BrightWater Partners
BrightWater Partners brings deep transaction experience in all aspects of the capital markets including senior, mezzanine, hybrid debt and equity plus a successful track record of advisory, mergers and acquisitions and operations experience.
Mark Williams, Principal
David Sosa, Principal
Senior Advisors
Mark Williams, Principal
Mark Williams is a founding partner of BrightWater Partners, a private investment firm that focuses on debt and equity investments in specialty manufacturing companies. Mr. Williams is responsible for fundraising, deal sourcing, deal execution and portfolio monitoring and management. Mr. Williams has over ten years of investment banking experience with J. P. Morgan Securities and Banc of America Securities. During his tenure, he advised on over 35 transactions totaling approximately $15 billion in the industrial, automotive and consumer sectors. Mr. Williams has a successful track record of mergers & acquisitions and strategic advisory transaction experience complimented by complex capital raising assignments across the senior debt, high yield, convertible debt and equity product areas. While at J.P. Morgan Securities, Mr. Williams was a founding senior banker of the firm’s Midwest middle market investment banking practice.
Prior to investment banking, Mr. Williams was employed for seven years at Baxter International, a multi-national provider of healthcare products and services. While at Baxter, he served in various capacities including finance, corporate development, sales and operations and managed the financial reporting for the company’s manufacturing facility while residing in Singapore.
Mr. Williams holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University. He received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
David Sosa, Principal
David Sosa is a founding partner of BrightWater Partners, a private investment firm that focuses on debt and equity investments in specialty manufacturing companies. Mr. Sosa is responsible for fund raising, deal sourcing, deal structuring, execution and portfolio company monitoring and management. Mr. Sosa has thirteen years of banking experience with J. P. Morgan Securities and Banc of America Securities. During his career he has advised on over 15 transactions totaling over $20 billion in a variety of industries including consumer, automotive, industrial and commercial finance. During his career at J. P. Morgan Securities, Mr. Sosa was one of several bankers selected to start-up J. P. Morgan Securities’ middle market investment banking practice. Mr. Sosa was responsible for sourcing and executing a variety of corporate finance advisory assignments for middle market companies primarily based in the Midwest.
Mr. Sosa began his career in Bank of America’s lower middle market lending group. During his time in the lower middle market lending group, he worked on over $100 million worth of senior debt transactions. Mr. Sosa learned firsthand about the unique financing needs and challenges that lower middle market companies experience on a regular basis with respect to financing growth.
Mr. Sosa received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Senior Advisors
MG(R) William “Tim” Crosby
MG(R) Tim Crosby retired after an almost 35-year career culminating in his last assignment as the Program Executive Officer for Aviation.
He entered the Army as a Field Artillery Officer after graduating from The Citadel in 1979 and was assigned to the 24th Infantry Division serving as Fire Support Team Chief, Battalion Fire Direction Officer, Special Weapons Officer, and Battery Executive Officer.
Following this assignment, MG(R) Crosby entered flight school at Fort Rucker, AL where he was awarded his aviator wings in May of 1982. Upon completion of flight school, MG(R) Crosby attended the CH-47 Transition and was assigned to the 205th Aviation Company in Mainz Finthen, West Germany where he served in successive positions as Flight Platoon Leader, Executive Officer, and Operations Officer.
MG (R) Crosby then returned to Fort Rucker to attend the Aviation Officer Advanced Course, was awarded a Research and Development Functional Area, and was assigned to the U.S. Army Aviation Development Test Activity in January of 1986 conducting developmental flight testing on CH-47, UH-60, and fixed-wing aircraft.
In February of 1990, MG(R) Crosby returned to Europe to command the VIIth Corps CH-47 unit and deployed his unit to Southwest Asia to participate in Operations Desert Shield and Storm. He commanded the unit for just under two years followed by an assignment as a battalion executive officer. Following Staff College, MG(R) Crosby was assigned to PMO Comanche in 1993, where he held the positions of Logistics Management Officer, Assistant Program Manager (APM) for Training and Simulation, APM for MANPRINT, and APM for Test and Evaluation.
MG(R) Crosby left Comanche in June of 1996 to serve as a Weapons System Program Evaluator in the J8 Directorate of the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. After a two year tour on the Joint Staff, he was assigned to serve as the first Product Manager for the Improved Cargo Helicopter Program, now known as the CH-47F.
MG(R) Crosby attended the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base and earned a Masters Degree in International and Strategic Studies. While at War College, he was selected for promotion to Colonel and was selected to be the Project Manager for the Army’s Cargo Helicopter Program.
MG(R) Crosby completed his tour of duty as the Army’s Cargo Helicopter Project Manager and conducted a change of charter on 24 August 2006. He was immediately reassigned as the interim Project Manager for the newly formed Armed Scout Helicopter Program Office on 25 August 2006 and remained in that position until the command slated Armed Scout Helicopter Project Manager arrived on 17 October 2006. He then served as the PM Reset charged with integrating the effort to Preset and Reset the aircraft going to and returning from combat deployment. In May 2007, MG(R) Crosby became the Deputy Program Executive Officer, Aviation.
MG (R) Crosby assumed duties as the Program Executive Officer, Aviation on 12 December 2008 and retired in 2014 after over 5 years in that position. He was promoted to the rank of major general in February 2011 and officially retired in March 2014.
John McKinney
John McKinney has over 15 years experience at the executive level driving multi-billion dollar P&L businesses to transformational results. He has held the following leadership positions at Navistar International: VP Manufacturing, VP Operations, VP Sales & Marketing and President, Global Bus. As President of the Global Bus division, Mr. McKinney grew the business from $500 million to $1 billion, achieved over 50% market share and consistently delivered exceptional financial results. As a former leader of the American School Bus Council, Mr. McKinney is well recognized within the people transportation industry encompassing customers, suppliers and OEM’s. Mr. McKinney’s broad experience and operational background provide him with intimate knowledge of the products, customers, and emerging industry trends. Mr. McKinney currently serves as President and CEO of Midwest Transit Equipment.
He received his Executive MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University and his BA from Wittenberg University.