Tom Ambrose

Tom Ambrose is a co-founder and Partner at Black Bay Partners, the New Orleans–based private equity firm he launched in 2016 with fellow Tulane University alumni Michael LeBourgeois (Managing Partner) and Guy Cook (Partner). At the firm he sits on the Investment Committee and oversees deal sourcing, transaction execution, portfolio-company monitoring, and overall strategy. Black Bay specializes in strategic growth-capital investments in the energy industry and related chemical and industrial sectors, and as of early 2026 had raised more than $850 million across three institutional funds (a $224M Fund I, a $209M Fund II, and a $425M Fund III closed at its hard cap in January 2026), backed largely by university endowments and foundations.

Before founding Black Bay, Ambrose was a Vice President at NGP Energy Technology Partners (NGP ETP), which he joined in 2011, where he sourced investments, ran transaction analysis and execution, and monitored portfolio companies in the oilfield-service and technology sector. Earlier in his career he was a Senior Analyst in Halliburton Company's in-house M&A and Corporate Development group, working on strategic acquisitions and corporate initiatives.

Ambrose is a Tulane native son of the program: he earned a B.S.M. in finance and economics from Tulane University (class of 2009), graduating magna cum laude as a Distinguished Scholar, and completed an Energy Specialization through the Tulane Energy Institute. He began his career in Houston after graduation, then returned to New Orleans in late 2011 to team up with LeBourgeois, and the pair partnered with Cook to build Black Bay locally. The firm maintains a deliberate Tulane hiring and internship pipeline; Ambrose has said "Tulane is really an important part of our story."

• Stated thesis (his own words): "We wanted to partner with companies that are doing something innovative in the energy and chemical industries — something better, faster, cheaper, safer."
• Stage & structure: Control-oriented growth equity, management buyouts and leveraged buyouts of established lower-middle-market operating companies — not early-stage/seed venture despite some aggregator labels.
• Check size: Roughly $10M–$30M of equity per platform deal, drawn from institutional funds (Fund III is $425M).
• Company size: Targets businesses generally below ~$25M EBITDA, with returns generated through operational improvement and scaling rather than financial engineering.
• Sectors: Energy services and technology, energy-transition/emissions and clean-chemistry solutions, and adjacent chemical and industrial markets across the North American energy value chain.
• What makes them say yes: Differentiated, innovative products/technology that make energy "cleaner, safer, more reliable, and affordable," a strong management team to partner with, and a clear path to operational scaling.