Guardian Capital Partners is pleased to announce the promotion of Christopher S. Fugaro to Principal and Head of Business Development. Mr. Fugaro leads deal origination at Guardian. He is responsible for overseeing all origination initiatives for new and existing portfolio companies and recommending investment opportunities. Notable Guardian recent transactions directly sourced by Mr. Fugaro include: Airhead Sports Group; ABO Gear, LLC d/b/a Aussie Naturals (follow-on investment for Hyper Pet LLC); Carson-Dellosa Publishing Group; SMG Extol LLC d/b/a Direct Line; and Trumpette, Inc. (follow-on investment for McCubbin Hosiery LLC).

Working on numerous transactions since joining Guardian in 2010, Mr. Fugaro has extensive experience in all phases of the investment process and has primary portfolio company oversight responsibilities for PPI/Time Zero, Inc.

Mr. Fugaro calls upon his extensive professional relationships and experience in financial advisory and strategy consulting to distinguish Guardian in the market as a preferred private equity partner for business owners, management teams and shareholders. Previously Mr. Fugaro was an investment banker with Griffin Financial Group, LLC, where he provided merger and acquisition and capital raising services for middle market companies across a wide range of industries. Prior to investment banking, Mr. Fugaro was a management consultant with Greenwich Associates, where he advised leading commercial and investment banks through a combination of comprehensive market research and in-depth analysis.

Mr. Fugaro earned his MBA from Wake Forest University with a finance concentration where he was a Babcock Scholar and his BA in business management from Gettysburg College.

About Guardian Capital Partners

Located in the Philadelphia suburbs, Guardian Capital Partners is an operationally focused private equity firm that leads control-oriented investments in lower middle-market private companies with annual revenues generally between $20 million and $100 million and EBITDA generally between $3 million and $9 million. Guardian invests in three specific sectors: Consumer Products, Niche Manufacturing and Specialty Business Services. For more information, please visit www.guardiancp.com.