TEAM Companies closes recap led by TorQuest Partners

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By Ted Liu

The TEAM Companies, LLC, a leading payroll, business affairs and technology provider to the advertising and entertainment communities, has completed a significant investment by its senior management team, in partnership with the founding shareholders and TorQuest Partners.

At year-end, CEO Gerry Schwartz will retire from his full-time role and transition his responsibilities to TEAM’s current COO, Justin Kramer, who will assume the role of President and Chief Executive Officer.

Schwartz will remain a minority shareholder and corporate advisor. Effective January 1, 2018, Greg Smith will move from Chief Marketing Officer to a dual role of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Revenue Officer. An De Vooght becomes Global Chief Financial Officer.

“I have known and worked with Justin for many years and have huge respect for his – along with Greg’s and An’s – ability to evolve and grow our 25-year-old company,” said Schwartz. “Better still, they have the same passion for the business as I do, and we are incredibly excited about where we are heading. I am confident that the company’s superior client service will continue to accelerate the rapid growth we have seen the past few years.”

Kramer added: “We have no plan to alter the existing strategy we have in place: it’s business as usual. We will continue to heavily invest in innovative technologies and great people to drive our growth and ability to better service our valued clients.”

Brent Belzberg, Senior Managing Partner of TorQuest Partners, stated: “We are delighted to be partnering with Justin, Greg, An and Gerry, and to provide equity capital to support the next chapter in TEAM’s exciting growth story. Our investment in TEAM continues our strategy of partnering with exceptional management teams to build industry-leading businesses.”

Burbank, California based The TEAM Companies was founded in 1992. In 2009, it began on-going process of evolving the ompany to be a more comprehensive provider of business services, expertise and technology to our advertising and entertainment clients. This expansion has included the purchase of several business affairs companies and its move into Canada with the acquisition of Toronto based Talent Payment Services. In 2012 The TEAM Companies was formed as the parent company to these individual entities and in 2015 we consolidated our U.S. operations under The TEAM Companies moniker.

photo credit: The TEAM Companies