Team

James Dudley

James Dudley

Managing Director, Kava Equity Partners

James Dudley joined Kava Equity Partners in 2023. As a Managing Director, he is responsible for sourcing, underwriting, structuring, and closing private equity investments, as well as investment strategy and portfolio management.

Prior to joining Kava Equity Partners, James held private markets investment roles at Colorado firms Boulder Ventures and Caruso Ventures, where he invested in companies across a range of industries including information technology, aerospace, and consumer products. Before moving into finance, James held technical engineering roles at several companies, including Tesla and Boulder-based Acroname. He has MS (Mechanical Engineering - Mechatronics), BS (Mechanical Engineering), and BA (Archaeology) degrees from Stanford University, as well as an MBA from the CU Boulder Leeds School of Business.
Peter Shepard

Peter Shepard

Assistant Operating Director, Southern Ute Growth Fund

Peter Shepard joined the Southern Ute Indian Tribe Growth Fund in early 2023. As the Assistant Operating Director for the Growth Fund, he oversees Kava Equity Partners as well as GF Properties Group, which owns and manages a diverse commercial and multifamily real estate portfolio.

Prior to joining the Growth Fund, Peter was COO and CFO of Walker & Dunlop Investment Partners (formerly JCR Capital Investment Corporation), a Denver-based real estate private equity firm, and had previously founded and served as Managing Director of Athena Business Solutions, a CFO consultancy, and sister company First Business Partners, an out-sourced back-office administration firm. Earlier in his career, Peter was President and CEO of CapTerra Financial Group, Inc., a publicly traded real estate finance company, CFO and SVP Operations of MVG Development, a Pequot portfolio company, and Executive Director of Constellation Real Technologies, a strategic venture capital fund. He received an MS (Real Estate Development) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a JD from Cornell Law School, and a BA from New York University.
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