Mitchel F. Vernick
Mr. Vernick joined Graue Mill Partners in 2004 as chairman of its Advisory Board of Directors. Through his leadership, the Advisory Board actively assists in sourcing and evaluating prospective investments for the firm and, selectively, co-invests in specific transactions. Mr. Vernick currently serves in a similar advisory capacity with several other established private equity firms.

Prior to the company's sale in early 2004, Mr. Vernick was President and Chief Operating Officer of Transamerica Finance Corporation, a $12 billion commercial finance business, with responsibility for a worldwide organization of 5,000 people. He had previously been Vice Chairman of Heller Financial, Inc., the Chicago based commercial finance company, responsible for most of its domestic operations. In addition to heading Heller's leading middle-market private equity lending operations, he started and oversaw three distinct in-house private equity investment businesses. Mr. Vernick began his twenty-four year career in financial services at Continental Illinois National Bank, where he played a leading role in the loan workout effort related to the bank's Penn Square involvement, followed by a stint as vice president in Citicorp's leveraged finance business in Chicago.

In addition to his intimate knowledge of the fundamentals of private equity and commercial finance, Mr. Vernick brings extensive operating experience managing large, complex businesses. The application of these skills in assisting GMP's mid-sized portfolio companies significantly enhances the firm's ability to support management teams in evaluating, recrafting and managing investments in profitably growing businesses.

Among his various other activities, Mr. Vernick currently sits on numerous corporate and civic boards of directors, mentors disadvantaged youths at an inner-city high school and teaches corporate finance at DePaul University's graduate school of business. He received both a BA degree with high distinction and a MA in public policy from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.