Jim Vesterman

Jim Vesterman is a Lecturer at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on Search Fund Entrepreneurship and is currently on the Board of Directors of Raptor Technologies, the world’s leading provider of school security software. From 2012 to 2020, Jim was the CEO of Raptor Technologies, where he led the growth of Raptor from serving 7,000 schools in the United States to over 40,000 schools with an integrated suite of K-12 safety software. Jim led the company’s revenue growth of 600%, new bookings growth of 1,500%, and total employee growth of 1,000%. He sold the company to JMI Equity, an $8 billion software-focused private equity fund, which returned a 13.5x MOIC and 53% IRR to his search fund investors. Prior to that, Jim founded the private equity search fund Liberty Place Capital in 2009 and used it to acquire Raptor Technologies in 2012.

Jim began his career at Monitor Group, a global strategy consulting firm, and Monitor Clipper Partners, a middle-market private equity fund. He has served in senior operating positions in firms ranging from Fortune 500 companies to software start-ups. Jim also served in the United States Marine Corps in the Special Operations Forces and was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for his service in Iraq in 2004. He graduated from Amherst College with a bachelor's degree in Economics and Spanish and earned his M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 2006.