The Orchard Way Capital team has extensive prior experience within the food and beverage, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical sectors. They have been actively involved in investing in and operating small and medium-sized businesses across these industries in the Americas.
Joseph J. Vadapalas
Managing Director, Orchard Way Capital Partners, L.P.
Mr. Vadapalas has over 30 years of experience in originating, structuring, and managing investments. Prior to Orchard Way Capital, he was a co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of several private equity funds and investment firms specializing in small and medium sized buyouts and business development across diverse industries and geographies including the U.S., Latin America, the UK and Asia.
Mr. Vadapalas has served as a board member and senior advisor to numerous public, private, family office, fund of funds and non-profit entities in the U.S., Latin America, Canada, the UK and Asia. Previously, Mr. Vadapalas was an executive at The Chase Manhattan Bank (predecessor to JP Morgan Chase) focusing on corporate finance advisory services in the U.S. and Latin America. He began his career as a research & development engineer at Atlantic Richfield (now BP plc).
Mr. Vadapalas holds a Masters of Public and Private Management from Yale University, a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and a Bachelor of Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
Sewanyana Kironde
Executive Partner, Orchard Way Capital Partners (UK) LLP
Mr. Kironde has over 30 years of international experience in alternative investments and wealth management. Mr. Kironde established and was General Manager of Gamma Advisors and has served as Managing Director of alternative investment firm Investcorp and PineBridge Investments (Middle East). Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President & Managing Director of ABN AMRO Bank (Schweiz) AG, Chief Investment Officer of Chase Manhattan Bank (Switzerland)'s Wealth Management unit and was a Directeur of JP Morgan (Suisse). Before J.P. Morgan, Mr. Kironde worked at the Chase Investment Bank co-heading the corporate finance division and before that at CS First Boston.
Mr. Kironde is on the Board of Directors of Parkwell Limited and the advisory board of Sivium Capital Ltd.
Mr. Kironde holds a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, a Master of Arts in International Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and a Bachelor of Arts in folklore and mythology from Harvard University.
Justo Frias
Operating Partner
Mr. Frías has over 40 years of international operating experience in the food retailing, distribution and wholesaling sectors.
He has served as COO of Grupo Gigante, managing all aspects of the 270-store location (US$2 billion in sales) supermarket operation, as well as the Office Depot operation (US$1 billion in sales) and the group’s real estate portfolio. He then initiated the company’s supermarket operation in the U.S. and, as CEO, expanded it across California.
He began his career at Safeway in the U.S. and later rose to country President of Saudi Arabia and Jordan. His responsibilities included initiating operations in those countries and developing relationships with local owners and international suppliers.
Mr. Frias has also started his own retail supermarket chain across the states of Washington and Oregon, which he subsequently sold.
Mr. Frias has also worked with Mr. Vadapalas at Nexos Capital Partners, LLC, a U.S. Hispanic-focused investment firm where they invested in the retail, energy and media sectors.
Mr. Frías attended the University of Maryland, where he concentrated in Aerospace Engineering.
Martha Mena-Rimolo
Control and Risk Compliance
Ms. Mena-Rimolo has over 40 years of experience in accounting, control and compliance both in the U.S. and internationally.
Most recently, Ms. Mena-Rimolo has served as a FINRA/SIPC registered representative offering securities products and services to individuals. Prior to this, she worked at KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers in Risk Management and Independence Compliance.
Ms. Mena-Rimolo also worked at private equity firms Modera Alternative Investment and WestSphere Equity Partners as Senior Analyst and Controller, respectively. In the latter position, she assisted in monitoring WestSphere’s offices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia and Venezuela. Previously to WestSphere, Ms. Mena-Rimolo worked as an Audit Manager at Creditanstalt and before that as an Assistant Treasurer in Chase Manhattan’s high net worth wealth management division focusing on investor compliance.
Ms. Mena-Rimolo holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from Lehman College of the City University of New York and is FINRA-licensed.
Constantinos Nicolaides
Vice President
Mr. Nicolaides is a Vice President at Orchard Way Capital Partners. His responsibilities include sourcing and evaluating investment opportunities, conducting investment due diligence, and portfolio monitoring.
Prior to joining Orchard Way Capital, Mr. Nicolaides launched London-based financial advisory firm Sivium Capital, where he provided merger and acquisition advisory services to corporations, new ventures and family offices. Previously, he worked at Gamma Advisors focusing on cross-border M&A transactions, having joined from Investment Bank of Greece, in Athens, where he served as Associate Director of Investment Banking. He has previously worked at multi-family office The Family Office Company in Bahrain, focusing on direct private equity and fund investments in the United States, Swiss asset manager NS Partners (then Notz Stucki & Cie), and EFG Harris Allday, the investment arm of EFG Private Bank UK.
Mr. Nicolaides holds a Masters of Business Administration from Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), a Master of Science in Financial Markets from the University of Southampton and a Bachelor of Science in Economics & Finance from the University of Surrey.