Tony Lee

Tony W. Lee is a co-founder and Managing Partner of One Rock Capital Partners, a New York–headquartered private equity firm. Within the firm he leads investment strategy, oversees operations, and drives the development and performance of the portfolio companies. One Rock is a control-oriented, operationally intensive buyout firm — a very different profile from the "angel / seed" label attached to the stub data.

Before founding One Rock, Lee spent more than a decade at Ripplewood Holdings, which he joined in 1997 and where he rose to Managing Director responsible for the firm's efforts in the global chemicals and industrial sectors. Earlier in his career he worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions group at Salomon Brothers in New York. This chemicals/industrials lineage is reflected directly in One Rock's deal focus today.

Lee earned an A.B. in Economics from Harvard College. He is active in industry and community organizations, serving on the board of the National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC) — the trade association for diverse-owned private equity and venture firms — and the Korean American Community Foundation, and he has spoken at investor forums such as the RFK/Kennedy Human Rights Compass conference and The Korea Society. He has also served as a director of One Rock portfolio companies.

Under Lee's leadership, One Rock has grown from a first-time fund into a firm managing more than $10 billion of cumulative capital commitments, with a July 2025 fund closing that was its largest to date.

• Operationally-focused, value-oriented control buyouts of middle-market businesses — One Rock uses a deep bench of Operating Partners to drive value creation rather than relying on financial engineering.
• Sector concentration in areas Lee knows well: chemicals and process industries, food & beverage manufacturing and distribution, packaging, specialty/industrial manufacturing, and business & environmental services.
• Complex carve-outs and special situations are a hallmark (e.g., separating a large business unit from a corporate parent), where operational complexity creates value opportunities.
• Check sizes befitting a large buyout firm, not seed: roughly $200M–$400M of equity per deal in Fund IV for companies with >$40M of EBITDA, and $50M–$150M in the lower-middle-market Emerald Fund for companies with up to $40M of EBITDA.
• The firm describes its approach as partnering with management teams to "strengthen operations and build the foundation for long-term success" through active oversight.