Robert F. Mancuso

Chief Executive Officer

Robert F. Mancuso is the Chief Executive Officer of Capri Capital, LLC and related entities including Capri Capital Partners, through which investments in family held companies are made, and Capri Consulting, which advises families on the challenges they face resulting from intergenerational transfer. Robert is a pioneer in the alternatives assets category. He was the first President and Chief Executive Officer of Merrill Lynch Capital Partners, Inc., the entity responsible for establishing and growing Merrill’s private equity business. Merrill was the first Wall Street firm to raise a captive private equity fund from institutional investors.  In helping found Merrill Lynch Capital Partners, Robert was instrumental in designing its very successful strategy of being the "White Knight" to companies under threatened takeover from raiders who were financed by Drexel Burnham and Mike Milken.  While at Merrill, he sourced and led the team which closed the first ever billion dollar leveraged buyout, which was done with KKR as Merrill’s equity partner.  Over his career he led teams that raised over $7 billion in financing, tapping numerous providers of senior, mezzanine, and equity capital, from both public and private sources.  Robert has also served on the boards of directors of twelve companies ranging in size from $75 million to $4 billion in annual sales, many of which had previously been publicly traded. His corporate governance experience includes having been elected non-executive chairman of the board, a member of the executive committee, and a member of the compensation committee.  Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, he was associated with Lazard Freres & Co for four years, in its Corporate Finance department raising capital for domestic and multinational corporations and intergovernmental entities.  He also practiced law with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. before joining Lazard.  A prolific author, Robert has written numerous articles dealing with the challenges that family businesses face as a result of the Great Wealth Transfer, the imposition of confiscatory transfer taxes, and the unintended consequences of the growing popularity of wealth taxes.  His articles have been published by a number of leading media outlets, including Real Clear Markets, the Chicago Tribune, and Bloomberg under both its Tax and Law categories.  The full library of Robert's publications is available on our News and Insights page. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business as well as a JD degree from Cornell Law School.

He also has been a representative of the United States family business community on Capitol Hill, having visited and advocated with members of the US Congress’ Family Business Caucus on three occasions with regard to pending legislative proposals.