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Trivest Partners
Trivest Partners opened its doors in 1981, predating the southeastern private equity boom by decades.
Trivest Partners
Trivest Partners opened its doors in 1981, predating the southeastern private equity boom by decades. Operating from Coral Gables, Florida, the firm exclusively pursues founder and family-owned businesses — a narrowing of focus that distinguishes it from generalist middle-market peers. That discipline is encoded into its internal motto, 'Private Equity for Founders,' and sustained by a multi-generational leadership group that includes partners Jamie Elias (since 1997), Dave Gershman (since 2002), and Jorge Gross Jr. (since 2006). Trivest operates three distinct fund strategies: a traditional buyout fund for mid-market platform investments, the Trivest Discovery Fund targeting smaller lower-middle-market founder transitions, and the Trivest Growth Investment Fund (TGIF), a non-control minority-investment vehicle. The firm’s deal teams originate transactions across business services, industrials, consumer, healthcare, and enterprise software — often building platforms through aggressive add-on acquisitions. The portfolio has spanned companies such as Lubrication Engineers, Novatech, Pelican Water Systems, and Perricone Juices. Origination operates from five offices across the United States and Toronto, with dedicated regional directors covering the Midwest, Gulf Coast, and Northeast. The firm’s website lists more than 120 professionals spread across investment, business development, and a dedicated Portfolio Support Group, which drives value creation through the 'Path to 3x' operating playbook. In 2025, Trivest installed Brent Blankenship as Director of Originations for the TGIF strategy, and in early 2026 added dedicated operating executive support for the Discovery Fund. The firm is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, with a director-level hire in 2023 focused on sustainability benchmarking across the portfolio. Trivest’s structural differentiator is not just its exclusive founder-and-family focus — many firms claim that — but the layered capital solution set it has built around that niche. By offering buyout, growth equity, and non-control investment strategies under one roof, the firm can meet a founder at nearly any stage of a generational transition, reducing the pressure to sell outright when a minority recapitalization might better preserve a legacy.
General information
Firm type
Private Equity
Year founded
1981
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Coral Gables
Corporate office
2811 Ponce de Leon Blvd, Ste 400, Coral Gables, FL 33134, United States
Additional offices
Charlotte · Chicago · Los Angeles · New York · Toronto
Principals
Jamie Elias
Partner
Dave Gershman
General Counsel
Jorge Gross Jr.
Partner — leads Trivest Recognition Fund
Brian Connell
Partner — emphasis on Trivest Discovery Fund
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Trivest?
Day-to-day investment leadership sits with a group of long-tenured partners including Jamie Elias (joined 1997), Dave Gershman (joined 2002), and Jorge Gross Jr. (joined 2006). Each leads a distinct strategy — Gross runs the Recognition Fund, Brian Connell focuses on the Discovery Fund, and Elias heads TGIF, the non-control investment strategy. The firm maintains a formal Investment Committee that includes these partners.
Is Trivest structured as a single family office or does it operate more like a venture firm?
Trivest is a private equity asset manager, not a family office. It manages commingled institutional funds across multiple strategies — buyout, lower-middle-market (Discovery Fund), and non-control growth investments (TGIF). Its exclusive focus on founder and family-owned businesses can blur the appearance, but the firm raises capital from limited partners and is not managing a single-family fortune.
Does Trivest participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?
Trivest only makes direct investments and add-on acquisitions — it does not operate as a fund-of-funds or allocate to outside GPs. The firm’s three strategies (buyout, Discovery Fund, TGIF) all deploy capital directly into operating businesses, typically taking control or significant minority positions alongside family shareholders.
What investment stages does Trivest typically target?
Trivest targets founder-transition situations: buyouts, recapitalizations, and growth equity placements. The flagship buyout fund acquires majority stakes in mid-market companies, the Discovery Fund handles smaller lower-middle-market founder exits, and TGIF writes non-control growth checks. The firm does not pursue early-stage venture or distressed turnarounds.
How is Trivest related to 'Trivest Family Offices'?
The 2025 hire of Jennifer Cuellar into a 'Trivest Family Offices' role suggests the firm operates a parallel wealth-advisory function separate from its private equity funds. Details are sparse, but this likely exists to serve the personal financial needs of the founders and families whose businesses Trivest partners with, creating a stickier relationship post-exit.
Where does the underlying capital come from if it's not a single family?
Trivest raises capital from a broad base of institutional limited partners. The firm discloses the existence of an 'Investors' section on its website and a non-solicitation disclaimer, but as an asset manager it has never publicly attributed its AUM to a single family or individual wealth source.
What is Trivest's known posture on co-investments alongside external GPs?
Trivest operates as a lead or control investor and does not position itself as a co-investment or fund-of-funds platform for external managers. Its referral programs for independent sponsors and intermediaries are designed to source proprietary deal flow for Trivest funds, not to allocate capital to other GPs.
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