Partner | Perpetuate Capital

Brandt Brereton is co-founder and partner of Perpetuate Capital. Perpetuate is a structured equity fund that marries Christian capital providers with Christian business owners seeking liquidity or growth capital and who also want to ensure the independence and ministry legacy of the business remains unchanged during and subsequent to their involvement.

Prior to his participation in Perpetuate Capital, Brandt served as the President of Brereton, Hanley & Co., Inc. a boutique investment bank in Silicon Valley he founded in 1995 that advises middle market companies on M&A, Private Equity and Employee Stock Ownership (ESOP) / Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT) transactions.

God benched Brandt from investment banking two-thirds of the way through his thirty-year business career, and he became a senior executive of City Team Ministries International for two years. He was released back into investment banking after the Lord acutely focused him on His agenda for the world, infusing a renewed passion for educating Christian business owners on the ESOP sale alternative in order to perpetuate ministry supported by those client businesses.

With an equal depth and breadth of experience across the three most common liquidity events and leveraged finance generally, Brandt offers comparative education, advice and execution to owners struggling with the tension that exists between perpetuating the ministry impact of the business and the need for it to receive outside capital for either shareholder liquidity or growth.

Brandt earned a BA in Finance from San Jose State University and has attended executive education courses at Harvard Business School.

Links: 

• Permanent Equity

CEO/Founder | Permanent Equity

Brent leads the firm, and more specifically the acquisition and diligence teams, while supporting portfolio company operators.

Brent serves on the board of Love Columbia, a mid-Missouri-based non-profit.

Brent is raising three young daughters with Dr. Erica Beshore, participating in church activities, and occasionally enjoying competitive tennis and bad golf.

 Links:

• LinkedIn

Co-founder and CEO | SEAF

Bio:

Bert van der Vaart is the Co-founder and CEO of SEAF, leading SEAF’s global operations, including fund launch efforts, and also serves as a member of SEAF’s Global Investment Committee. Bert co-founded SEAF in 1989, when it was known as the CARE Small Business Assistance Corporation (CARESBAC). In 1992, he negotiated the establishment of CARESBAC/SEAF’s first fund in Poland, which grew to $16.8 million total capital under management under his leadership as the fund’s Director General. While serving as Director-General of CARESBAC-Polska from 1994 until 1997, the company completed 27 SME investments and realized its first 6 exits. In 1997, Bert was appointed CEO and President of SEAF, where he has since been involved with the establishment and supervision of every SEAF fund. In 2008, he became Executive Chairman of SEAF’s Board of Directors and became associated with Discovery Global Citizens Fund, an international investment firm. Bert moved to New Delhi, India in 2010, where he directed the initial phase of SEAF’s India Agribusiness Fund, completing his work in 2012.

From 1984 through 1994, Bert was a Partner and Associate with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C, Frankfurt, and Brussels where he specialized in corporate and financial transactions. Prior to working for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, he was a management consultant with Bain & Company in London and Munich. Bert co-authored “Defining SMEs: A Less Imperfect Way of Defining Small and Medium Enterprises in Developing Countries” in Brookings Global Economy and Development, September 2008. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he also studied finance at Yale School of Management. His other academic achievements include a B.A. in Politics and Economics and an M.Phil in Economics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and a B.A. from the University of North Carolina, where he was a Morehead Scholar. A dual citizen of the Netherlands and the United States, Bert speaks Dutch, English, German, French, and some Polish.

Links: 

• LinkedIn

• Waste Plan Holdings

Managing Director | Waste Plan Holdings (Pty) Ltd

Bertie Lourens is the Managing Director of Waste Plan Holdings (Pty) Ltd. Waste Plan is a national on-site waste management company with operational companies in Western Cape, Gauteng, KZN and Free State that specialize in recycling and landfill reduction. Their services include on-site sorting and cleaning, waste reduction, electronic monitoring, carbon footprint audits and total greening. Waste Plan collects recyclable waste from nearly 150 000 households in Cape Town and Pretoria while servicing over 100 clients in the industrial, commercial, food and beverage and medical industries. Bertie is also the Chairman of the Central Branch (Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West and Free State Provinces) of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa and sits on the National board of this Institute.

 Links:

• LinkedIn

CEO | Trustbridge Global

Bio:

Prior to TrustBridge, Robert served for 16 years with the National Christian Foundation, an organization that has facilitated over $10 billion in charitable giving in the U.S. to more than 50,000 charities in over 100 countries. Prior to that, he was Managing Director and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Equity Investment Management) where he led a 54-person team responsible for investing $36 billion in European and Global equities portfolios.

Life:

Bob and his wife, Tricia, have five adult children and one grandchild. He takes great joy from inspiring and encouraging business owners and families to greater generosity (and impact investing).