Leadership
Richard Skill
Managing Director
Richard is the Managing Director at Leedon Park. He brings a unique combination of both investing and operating experience. Throughout his career, he has worked on 28 deals totaling over $10 billion in transaction value across a range of business models, company sizes and industries.
Prior to joining Leedon Park Capital, Richard worked in Nuveen Private Markets’ private equity and junior capital group (fka TIAA-CREF). Prior to Nuveen, Richard worked at Lenovo where he was mentored by the former EVP & COO of Lenovo, current CEO of Office Depot. At Lenovo, Richard worked on strategic projects across a number of functional business units and geographies, where he spent time working in Raleigh, North Carolina, São Paulo, Brazil, and Beijing, China.
Richard holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Chinese from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (“UNC”).
Richard was born in Charlotte, North Carolina and grew up in Singapore, a small island-nation in Southeast Asia. He spent his childhood summers living with Chinese speaking families in Shanghai and Beijing, China learning the Chinese language and culture.
Richard enjoys staying active and being outdoors in his free time; some of his favorite sports include rock climbing, running, cycling and swimming. Richard also has a passion for community service and has been an active participant in Habitat for Humanity since 2006, where he has participated in and coordinated builds and projects around the world.
Jim Kelly
OPERATING ADVISOR
Jim is an Operating Advisor to Leedon Park. He brings 30+ years of operating experience, with a focus on strategy, planning, change management and operations management.
Most recently he served as the Strategic Planning Executive of Bank of America where his team was accountable for leading a company-wide transformation program. Prior to that, he was the Chief Information Officer of Bank of America where he led the technology and operations functions (40,000 + employees/contractors in 35 countries) supporting the Global Corporate/Investment Banking and Wealth Management businesses.
Jim joined Bank of America in 1987 and held many different leadership roles primarily within the technology, change management and operations areas. Throughout his career, he has played an active leadership role on numerous transitions of acquired companies.
Jim holds an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree in physics from Hampden-Sydney College.
Emilio Ghilardi
OPERATING ADVISOR
Emilio is an Operating Advisor to Leedon Park. He brings 35+ years of operational experience from world leading organizations, with a focus on sales, marketing, and operations management.
Frederick Fink
OPERATING ADVISOR
Fred is an Operating Advisor to Leedon Park. He brings 35+ years of operating experience, with a focus on strategic management, M&A, healthcare, and operations management.
He works as a Managing Director of Newport Board Group. Fred began his career at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he held many different leadership roles, and ultimately left as the Managing Partner of the Health and Medical Division.
Most recently Fred served as President and CEO of Carolina Nonwovens Corporation, which he led the sale to a strategic buyer. Prior to that, he served as the President and CEO of Optical Resources Group, Inc., a producer of specialty eyeglass lenses, where he led a roll up strategy creating a market leading position in the US and subsequent sale to Hoya Corp.
Fred holds an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, a Masters in Health Administration from the Stanford University School of Medicine, and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Stanford University.