, FFL elevated Chris Harris and Cas Schneller to Managing Partner, joining founders Fleischer and Friedman in the firm's senior leadership.

Before co-founding FFL, Fleischer spent 19 years at Morgan Stanley & Company as an investment banker and senior leader. His roles there included Head of Investment Banking in Asia, Head of Corporate Finance for Europe, Head of UK Corporate Finance, Head of Investment Banking in Los Angeles, and Head of Corporate Finance in San Francisco, and he sat on the firm's worldwide investment banking operating committee.

Fleischer grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. He earned a B.A. (Hons) in Economics from the University of the Witwatersrand and an M.Phil. in Management Studies from Oxford University, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar. Outside the firm he is known internally for sparking FFL's triathlon culture and remains a keen endurance-sports athlete, hiker, cyclist, cook, and reader.

Beyond FFL, Fleischer has held prominent public-company and nonprofit board seats. He has served as a director of Levi Strauss & Co. (since 2013) and was elected to the board of The Clorox Company effective July 2015. He has also been associated with Americans for Oxford, Inc.

• Invests in established, profitable U.S. middle-market companies rather than startups — control buyouts and growth-capital investments, not seed or angel rounds.
• Core sectors: healthcare services, financial services, business services, and consumer products.
• Frequently partners with founder- and family-owned businesses, positioning FFL as a growth and liquidity partner that provides capital plus operating support.
• Track record emphasized by the firm: ranked #1 in the HEC–Dow Jones Private Equity Performance Rankings in 2012 (and #2 in 2011), signaling a returns-driven, disciplined middle-market strategy.