Our Team
Carrboro Capital Corporation, and its investment fund, Carrboro Investment Partners Fund, LP, is comprised of individuals with deep operating experience in a wide range of industries. We intend to enhance our portfolio companies’ value by utilizing appropriate capital structures and sound operating strategies to help management teams grow their respective businesses. We move rapidly from letter of intent to closing and encourage the current management team to stay involved in the new ownership of the company and to participate in the company’s future success.
Earl N. “Phil” Phillips,Jr., Partner
Mr. Phillips has decades of senior operating and board-level experience in a variety of companies. In 1972, he co-founded and was President and Chief Executive Officer of First Factors Corporation, a financial services company, which was acquired by GE Capital in 1998. In addition, Mr. Phillips was a Partner in Showplace, Hamilton Properties, and Phillips Interests, all real estate development and management companies specializing in home furnishing showrooms and offices in High Point. In 2002, Mr. Phillips was appointed by President George W. Bush as United States Ambassador to the Eastern Caribbean.
An avid supporter of North Carolina, Mr. Phillips served two terms as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of UNC-Chapel Hill and served as a member of the UNC Endowment Board for sixteen years. He was appointed by the North Carolina General Assembly to a four year term on the University of North Carolina Board of Governors overseeing the sixteen campuses of the UNC system and also served four years as a Trustee of the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand. In 1999-2000, Phillips served as Chairman of North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry, the State Chamber of Commerce known as “the voice of business in North Carolina.” He was also Co-Chair of North Carolinians for Educational Opportunity 2000, a $3.2 billion referendum of the University System and Community Colleges, which was overwhelmingly approved by 72% of the voters and by each of the 100 counties of North Carolina.
Born in High Point, North Carolina, Mr. Phillips is a graduate of Woodberry Forest School (Orange, Virginia), UNC-Chapel Hill, and Harvard Business School.
W. Clay Hamner, Partner
Mr. Hamner has years of board-level and transactional experience in a variety of industries. He is the Frank Hawkins Kenan Professor of Private Equity and the Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is also is the Chairman of Montrose Capital Corporation, which has owned or held majority interest in over forty businesses. Prior to founding Montrose Capital, Mr. Hamner was formerly a faculty member at Northwestern and Duke Universities.
Mr. Hamner has served on the Board of Directors of numerous companies including Wendy’s International, Inc. (NYSE), Fuqua National Corporation (NYSE), Fuqua Industries (NYSE) Triton Group, Ltd. (NYSE), Interstate Johnson Lane [(OTC) now Wachovia Securities], Giga Media (OTC and Taiwan Exchanges), Southmark (NYSE), Kleinfield, Inc., The Pantry, Inc., and Capital Technology, Inc. He is a consultant, board member, or investor in a number of Private Equity funds including the RTP Real Estate Opportunity Fund, the Bacchus Fund, the Infinity Israel China Fund and a number of other funds. He is also a consultant to WorldVest, a private equity fund placement agency.
Mr. Hamner has served on the Board of Visitors for the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at UNC-Chapel Hill, the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, the UNC Investment Company, Inc., the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Foundation Investment Fund, Inc., the UNC Funds, the Duke University Medical Center, Trinity College Board at Duke University, the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, and the Indiana University Business School Board of Visitors.
Mr. Hamner received his undergraduate and masters degrees from the University of Georgia and his doctorate in Business Administration from Indiana University.
Patrick McConnell, Managing Director
Patrick McConnell came to Carrboro in Fall of 2008 from the Net Lease Finance Group of RBS Greenwich Capital in Baltimore, Maryland. At RBS Greenwich, Mr. McConnell focused on the sizing, structuring, and securitization of senior-secured, mezzanine and credit-tenant financings. Prior to his experience in real estate finance, Mr. McConnell served as an aide to United States Senator John Breaux in Washington, D.C. He currently serves on the board of National Clinical Research, Inc. Originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Mr. McConnell received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and his MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill.