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Introducing
the Shore Search Partners Team

Meet the team behind Shore Search Partners—your trusted guide in the complex journey of small business acquisition.

About the Team

At Shore Search Partners, we serve as mentors and strategic guides for entrepreneurs navigating the search and acquisition of small businesses. Backed by a 12-year track record in lower middle market investing, our team brings hands-on experience, trusted relationships, and purpose-built resources to help you succeed. With us, you’re not going it alone—you’re supported by a platform that understands the challenges and adds real credibility to your journey.
Bio

Justin Ishbia

Managing Partner

Bio

Michael Aubrey

Managing Partner

Bio

Cameron Perkins

Executive Partner

Bio

Pedro Russell

Vice President

Bio

Adam Behringer

Analyst

Bio

Jeff Smart

Principal

Bio

Jacob Balley

Principal

Bio

Kathy Wanner

Executive Partner

About Shore Capital Partners

Shore Capital Partners has been named one of Inc. Magazine’s Top Founder Friendly Investors for five years running. We work exclusively with small to mid-size businesses. If you partner with Shore, you harness a network of 50+ companies and thousands of executives who have been where you are — and can help you get where you’re going.

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Justin Ishbia

Managing Partner

Justin is a Founding Partner of Shore Capital, a lower middle-market private equity firm focused on partnering with companies that have between $1-10 million of EBITDA. Justin is responsible for investment sourcing and valuation, transaction structuring, the securing of acquisition financing, fundraising and all administrative activities. Justin sits on the board of directors of several Shore Capital portfolio companies.

Outside of the office, Justin is member of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust and Board of Directors Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, and a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). Justin received his Juris Doctorate from Vanderbilt University Law School. Justin earned a Certificate of Law and Business from the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management and a B.A. in Accounting from Michigan State University. Justin is a member of the State Bar of Illinois and a Certified Public Accountant.

Michael Aubrey

Managing Partner

Michael serves as a Partner at Shore Capital, a lower middle-market private equity firm focused on partnering with companies that have between $1-10 million of EBITDA. Michael is responsible for leading the Search Fund.

Michael joined Shore while currently serving as Chief Executive Officer of Mission Veterinary Partners since September 2018, after serving on the Board of Directors since the company’s inception. Prior to joining MVP, Michael served as CEO of StatLab Medical Products, which became one of the premier anatomic pathology suppliers in the United States under his leadership. Prior to acquiring and building StatLab Medical Products, Michael spent four years working in his father’s family business, during that stretch the company grew revenues seven times and the number of team members grew five times. Aubrey also sits on the boards of Delasco Dermatological Supply Company, Together Women’s Health, Therapy Partners Group, and CrestLight Capital.

He received The Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award 2023 Michigan and Northwest Ohio. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Business Administration.

Cameron Perkins

Executive Partner

Cameron serves as a Partner on the Search Fund at Shore Capital, a lower middle-market private equity firm focused on partnering with companies that have between $1-10 million of EBITDA.

Cameron Perkins has 20+ years of experience in healthcare as a provider and an executive leader, scaling healthcare practices in many different specialties. His career began as an emergency medicine and critical care provider in North Carolina. He and a partner founded FastMed Urgent Care in 2001, which grew into a leading national urgent care platform with several successful recapitalizations. He then transitioned to an executive coach and board member for healthcare provider-led multi-site healthcare services. Cameron also serves in leadership roles within venture capital, medical device, and not-for-profit organizations.

Cameron first worked with Shore Capital Partners in 2013 as an Operating Partner on the Fast Pace Urgent Care Board of Directors. He has served as a Lead Independent Director for South Star Urgent Care and Community Care Partners. He is currently serving Shore Capital Partners as an Executive Partner focused on scaling clinical excellence and operations through our portfolio company’s clinical leaders.

Cameron and his wife, Lisa, have resided in North Carolina for 25 years and share four children. On a typical weekend, you will find Cameron offshore fishing, hiking, snowboarding, or in a tree stand.

Pedro Russell

Vice President

Pedro Russell is a Vice President on the Search Fund Investing Team at Shore Search Partners. He is responsible for partnering with search fund entrepreneurs throughout their search, acquisition, and operating phases. Pedro also serves as a Lecturer in Finance at MIT Sloan School of Management, where he teaches Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition.

Prior to joining Shore Search Partners, Pedro was a Shore-backed Search Fund entrepreneur who led and ran Gilmore Bridge, a firm he established in 2024. Previously, he was a Small Business Investor at Shore Capital Partners and held leadership roles at Juno, where he led the firms revenue function, and Cengage Group, where he managed the strategy and operations for a 500-person sales force.

Pedro received his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a BS in Finance from Bentley University. He is fluent in both English and Spanish, and is an avid reader and chess player, as well as an aspiring single-handicap golfer.

Adam Behringer

Analyst

Adam is an Analyst at Shore Search Partners, the search fund investment arm of Shore Capital, a lower middle-market private equity firm focused on partnering with companies that have between $1-$10 million of EBITDA. Adam is responsible for conducting due diligence on new search fund investment opportunities and implementing value creation initiatives within portfolio investments.

Prior to joining Shore, Adam worked at Highpoint Healthcare Advisors, an M&A advisory firm focused on veterinary transactions. Earlier in his career, he interned at Bridgepoint Investment Bank, supporting sell-side and capital advisory engagements, and at Baird in equity research. Additionally, Adam operated an outsourced cleaning and detailing business serving the chartered aviation, watersports, and luxury vehicle markets.

Adam received a B.S. In Finance and a Minor in Economics from Ball State University

Jeff Smart

Principal

Jeff is a Principal at Shore Capital, a lower middle-market private equity firm focused on partnering with companies that have between $1-10 million of EBITDA. Jeff’s responsibilities include sourcing, evaluating, and enabling the growth of Shore’s investments in the food and beverage industry.

Prior to Shore, Jeff worked as an Analyst at Lazard Middle Market in their Investment Banking Division. While at Lazard Middle Market, Jeff provided mergers and acquisitions advisory services and assisted companies with debt and equity financings. Prior to joining Lazard Middle Market, Jeff completed internships at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and Chicago Growth Partners.

Jeff received a B.A. in Economics and History from Vanderbilt University.

Jacob Balley

Principal

Jacob is a Principal on the Talent team at Shore Capital, a lower middle-market private equity firm focused on partnering with companies that have between $1-10 million of EBITDA. Jacob is responsible for leading Shore’s CXO program. The goal of the program is to recruit and place highly motivated executives into Shore portfolio companies and support them with training, mentorship, and coaching to accelerate their growth and fast track them into C-suite positions.

Previously, Jacob served as VP Talent at Alpine Investors where he was responsible for talent acquisition & post-hire experience for the CEO-in-Training program. Prior to Alpine, Jacob was a Director at SPMB, a boutique executive search firm based in San Francisco.

Jacob graduated with a B.S. in Business & Economics from The University of Southern California.‍

Kathy Wanner

Executive Partner

Kathy Wanner is an Executive Partner with Shore Capital Partners, a lower middle-market private equity firm focused on partnering with companies that have between $1 to $10 million of EBITDA. Kathy focuses on supporting the firm’s strategic initiatives and supporting its funds and portfolio companies. She is a Senior Advisor and was a Founding Partner in 2020 of Fairway Capital Management, a private equity firm. Kathy was a founding partner in 2001 and dedicated 23 years to Adams Street Partners, LLC, a global private equity firm, as well as its predecessor firms, Brinson Partners Inc. and UBS Global Asset Management. From 1998 to 2015, Kathy played an active role on various private equity and venture capital advisory boards, completing numerous primary investments across multiple sectors while managing relationships with the firm’s venture, energy-focused, and special situation managers. From 2007 to 2015, she led the US Primary investment team at Adams Street Partners and was a member of the firm’s Global Primary Investment Committee. Kathy managed the US Primary investment team and oversaw deployment of client’s capital into US primary investments, annually totaling between $800 and $1 billion into 20+ funds. Prior to that, from 1993 to 1997, Kathy held several operational roles in finance, communications, and business development at the successor firms, where she focused on the revenue cycle, statistical analysis, and market research. Following her retirement from Adams Street Partners in 2015, Kathy served as an Operating Partner at Abundant Venture Partners from 2016 to April 2020. She began her career as an analyst at Morgan Stanley & Company in New York.

Outside the office, Kathy serves on the Private Equity Advisory Council (PEAC) at Kellogg and on the board and the Investment Committee for the Binghamton University Foundation. She serves on the board and is the audit committee chair for New Fortress Energy (NASDAQ: NFE). Kathy is a founding board member at DCALTA, a 501(c) non-profit organization created to educate the community on the benefits of including alternative investments within a defined contribution framework. In addition, she is a board member at CureSearch, a national non-profit foundation that accelerates the search for cures for children’s cancer.