Darren Snyder

Darren Snyder has over fifteen years of private equity experience in addition to his six years of middle market lending and insurance experience. He currently serves as Partner in Prairie Capital, and is responsible for investment origination, due diligence, deal structuring, and negotiation. Darren also has portfolio management responsibility for Prairie Capital, with board responsibilities for over sixteen companies across Prairie’s five funds. Darren is currently a director for five Prairie Capital portfolio companies, including Captek Softgel, Insource Performance Solutions, Messenger and Pioneer Metal Finishing. Prior to joining Prairie Capital, Darren spent six years working closely with privately-held businesses as a Vice President for American National Bank and Trust Company (now part of J.P Morgan Chase). While with American National Bank, Darren's experiences included financing leveraged buyouts, venture backed firms, and managing a relationship-based lending portfolio of middle market companies. Prior to joining American National, Darren was a commercial underwriter for an insurance company, and owned and operated a family-held business. Darren is a former Chairman of the Illinois Venture Capital Association (IVCA). He has also served as former Chairman of the IVCA legislative committee, as well as serving on the board of its political action committee. Darren has also served on the board of the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies (now the SBIA), and is a former President of the Midwest Region. Darren graduated magna cum laude from Drake University with a BA in Economics. He received an MBA from the University of Chicago, and continues to be active with the university, guest lecturing in private equity classes and acting as a judge in the New Venture Challenge competition.