Our Team

Kachi Partners has assembled a team of experienced, hard-working professionals. We approach each transaction, and we work with each of our portfolio companies, with dedication and enthusiasm. We genuinely enjoy working with one another.

Eric A. Weissmann, Managing Director [ Email ]

Eric Weissmann is the Managing Director of Kachi Partners. He leads all of Kachi’s activities, including investor service, investments, and portfolio company operational support. Eric chairs the board of Photo Stencil.

Before entering the private equity industry, Eric founded and grew Decisioneering, Inc., a Denver-based maker of desktop analytic software. He was Decisioneering’s CEO until 2000 and chaired the company’s board of directors until it was sold to Hyperion Solutions (now Oracle) in January 2007. Eric has also held engineering and leadership positions with Hewlett-Packard, Quark and Health Data Corporation, and was most recently a partner in a private investment group. He holds an MBA from the University of Colorado, where he was the top-ranked graduate, and a BS from the University of the State of New York.

Eric’s personal interests include tennis, skiing, yoga, and traveling by Cessna with his wife and children. His charitable interests are focused on supporting freedom and personal responsibility for adults and children.

Shawn P. Hallinan, Associate [ Email ]

Shawn Hallinan joined Kachi Partners in February 2006. He divides his time between reviewing transactional opportunities, performing due diligence and assisting portfolio companies to improve systems and operations. Shawn has served as interim controller or chief financial officer of several portfolio companies and provides accounting and financial guidance as needs arise.

Shawn’s brief work experience prior to Kachi includes analytic and operational capacities at Paragon Dynamics (NasdaqCM:ZANE) and Lennar (NYSE:LEN). He holds an MS in accounting, a BS in finance and a minor in economics from the University of Colorado. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Certified Public Accountant (AZ).

Shawn’s time outside of Kachi is spent with his family. He also enjoys running and mountain biking.

Gary M. Jacobs, Special Partner [ Email ]

Gary Jacobs joined Kachi Partners at its founding as a Special Partner advising and working on transaction evaluation, structure, and portfolio management. Gary advises Kachi on transaction negotiation and execution issues as well as portfolio company opportunities. Gary serves on the board of The Genesee Group.

Prior to joining the Kachi team, Gary had extensive experience with transaction negotiation, acquisitions, investments, financing and business execution, in a broad range of industries. While Gary’s focus was typically on successful transaction selection and execution, he also devoted significant energy to managing internal growth and operational transformation. Gary’s career included work in the publishing industry (at Random House and Grove Press); as a sales business planning and financing professional with Storage Technology Corporation (now a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems); as Founder, CFO, and Senior Executive of Capital Associates, Inc., an equipment and project finance firm where he was responsible for more than $1.0 billion of financing, including the execution of a successful IPO; and at Corporate Express, Inc., where Gary served as the company’s CFO and managed its strategic transactions, acquisitions, legal and purchasing functions, including the Company’s successful IPO, secondary offerings, debt financing, and ultimate sale to Burhmann N.V., a Netherlands based product distribution firm.

Gary and his wife have two adult children and he serves on the Executive Committee of the Advisory Board of the University of Colorado College of Engineering (from which he is a graduate) and on several non-profit and corporate boards. Gary is a true Coloradan enjoying skiing, hiking, good food, and world travel.

John D. Helson, Special Partner [ Email ]

John Helson was a co-founder of Kachi Partners and now serves as a Special Partner. John chairs the board of The Genesee Group.

Prior to entering the leveraged buyout and financial advisory business, John co-founded and served as Chief Executive Officer of Restream Inc., a provider of reverse logistics solutions and inventory management services to the computer hardware industry.

Previously, John spent three years at UBS/PaineWebber as a broker managing retail and institutional accounts. He also worked as an associate at Helson Associates, a middle market leveraged buyout firm. John completed his undergraduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a BS. He holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Cornell University.

John’s personal time is spent with his son and daughter, traveling the world, in the mountains skiing and hiking, and on the water sailing.