Kent Bartley
Kent is an operating advisor to Gallant focused on the Industrial and Business Services sectors. Kent has over 30 years of experience in the Environmental and Industrial Services, Transportation Services, and Emergency Response subsectors across multiple geographies in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Kent was formerly the CEO of Patriot Environmental Services, a comprehensive environmental, waste, and national response services provider. Prior to Patriot, Kent was a Senior Vice President of Sales and Operations at Clean Harbors, which is the largest provider of comprehensive environmental and waste services in North America. Previously, Kent also served as a Chief Operations Officer at Envirosystems, a leading provider of industrial and waste services, and as President at Maviro, a catalyst and specialty services provider. At Patriot, Envirosystems, and Maviro, Kent worked directly with each company’s board of directors and equity partners on mergers and acquisitions, transactions and turnarounds, new business branding, start-up and integration, as well as adding new and innovative services that added value to each company’s portfolio. Kent received an M.B.A from Northeastern University and a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Maine. He is married with two children and lives in Duxbury, Massachusetts.
Wes Johnston
Wes is an operating advisor to Gallant focused on the IT services sector. He is a veteran information & communications technology (ICT) executive with more than 25 years of experience as a business leader, operating executive, and board member. As a veteran private equity M&A executive, he has completed diligence and transactions on more than 100 companies. He is a current or recent board member of Highstreet IT (ERP consulting), BluLogix (cloud services), the Telecommunications Industry Association (not for profit), Imagine Communications (video broadcast), Tweddle (automotive), Elo (digital signage), Tiburon (e911) and Alpheus (telecommunications). Also a technology leader, Mr. Johnston was the Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer for Dimension Data, a $6B member of NTT holdings (NYSE:NTT). Dimension Data is a global systems integrator that helps clients plan, build and support their ICT network infrastructures worldwide. Serving the commercial and public sectors, the company offers products and services in IP Networking, Network Security, Converged Communications, Data Center Platforms, Contact Center, Microsoft and Cloud SaaS.
Mr. Johnston holds an AB in Math and Economics from Princeton University, an Executive MBA from George Mason University, and completed a European study program in International Business. Mr. Johnston also holds a cyber security patent related to scaling the delivery of security policies across disparate networks and datacenters (No. 20150244771).
Paul Kerr
Paul is an advisor to Gallant focused on the technology sectors and the CEO of Dyntek and rSolutions. Paul was the Director of Partnerships for Google Cloud Canada, where he focused on developing and maintaining Google Cloud ecosystem partnerships and was responsible for delivering services and solutions across the Google Cloud ecosystem. Prior to Google, Paul was founder and CEO of Scalar, a technology services company focused on enterprise grade security, cloud and infrastructure solutions. As CEO, Paul grew Scalar to nearly $500M in revenue through organic and acquisitive growth, culminating in a successful exit to CDW in 2019. Paul started his career at IBM and was the managing partner at an early internet company called Enterprise Technology Group prior to founding Scalar. Paul received a BSc in Computer Science and Math from McMaster University and an ICD.D designation from the University of Toronto School of Business. He is married with three children and lives in Toronto, Canada.
Brian Kramer
Brian is an operating advisor to Gallant focused on the operations, growth, and CEO effectiveness of professional service firms, and currently holds a board position at Pro-Vac. As a licensed professional engineer with deep expertise in his field and decades of CEO experience, Brian’s analytical skills and experience are the foundation for his strategic, operational, and leadership guidance. Mr. Kramer served as CEO of various companies held by U.S. Laboratories and substantially contributed to the company’s successful IPO and ultimate sale to Bureau Veritas. While CEO of Twining, Inc., he successfully restructured and diversified a 105-year-old business resulting in a 10x increase in shareholder value.
Brian also leveraged his operating and technical experience as CEO and majority owner of Quality Built to scale the business to a national presence, develop new proprietary software and optimized data asset, and ultimately a 30x increase in shareholder value and successful exit. Mr. Kramer obtained his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from San Diego State University and his Master of Business Administration from University of California, Irvine. He is a member of Young President’s Organization (Gold) and Chi Epsilon (Civil Engineering Honor Society). Brian is currently providing advisory services through Spider Solutions, LLC with an emphasis on engineering/construction risk, acquisitions, and leadership advising. He and his family share their time between Laguna Beach, CA and Park City, UT.
Billie Joe Nutter
Billie Jo Nutter is an operating advisor to Gallant Capital and Lightning Step Board Member focused on the Healthcare Services and Healthcare Technology sectors. Billie has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare continuum from acute to home & hospice and technology platforms focused outpatient services and health plan services.
Billie was formerly the CEO of Chordline Health, a Saas platform for payer and health plan organizations. Prior to joining Chordline, Billie served as the CEO of Casamba, an electronic health record for skilled nursing, outpatient, home & hospice, and revenue cycle management where Billie was pivotal to the successful sale of Casamba to Net Health, a Carlyle-backed company. Billie also served as the CEO of Avalon Healthcare, a senior living organization and COO at EnduraCare Acute Care Services (EACS), a leading provider of acute care services in physical, occupational, speech pathology, and respiratory services. At Chordline, Casamba, Avalon, and EACS, Billie also served on each company’s board of directors and worked with equity partners on mergers and acquisitions and developing new business verticals.
Todd Owens
Todd is an operating advisor to Gallant focused on the human capital management and information services sectors and sits on the board of InformData. Todd is currently the co-founder and CEO of Kevala, a workforce management software solution designed to address the unique challenges of credentialing and scheduling in healthcare. Prior to launching Kevala in 2020, Todd built a strong reputation for being a growth-oriented CEO of enterprise SaaS and tech-enabled service businesses, primarily in the marketing and human resource verticals. His most recent venture, Azuqua, a SaaS integration platform backed by Insight Partners, completed a successful exit to Okta in March 2019. Previously, he led TalentWise and Appuri, leaders in the background screening and customer data platform categories, to strategic acquisitions by Sterling InfoSystems and DocuSign. In addition to Inform Data, he serves as an independent director on the board of WorkforceQA, a leading provider of occupational health, drug, and alcohol testing solutions for federally regulated industries. Todd graduated with a B.S. in Ocean Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a nuclear submarine officer. He earned his MBA from Harvard Business School in 2001, is married with 2 children, and lives in Kirkland, Washington.
Garry Richey
Garry is an advisor to Gallant focused on U.S. Department of Defense logistics, maintenance and supply chain management. He sits on the board of Aero Turbine. Garry currently serves as a consultant to large and mid-size businesses doing work with the U.S. DoD as well as government agencies. His 35+ year federal service career included serving as a member of the Senior Executive Service in positions at three Major Air Commands. He was the Executive Director of the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker AFB, OK, the largest single site employer in the state of Oklahoma. He served as the Proposal Manager for Tinker’s winning bid for the engine workload coming from the closing San Antonio Air Logistics Center, the largest Public-Private competition ever conducted by the U.S. Air Force. He culminated his career as the Director of Logistics, Installations and Mission Support at the Air Education Training Command, the first civilian to serve in that role for a Major Air Command. Garry received the Distinguished Executive Presidential Rank Award and is a 2023 inductee in the San Antonio Aviation and Aerospace Hall of Fame. A U.S. Army veteran, Garry began his career following his graduation from the University of Oklahoma in 1977. He is married with 2 children and 6 grandchildren and lives in San Antonio, Texas.
Note: Members of the Gallant Operations Advisors Group generally provide operational due diligence for prospective and consummated transactions, as well as assist with post-closing operating initiatives for portfolio companies. Gallant Operations Advisors Group members are consultants that may be retained as independent contractors or employed by Gallant or its affiliates.