Joel Willett
Joel has sat on both sides of a lower-middle-market deal: sourcing, structuring, and negotiating it, then owning the P&L afterwards. He was CEO of a $65M, 200-person government software and services company backed by a public investment firm, where he ran integration and the 100-day plan, built the executive team and finance organization, led the first independent audit, and drove company-wide AI adoption. As Principal and Operating Partner at a lower-middle-market private equity firm, he served as CEO of a 355-person defense engineering services business and President of a 120-person manufacturer. He leads AI transformation work for large private equity sponsors, pricing EBITDA opportunity before a deal is signed. Earlier, he spent five years at the CIA, including as a duty officer in the White House Situation Room. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army. A Kentucky native, Joel graduated from the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky, and received his MBA from the University of Chicago.