Burlington Capital Partners

Burlington Capital Partners

Burlington Capital Partners was founded in Cleveland to address a narrow, persistent gap in the lower middle market: profitable, non-cyclical businesses where the owner needs a first institutional partner for growth or succession. Operating without a disclosed family-office parent or external capital providers, the firm is led by Tim Novak and Michael Baldwin, both Kellogg MBAs who previously ran manufacturing operations and corporate strategy inside larger private-equity-backed platforms. Novak's last role involved overseeing multi-site packaging manufacturing and greenfield buildouts; Baldwin took a portfolio company public at a $525 million enterprise value and managed a $2.5 billion foodservice P&L. The firm makes control equity investments in U.S.-based companies generating at least $2 million in EBITDA with histories of profitability. Its sector focus sits squarely in non-discretionary, reoccurring-demand industries: food and beverage manufacturing, packaging, pet products, wellness goods, value-add distribution, home services, and tech-enabled services. The website emphasizes a conviction in B2B and B2C businesses with a "customer-first" posture, though no specific portfolio company names are publicly disclosed. Transaction structures appear to favor direct buyouts and internal growth programs; the firm does not market a fund-of-funds or club-deal model, and no co-investor partnerships are listed on its public-facing materials. The team operates from Cleveland; no additional offices are disclosed, and neither total committed capital nor AUM figures appear in any available source. The firm's principals are its public-facing investment committee: Tim Novak and Michael Baldwin. No philanthropic foundations, operating subsidiaries, or network memberships such as Tiger 21 or YPO are referenced on the website. No dated operational events from the last 24 months are available in the public record. The structural differentiator is a generalist mandate executed through a specialist lens: both partners carry deep operating pedigrees in food and manufacturing, yet the firm purposefully extends into packaging, distribution, and consumer services where repeatable playbooks — management depth, route optimization, SKU rationalization — can be applied across end markets.