NextBoston - Partners

Jeffrey W. Smith Founding Partner

“There are so many great companies, great entrepreneurs, great ideas that deserve to grow and prosper - Our job is to prepare these companies for the challenges of funding, for the complexity of global growth and for the marathon of sustained success.”

Jeffrey became a Founding Partner of NextBoston in Milan in 1999. He brings an exceptional track record of formulating and driving strategic growth plans for a series of transnational engineering, technology and service corporations. Jeffrey maintains particular expertise in leveraging tactical M&A and restructuring as critical components of corporate growth. As an operating principal, CEO and director, he has taken the leading role in the execution of projects, acquisitions and investments in fifteen countries.

At NextBoston, Jeffrey is responsible for strategic restructuring, M&A planning and integration, organizational repositioning, and valuation planning. As a NB CEO and Managing Director, he has led projects in publishing, environmental engineering, computer hardware, information systems integration, food and materials technology.

Prior to founding NextBoston Jeffrey served as the president and partner of Praim Technologies, a leading European developer of Server Based Computing solutions including Thin Clients, Network Management tools and Enterprise Printing Solutions. Concurrently, he led successful global reorganizations in the Packaging and Skin Care industries.

Earlier in his career, Jeffrey served as Managing Director and principal of Smith Valve Asia, a manufacturer of petrochemical valves and control systems based in Hong Kong and Singapore. Through organic growth and a series of strategic acquisitions, SVA attained a leading market share in all major Asian markets. Jeffrey earned his AB in Economics from Brown University. He and his family live in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Thomas A. Powell Partner

“Once you have created value, you have choices. Disciplined hard work, appropriate systems, comprehensive planning - these are the components of sustained success and these are the building blocks that will release the latent value in your company”

Tom brings to NextBoston a wealth of high-level financial, operational, strategic and general management experience, primarily in consumer goods companies. He has been exceptionally successful in creating shareholder value for privately owned companies through the design and implementation of professional financial and management systems. His rigorous and disciplined application of these proven management tools has consistently increased profitability and realizable value.

Tom learned his profession in a Fortune 150 environment at the H. J. Heinz Company, rising from a financial analyst to head of all Planning and Control for the North American operating company (sales of $1 billion+). His experience included M&A, internal turnarounds, budgeting and performance measurement, capital spending analysis, and business planning and development.

Since 1990, as a CFO, COO, SVP and GM, Tom has utilized this skill set to drive various middle market consumer goods businesses. Under his leadership, these early stage and entrepreneurial companies have created realizable value by achieving systematic, sustainable and profitable growth. He has created significant success at a women's swimsuit manufacturer, a premium dessert producer, a primary agribusiness producer, and a footwear licensing operation. The extraordinary, long term performance improvements engineered by Tom at Alden Merrell Fine Desserts of Newburyport, MA, resulted in an highly successful sale to a strategic buyer at twice the anticipated earnings multiples.

Tom graduated with an AB in Economics from University of Pennsylvania and earned his MBA from the Wharton School. Tom belongs to a number of professional associations including the Association for Corporate Growth, Boston Chapter; and IdeaSphere, a networking and support group for entrepreneurs. An accomplished pianist, Tom and his family live in Madbury, New Hampshire.

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