Investment Team – Prides Crossing Capital

Karen Liesching, Managing Partner

Karen has spent her professional career sourcing, structuring, and monitoring debt and equity investments in private companies. Prior to co-founding Prides Crossing Capital in 2013, she spent 13 years as an investment professional at Housatonic Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm. While at Housatonic, Karen co-founded, built and managed Housatonic Debt Investors, a private credit fund. Karen began her career as a commercial lender. Before her tenure at Housatonic, she spent 12 years at State Street Corporation underwriting and monitoring loans in a variety of recurring business services industries.

In her capacity as an equity investor, Karen served on the boards of numerous private companies. In the non-profit realm, she also served on the Women’s Leadership Council of Lahey Health and as a trustee of Concord Academy and Belmont Day School, where she held the positions of Treasurer, Vice Chair and Chair of the school’s board. Karen received a BA in Economics at Tufts University.

Peter Sherwood, Managing Partner

Before co-founding Prides Crossing Capital in 2013, Peter spent 30 years in commercial banking. During 16 years at State Street Corporation, he focused on providing debt capital to growing businesses, relying on the enterprise value of the business rather than tangible assets. Peter managed State Street’s Commercial Finance Group until the bank’s sale in 1999. He then founded and built One Conant Capital, the leveraged lending arm of Danversbank, which was sold in 2012.

Peter holds an AB from Bowdoin College and an MA from The Johns Hopkins University. Peter is a former a long-time board member of Care Dimensions (formerly Hospice of the North Shore and Greater Boston) serving as Clerk, Treasurer and then for four years as Board Chair. He has volunteered with the American Cancer Society, is the former President of the Prides Beach Association, the former Chairman of the Finance Committee for the Town of Essex, MA, a former board member for the Barrier Islands Parks Society in Boca Grande, FL, and presently serves on the board of the Johann Fust Library Foundation, also in Boca Grande.

Jason Luther, Partner

Jason brings a unique combination of investing and operating experience to the Prides Crossing Capital team. Prior to joining, Jason was the COO/CFO of BEX Realty, where he oversaw all functional areas of the organization, including technology, development, finance, and operations. Jason led BEX through multiple equity raises as well as shepherded the company though its strategic transformation from a regional residential real estate brokerage in Florida to a national technology player in the real estate space. He has lived in the entrepreneur’s shoes and understands the role a lender plays in a company’s value-creation journey.

Formerly, Jason was Vice President of Pacific Lake Partners, a private equity firm dedicated to providing best-in-class intellectual and financial capital to search fund entrepreneurs. His professional background also includes Case Writer and Entrepreneur in Residence for Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he co-authored the 2013 Stanford Search Fund Study, as well as Mechanical Engineer for Sensata Technologies. Jason received his MBA from Stanford University and his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly, where he graduated summa cum laude.

Nichole Guerrette, CFO

As the firm’s CFO, Nichole is responsible for the preparation of financial reports, fulfilling audit, tax and regulatory requirements, and investor communications.

Nichole is a graduate of Salem State College, where she earned a BS in Business Administration with an accounting concentration. She also holds her Master’s degree in Business Administration from Endicott College, where she is now an Adjunct Professor teaching accounting and finance in the school’s MBA program.