We partner with exceptional
founders and operators
to build great businesses together.

Jean-Marc is the Founder and Managing Partner of Decisive Leap, responsible for sourcing investment opportunities, evaluating companies, working with lenders and investors, and working closely with portfolio company CEOs and teams in developing and executing on growth initiatives, building out teams and scaling the platform.

Prior to Decisive Leap, Jean-Marc worked as an Advisor and Executive Partner at Mill Point Capital, building out their growth equity strategy in the Industrial services and Climate-technology space, with a focus on Commercial & Industrial Buildings and Facilities. Prior to that, Jean-Marc founded and operated a B2B technology business, FundingGates, which he sold in 2021 to Viably, a global online banking company. Prior to FundingGates, Jean-Marc was an investor at Ripplewood Holdings, focused on the Industrial, Technology, and Business services space, and worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions group at UBS in their New York office.

Jean-Marc holds a B.Sc. In Aerospace Engineering from MIT).

Nick is a senior advisor at Decisive Leap. For over thirty years he has successfully managed companies as COO and CEO in industrial services and durable consumer goods organizations linked to the building industry. These companies were in Latin America and several countries in Europe and employed up to 2500 employees.

Later, in Switzerland, he managed a well-known paper processing company in a turnaround case back to profitability. In the last 10 years Nick has been on the Board of an Energy company in Ghana and is a board member of a MedTech company in Switzerland. Nick holds diplomas in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering from the Swiss Federal institute of Technology (ETH) and INSEAD.

‍

Patrick Freuler is the founder and CEO of Audicus, one of the leading telehealth companies for hearing care and hearing aids. Patrick discovered the enormous cost and complexities of getting a hearing aid in America while working as a healthcare investor at Bain Capital. The issue of access to treatment hit home with Patrick on a personal level as well, with his grandmother’s own experience with hearing loss. In 2012, Patrick founded Audicus, on the simple principle that getting a high-quality hearing aid should be easy, accessible, and affordable. Since its launch, Audicus has saved consumers almost $100 million in aggregate healthcare costs, has conducted over 300,000 hearing screenings and has reconnected 10,000s of people with their loved ones. Patrick holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Before Audicus, Patrick worked as a private equity healthcare investor at Bain Capital and as a strategy consultant at McKinsey. He was raised between Brazil, Switzerland and Spain.

‍

Kevin Cramton served as the Chairman of Atlantix Global Systems, which Mill Point exited in August 2017. Mr. Cramton has served as Chief Executive Officer or Executive Chairman of five companies.  He has served on the Board of over 25 businesses in various markets and industries including three public companies.  Mr. Cramton served in various management positions during a 20-year career at the Ford Motor Company including assignments in Ford’s manufacturing, marketing, sales & service, distribution, product development and financial services operations.  He led Ford’s M&A group including venture capital activities in electric vehicles, wireless services, and electronics.  During his career, Mr. Cramton has had extensive international business experience, including assignments in the Asian and European regions, and has worked in four world capitals.  

Mr. Cramton has an MBA degree in finance and a BA degree in business administration from Michigan State University. He is an alumnus of the London Business School Executive Management Program (ADP).

Nicolas Westphal is an Investing Partner at Decisive Leap, and a Partner at Haymaker Growth, a private equity investment platform that started as a partnership between Peter Thiel’s family office and CDPQ (Canada’s second largest pension fund with USD 300B AuM). Before, he led private equity investments for CDPQ in the technology sector globally. He worked for five years in Silicon Valley as Director of Strategy & Corporate Development for Intuit (the leading accounting software vendor for small businesses) and for Juniper Networks (the leading provider of software-oriented networking products). Prior to Silicon Valley, he worked for nine years in private equity for both AEA Investors and Bain Capital, where he managed investment processes in the US, Europe and Asia, and actively participated on four Boards of Directors. Nicolas started his career with the New York office of the Boston Consulting Group in the technology & financial services practices.

Nicolas is a graduate from MIT in technology & policy and from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris.

In a career that has spanned a variety of finance and operations roles, Andre has taken companies from zero to one, grown businesses through the “messy middle”, and led teams within multinational organizations. With experience as a founder, as an investor, and as an operator, who keeps the place running, Andre understands what it takes to position a company for long term success and keep the team happy while doing it. Most recently, Andre has been the Vice President of Finance for Third Wave Automation, a fast-growing facilities / warehouse optimization and robotics company. As is typical with many of his roles, he finds himself wearing a lot of hats, running Finance, Accounting, HR, Facilities, and Legal. Prior to Third Wave, Andre was CFO of Odd Foods, Inc., a producer and distributor of gluten free foods. Oversight includes Sales, Marketing, Finance/Accounting, Distribution, Legal/Compliance, and HR. Previously, Andre held senior roles in finance and operations at Zillow Group, a real estate platform, VP of Equity Research at RBC, and Manager within the Controls and Corporate Strategy team at PwC.

Andre holds an MBA in Strategy and Finance from Yale University, and a BA in Economics from Cornell University.

Charles is currently Vice President of Energy & Sustainability at NorthPoint Development, the #1 industrial real estate developer in the US according to real capital analytics. Charles brings over 15 years of experience in the sustainability and energy industries. Prior to NorthPoint, Charles was Principal Enterprise Account Executive at Verdigris, a technology company that tracks energy usage and trends in Buildings in real time, and was Founder & CEO of Taka Solutions, an energy services company offering Energy Auditing, Building Information Modeling (BIM), Energy Simulation, Smart Building Consulting, Cloud analytics & IoT, and Remote Energy & Control Solutions for Commercial &Industrial Buildings and Facilities. Prior to that, Charles was a Partner at L&B Real Estate, and Director of Energy & Engineering Digitization at BurtHill, Obermeyer Planen + Beraten GmbH, and iTech.

Charles holds a B.Sc. In Mechanical Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Caroline Blaser is a results-oriented leader with a proven track record in economic and business development across diverse industry sectors. As the founder of CrossConnex Consulting in New York she specializes in strategic consulting, business development, and foreign direct investment services for companies seeking sustainable growth in new markets. Previously, Caroline served as the Managing Director of the Swiss Business Hub USA, the official Swiss Trade, Investment and Innovation Promotion agency based in the US. In this role, she supported countless Swiss companies with their market entry strategies and successfully positioned Switzerland as a leading business location for US companies seeking sustainable growth in Europe. With extensive networks in both the Swiss and US private and public sectors, Caroline leverages her bilingual background and many years of experience to bridge the complex international business landscapes. Caroline holds an MPA from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. She is also the acting Chair for the New York chapter of the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce a member of the board at the German International School New York.

‍