John Phelan

Navy secretary with no military experience Mr. Phelan is the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of MSD Capital, L.P. He is also the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of MSD Partners, L.P. Prior to forming MSD Capital, he was a Principal for seven years at ESL Partners, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based investment firm. At ESL, Mr. Phelan was responsible for ESL's Special Situation and Distressed Investments and helped grow the firm from $50 million to over $2 billion in assets under management. Prior to ESL, Mr. Phelan was a Vice President in the Equity Group and was in charge of Acquisitions (Western Region) for the Zell-Merrill Lynch Real Estate Opportunity Funds. He began his career at Goldman Sachs & Co., where he worked as an Analyst in the Investment Banking Division. Mr. Phelan received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and cum laude with distinction from Southern Methodist University with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science. Mr. Phelan also holds a General Course degree with an emphasis in Economics and International Relations from The London School of Economics.