Our Team
Carrboro Capital, 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, Giga Media (OTC and Taiwan Exchanges), Southmark (NYSE), Kleinfield, Inc., The Pantry, Inc., and Capital Technology, Inc. He is a consultant to or board member, of several Private Equity funds including the RTP Real Estate Opportunity Fund, the Bacchus Fund, and the Infinity Israel China Fund. 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.
Brian J. Fauver, Vice President
Brian Fauver joined Carrboro Capital in the Fall of 2010 with a background in private equity and investment banking. Prior to business school, Mr. Fauver was an associate with Falfurrias Capital Partners, a Charlotte, NC-based private equity firm founded by Hugh McColl, Jr. and Marc Oken, former CEO and CFO of Bank of America. Before joining Falfurrias Capital Partners, Mr. Fauver was an investment banker with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey in Atlanta providing M&A and capital raising advisory services to companies in the financial services and technology industries.
He currently serves on the boards of A Southern Season and National Clinical Research, Inc.
Mr. Fauver received his undergraduate degrees in business administration and economics, with distinction, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has also earned his Masters in Business Administration from UNC Kenan-Flagler.
Karl Rodger, Associate Intern
Mr. Rodger joined Carrboro Capital in late 2010. He has a background in executing and advising middle market private equity transactions on both the buy and sell side. Previously, Mr. Rodger was an Analyst at The Riverside Company, where he helped invest out of the firm's $1.2 billion dollar North American fund. He joined Riverside in 2007 and worked to close four transactions while based out of the New York office. Prior to Riverside, Mr. Rodger was an Analyst at Harris Williams & Co., where he advised public and private companies on mergers and acquisitions in a wide variety of industries, including; energy, healthcare, building products, information technology, and consumer goods. He gained investment banking experience as an Analyst with the Technology and Telecommunications group at Raymond James Financial, and with Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.
Mr. Rodger was raised in Northern Virginia and attended the Saint Albans School for Boys, in Washington D.C. before earning a B.A. in Economics with a minor in Corporate Strategy, magna cum laude, from Vanderbilt University. He is also a 2012 Masters in Business Administration candidate from the Fuqua School at Duke University.
Tom Burkert, Associate Intern
Tom Burkert joined Carrboro Capital in late 2010. Prior to joining Carrboro Capital he was a Senior Development Analyst at the JBG Companies in Washington D.C. for five years. While at JBG he worked in all aspects of the real estate investment and development processes. He was responsible for over $700 million in total development costs across seven projects including mixed use, multifamily, office, and hotel investments.
Mr. Burkert received his undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Virginia in 2005. He is also a 2012 Masters in Business Administration candidate at UNC Kenan-Flagler.