Russ Spieler is Managing Partner, Co-Founder, and Chairman of the Investment Committee at Enceladus. He is responsible for the firm’s strategic direction and oversees the investment, advisory, and value-creation activities of the firm. He is also responsible for managing relationships with and fulfilling responsibilities to investor and lender partners.

Prior to founding Enceladus, Russ spent twelve years as a principal investor at middle-market private equity firms and nearly a decade as a management consultant. Russ’s track record includes completing 20 transactions and creating over $400 million of shareholder value. Russ has acquired 6 platform acquisitions, 11 add-on acquisitions and led the sale of 3 of those platform investments to the next set of investors. Russ’s investments have consistently tripled revenue, EBITDA, and shareholder value. Russ has also served on 9 boards of directors, leading the board in the majority of those situations. Notably, Russ also served as interim CEO of Aftermarket Performance Group and was instrumental in helping it successfully navigate the COVID-19 lockdowns in the first half of 2020.

Most recently, Russ was a Managing Director at Gemspring Capital, a $3 billion private equity firm focused on the middle market. He was responsible for evaluating and overseeing investments in Industrials and was a member of the Investment Committee. Prior to joining Gemspring, Russ was a Managing Director and member of the Investment Committee at Heartwood Partners, a lower middle market private equity firm focused on making investments in management, family, and founder-owned companies. Russ helped Heartwood triple in size and led all aspects of the investment process, including origination, due diligence, structuring, and transaction financing, in addition to driving portfolio company value enhancement strategies. While at Heartwood, Russ worked with Ben Brennan (now Partner at Enceladus) and led the acquisition of Allentown, partnering with its owner John Coiro (now Partner at Enceladus) to triple the company’s earnings in its three years of Heartwood ownership.

Prior to Heartwood Partners, Russ was a Director at Black Diamond Capital Management. Earlier in his career, Russ worked as a Director at AlixPartners, a management consulting firm specializing in delivering sustainable operating improvements for clients. Russ earned a B.S. in Engineering and Masters in Information Technology from MIT. Outside of work, Russ enjoys skiing, swimming, and cheering on his 3 boys at sporting events and performances.