W Martin
Managing Director
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- Full Name
- Todd Martin
- Title
- Managing Partner (previously Managing Director)
- Firm
- CW Industrial Partners, LLC (formerly CapitalWorks, LLC)
- Firm Type
- Private equity — lower middle-market control buyouts (the stub's "Angel Investors / Seed Round" label is inaccurate; the firm makes majority/control investments, not seed rounds)
- Investment Stage
- Control/majority buyouts of established, profitable lower middle-market companies
- Check Size
- Platform companies with roughly $3–9M EBITDA and $15–75M revenue; the firm invests out of CapitalWorks Fund IV, a ~$125M committed fund
- Target Company Profile
- Niche manufacturing, value-added distribution, and business/industrial services companies — often founder- or family-owned businesses seeking succession or growth capital
- Sector Focus
- Industrial specializations including aerospace & defense, electrical components and equipment, motion and flow control, material handling/automation, plastics and polymers, and other engineered products and services
- Geographic Focus
- Midwest-centric — historically targets companies "within a day's trip of Cleveland, OH"
- Location
- Cleveland, Ohio (1100 Superior Avenue, Suite 1725)
Background
Todd Martin is a Managing Partner of CW Industrial Partners, the Cleveland-based lower middle-market private equity firm founded in 1999 as CapitalWorks (rebranded to CW Industrial Partners in January 2022). He joined the firm in 2006 and today handles much of its day-to-day management — developing and maintaining relationships with the firm's investor base and financial intermediaries, sourcing and executing transactions, and stewarding portfolio-company investments.
Martin's background is distinctively operational and engineering-heavy for a private equity principal. Before joining CapitalWorks he worked in investment banking at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, in operations and management at General Electric — where he trained through GE's New Manager and Operations Leadership programs and worked as a Six Sigma Black Belt / operations manager — and earlier at LTV Steel. That mix of manufacturing-floor and deal experience aligns closely with CW's thesis of buying and improving industrial businesses.
He holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, plus both a Bachelor of Science and a Master's degree in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.
CW Industrial Partners positions itself as a partner-oriented, "value-based" buyer that leans on an Industry Advisor Network™ of experienced operators and entrepreneurs to evaluate and govern deals. The firm is led by CEO Richard R. "Dick" Hollington III alongside Martin; it was originally founded by Rob McCreary.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Acquires control positions in profitable lower middle-market industrial companies — not venture, seed, or minority angel checks
- Targets companies with roughly $3–9M of EBITDA and $15–75M of revenue, generally within reach of Cleveland/the Midwest
- Focuses on niche manufacturing, value-added distribution, and industrial business services, organized around specializations like aerospace & defense, motion & flow control, material handling/automation, electrical components, and plastics/polymers
- Emphasizes active, hands-on partnership over passive capital. In his own words: *"I believe that being a knowledgeable, active partner and good sounding board is as important as access to capital."*
- Leverages the firm's Industry Advisor Network™ — successful entrepreneurs and executives who co-invest and help vet and govern deals
Notable Investments
- Libra Industries — vertically integrated electronic manufacturing services provider for aerospace and defense; acquired as part of CapitalWorks Fund IV (2019)
- ERL / Electromechanical Research Laboratories — designer and manufacturer of specialty pumps, valves, gauges, and seals
- Safe-Way Garage Doors — manufacturer/distributor of residential and commercial garage doors; fifth platform investment in Fund IV (later add-on: 1 United Door Technologies, 2023)
- GEMCITY Engineering & Manufacturing — Dayton, Ohio precision manufacturer (2017)
- Avtron Aerospace — aircraft component test solutions
- Testek Solutions — aerospace and defense test equipment
- Capewell Aerial Systems — safety, tactical, and parachute products for defense
- Bluffton Motor Works — fractional electric motors
- KKSP Precision Machining — high-volume precision metal components
- Mantaline Corporation — engineered extruded elastomeric products (add-on investment, 2024)
- Chemtron Corporation — environmental waste management solutions
- Innerpac, Innoveyance, Magna-Tech Manufacturing, Paradigm Windows, Premium Plastic Solutions, Ripley Tools, Engine Control Systems — additional industrial platform holdings
- Bancsource — exited (announced 2021)
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