Suzanne Kriscunas

Suzanne "Suzy" Kriscunas is a Dallas-based private equity investor whose career spans more than four decades in equity, mezzanine, and merchant-banking investing. She holds a BA in French Language and Literature from Denison University, and an MA (French literature, 1977) and an MBA in Finance (1980/81) from Indiana University. She began in banking and finance in Texas — including a credit trainee role at a Dallas bank and work with a venture subsidiary and a private family office — before spending roughly ten years as a Managing Director in the Merchant Banking Group of Banc One Capital Corporation, where she ran the Dallas office's equity and mezzanine investing.

In 2001 she joined The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm focused on the smaller end of the middle market, opening and building its Dallas office. She served as a transacting/investing partner from 2001–2007 and then became Managing Partner and Co-Manager (and Investment Committee Chair) of the Riverside Capital Appreciation Fund (RCAF) from 2007. In that role she led the investing team across the acquisition, growth, and sale of portfolio companies and helped set the funds' strategic direction, personally leading the acquisition of eight portfolio companies.

She stepped back from her day-to-day Managing Partner role around 2020 (after roughly 19 years) while continuing on the RCAF Investment Committee, and fully retired in April 2024 after nearly 23 years with the firm. Since retiring she has focused on corporate board and advisory work and on backing businesses that ride macro and consumer trends. In December 2022 she joined the Advisory Board of Grayhawk Ventures Fund III (an Arizona early-stage VC firm in which she had long been a limited partner).

Beyond investing, she is active in governance and civic life: a trustee at Denison University, a member of the Executive Dean's Advisory Board for Indiana University's College of Arts & Sciences, and a participant in the Dallas–Fort Worth Private Equity Forum, the Association for Corporate Growth, and the International Women's Forum. She has been recognized by the Dallas Business Journal's Women in Business Awards.

• Established, profitable companies over startups: At Riverside she pursued control buyouts of lower-middle-market businesses, typically $5–15M EBITDA, rather than early-stage venture bets.
• Generalist with a "size and leadership" lens: Riverside historically invested as generalists, prioritizing company size and the strength of the management team, while building deep expertise in select industries over time.
• Buy-and-build / growth acceleration: Her value-creation playbook centered on acquiring platforms and driving organic and acquisitive growth before a sale.
• Exit via strategic or financial buyers: Riverside's typical exits were private sales to strategic or financial acquirers rather than IPOs.
• Post-Riverside, macro/consumer-trend investing and early-stage exposure: She has said she left to leverage her passion for "investing in and building businesses while capitalizing on macro and consumer trends," and now participates in venture as an LP and advisory-board member (Grayhawk Capital).