Ted is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Silverhawk Capital Partners. Prior to founding Silverhawk, Ted served as Managing Partner of Wachovia Capital Partners (formerly, First Union Capital Partners). Prior to that, he served as Vice President and Shareholder in the Mergers and Acquisitions Department of Kidder, Peabody & Company Incorporated in New York. Ted is currently a director of Encore Acquisition Company (EAC), and was previously a director of Kinder Morgan, Inc., from its formation in 1997 until the completion of the management buyout in 2007.
Ted earned his B.A. in Economics from Duke University. He earned his JD and his MBA degrees from the University of Virginia.
Summit Materials
Board
Tom Hill
Tom Hill is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Summit Materials. From 2006 to 2008, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Oldcastle Inc. - the North American arm of CRH, plc, one of the world's leading building materials companies based in Dublin, Ireland. Tom served on the CRH Board of Directors from 2002 to 2008. From 1992 to 2006, he ran the Materials division of Oldcastle.
Tom also held a variety of leadership roles in the transportation industry. He served as Chairman of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association from 2002 to 2004, during congressional consideration of the multi-year transportation bill "SAFETEA-LU." He worked to develop legislative proposals to address the transportation infrastructure needs of the country, convened industry meetings to develop a consensus position, and testified before the Congress on the need for increased Federal investment in transportation infrastructure. Tom has been Treasurer of both the National Asphalt Pavement Association and the National Stone Association and he remains active with ARTBA's Executive Committee. Currently he is serving as Vice-Chairman of ARTBA's Highway Reauthorization task force.
Tom received his MBA from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland in 1980. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and History from Duke University in 1978.
Julia Kahr
Julia Kahr is a Principal in Blackstone's Corporate Private Equity group. Since joining Blackstone in 2004, Julia has been involved in the execution of Blackstone's investments in SunGard, Encore Medical and DJ Orthopedics. Before joining Blackstone, she was a Project Leader at the Boston Consulting Group, where she worked with companies in a variety of industries, including health care, financial services, media and entertainment and consumer goods. Julia is also the sole author of Working Knowledge, a book published by Simon & Schuster in 1998. She currently serves on the board of DJ Orthopedics and is also a member of the board of Episcopal Social Services.
Julia received a BA in Classical Civilization from Yale University where she graduated summa cum laude. She received an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
John Murphy
Summit Materials Director
John R. Murphy was elected as a director of Summit Materials, LLC and Chairman of the Audit Committee in February 2012. He also became one of DJO Finance, LLC directors and was named as Chairman of the Audit Committee in January 2012.
Since 2003, Mr. Murphy has served on the Board of Directors, the Governance Committee and as Chairman of the Audit Committee of O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. Mr. Murphy was elected as a director and audit committee member of Graham Packaging in February 2011. Graham Packaging was subsequently sold in September 2011.
He was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation from 2009 to 2010, and prior thereto from 1998 to 2008 he served in various senior management roles, including Chief Financial officer and Chief Operating Officer and ending as President and Chief Executive Officer of Accuride Corporation. Accuride Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2009, and emerged in 2010.
Neil P. Simpkins
Neil P. Simpkins is a Senior Managing Director in Blacktone's Corporate Private Equity group. Since joining Blackstone in 1998, Neil has overseen private equity activities in the industrial and healthcare services sectors including leading the acquisitions of TRW Automotive, Vanguard Health Systems, Team Health and Apria Healthcare Group. Before joining Blackstone, Neil was a Principal at Bain Capital. While at Bain Capital, he was involved in the execution of investments in the consumer products, industrial, healthcare, and information industries. Prior to joining Bain Capital, Neil was a consultant at Bain & Company in the Asia Pacific region and in London. He currently serves as Chairman of TRW Automotive and as a Director of Vanguard Health Systems, Team Health LLC, and Apria Healthcare Group. He previously served as a Director of Universal Orlando.
Neil graduated with honors from Oxford University and received an MBA from Harvard Business School.