John Howard

Founder & Co-CEO

John Howard has more than 40 years of private equity investing experience in the consumer, retail, and industrial sectors, and has raised more than $8 billion of private equity capital. John is the Founder and Co-Managing Partner of Irving Place Capital, the former merchant banking arm of Bear Stearns (BSMB). Prior to founding Irving Place Capital in 1997, he was the Co-CEO of Vestar Capital Partners, a private investment firm specializing in management buyouts. Previously, John was the SVP and Partner of Wesray Capital Corporation, one of the foremost private equity sponsors and a pioneer in the leveraged buyout business. He has sat on the boards of more than 50 public and private companies and currently sits on the boards of about-face, Skims, Good American, Frame Denim, Veronica Beard, Malk and Wolf & Shepherd.