About us

Jeffrey Wright is the CEO of Gold Leaf Capital Partners, a leading financial services firm focused on providing access to capital and advisory services for business owners and commercial real estate investors, founded in 2016. He oversees all investment and operational aspects of the firm.

Mr. Wright, a Chicago Native, nearly 15 years of experience in financial services. Throughout his career, he has originated, underwritten, managed and closed over 250 transactions. Mr. Wright analyzed operational, financial and management risks associated with new and existing lending relationships as a commercial credit analyst early in his career. He has advised clients across diverse sectors including manufacturing, food services, business services, security management, environmental remediation, childcare, health care, and commercial real estate development/investment.

Mr. Wright is deeply committed to giving back to his community. He serves on the Board of Directors of Chicago Jesuit Academy and the Chairman’s Advisory Council of Big Shoulders Fund. In 2019, Mr. Wright was appointed by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker to the board of the Illinois Finance Authority. Mr. Wright is a member of the Chicago Club, as well as the Economic Club of Chicago, in which he is a Chair of the Membership Committee.

Mr. Wright graduated from St. Ignatius College Prep, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business at Georgetown University, and earned a Master of Business Administration in Finance and Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He is currently enrolled at the Harvard Kennedy School pursuing his Masters in Public Administration.

Bob Doyle is a Managing Partner of Gold Leaf Capital Partners. Bob is responsible for all activities of the firm including sourcing, evaluating and advising companies on access to capital.
Mr.Doyle has extensive expertise in the alternative investment and capital markets space. Mr. Doyle was responsible for vendor best practices and oversight of fund of hedge fund, private equity, and hedge fund investments at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM). Prior to Goldman Sachs, Bob was a Client Implementation Project Manager at Northern Trust Hedge Fund Services where he created and spearheaded implementation plans for institutional asset managers.
Mr. Doyle is a St. Ignatius College Prep alum, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Howard University, and earned a Master of Business Administration in Finance at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business.

(ITESM). Later in 2003 he was awarded a Masters in Business Administration by The University of Arizona Eller Business School. In 2019 he completed a Masters degree in Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and was Mason Fellow, a program of public policy and management for developing countries. Ruben was a Financial Analyst for companies like Bionova (AZ), DHL Worldwide Express (CA), Intel (AZ), and Nafinsa Securities (NY). He served as Public Credit Director (03-08) for the State of Sonora, where he reformed the normative financial framework to increase public infrastructure, and as Undersecretary of Finance (15-17), grew tax income by 27% in 2 years, this without creating new taxes or incrementing rates. In 2008, Ruben founded Optiva Consultores, a boutique investment bank for sub-sovereign infrastructure projects. His work was recognized in 2009 by The Banker Magazine (Financial Times, London) as Structured Finance Deal of the Year of the Americas, and again in 2014 as Highly Commended Loan of the Americas. His focus is on public finance reform to promote fiscal discipline and project finance using innovative market-based instruments.

Darius Grandberry is Managing Director at Gold Leaf Capital Partners, a Chicago based financial services firm focused on providing access to capital and advisory services for business owners and commercial real estate investors. Darius is responsible for business development and transaction advisory services to companies and investors. Darius was formerly the Chief Financial Officer at a private equity asset manager and spent ten years with the firm. Prior to that, Darius was a senior auditor at a local CPA firm where he managed all phases of client audits, evaluated business processes, and determined compliance needs.

Kym Hubbard is currently a Board Member at PIMCO Funds and State Auto Financial Corporation, NASDAQ: (STFC), Kym has over 30 years of financial services experience, recently retiring as global head of investments, chief investment officer and treasurer for Ernst & Young, LLC. Her career includes experience in private partnerships, insurance, government, investment banking, capital markets, banking and audit/public accounting. Before joining Ernst & Young in 2008, Hubbard held several executive-level government positions with the State of Illinois, which followed a number of senior or executive level positions in the financial services industry.

Hubbard also serves on the boards of the Economic Club of Chicago, The Field Foundation and the previously for The Shedd Aquarium. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Bradley University.

Russ W. Rosenzweig is an entrepreneur, author, and speaker. He is best known for co-founding Round Table Group, the world’s largest expert witness search and referral firm. Conceived and launched from his Northwestern University dorm room, Russ served as its Chief Executive Officer from 1993 until the acquisition of the company by Thomson Reuters in 2010. He grew revenues from $0 to $15m during that period, created a client base that included 100% of the AmLaw 100 law firms, and engineered an 8-figure acquisition.

Russ now formally coaches and advises the faculty at the University of Chicago where he facilitates faculty leadership peer forums, designs curricula for faculty development, and leads workshops on a range of topics relevant to professors and department chairs in their leadership roles.

Russ is the founder of World Ventures Group, a non-profit dedicated to using commerce and entrepreneurship to reduce global conflicts. Specifically WVG hires Palestinian professionals to provide marketing services to US clients. Mr. Rosenzweig serves as an advisor to numerous Jewish-Arab projects and is steadfastly dedicated to achieving peace in the Middle East.

Mr. Rosenzweig holds a BA in economics and mathematical methods in the social sciences from Northwestern University and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Allison serves as Chief Investment Officer for Fellows Financial Group, a boutique financial services firm located in the greater Washington D.C. metro area. Prior to joining Fellows Financial Group, Allison was a member of the executive team at Alliance Partners, an asset manager focused on serving financial institutions by optimizing their asset strategies. During her tenure there, Allison built and ran the sales group responsible for the distribution of over $2.0Bn of lending products to 200+ community banks nationwide.

Allison began her career in the Private Placements group of the investment banking division at First Union Securities in Charlotte, NC. From there, she went on to work as an investment professional at several other financial institutions in the DC area, including GE Capital, Allied Capital and CapitalSource Finance, where she helped select and invest in middle market companies.

Her experience includes both private equity investing and senior and subordinated lending across all aspects of the deal spectrum, including evaluating new investment opportunities, deal structuring and execution, business, industry and financial due diligence, and portfolio management.

Allison has an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Math from Davidson College.

Jim brings the depth of 32 years of commercial real estate experience, encompassing investment banking and brokerage, asset management and structured finance. Jim began his real estate career in 1984 and formed EnTrust Realty Advisors in 2002. One of the industry’s most seasoned transaction specialists, Jim’s prior positions include President, Investment Services Group, Transwestern; Managing Director, Institutional Services Group, Grubb & Ellis Company; Regional Vice President, MONY Real Estate; and Vice President, Real Estate Investment Banking Group, Lehman Brothers, Inc.

Over his career, Jim has completed more than $4.5 billion of investment transactions; managed $1 billion worth of assets and portfolio properties; and provided leadership in corporate strategy and mergers and acquisitions.

Jim grew up in Harlem, New York City, and is an ordained minister at a parish in Aurora, Illinois. Jim serves as Board Member of Wheaton Bank & Trust Company, a Wintrust Community Bank; and at Jackson Park Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago.

He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Garrett Theological Seminary at Northwestern University, an MBA from the Columbia University School of Business and BS from NYU Stern School of Business.

Simon “Buddy” Blattner is a seasoned executive and not for profit director, with more than thirty years of experience in diverse businesses such as Telecommunication Services, Manufacturing and Converting, Branded Wholesale Distribution, Industrial Distribution, and Value-Added Distribution.

Buddy served as Owner, President, & Chief Executive Officer of Active Screw & Fastener from 2003 - 2016. From April 2000 to December 2001, Blattner was Chief Operating & Financial Officer of Bay Travelgear, formed through the acquisition and subsequent merger of the Chicago based owner of Outer Circle Products (Arctic Zone) and Monarch Luggage. Buddy was integrally involved in the sale of Outer Circle Products and the sale of $100 million debt instruments that financed Bay Travelgear with sponsorship by Brentwood Private Equity. Prior, Buddy spent 13 years with Rittenhouse Paper Company (now NYSE Cenveo) of Park Ridge, IL. Serving mostly as Chief Financial Officer, while the company grew from $44 million in sales to almost $150 million, he also served as Chief Operating Officer.

Buddy received his MBA in Finance from DePaul University and his BA in Political Science, with a concentration in Public Law from the University of California, Los Angeles.