Emigrant Partners

CEO and President Jenny Hourihan sets the firm's strategic direction and oversees both new platform investments and sub-acquisitions for partner firms. The Investment Committee includes Chair Liz Nesvold, a 30-year veteran of RIA M&A who founded Silver Lane Advisors, alongside Emigrant Bank Co-Chairman Barry Friedberg and Milstein Companies Chairman Howard Milstein. Day-to-day deal execution is led by Directors Karl Schneider and Ryan Daly, who source and diligence new investments out of New York.

The firm originates proprietary deal flow through the deep wealth management networks of its leadership team — particularly Chair Liz Nesvold, who spent three decades as the industry's most recognized M&A banker, and Managing Director Mark Bruno, whose career spans RIA research, events, and consulting at Informa and InvestmentNews. Emigrant Partners structures minority investments directly with founder-led wealth and asset management firms seeking growth capital, succession funding, or liquidity, typically without a formal auction process.

Emigrant Partners functions as a permanent-capital investment platform within Milstein Companies, a fourth-generation family-owned operating entity. It deploys off-balance-sheet family capital rather than committed fund structures, but operates with the deal diligence and portfolio support infrastructure of an institutional private equity firm. The firm's indefinite hold periods and tax-efficient minority structures distinguish it from traditional PE sponsors.

The capital base traces to the Milstein family's fourth-generation enterprise, which encompasses Milstein Properties, New York Private Bank & Trust, and a portfolio of operating businesses across real estate, banking, and specialty finance. Emigrant Partners is a unit within that ecosystem, drawing permanent capital that does not face the fundraising or exit-timeline constraints of a conventional fund manager.

Emigrant Partners exclusively takes minority equity positions, positioning itself as a strategic partner rather than an acquirer. Its capital solutions are structured around specific events in a firm's lifecycle — organic growth acceleration, M&A financing, founder liquidity, internal succession, and advisor recruitment — with the operating firm's founders retaining control.

The firm fields a dedicated Strategic Advisory team, led by Managing Director Mark Bruno and Director of Research & Consulting Kyle Gentile. Their mandate spans organic growth strategy, human capital planning, efficiency consulting, and M&A origination for partner firms — extending well beyond passive capital provision. This advisory overlay is staffed by professionals with operating backgrounds at Focus Financial Partners and institutional asset managers.

Emigrant Bank and Emigrant Partners operate as separate affiliates under the Milstein Companies umbrella. Liz Nesvold serves as Vice Chair of Emigrant Bank and Chair of Emigrant Partners, creating a governance link between the depository institution and the investment platform. Emigrant Bank's subsidiary trust companies — New York Private Trust, Sarasota Private Trust, and Cleveland Private Trust — provide fiduciary and wealth-management services that coexist alongside Emigrant Partners' minority-investment strategy.