Investment Professionals

John P. Birkelund

Mr. Birkelund is a co-founder and Managing Director at Saratoga.  He joined Dillon Read & Co., Inc. in 1981.  Mr. Birkelund served successively as President, Chief Executive and Chairman from 1981 to 1997 when the firm was sold to Swiss Bank.  Mr. Birkelund co-founded Saratoga in 1984 and has been a member of the Saratoga Partners Investment Committee since its inception.  Prior to joining Dillon Read, Mr. Birkelund co-founded New Court Securities Corporation in 1967 (now Rothschild, Inc.), and served as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and as non-executive director of N.M. Rothschild & Sons.  Under his leadership New Court Securities emerged as one of the leading venture capital/buyout firms in the country.

Mr. Birkelund is a past director of the New York Stock Exchange and the Securities Industry Association and, in recent years, served on the corporate boards of N.M. Rothschild & Co., Barings Brothers, C.R. Bard, Copperweld Corporation, Darden Restaurants, NacRe Corporation, Lenox, Inc., and the advisory boards of the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development and ORIX USA Corporation.

In 1990, Mr. Birkelund was asked by President Bush to organize and chair the Polish American Enterprise Fund, a $240 million federal aid program designed to stimulate the newly privatized Polish economy sector through loans and investments in small and medium size enterprises.  The Fund is now in liquidation with a net gain of some $100 million.  Half of the original capital has been returned to the U.S. Treasury, and the balance has been contributed to a newly formed Polish charitable foundation.  The original Enterprise Fund has been succeeded by a private investment management firm chaired by Mr. Birkelund, which, with some $800 million in assets, has emerged as the leading such enterprise in Poland and Central Europe.  He has been recognized by the Polish government and has been similarly honored by the U.S. State Department for his services to Poland.

Mr. Birkelund has served on the Investment Committee since founding Saratoga with Mr. Durkin in 1984.  Mr. Birkelund provides strategic oversight, investment and management insight and other benefits from his vast investment and management experience.  While Mr. Birkelund is a member of the investment committee, he has no direct portfolio company responsibilities.

Mr. Birkelund graduated from Princeton University in 1952 with an AB degree and pursued graduate studies in business administration at Northwestern University.  He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1953 to 1955.

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Charles P. Durkin, Jr.

Mr. Durkin has been responsible for the direction of the Saratoga Partnerships since inception in 1984, prior to which he was a Managing Director in Dillon Read’s investment banking mergers and acquisitions group, having joined in 1966.

Mr. Durkin has been involved in all Saratoga investment decisions since inception.  His principal current portfolio company responsibilities include a directorship of Emeritus Corporation, a December 2000 investment in one of the largest operators and owners of assisted living facilities in the U.S. and which has performed well for Saratoga.  Mr. Durkin was formerly a director of the following companies, all of which have been realized: Atlantic Cellular Company, Datavantage Corporation, Koppers, Inc., Scovill Fasteners Inc., USI Holdings Corporation, CapMAC, Formica Corporation, Hi-Lo Automotive Inc. and Viking Office Products Inc.

Mr. Durkin graduated from Princeton University in 1960 with a BS in Engineering.  He earned an MBA from Columbia University in 1963.

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Christian L. Oberbeck

Mr. Oberbeck has shared management responsibility for Saratoga Partners with Mr. Durkin since joining Dillon Read and Saratoga Partners from Castle Harlan, Inc. in 1995.  He was a Managing Director at Castle Harlan, a corporate buyout firm which he joined at its founding in 1987.  Prior to joining Castle Harlan, he worked in the Corporate Development Group of Arthur Young and in corporate finance at Blyth Eastman Paine Webber.

Mr. Oberbeck’s principal portfolio company responsibilities include directorships of Advanced Lighting Technologies, Inc., Data Return, NAT, Inc., STC Wireless Resources, Inc., EUR Systems, Inc., CommSoft, Inc., Scovill Fasteners Inc. and Koppers Industries Inc.  Mr. Oberbeck was formerly a director of the following fully-realized portfolio companies: USI Holdings Corporation and J&W Holding Corporation.

Mr. Oberbeck graduated from Brown University in 1982 with a BS in Physics and a BA in Mathematics.  In 1985, he earned an MBA from Columbia University.

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Charles G. Phillips, IV

Mr. Phillips joined Saratoga Partners from Harvard Business School in 1997.  Prior to that, from 1993 to 1995, Mr. Phillips worked in Dillon Read’s corporate finance department, where he was involved in Saratoga transactions, mergers and acquisitions and advisory assignments in a variety of industries including cable television, packaged foods, energy, and consumer products.  Prior experience also includes McCown De Leeuw & Co., a corporate buyout firm.

Mr. Phillips’ principal portfolio company responsibilities include directorships of NAT, Inc. and EUR Systems, Inc. and oversight responsibilities for Koppers, Inc.  Mr. Phillips was formerly a director of Equality Specialties and Datavantage Corporation.

Mr. Phillips graduated with an AB from Harvard College in 1993 and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1997.

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Richard A. Petrocelli

Mr. Petrocelli, the Chief Financial Officer of Saratoga Partners, joined the Firm in 1998 from Gabelli Asset Management, Inc.  At Gabelli, Mr. Petrocelli was a Vice President in the corporate finance department with a primary focus on the Company’s alternative investment business.  Prior to that, he was a senior accountant at BDO Siedman. 

Mr. Petrocelli’s principal portfolio company responsibilities include directorships of Advanced Lighting Technologies, Inc., Data Return, Sericol, Inc., EUR Systems, Inc., CommSoft, Inc. and STC Wireless Resources, Inc. 

Mr. Petrocelli graduated with a BS from Georgetown University in 1990 and earned an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of business in 1999.  He is a Certified Public Accountant. 

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Maria F. Costanzo

Ms. Costanzo joined Saratoga Partners from the Compass Global Group and prior to that served as Controller and Director of Human Resources while at Gabelli Asset Management Inc. from 1993 through 2001.  Ms. Costanzo also spent two years as a tax consultant at Arthur Andersen and graduated with a BS from Iona College in 1991.

Ms. Costanzo is Controller of Saratoga Partners with responsibilities including the financial management of the Saratoga funds, due diligence, financial supervision of portfolio companies, and limited partner relations.

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David W. Niemiec

Mr. Niemiec's principal portfolio company responsibility is a directorship of Emeritus Corporation.

Mr. Niemiec, 50, was formerly Vice Chairman of the Board of Dillon, Read & Co. Inc., a member of the firm's four person Management Committee and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Niemiec has over 15 years of private equity experience through his involvement in Dillon Read's domestic corporate buyout fund, venture capital and energy funds, international fund experience through Dillon Read related activities in the U.K., France, Spain, Portugal and Brazil and his management of Dillon Read's direct investment program involving more than 100 portfolio companies. Other related experience includes Mr. Niemiec's prior membership on Dillon Read's bridge loan and high yield financing commitment committees, chairing the firm's capital commitment committee, and primary responsibility for Dillon Read's merger and restructuring arbitrage business.

Mr. Niemiec graduated from Harvard College and received an MBA. from Harvard Business School prior to joining Dillon Read in 1974.

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John F. MacMurray