We help operating professionals succeed and private equity firms feel confident in the value of their ops team.
When I first started at American Securities back in 2003, there weren’t very many operating professionals working in private equity and very few private equity firms had anyone on payroll that wasn’t an investment professional or part of the administrative staff.
Today our industry has grown substantially. There are thousands of us and almost all PE firms have embraced the idea that post-close value-add is critical and requires expertise.
Most operating professionals are highly talented, very experienced professionals who typically come from either consulting or industry. They come to PE for the excitement of sharing their expertise with multiple portfolio companies, and getting paid for the value they create.
And then they join the PE firm and find out that the PE Ops role is meaningfully different than their prior role. It can be hard to figure out what to work on, and even to know how to get work. They are asked to be experts on dozens of different value creation topics ranging from pricing and procurement to setting management incentive plans or building boards. And even when they are engaged in a project, it is often difficult to prove value in an industry that is famously quantitative and metrics driven.
And PE firms trying to create new groups will often have failures where they hire a person or a team and after a year or two they decide it isn’t working and try again.
All of these are failures in our industry and they are solvable with targeted training.
I founded The OP Academy to provide training to Ops Professionals and in the process help them succeed and private equity firms better manage their resources to create the most value for their investors.
Lee Dranikoff
FOUNDER & CEO, THE OP ACADEMY
Courses
Foundations of
Private Equity Ops
In depth, content rich class providing the tools, knowledge and skills that operating professionals need to excel in PE Ops
Implementing Management Incentive Plans
Learn how to design and implement bonus plans for portfolio company executives including equity and cash tied to performance
How to Assess and Interview for Critical Talent Roles
The class is designed for operating professionals to make a step change in how you prepare for and conduct critical role interviews.
13 Week
Cash Flow
This class will provide you with all the skills and tools you need to create 13 week cash flow statements for any of your portfolio companies
Our Team
Lee Dranikoff
FOUNDER & CEO, THE OP ACADEMYAfter spending six years at McKinsey & Co. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Lee moved to private equity where he helped pioneer the functional based private equity operating group. Lee helped build and lead the American Securities Resources Group, one of the most known and respected PE operating teams in the U.S. At American Securities, Lee hired, trained and helped lead a group of over 50 outstanding operating professionals. Most of them remained at American Securities and some left to join or lead their own operating groups at other private equity firms.
During his time in private equity, Lee was fortunate to collaborate with other leaders from other private equity operating groups, learning from them how they succeeded.
Since leaving American Securities, Lee founded the Operating Academy to bring this knowledge to a broader group of operating professionals.
In addition to his work with the Op Academy, Lee is Chair of the Board of Hillel International and a Board member of the Colorectal Cancer Alliance. He is also a proud father of three (nearly) grown children.
Prior to McKinsey, Lee was an attorney at Weil in New York City. Lee graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a B.A. and M.A. in Economics and graduated with a J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School.
Nicole Pollack
Nicole Pollack is the Chief Operating Officer of Marcus & Pollack, a real estate tax certiorari law firm, where she leads strategy and operations.
Previously, Nicole served as the Chief Growth Officer at LMC, a mid-sized accounting firm backed by Ascend and Alpine Investors. In this role, she developed and executed the growth strategy that successfully doubled the company’s revenue in one year.
Nicole is passionate about helping companies achieve ambitious financial goals through accountability, data-driven analytics, and a positive mindset. Before joining LMC, she was a Strategy Associate at American Securities, where she partnered with portfolio companies on value creation planning and execution. Earlier in her career, she held strategy and finance roles at Harry’s and Oliver Wyman.
Nicole earned her bachelor’s degree in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Advisors
The OP Academy is pleased to have a group of outstanding private equity operating professionals serve as advisors and guest faculty.
Mike Leamer
Beth Neumann
Jon Weber
Doron Grosman
Cory A. Eaves
Advisor Bios:
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As a Partner and Head of Portfolio Operations at BayPine, Mr. Eaves leads the digital transformation and portfolio operations team, where his primary focus is on driving digital transformation initiatives within the firm and its portfolio companies. Prior to BayPine, Mr. Eaves was one of the first Operating Partners at General Atlantic, where he helped build and scale their portfolio value-add capability for nearly 15 years.
Before joining General Atlantic, he was Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Information Officer at Misys plc, a global provider of software and services to the healthcare and financial services industries.
Mr. Eaves serves on the boards of the Marfan Foundation, where he was also a previous Chairman, and NetHope. Mr. Eaves holds a BSEE from the University of Iowa and an MBA, cum laude, from Babson College. -
Doron is the CEO of Smart Start, a global leader in alcohol monitoring technologies. With a distinguished career in executive leadership, Doron brings a proven track record of driving significant revenue and EBITDA growth across both private and public sectors. Doron served as CEO and President of GCT Global Container Terminals, where he successfully doubled the company's EBITDA and enhanced its profitability. Doron has also held senior leadership roles at Court Square Capital Partners, Hexcel Corporation, Trane, General Electric, and Bain, where he was instrumental in driving strategic initiatives and operational improvements.
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Mike is a Managing Director and Head of U.S. Portfolio Operations at H.I.G. Capital. He is responsible for portfolio value-creation across the firm’s U.S. private equity funds. Mike has portfolio operations experience across a range of industries and strategies. Prior to joining H.I.G., Mike was a Managing Director in the Resources Group at American Securities LLC and a Managing Director in Asset Management at Hudson Advisors LP. Earlier in his career, he worked in consulting at McKinsey & Company and in investment banking at Lazard. Mike earned a B.A. in economics degree from Occidental College and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
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Beth is currently a Partner, Portfolio Operations for Kelso and was formerly was as a senior member of the portfolio operations team at Sun Capital Partners. She also previously served as President and CEO of Starboard Cruise Services, a global retailer owned by LVMH. Prior to Starboard, Beth was an executive at Avon, Atkins Nutritionals, Kraft Foods, and Andersen Consulting. Beth received an Engineering degree from Cornell University and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.n goes here
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Jon created and led operating partner groups for over 20 years at institutional investors, including Goldman Sachs, Icahn Enterprises, and Elliott Investment Management. He has impacted dozens of portfolio companies in a broad range of industries through operational engagement, talent management, and effective oversight in partnership with management driving change as a board member, senior executive, and board-level advisor for companies in the Americas and Europe. Jon earned a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, and B.S. and M.B.A., magna cum laude, from Babson College.
Frequently Asked Questions
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YES, we agree. Every op group is different and every role is unique. We are providing a wide variety of classes to allow you to choose the classes that are most relevant. Our Foundations of PE class will provide meaningful value to almost all operating professionals.
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The fee is paid by the private equity firm. Though we are training operating professionals, our goal it to help PE firms make their groups more successful. Training is critical.
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Every class will have different size requirements but typically they range from 7-20.
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The Op Academy identifies the best instructors and curriculum to ensure that the class over delivers on its topic. Lee Dranikoff, our founder, will teach the Foundations of PE personally, with assistance from our advisors.
The functional skill classes are typically taught by seasoned practitioners from PE, consulting firms or academia. We ensure that the instructors are deep content experts
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All Op Academy classes will go extremely deep into the topic. The classes will feel like an intense business school seminar with content, examples, practice exercises and a set of clear tools to take away. By the end of the class, you should be able to deliver the work on your own.
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The Op Academy classes are fast paced, and content rich. We strongly recommend you attend the entire class.
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Networking is a core part of the offering. Op Academy classes are only accessible to current or near future operating professionals. We make sure that there are at least one and potentially multiple networking meals with each class.
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NO! The Op Academy classes are only available to Ops professionals. No vendors can access our classes. Some of our classes are taught by partners in consulting firms, because we believe they possess the most up-to-date and deepest knowledge on the topic. They are there to teach not to sell.
