EPIC Leadership
Nearly 75 Years of Collective Private Equity & CPG Experience
Mark Habner
Managing Partner
Mark has over 25 years experience in both the private equity and operations consulting sector in the USA, Australia and Europe. Mark currently leads BeckWay Group and its four divisions, Hemingway Capital, TalentFinders, Trailblazers and Tracking Technologies and supports the continued growth and success of the overall business.
​
Previously Mark was a Senior Managing Director with SSA & Company where he led the firm’s Capabilities Practices. SSA is an operations consulting firm focused on strategy execution. Mark remains a non-executive Advisor to SSA & Company.
​
Prior to SSA Mark was a Partner with RMB Capital Partners, a leading mid-market private equity fund in Australia, where he led and managed investments in healthcare, industrial products and business services. Mark commenced his career at Booz & Company.
​
Mark has an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg, he also has a B.A. in Law & Commerce with Honors from The University of Tasmania
Rich Cavaliere
Managing Director
Rich is a Senior Operating Director at BeckWay Group. He has over 20 years of experience in Manufacturing Operations, working with Privately Held Multinational corporations and Private Equity backed companies. He utilizes his 20 years of hands on experience managing plant operations and changing work force cultures to drive increased plant performance to meet customer requirements and reduce total cost of ownership.
He believes in creating a culture of continuous improvement by simplifying processes and increasing ownership of front-line employees. Rich has extensive experience building new manufacturing sites, turning around or retrofitting existing sites and consolidating manufacturing sites.
Rich has a B.S. of Science in Chemical Engineering.
Paul Smucker Wagstaff
Managing Partner
Paul Wagstaff is a recognized leader in the Retail Consumer Foods industry in the United States. Most recently, Paul was co-Founder and CEO of Eagle Family Foods, a private equity backed CPG food company based in Richfield, Ohio. Paul, led the stand up of the business after completing the platform acquisition of Eagle Brand Milk from The J.M. Smucker Company. Under Paul’s leadership, the Eagle ready to eat popcorn brands became the fastest growing popcorn in the U.S.
​
Previously, Paul was President of The J.M. Smucker Company US Retail Consumer Foods Division where he successfully led a $2.4 billion business in net sales with over $400 million in profit.
​
Paul currently serves on the Advisory Board of American Nutrition, Cyprium Partners, and the University of Akron Foundation Board. He has served on The J.M. Smucker Board of Directors, Advisory Council for Students in Free Enterprise, the Funders’ Committee for The Fund For Our Economic Future, The Healthy Weight Committee Foundation Board of Governors, and The Old Trail School Board of Trustees.
​
Paul earned an MBA from Pepperdine University and completed his B.A. in International Relations at The College of Wooster.