Leadership
We are team players committed to our mutual success. We take pride in building better businesses alongside company owners and management teams.
Our goal is to create successful outcomes and build lifelong relationships while working on the same team.
Vladan Jovanovic
Founder and Managing Partner
Vladan Jovanovic is the founder and managing partner of Lifespan Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on growth partnerships with owner-operated and family-owned businesses in the lower middle market. Lifespan Equity provides acquisition and growth capital coupled with financial, strategic, and operational expertise to remove growth barriers, accelerate revenue, fine-tune operations, and create significant value for the owners, management teams, employees, customers, and communities served by our portfolio companies. Vladan is sector-focused, operationally-oriented investor with significant experience as a business operator, investment banker, and a management consultant. He is responsible for the overall management of Lifespan Equity Partners, including developing sector focused investment theses, recruiting industry operators and board-level advisors, sourcing new investment opportunities, managing transaction execution, structuring debt and equity financing, monitoring performance, and actively partnering with portfolio companies to execute on investment objectives.
Prior to Lifespan Equity, Vladan served as an Executive-in-Residence with a middle-market private equity firm, Sterling Partners, and an operating executive within Sterling's healthcare services portfolio where he served in several senior roles leading financial, strategic, commercial, operating, and digital transformation initiatives.
Prior to Sterling Partners, Vladan executed M&A transactions as an investment banker with a top-tier global investment bank, Moelis & Company. At Moelis he worked on transactions in business services, consumer products and services, food and beverage, industrial services, and technology, media, and telecom (TMT).
Prior to Moelis, Vladan served as a trusted corporate governance advisor with a premier boutique consulting firm, The Delves Group (TDG). Vladan advised C-suite and Boards of Directors on structuring and managing effective behavior-shaping performance-driven incentive compensation plans for the companies' salesforce and executive management teams. His clients included public, private, and private equity-owned companies in consumer, retail, business services, and financial services. TDG was later acquired by Willis Towers Watson, a leading global professional services company that helps organizations improve performance through effective management of risk, financials, and people.
Vladan graduated from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business where he studied finance, operations, strategic management, and entrepreneurship. He was an accomplished student-athlete in college. He earned a full scholarship to study and play volleyball in the United States and moved to Chicago on his own at the age of 18. Combination of adversity, team sports, competition, camaraderie, working through obstacles, learning, perseverance, and pursuit of goals through continuous improvement shaped his early life experience. Vladan lives in Boston with his wife and two kids and enjoys trying new foods, playing tennis and skiing together, traveling, and many other family adventures that come their way.