Salt Lake Organizing Committee President Fraser Bullock has returned to the business world, as a partner in a new private equity investment firm headquartered in Sandy.
Bullock's partners in the new venture, Sorenson Capital, are former quarterback Steve Young, who headed SLOC's volunteer program, as well as business executives Ron Mika, Richard Lawson and Tim Layton.
Also on board is Matt Lehman, who was the managing director of transportation planning for the 2002 Winter Games and worked with Bullock at the organizing committee's main operations center.
"What we have done is assembled what we think is an all-star staff of people to focus on private equity in the intermountain region," Bullock said. California will also be a focus for the company, which will have an office there run by Young and Lawson.
The name comes from the largest investor in the firm, the Sorenson family. Bullock declined to discuss the amount of money invested by the family or the size of the investment fund.
Several Sorenson family members, including James L. Sorenson, one of Utah's wealthiest individuals, will serve on the company's investment committee. "They're very well connected, so as we look at investments, we'll seek their advice and counsel," Bullock said.
The company will focus on buying small- to mid-size companies in the $50 million to $200 million range, he said. "We'll buy the entire company and try to grow it and sell it at a higher price," Bullock said.
That's a little different than what Bullock did in his last business venture, Alpine Consolidated. That company did not manage an investment fund but instead put together business consolidations.
In 1999, Bullock joined his longtime friend Mitt Romney at the organizing committee. He served as SLOC's chief operating officer until Romney stepped down after the Games to launch his successful bid for governor of Massachusetts.
SLOC was struggling with a substantial shortfall in 1999 because of the scandal surrounding Salt Lake's Olympic bid. Under Romney and Bullock, however, the Games ended with more than $100 million in profits.
Bullock and Romney are both graduates of Brigham Young University and worked together at two Boston companies, Bain & Company, a consulting firm, and Bain Capital, a venture capital firm.
Mika has been the managing director of Bain Capital since 1996 and, after a dozen years with the company, is leaving Boston for Utah. Layton was the managing director at Alpine Consolidated. Both hold degrees from BYU.
Young and Lawson led Found Inc., a Bain Capital portfolio company, from 1999 to 2002.
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