Charles F. Auster, Managing Partner
Chuck Auster has more than 30 years of experience creating value through entrepreneurship, large corporate executive management, and private equity investments and transactions. He is currently Founder and Managing Partner of Auster Capital Partners (ACP).
Mr. Auster sits on the board of a number of companies, including BEMS and Cascal (NYSE), and is currently Chairman of the Board of Global Packaging Corporation N.V. and Senior Advisor to Yorkville Advisors, LLC. He is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Center of Tufts University, and Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of L'Enfant Trust, Washington, D.C., a 501(c)(3) historic preservation organization that he co-founded.
Before establishing ACP, Mr. Auster was a Partner and Managing Director at One Equity Partners (OEP), the private equity arm of JPMorgan Chase. OEP manages $8 billion of investments and commitments for direct investments in corporate transactions and leveraged buyouts. Among other transactions, Mr. Auster led the deal team in the acquisition of Polaroid Corporation by OEP and served as Chairman of the Board of Polaroid.
Prior to joining OEP, Mr. Auster was President and Chief Executive Officer and a Member of the Board of Directors of Infocrossing, Inc. (NASDAQ:IFOX), a premier provider of a full range of IT outsourcing services, including mainframe and open systems as well as complex hosting and managed services.
Mr. Auster was a Founder, and formerly the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and a Member of the Board of Directors of IXnet, Ltd. (NASDAQ), a network provider of communication services offering an international voice, data and IP extranet for the financial services community. He was in a leadership role as part of the senior team that negotiated the sale of IPC and IXnet to Global Crossing in a stock-for-stock exchange valued in excess of $3.8 billion.
Mr. Auster earlier served as Executive Vice President and on the Board of Directors of Washington-based AmeriTrade, Inc., an international trade and investment banking firm that helps U.S. firms structure, finance and manage overseas transactions. Mr. Auster's primary work included projects with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The U.S. Export Import Bank, The Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and The International Finance Corporation of the World Bank.
As a Founding Partner in Andes Equity Partners, Ltd., Mr. Auster aided in the conception and sponsorship of the South American Private Equity Growth Fund, LP, a $180 million Overseas Private Investment Corporation guaranteed direct investment fund for Latin America.
Mr. Auster graduated from Tufts University with Highest Honors in Economics and holds a Juris Doctor with Honors from the National Law Center, George Washington University. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Virginia State Bar.
Cynthia S. Artin, Managing Director
Cynthia S. Artin has been helping companies grow through sound investment, strategy, and market positioning for 30 years. As Managing Director for Auster Capital Partners (ACP), Ms. Artin is responsible for the Advisory practice.
Prior to joining ACP, Ms. Artin founded and developed Artin Arts, a strategic marketing, branding and communications company. Ms. Artin and her team worked with private equity groups, hedge funds, and venture capital firms, supporting their portfolio companies with growth strategies and market positioning, with an emphasis on transaction communications associated with M&A, public offerings, and the sale of businesses.
Prior to starting Artin Arts in 2003, Ms. Artin successfully positioned ITXC Corporation, based in Princeton, N.J., as the global leader of VoIP international and long-distance services. Before joining ITXC, Ms. Artin served as Vice President of Corporate Communications for Global Crossing, headquartered in Madison, N.J., where she was responsible for global media and industry analyst relations and managed a team of professionals interacting with business, financial, and trade press and industry analyst firms. At Global Crossing, she also led a brand repositioning effort in her role as VP of Global Marketing Communications and supported a number of mergers and acquisitions during the company's rapid period of growth. During her tenure, she led the brand integration of more than 14 companies.
As Vice President of Corporate Communications for IXnet and IPC Communications from 1999-2000, Ms. Artin managed all facets of communications including investor relations, media relations, public relations, marketing communications, events, trade shows, advertising, branding, Internet and internal communications. She was engaged by the company to support an IPO in August 1999. In 2000, the companies were acquired by Global Crossing for $3.8 billion.
From 1996-1999, Ms. Artin was Vice President of Creative Services for The American Stock Exchange, where she coached a team of more than 30 individuals delivering all aspects of communications and corporate positioning strategy and led the communications efforts associated with the combination of the Amex with NASDAQ through the efforts of the NASD.
Previously, Ms. Artin held leadership positions in the retail and wholesale fashion industry, conceiving and managing merchandising and marketing strategies extending from the United States into Europe and Asia. Ms. Artin is a graduate of Arizona State University.
