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Investment Team

Managing Partner, Co-Founder

Steve Hassmann

Steve Hassmann is the Managing Partner and a co-founder of Texas Next Capital and its affiliated investment partnerships.

Steve Hassmann is the Managing Partner and a co-founder of Texas Next Capital and its affiliated investment partnerships.

Steve currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Managers of Fresh Texas, Capital Precast, and NewBasis, and works with these Boards to build strong strategies and leadership teams.

His career has spanned over three decades advising family offices and middle-market companies shaping a unique understanding of what it takes to drive growth and exceptional returns. He most enjoys working with these companies to bring people, capital, and other business-building resources of Texas Next to support acquisitions, adding customers and operational improvements, and sharing these company stories with investors.

Steve previously served on the boards of Summit Air Ambulance, Enviro Clean Group, REACH Air Medical Services, For Better Living, Inc., Echo Rock Ventures, and numerous asset securitization programs, and worked in industries such as precast concrete utility structures, fresh-cut fruit and vegetable processing, medical transportation, branded consumer products, publishing, financial services, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and trucking.

He was a charter member of the Oklahoma Christian University Business Advisory Council and a member of the Shiloh Ministries Board of Trustees in New York.

Steve earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Accounting summa cum laude from Oklahoma Christian University. He has passed the CPA Series 7 and Series 63 exams. Steve has been married for over 20 years, is the proud dad of three awesome kids, and loves their family adventures together.

Partner

David Winston

David Winston serves as a partner with Texas Next Capital. He is a board member with Capital Precast Holdings, Fresh From Texas and Night Hawk Frozen Foods.

David Winston serves as a partner with Texas Next Capital. He is a board member with Capital Precast Holdings, Fresh From Texas and Night Hawk Frozen Foods.

David is responsible for deal origination and due diligence, business development, and portfolio company monitoring, as well as the overall management, strategy, and operations of TNC.

Prior to joining TNC in February 2018, David was an analyst with J.P. Morgan in Austin and with Vision Research in Dallas, where he performed short-only equity research. David graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Entrepreneurship, Finance, and Business Fellows. While attending Baylor, David served as an Analyst with the Baylor Angel Network where he analyzed more than 75 early-stage companies seeking capital. He is a CFA Charterholder and has passed the Series 7 and 63 exams.

When not working with the Texas Next portfolio companies or spending time with his beautiful wife, two children, and golden retriever, you can find David bird-hunting in South Texas, skiing, volunteering with the Prison Entrepreneurship Program, or in a backyard with friends and family.

Partner, Co-Founder

John Kerr

John Kerr is a Partner and co-founder of Texas Next Capital and its affiliated investment partnerships and serves on the Board of Managers for Fresh Texas.

John Kerr is a Partner and co-founder of Texas Next Capital and its affiliated investment partnerships and serves on the Board of Managers for Fresh Texas.
John oversees a family investment office with a diversified investment portfolio and has extensive experience as an investor and entrepreneur. He began his career as a securities lawyer rising to partner at Andrews & Kurth in Houston and later at Cox & Smith in San Antonio. In the 1980’s, he was Chairman and CEO of American Century Corporation, a New York Stock Exchange-listed financial services company. In 1990, he formed Kerr Connors & Co., an investment firm with offices in San Antonio and New York City, and later was with the Houston investment banking firm Harris Webb & Garrison.

Since the early 2000’s John has been an active entrepreneur in the biotechnology space. He founded Azaya Therapeutics, using nanotechnology to reformulate oncology drugs, in 2002, and Evestra, a women’s healthcare specialty pharma company, in 2008. Azaya was sold in 2017 and Evestra has multiple products in clinical development, with facilities in San Antonio, Berlin, Germany, and Poznam, Poland.

John also has been extensively involved in the non-profit and charitable sector. He serves on the board of trustees of Texas Biomedical Research Institute, where he was chairman for nine years and president for over two years. He also serves on the governing boards of the Environmental Defense Action Fund in New York, the Menninger Clinic in Houston, and the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, and is an emeritus director of the Admiral Nimitz Foundation which oversees the National Museum of the Pacific War. He is a member of the Distribution Committee of the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation, and from 1995 to 2003 served on the board of directors of the Texas Public Finance Authority, the bond issuing authority of the State of Texas.

For over 20 years, John has also had an active writing career as the author of five published novels and two published works of non-fiction. He received his B.A. from Stanford University and his J.D. from the University of Texas Law School. He and his wife Susan have been married for over 40 years and have four grown children and four grandchildren.

Chief Financial Officer

Abbey East

Abbey East joined Texas Next Capital as Chief Financial Officer in September 2022 after serving for six years at another investment firm.

Abbey East joined Texas Next Capital as Chief Financial Officer in September 2022, with primary responsibilities including financial and tax reporting, treasury, transaction facilitation and investor reporting and communication.

Prior to joining Texas Next, Abbey was employed for six years at Main Street Capital Corporation (NYSE: MAIN), a principal investing firm providing private equity and private debt capital to lower middle market companies with enterprise values ranging from $20 million to $150 million. Abbey participated in Main Street’s sourcing, structuring, due diligence and execution activities for many platform investments and add-on acquisitions, executed on several portfolio company exits, and was responsible for the oversight and management of numerous portfolio companies.

Abbey received a B.B.A. in both Finance and Accounting from Baylor University and although she grew up on a cattle ranch in rural South Dakota, she has made Texas home for over a decade. Abbey currently lives in Waco with her husband and three young children.

Advisory Partners

Jim Adams

James “Jim” Adams is the former Chairman of the Board of Texas Instruments…

Dan Branch

Dan is a corporate lawyer and shareholder of Winstead PC…

Dale Brown

Dale is a Certified Public Accountant and a longstanding leader in the oil and gas industry…

Don Brunson

Don is a respected business and civic leader with a distinguished career in banking and financial services…

Guy Clifton

Guy Clifton, M.D. is Professor of Surgery at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Maryland…

Jim Collins

James “Jim” Collins is the General Partner of Rioco Partners, Ltd., based in McAllen.

Frank Krasovec

Frank Krasovec has founded, built, and monetized various successful companies…

Dick Schlosberg

Dick Schlosberg is the former Publisher and CEO of the Los Angeles Times…

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Dick Schlosberg

Dick Schlosberg is the former Publisher and CEO of the Los Angeles Times and the immediate past President and CEO of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, a position he held since 1999.

The Packard Foundation is one of the nation’s largest philanthropic foundations. During his five-year tenure, the Foundation averaged more than $10 billion in assets and made over $2 billion in grants to non-profit organizations worldwide.

Dick has been actively engaged in business, civic, and philanthropic organizations throughout his career. He is the immediate past Chairman of the Kaiser Family Foundation as well as the Texas Biomedical Research Institute. He currently is Chairman of the Rivard Report, a non-profit, member supported digital source of independent news and commentary serving San Antonio. He is a founding director of the Bank of San Antonio and Texas Hill Country Bank and currently serves on the board of the United States Air Force Academy Foundation, the San Antonio Medical Foundation, LiftFund, TAV Health and Evestra, Inc. Additionally, he is affiliated with the United States Olympic Endowment and serves on both the Finance Committee and Investment Committee.

His previous board affiliations include Edison International (serving two terms as Lead Independent Director), eBay, Inc., BEA Systems, the Times Mirror Company, the Smithsonian Institution, Pomona College and the USO. He is the past chairman of United Way Campaigns in Denver and Los Angeles.

Dick graduated from the United States Air Force Academy and earned a master’s degree with honors from the Harvard Business School. He served five years as an Air Force pilot and is a veteran of the Vietnam war. In 2003 Dick was honored by the Air Force Academy and named one of its distinguished graduates. He and his wife Kathy live in San Antonio, Texas and have two grown children and five grandchildren.

Frank Krasovec

Frank Krasovec has founded, built and monetized various successful companies over the last thirty years. He is a determined leader with an eye for strategic growth opportunities and the capacity to attract strong operating executives and develop successful management teams.

Frank is Chairman and one of the primary sponsors in building Dash Brands, a major quick service restaurant platform in China. Frank co-founded Dash Brands, Ltd. in 2007 by acquiring the development rights for Subway in Shanghai and Jiangsu Province. Dash also owns the development rights for Domino's Pizza in Eastern & Northern China, which includes Shanghai and Beijing. Dash is growing rapidly and will open over 100 new Domino’s stores in the next two years. Macquarie Capital became a strategic financial partner in 2013 and is working with Dash to prepare for an initial public offering.

In 2005, Frank was elected Chairman of the Ohio University Foundation to reorganize and lead the University in its major fundraising campaign to grow the endowment from $220 million to $1 billion dollars. Ohio University was established over 200 years ago and presently has over 30,000 students enrolled in undergraduate, graduate and PhD programs. Under Frank’s leadership the endowment has more than doubled in size since 2005. In 2008, former Governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland appointed Frank to the Board of Regents to represent Ohio University. In his role, the Board of Regents has called upon Frank's strong financial and strategic leadership to advise on the directive to reengineer and reset priorities during unprecedented economic challenges for higher education.

Frank began his career at Pittsburgh National Bank, now PNC. He relocated to Austin as co-founder of The Rust Group, a Texas-based investment partnership. A series of successful ventures followed: The Rust Group founded Communications Properties, Inc. and Prime Cable, domestic cable television operators; Telesystems International Corporation, a Zurich-based international cable television group; Rust Properties, a commercial real estate development company; and Evergreen Capital (now Austin Ventures), a venture capital firm.

In 1983, Frank founded Norwood Promotional Products, Inc. (NPPI) and remained CEO for nearly two decades. Under Frank's leadership, NPPI grew from $4 million to over $470 million in annual revenues. The company achieved recognition as the nation's leading supplier of promotional products. With Frank at the helm, NPPI's 3,000 products were sold by over 16,000 distributors in North America.

In 1984, Frank founded Littlefield Real Estate Company. The Texas-based commercial real estate investment and operating firm acquired 50 commercial properties with an investment basis of approximately $400 million. In 1996, the company began an orderly liquidation and sold its three portfolios to CarrAmerica (office), Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement Association (industrial) and Galesi Management (multi-family).

In 1984 Frank also developed the operating platform Norwood Investments where he serves as Chairman. Norwood Investments is a private enterprise that invests in and manages rapidly expanding companies in growing or consolidating industries. Primary investments included promotional products, media and telecommunications, and real estate. Norwood Investments is providing strategic assistance to investors interested in buying and selling in attractive markets. Frank has deep expertise in the private equity, hedge fund, and real estate markets.

Frank is Chairman Emeritus of the Ohio University Foundation Board of Trustees. Frank has been active in the Austin/San Antonio chapters of Young Presidents’ Organization, and as a founding member of the World Presidents’ Organization. Frank and his wife Margaret are generous donors to Ohio University and to the Austin community where they reside.

Jim Collins

James "Jim" Collins is the General Partner of Rioco Partners, Ltd., based in McAllen. Rioco is involved in the management of real estate investments, development, property management, and brokerage, as well as private equity and venture capital.

Jim also manages Mayfair Properties, a family investment office with interests in oil and gas, real estate, private equity and agribusiness. Jim was the Organizer Shareholder and an Advisor of Inter National Bank, which was sold to Mexico’s largest domestic owned bank, Banorte.

Prior to these roles, Jim was the Assistant VP of Operations and Corporate Secretary for Sunshine Mining Company in Dallas, which held interests in silver mining, oil and gas, and real estate.

Jim is Manager and Director of the James W. Collins Family Foundation, as well as Manager, Director and Treasurer of the Loring Cook Foundation. Jim is involved in many additional business activities, including Founding Shareholder of Southwest Bancshares, and Directorships with Alta Canada, Oasis Bank, Texas State Life Insurance, Copy Zone, Petroleum Solutions, R&H Food Service, South Texas GMC-Buick-Pontiac, Saturn of McAllen, Latin American Realty, and Edwards Abstract and Title Company. Past Directorships include, Sundowner Offshore Services, Bushmills Energy Corp, Texas State Bank, and Texas Regional Bancshares. Jim is a member of the McAllen, Texas, and National Board of Realtors, ICSC, Texas Independent Producers of Royalty Owners Association, Southwest Cattle Raisers Association, Texas Wildlife Association, Institute for Private Investors, Family Office Exchange, and the President’s Forum Entrepreneurship Institute of San Antonio.

Jim is active in the community and currently serves as Director to the Texas Business Hall of Fame and RGV Business PAC. In the past, he has been an Advisory Director to the University of Texas Pan American College of Business Administration, Ronald McDonald House, McAllen Economic Development Revolving Loan, and Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Institute, Quail and Deer. Jim is also Co-Trustee of the Ely Unitrust for the Rio Grande Children’s Home. Jim has been a member of the Board of Trustees for Texas Lyceum, Vice President for the Texas Business Hall of Fame, and Treasurer and member of the Board of Trustees for St. John Episcopal Day School.

Jim is a graduate of Southern Methodist University where he earned both his Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration degrees.

Guy Clifton

Guy Clifton, M.D. is Professor of Surgery at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Maryland and Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, where he was founding chairman.

Dr. Clifton serves on the Defense Health Board, the committee providing independent authoritative advice to the Secretary of Defense to maximize the health, safety and effectiveness of the US Armed Forces. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Vivian L. Smith Foundation for Neurologic Research.

Dr. Clifton was a 2006-2007 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow where he completed a one-year stint in the office of Senator Orrin Hatch (Republican, Utah). During the years of his practice in Houston, Dr. Clifton was frequently listed among America's top doctors. He is internationally recognized for clinical research in the treatment of severe brain injury and has authored or coauthored of over 100 scientific publications.

Dr. Clifton authored Flatlined: Resuscitating American Medicine in 2009, which elevated him in the national and state debate on healthcare reform in Washington, DC and Austin. Dr. Clifton’s book proposes a path for healthcare reform that reduces cost and increases quality of care by shifting financial incentives of providers from volume-based fee-for-service models to outcomes-based models tied to quality, and the establishment of clear quality benchmarks to index payments.

Dr. Clifton earned degrees from Texas A&M University and The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston with internship at the University of Minnesota and neurosurgery residency at UTMB. He has held faculty positions at Baylor College of Medicine and the Medical College of Virginia and is a member of the Academy of Distinguished Former Students of the Texas A&M University College of Science.

Don Brunson

Don is a respected business and civic leader with a distinguished career in banking and financial services in greater Houston. He is known for his ability to productively deploy institutional and investor capital to help business owners grow their companies.

Don has used his skills to build leading, local financial institutions in the Houston community. He is a co-founder of the Bank of Houston and serves as Chairman of the Board Emeritus. He also was the founding CEO of Northwest Crossing National Bank and co-founder of the Southwest Bank of Texas, now known as Amegy Bank. Don has served as a board member and on the leadership team of other banks including Sunbelt National Bank, Heights State Bank, Houston National Bank, and Allied Bank of Texas. He was also the CFO of American Prudential Capital, which finances small businesses. Don is a Certified Public Accountant and started his career with Price Waterhouse in the Houston office.

Don is active in a wide variety of civic organizations. He is the current Chairman of the President’s Cabinet at the College of Biblical Studies and an Elder at Bethel Church, where he served as Moderator of the 2011 Session. He has served on the board of numerous industry, civic, and charitable organizations including the American Institute of Banking, Lakeside Country Club, Downtown Houston YMCA, and the AD Players Theater.

Don is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University where he earned his BS in Accounting.

Dale Brown

Dale is a Certified Public Accountant and longstanding leader in the oil and gas industry. He has been a director of publicly traded Legacy Reserves, LP since its founding in 2005.

Dale is the founder and president of Petroleum Strategies, one of the nation’s oldest and most trusted providers of Qualified Intermediary services for energy clients looking to structure tax deferred exchanges. He also co-founded The Moriah Group with his son Cary Brown. Moriah is a diversified holding company with interest in technology, energy, real estate and construction. Additionally, Brown co-founded and organized with Cary, The Executive Oil Conference, a leading industry conference held annually in Midland since 1995.

Dale is currently serving on the Board of Regents for Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. He has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Pepperdine University Center for the Family since 2005. He served on the Abilene Christian University board for 23 years as well as the board of trustees for The Christian Chronicle. Dale is also currently serving on various other boards of both for-profit and non-profit entities.

Brown graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Pepperdine University.

Dan Branch

Dan is a corporate lawyer and shareholder of Winstead PC. He is a recently retired member of the Texas House of Representatives from Dallas and a former GOP candidate for Texas Attorney General.

Dan is a former judicial clerk to Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jack Pope and a former aide to the late U.S. Senator John Tower. Dan is listed among the Best Lawyers in America for 2015 and is a member of the bars of Texas, New York and the District of Columbia.

During his six terms in the Texas Legislature, Branch served as the Chairman of the House Committee on Higher Education, as a member of the Legislative Budget Board and on the Calendars and Appropriations Committees, among other committees. In addition, he was elected by his House colleagues in North Texas to successive terms to lead the Dallas Area Legislative Delegation.

Chairman Branch led numerous efforts to reform education and fiscal policies in Texas. He authored landmark legislation to develop more Tier One universities in Texas, reform college admissions and funding laws, and provide more interactive technology in classrooms. The Council of State Governments designated his classroom technology bill as model national legislation. His legislative efforts earned him awards from many sources, including the Texas Association of Business, the Metroplex Technology Business Council and the Texas Business Leadership Council. In 2011, Texas Monthly listed him among their "Ten Best" of the Texas Legislature.

Beyond his professional and legislative service, Dan chairs the board of the John Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University and is a member of the Philosophical Society of Texas. He is a former president of The Dallas Assembly and a former Chairman of the Texas Public Finance Authority, appointed by Governor George W. Bush. In 2011, Dan was appointed to serve on the Education Commission of the States and the Southern Regional Education Board by Governor Rick Perry.

Dan is a graduate of the SMU School of Law, an alumnus of the Institute on Comparative Political & Economic Systems at Georgetown University and holds two undergraduate degrees with honors from Oklahoma Christian University.

Jim Adams

James “Jim” Adams is the former Chairman of the Board of Texas Instruments, Group President of SBC Communications, and President & CEO of Southwestern Bell Telephone Company.

Jim served on Texas Instruments’ Board for 21 years. For all but three years of that tenure, when he was elected as employee Chairman, he was an independent director who had significant experience in serving as a member and several terms as chair of most of the Board committees, including Audit, Governance and Nominating committees. He previously served with SBC Communications as Group President, where he was responsible for International Operations. Prior to that, Jim served as President & CEO of Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. Jim began his career with Southwestern Bell in 1965 in San Antonio as a Computer Supervisor. During his business career he has served on the Boards of a number of public companies and on board committees of all of them. His special interests have been developing and executing strategy, implementing large scale change, and being part of industry leading performance teams.

In addition to his career involvement, Jim is also actively involved in community affairs. His special interests have been economic development and a number of educational thrusts. He served as Chairman of the Special Commission on 21st Century Colleges and Universities set up by Governor Perry. He is also a founder and President of the Harlandale Education Foundation which has a goal of insuring every graduate of that school district access to a University education. He worked with a select leadership team gathered by President George H. Bush in achieving passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In the educational arena, he was the statewide chairman and co-founder of Communities in Schools in Texas. That organization focuses on educational opportunities in secondary schools, particularly for disadvantaged youth.

His current civic and corporate board activities include LiftFund (the second largest US non-profit micro-lender), Oncor Electric Delivery Corp, Transpecos Financial Corporation, and Transpecos Holdings Corporation.

Jim is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a BA in mathematics and of The University of Texas with a MBA in statistics and finance.