Key Takeaways
- Geography: United States.
Analysis
Windjammer Capital has bolstered its senior ranks with three strategic appointments, naming Evan Klebe as Managing Director, Beth Lesniak as Principal and Meredith Stein as Head of Investor Relations. The moves arrive as the Newport Beach- and Waltham-based firm sharpens its middle-market private equity platform and investor outreach.
Each hire brings distinct sector and capital-marketing experience. Evan Klebe joins from Beach Point Capital Management, where he was a founding leader of the private equity effort and served as a Managing Director. Klebe’s background also includes investment roles at Lindsay Goldberg and 3i Group and front-line deal experience from Morgan Stanley and UBS, positioning him to lead complex buyouts and carve-outs across industrial and specialty niches.
Beth Lesniak arrives with a track record in sourcing and executing transactions across industrials and business services, having held roles at Norwest Equity Partners, Grey Mountain Partners and The Riverside Company. Her investment-banking roots at Wachovia Securities and Citigroup add execution discipline to Windjammer’s deal team as the firm targets scalable, niche leaders.
On the investor-facing side, Meredith Stein will run IR and LP engagement after senior IR roles at Flexpoint Ford, Cross Ocean Partners and Avenue Capital Group. Her brief focuses include fundraising strategy, limited-partner communications and supporting ongoing portfolio narratives — capabilities that matter as LPs seek clearer reporting and governance from mid-market managers.
The firm also highlighted the late-2024 hire of Gianluigi Sepe as a Principal, whose industrials and life-sciences sector expertise complements the new additions. Collectively, the appointments increase Windjammer’s senior bench at a moment when middle-market specialists face fierce competition for proprietary deal flow and for experienced investment operators.
Windjammer Capital manages approximately $3 billion of committed capital for its control-equity strategy and has completed more than 60 platform investments alongside over 200 strategic add-ons since inception. The firm’s stated focus remains on businesses with defensible niche positions, differentiated offerings and scalable models — attributes the new team members are expected to help evaluate and scale.