Rick Rickertsen is the COO of Thayer Capital and the founding partner of Thayer's two corporate buyout funds totaling over $1.2 billion. In his fifteen-year career in the management buyout world he has led more than 50 buyouts, including the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, SAGA Software, ePlus, Iconixx, Immedient, and IESI. Robert E. Gunther is founder of Gunther Communications and is the coauthor of numerous books.