{"id":48113,"date":"2022-09-08T15:01:59","date_gmt":"2022-09-08T13:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pharma-trend.com\/en\/varsity-healthcare-partners-announces-new-senior-additions-to-investment-operating-teams-merrick-axel-joins-vhp-as-partner-head-of-chicago-office\/"},"modified":"2022-09-08T15:01:59","modified_gmt":"2022-09-08T13:01:59","slug":"varsity-healthcare-partners-announces-new-senior-additions-to-investment-operating-teams-merrick-axel-joins-vhp-as-partner-head-of-chicago-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pharma-trend.com\/en\/varsity-healthcare-partners-announces-new-senior-additions-to-investment-operating-teams-merrick-axel-joins-vhp-as-partner-head-of-chicago-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Varsity Healthcare Partners Announces New Senior Additions to Investment, Operating Teams; Merrick Axel Joins VHP as Partner, Head of Chicago Office"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"bwalignc\">\n<i>Seasoned private equity veteran joins VHP after successful investment tenures at Cressey &amp; Company, Harvest Partners<\/i>\n<\/p>\n<p>LOS ANGELES&#8211;(BUSINESS WIRE)&#8211;Varsity Healthcare Partners (\u201cVHP\u201d, \u201cVarsity\u201d or \u201cthe Firm\u201d), a lower middle market healthcare services private equity investment firm, today announced several recent and significant senior additions to its investment and operating teams, effective immediately.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWith respect to the VHP investment team, Varsity announced that Merrick Axel has joined the firm in the role of Partner, following a 16-year tenure at Cressey &amp; Company, where he was a Partner and member of the Investment Committee, jointly leading Cressey &amp; Company\u2019s successful investment efforts across many healthcare services segments. Mr. Axel will join Varsity\u2019s Investment Committee and lead the Firm\u2019s new Chicago office, for which it is actively recruiting investment professionals.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nAdditionally, with respect to the VHP Operating team, Varsity announced three recent senior hires, who will add immediate, necessary capacity while also deepening VHP\u2019s financial operational and data science capabilities: (a) <b>Rosemary Free<\/b>, who joins VHP in the role of <span class=\"bwuline\">Operating Partner, Financial Operations<\/span>, following her recent tenure as CFO of Vision Innovation Partners and prior thereto serving as Partner in Ernst &amp; Young\u2019s Healthcare Transaction Advisory Services practices, where she lead the Northeast Region, advising private equity and corporate clients on a variety of operational, restructuring, and sell\/buy-side engagements, (b) <b>Jay McKnight<\/b>, who joins the Firm in the role of <span class=\"bwuline\">Operating Partner, Financial Operations<\/span>, following a successful tenure at Diversicare Healthcare Services, a leading national skilled nursing and post-acute services organization, where he recently served as CEO, overseeing 61 nursing centers with 7,250 licensed beds and supported Diversicare\u2019s 4,800 employees nationwide; and (c) <b>Robert McElherne<\/b>, who joins VHP in the role of <span class=\"bwuline\">Operating Partner, Data Scientist<\/span>, following his most recent tenure at Humana, where he served most recently as Technical Product Leader, supporting enterprise data science needs of Humana\u2019s Medicare and Medicaid managed care products, and prior thereto served as Manager, Provider Analytics, within Humana\u2019s Physician Performance Insights group.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cOur mission, going back to the founding of VHP, has always been to strive for the very best investment performance and create the very best organization in our category,\u201d said David Alpern, Founding and Managing Partner at Varsity Healthcare Partners. \u201cThese highly impactful additions will accelerate our efforts towards achieving that mission, while adding immediate and necessary resources, raising the talent level, and enhancing our culture with like-minded, proven leaders.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nKenton Rosenberry, Founding Partner, added, \u201cWe welcome Merrick, a longtime friend of the firm and an accomplished healthcare investor and leader, along with Rosemary, Jay, and Robert to the VHP ranks and look forward to the impact they will have on our organization and investments.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n<b>ABOUT VARSITY HEALTHCARE PARTNERS<\/b>\n<\/p>\n<p>\nVarsity Healthcare Partners (VHP) is a leading lower middle-market healthcare services private equity investment firm, targeting exclusively multi-site healthcare provider platforms or businesses providing outsourced services, technology, or tools to healthcare providers and\/or payers. VHP\u2019s tactical investment strategy emphasizes identifying and transacting with growth-seeking, provider-owned or founder-owned companies, leveraging VHP\u2019s developed \u201cbuy and build\u201d playbook to drive significant operational, managerial enhancement early in the life of each platform investment, followed by a well-resourced aggressive and multidimensional growth plan. VHP\u2019s unique tactical investment playbook and strong track record is complimented by VHP\u2019s distinct organizational culture, emphasizing highly collaborative engagement, strong professional accountability, and a commitment to excellence in work product and team performance.\n<\/p>\n<p> <b>Contacts<\/b> <\/p>\n<p>\nMickey Mandelbaum or Julia Cohen<br \/>\n<br \/>Prosek Partners<br \/>\n<br \/>(212) 279-3115<br \/>\n<br \/><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"&#x6d;&#x61;&#x69;&#108;&#116;o:&#x6d;&#x6d;&#x61;&#x6e;&#100;&#101;lb&#x61;&#x75;&#x6d;&#64;&#112;&#114;os&#x65;&#x6b;&#x2e;&#99;&#111;m\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" shape=\"rect\">&#x6d;&#109;a&#x6e;&#x64;&#101;l&#x62;&#x61;&#117;m&#x40;&#x70;&#114;o&#x73;&#x65;&#107;&#46;&#x63;&#111;&#109;<\/a> \/ <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"&#x6d;&#97;i&#x6c;&#x74;&#111;:&#x6a;&#x63;&#111;h&#x65;&#110;&#64;&#x70;&#x72;&#111;s&#x65;&#x6b;&#46;c&#x6f;&#109;\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" shape=\"rect\">&#x6a;&#99;o&#x68;&#101;n&#x40;&#x70;&#114;&#x6f;&#x73;&#101;k&#x2e;&#99;o&#x6d;<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seasoned private equity veteran joins VHP after successful investment tenures at Cressey &amp; Company, Harvest Partners LOS ANGELES&#8211;(BUSINESS WIRE)&#8211;Varsity Healthcare Partners (\u201cVHP\u201d, \u201cVarsity\u201d or \u201cthe Firm\u201d), a lower middle market healthcare services private equity investment firm, today announced several recent and significant senior additions to its investment and operating teams, effective immediately. With respect to &#8230; <span class=\"more\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/pharma-trend.com\/en\/varsity-healthcare-partners-announces-new-senior-additions-to-investment-operating-teams-merrick-axel-joins-vhp-as-partner-head-of-chicago-office\/\">[Read more&#8230;]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","post","publish","author-business","post-48113","format-standard","category-industry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Varsity Healthcare Partners Announces New Senior Additions to Investment, Operating Teams; Merrick Axel Joins VHP as Partner, Head of Chicago Office - Pharma Trend<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pharma-trend.com\/en\/varsity-healthcare-partners-announces-new-senior-additions-to-investment-operating-teams-merrick-axel-joins-vhp-as-partner-head-of-chicago-office\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Varsity Healthcare Partners Announces New Senior Additions to Investment, Operating Teams; Merrick Axel Joins VHP as Partner, Head of Chicago Office - Pharma Trend\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Seasoned private equity veteran joins VHP after successful investment tenures at Cressey &amp; Company, Harvest Partners LOS ANGELES&#8211;(BUSINESS WIRE)&#8211;Varsity Healthcare Partners (\u201cVHP\u201d, \u201cVarsity\u201d or \u201cthe Firm\u201d), a lower middle market healthcare services private equity investment firm, today announced several recent and significant senior additions to its investment and operating teams, effective immediately. 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