Our Team
Collin Assam
Collin is an Analyst at Arrowroot. His primary responsibilities include sourcing, due diligence, transaction execution and portfolio management. Collin graduated with a B.A. in Economics from the University of Notre Dame.
Education
- University of Notre Dame, B.A., Economics
Michael Chun
He is responsible for assisting in all aspects of fund administration, including fund accounting, investor relations and compliance for the firm. Prior to Arrowroot, Michael was a Senior Assurance Associate at BDO USA, LLP and served clients in the private equity and venture capital industries. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.
Education
- University of California, San Diego, B.S., Joint Mathematics and Economics
Bradley Ehrlich
Brad is an Analyst at Arrowroot. His primary responsibilities include sourcing, due diligence, transaction execution and portfolio management. Brad graduated with a B.S. in Management and Finance, and a minor in Computer Science from Boston College Carroll School of Management.
Education
- Boston College Carroll School of Management, B.S., Finance and minor in Computer Science
Josh Ham
Josh is an Associate on the investment team. His primary responsibilities include sourcing, due diligence, transaction execution and portfolio management. Prior to Arrowroot, Josh worked at Five Elms Capital, a software-focused growth equity firm, where he executed investments and supported portfolio companies.
Education
- Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, B.S. Finance and Business Analytics
Steve Kim
Chief Financial Officer
He is responsible for financial management, fund administration, and investor relations for the firm. He has over 15 years of professional experience in accounting, finance, operations, and compliance functions for financial and asset management firms.
Prior to joining Arrowroot, he was a consultant with Clearlake Capital Group, a private equity firm based in Los Angeles, where he helped evaluate and implement various software and services related to fund administration. Prior to Clearlake, Steve was Chief Financial Officer at Armory Funds, a multi-strategy investment firm focused on middle market companies. Prior thereto, he served as Vice President of Operations at Tennenbaum Capital Partners where he was head of accounting and operations for their multi-strategy hedge fund. Before that, he held various positions at Oaktree Capital Management, OppenheimerFunds, and Merrill Lynch.
Education
- University of Colorado Denver, Business Administration, B.S.
Ashley McConkey
Ashley is a member of the Talent Acquisition Group at Arrowroot which partners with portfolio leadership teams to develop and execute strategic hiring initiatives. Prior to joining Arrowroot, Ashley worked as a technical recruiter with Signature Consultants placing positions such as software engineers, application architects, developers, project managers, and business analysts.
Education
- University of Arizona, Bachelors Degree
Thomas Olivier
Thomas is President, CFO of Arrowroot Acquisition Corp., a Special Purpose Acquisition Company focused on the Enterprise Software sector. He is a Consultant with, and former Managing Director in Houlihan Lokey’s Technology/Media/Telecom Group. He has over 20 years of experience working with technology companies as an investment banker, entrepreneur, and corporate legal advisor. Previously, Thomas was a Managing Director and Co-Head of Digital Media at Pacific Crest Securities. Before joining Pacific Crest Securities, he was a Managing Director with Morgan Keegan Technology Group, which acquired his prior firm, Revolution Partners, in 2008. Prior to Revolution Partners, Thomas was Co-General Counsel and Strategy Officer at iOptions, an online employee stock option portal. He also spent over five years practicing corporate law representing organizations in all stages of development, from start-ups to publicly held corporations, venture capital and investment banking firms, and both issuers and underwriters in numerous public offerings. Prior to attending law school, Thomas spent over two years at Morgan Stanley & Co. as an analyst in its Information Services Department.
Education
- George Washington University, J.D. with honors
- Boston College, B.S. in Economics
Thomas Oh
His primary responsibilities include sourcing, due diligence, transaction execution and portfolio management. Prior to Arrowroot, Thomas worked at Pacific Crest Securities in their software investment banking group and at B. Riley & Co. in their generalist investment banking group.
Thomas currently sits on the boards of Ayla, MedNet, mParticle, ServiceAide, and SilverSky.
Education
- University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, B.S., Business Administration
Cole Secor
Senior Associate
Paige is an Associate at Arrowroot. Her primary responsibilities include sourcing, due diligence, transaction execution and portfolio management. She previously supported the Talent Acquisition effort at Arrowroot by partnering with portfolio leadership teams to develop and execute strategic hiring initiatives. Prior to joining Arrowroot, Paige served as a Search Consultant at Avenue Pacific.
Education
- Columbia University, B.A., Psychology
Jessica Schmitt
Prior to joining Arrowroot, Jessica was a Director on the Fundraising and Investor Relations team at the Riverside Company, where she worked for over eight years. While at Riverside, she worked with investors globally and was involved in all aspects of fundraising and investor relations for private equity, structured capital and private debt funds investing in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Education
- Loyola Marymount University, B.A., Political Science
James Barrasso
James manages the Talent Acquisition efforts at Arrowroot by partnering with portfolio leadership teams to develop and execute strategic hiring initiatives. James has over 10 years of experience in Talent Acquisition and has expertise in building highly-scalable teams for startup companies in a variety of industries, including product technology, SaaS, and management consulting. Prior to joining Arrowroot, James built high-performance Technical and Sales teams at numerous high-growth companies, including; Innoveer Solutions, Rapid7, and EnerNOC.
Education
- Westfield State University, B.A., Communications
Patrick Czuj
His primary responsibilities include sourcing, due diligence, transaction execution and portfolio management. Prior to Arrowroot, Patrick worked at investment bank Raymond James, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financings, and other strategic initiatives.
Education
- DePaul University, B.S. Accounting and Finance
Kareem El Sawy
He is responsible for overseeing investment professionals & operating partners, qualifying deals, conducting due diligence, executing transactions, and monitoring portfolio companies.
Prior to Arrowroot, Kareem was at OpenGate Capital in Los Angeles, a global private equity firm, where he was on the M&A team for North and Latin America. He began his investing career in TMT merchant banking (now a part of Drake Star Partners). He was named to GrowthCap’s Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors in 2020.
Kareem currently sits on the board of Appvance, Firstup, KeyedIn, ParkHub, ServiceAide, and Sourcepoint.
Education
- Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, M.B.A.
- Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, M.A., International Studies
- University of Southern California, B.S., Corporate Finance and International Business
Kyle Horvath
Kyle is an Analyst at Arrowroot. His primary responsibilities include sourcing, due diligence, transaction execution and portfolio management. Kyle graduated with a B.S. in Resource Economics from the University of Connecticut School of Business.
Education
- University of Connecticut, B.S., Resource Economics
Stephenie Lauricella
Stephenie is responsible for office operations and providing high-level support to the Partners of the firm. Prior to joining Arrowroot, Stephenie held similar positions at Macquarie Capital and Credit Suisse and brings over 16 years of executive assistant experience.
Clem O’Donnell
He is responsible for overseeing SRG Directors, conducting platform diligence and supporting the portfolio in technology strategy, operational efficiency, scalability, and team development.
He brings 20+ years as a technology and operations executive, and the experience of three successful IPO’s to Arrowroot. After progressive roles at Oracle in his early career, he was an early stage employee of Forte Software and Vitria Technology staying with each through their public offering.
In 2000, Clem was the founding CTO of WageWorks (NYSE: WAGE), and in that role built one of the first fully hosted, multi-tenant SaaS platforms. With his technology leadership, WageWorks grew organically and through multiple acquisitions to a run rate of ~$150mm at the time of the IPO, one of many important milestones in a full SaaS lifecycle. Today, WageWorks’ market cap is over $2 billion. Clem has also served as a division General Manager and COO.
Clem currently sits on the boards of Fluent Commerce, ProTecht, ServiceAide, and Tulip.
Education
- Carnegie Mellon University, Information & Decision Systems, B.S.
Javan Rice
Javan is an Analyst at Arrowroot. His primary responsibilities include sourcing, due diligence, transaction execution and portfolio management. Javan graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Vanderbilt University.
Education
- Vanderbilt University, B.A., Economics
Matthew J. Safaii
He is also the Managing Partner, member of its investment committee, and CEO of Arrowroot Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Arrowroot Capital. His primary responsibilities include overseeing Arrowroot Capital, investment professionals and the Strategic Resources Group, as well as qualifying deals, conducting due diligence, executing transactions, and monitoring portfolio companies.
Matthew has worked at several private equity firms in the US and Europe. He is also an entrepreneur. His deal and board experience is concentrated in growth equity investments, but also has experience in leveraged buyouts and restructuring. Before founding Arrowroot Capital, Matthew was a Managing Director and Head of the Acquisitions Team at Actua Corp. While at Actua, Matthew was a lead or active investor and board member of several companies including MSDSonline, Parchment, Instamed, and InvestorForce. He was also an investment committee member of Rittenhouse Ventures, an early stage VC based in Philadelphia. Prior to Actua, Matthew worked in the technology group at TA Associates in the Boston and London offices. During his tenure, Matthew was an active investor, including board meeting attendance with: Creditex, Smartstream Technologies and OpenLink Financial. Prior to TA Associates, Matthew worked at Platinum Equity in Los Angeles, where he was involved with Platinum’s investment in Broadspire Services. Matthew was also the co-founder of Quewey, a digital media company based in Philadelphia. Matthew was awarded “Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors” in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 and was also awarded “Top 25 Software Investor” for 2020.
Matthew currently sits on the board of Clickatell, Engage3, KORE, SnapLogic, and Zift.
Education
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Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, M.B.A.
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Boston College, Carroll School of Management, Finance and Marketing, B.S.
Paige Tippet
His primary responsibilities include sourcing, due diligence, transaction execution and portfolio management. Prior to Arrowroot, Cole worked at investment bank Financial Technology Partners, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financings, and other strategic initiatives.
Education
- Boston University, Questrom School of Business, B.S. and B.A., Business Administration
Sopinant Welch
She brings over 20 years of administrative experience as Executive Assistant and Office Manager within the financial, real estate, and accounting industries. Prior to joining Arrowroot, she held various positions at Goldrich Kest, Cliffwater LLC, and Jennings, Steine & Co.
Education
- California State University Long Beach