Professionals

PARTNERS

JOHN W. PRUTCH, Managing Partner
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Prior to co-founding Prometheus Capital, Mr. Prutch managed several middle market consumer-related businesses. He has been successful in the turnaround of companies through cost-cutting and aggressive sales and marketing. Mr. Prutch accomplished these turnarounds by selling divisions and subsidiaries, acquiring companies, negotiating licensing agreements, negotiating long term contracts, moving domestic production to overseas, renegotiating new labor agreements and raising fresh capital in the form of both equity and debt. 

Prior to Mr. Prutch’s management activities, he was founder and Managing Director for Merchant Capital Group (Mercap), a Chicago based boutique merchant bank providing advisory services, merger and acquisition services and direct investments as principal in a number of consumer-oriented businesses including General American Door, LSJ Sportswear and Rapco International. Mr.  Prutch managed Mercap for ten years and was non-executive chairman of the companies that Mercap invested in as a principal. Prior to founding Mercap, Mr. Prutch was Vice President of Equities Northwest, Inc. (ENI), which was sold to Oppenheimer & Company in 1982. ENI was the premiere source of venture capital and project financing to the energy industry in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. Mr. Prutch progressed to Vice President in charge of their Chicago office. ENI raised over $100,000,000 per year in equity, with Chicago being the largest producing office. 

Over the course of his career, Mr. Prutch has served on the Board of Directors of numerous companies, both public and private. Mr. Prutch attended Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa and majored in Political Science. He currently resides in Palatine, Illinois with his wife, Debbie.

JOSHUA J. PRUTCH, Partner
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Joshua J. Prutch is a co-founder of Prometheus Capital and leads the execution activities of Prometheus Capital. In addition to leading execution activities, Mr. Prutch is actively engaged in managing clients and transactions to close, while collaborating on due diligence process, identifying capital through financial institutions and strategic alliances, while creating strategic alternatives for the firm’s engaged clients. 

Prior to joining Prometheus Capital, Mr. Prutch spent the 7 years in a fortune 500 company in  the supply chain management  industry. Mr. Prutch held several positions within the company ranging from Analyst to Project Manager to Department Head. Under Mr. Prutch’s lead, the company successfully designed, created, went to market, and supported two Windows based technologies. The first to market grew to controlling $35mm in revenue by year 4 and the second received the “Innovation of the Year - 2006” award presented by the USPS within 2 weeks of its press release.  This opportunity allowed Mr. Prutch to gain insight into the world of entrepreneurs, where he developed an in-depth understanding in their specific business needs and concerns. Both applications, produced revenues while eliminating substantial costs.

Mr. Prutch  received his business degree in Supply Chain Management from Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. He currently resides in Holland, Michigan with his wife and three children.
 
JAMES E. THOMPSON, Partner

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Jim Thompson is a co-founder of Prometheus Capital and is responsible for oversight of Prometheus Capital participating ventures, finance and accounting services department, opportunity viability analysis and subsequent turn-around operational activities. Prior to joining Prometheus Capital, Mr. Thompson served as CFO for a regional aviation services provider. 

Mr. Thompson’s history includes over 25 years of supporting entrepreneurs in the development, launch and successful operations in multiple businesses spaces including: real estate development, resort / golf development, aviation, hospitality / food & beverage operations, construction and electronics distribution. Mr. Thompson has held positions ranging from Controller to CFO and COO. Under Mr. Thompson’s leadership he built, opened and operated a national award winning golf course and +800 acre residential development. Mr. Thompson has also developed custom ERP solutions for fringe industries, including a full service software solution for the distribution, support, customer service, and commission tracking functions of a national subscription media provider. 

Mr. Thompson’s approach can best be described as a walk the floor CFO/COO who participates at a hands-on level within the Prometheus Capital family of ventures. Mr. Thompson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration – Accounting from Hillsdale College. He currently resides in Schoolcraft, Michigan with his wife and two sons.