Birmingham, Alabama and Los Angeles, California – 17 April 2019 – Kirchner Group, a leading boutique firm focused on advisory, operational, and M&A support for mid-market companies as well as asset management services, announced today that Zack Porter has joined the firm. Zack will leverage his extensive experience focusing on Kirchner Group’s Portfolio Optimization initiative working to help limited partners and limited partner advisory committees help their fund managers optimize returns through the return-of-capital phase of fund lives.

As a partner at Proteus Environmental Technologies, Zack developed a multi-asset class investment strategy blending private equity, real assets, and venture investing to develop ecosystems of investments that could deliver more attractive risk-adjusted returns compared to singular investments.  He applied this strategy across multiple sectors, culminating in him co-leading the 2014 independent acquisition of Midwestern BioAg, a 30-year-old agribusiness leader in soil health, where he subsequently led their business development efforts related to interactions with farmland investors and agricultural banks.

“Zack has amassed many significant accomplishments for someone so early in their career and is a great addition to our firm. He will also bring a wealth of energy and experience to our portfolio optimization offering,” stated W.B. (Bud) Kirchner, Founder and CEO of the Kirchner Group. “We look forward to continuing to refine and at the same time expand the reach of our proprietary model and optimization approach.”

Kirchner’s Portfolio Optimization initiative, launched over a decade ago, is designed to assist limited partners and general partners in ageing or underperforming funds realign interests and collaborate toward optimal return of capital events. After 14 engagements accounting for over 140 portfolio companies, Kirchner has delivered consistently attractive results.

Zack’s industry experience spans agriculture, food, water, energy and security. He is also on the Board of Directors of the Stimson Center, a nonpartisan policy research center focused on the greatest threats to global security and prosperity, and is an active advisor to several organizations.

“I am excited to join the Kirchner platform. Partnering with a firm that has blended operational and financial disciplines is a perfect fit for me, and I look forward to working closely with Bud and the team on our Portfolio Optimization business.” added Zack.