Brian J. Email & Phone Number

Greenwich, Connecticut, United States

New York City Metropolitan Area

Actively investing in industries and special situations where we have deep expertise such as QSR, consumer/CPG, media and specialty industrials. Current investments include multiple portfolios of restaurants, a content (media) rights acquisition platform, a leading food distributor and certain CPG holdings.

Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area

Joined the HumanCo Advisory Board to support a strategic investment in the better-for-you hospitality space (True Food Kitchen) and a growing portfolio of disruptive, clean label CPG brands (Against the Grain Gourmet, Snow Days and Cosmic Bliss). First partnered with the HumanCo team in 2014 as a co-investor of a predecessor company named Hu Chocolate | Hu Master Holdings, which was sold to a strategic buyer in 2021.

Scottsdale, Arizona, United States

New York City Metropolitan Area

New York City Metropolitan Area

Trian is an engaged shareowner who approaches every investment like private equity that typically controls every share. As a long-term Investment Team Partner, I helped the firm invest in high quality but undervalued and underperforming companies, and worked collaboratively with those companies to drive long-term, sustainable earnings growth for the benefit of all shareholders. Deep expertise in consumer services and franchising, particularly restaurants and hospitality, luxury, chemicals, coatings, media, gaming and packaging. Direct portfolio, or GP-affiliated, investment coverage included the following (but not limited to): Arby's (Board ‘15 to ‘18), Brinker, Buffalo Wild Wings (Inspire Brands Board ‘18), CKE Restaurants, Domino's Pizza (Forbes magazine dubbed our investment the “Great Pizza Trade of the Year”), DowDupont (HBS case study), Dunkin’ Brands, DuPont, Hu Products | Hu Chocolate (Board Observer), Inspire Brands (Board ‘18), Intercontinental Hotels, Lion's Gate, Meridian (Board ‘06 to ‘08), PPG, Peet's Coffee, Tiffany, Tim Hortons, Tribune, UST, Wendy's (Board Observer ‘08 to ‘19) and Wendy's/Arby's Group.

New York City Metropolitan Area

Early minority investor and former Board Observer in Hu Chocolate | Hu Master Holdings. Strategic sale occurred in 2021.

For ~15 years, I helped run point on Trian's investment in Wendy's and facilitated an operational transformation of the company from a struggling, unfocused conglomerate to a best-in-class, pure play hamburger business. I helped source the investment in November 2005 and co-authored the White Paper, Trian's first ever at the time. In 2008, we orchestrated a full acquisition of Wendy’s International with Triarc (Arby’s). In 2015, Wendy’s asked me to serve as its sole Designee on the Board of Directors of Arby’s, and then it’s successor-Inspire Brands, to oversee this strategic minority investment.

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Wendy's Designee on the Inspire Brands Board of Directors. Inspire Brands is a global, multi-brand company that oversees the following concepts: Arby's, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, Rusty Taco and Sonic. This role served the Wendy’s Board by providing direct oversight on the Company’s strategic minority investment in Inspire Brands. In 2017, as a Board member, I helped ARG/Arby’s execute a strategic acquisition of the distressed Buffalo Wild Wings brand which formed the holding company now known as Inspire Brands. In 2018, in order to take advantage of all-time high valuations for franchised restaurants, I helped lead the negotiation to exit Wendy’s minority position in Inspire Brands. We sold our stake back to a private equity partner for $450mm, an attractive and accretive price. In total, we generated over $1bn of value for the sale of this business and its predecessor. After leading this highly profitable exit of Wendy’s strategic minority investment in Inspire Brands, I resigned from the Inspire Brands Board.

Wendy's Designee on the Arby's Restaurant Group ("ARG") Board of Directors. Arby's is the second largest QSR brand in the U.S. sandwich category. During this time, Arby’s was one of the highest performing restaurant brands in the franchised space, executing a sound operational and marketing turnaround.

Wilmington, Delaware, United States

As a Partner on the Investment Team at Trian and a lead analyst on the deal, I co-authored the White Paper and helped lead a proxy context which catalyzed a management change, a strategic merger and an operational turnaround. In the second phase of this investment, our constructive engagement with shareholders, management, advisors/consultants and two boards of directors led to a transformative realignment of the planned post-merger portfolio, ensuring that maximum synergy potential would be reached in the differentiated specialty chemicals businesses. Our project which helped generate meaningful stakeholder value creation was featured in a Harvard Business School case study entitled "Trian Partners and DuPont.” Guest-lectured this case study in second-year MBA classes.

Luxury brand — English manufacturer of high-performance, high-fidelity audio and video components and systems. Oversaw Trian’s investment and participation in a consortium of strategic investors.

New York City Metropolitan Area

First job out of college was a two-year analyst program in the Media & Telecom Investment Banking Group of Salomon Smith Barney, which ultimately became a subsidiary of Citigroup.

Bachelor Of Business Administration - Bba, Accounting And Finance, High Distinction

Education record