Clear Brook was organized in 2000 by Whit Wagner who was employed for 17 years as a principal and partner at the private investment firm, Three Cities Research, Inc. Three Cities was originally organized in the late 1950’s to advise the Bemberg Group on investments within the United States. The Bemberg Group is a French-Argentine family with a long history of private equity investing in South America, Europe and the U.S. The Bembergs were early investors in venture capital with investments in TA Associates, and backed Peter Brooke in the formation of Advent International in the 1980’s.
Whit Wagner began his business career in 1978 in the corporate banking department at Chemical Bank in New York. During his time at Three Cities Research (“TCR”), Whit was involved in over 50 private investment transactions, was a general partner in the formation of three private equity funds. In addition to investing capital in private transactions while at TCR, Whit was involved in many aspects of the Bemberg family’s overall investment program, which included investments in private equity funds, distressed asset managers, arbitrage strategies, oil and gas and agricultural investments.
Whit has served as a Director of numerous public and private companies and is on the LP Advisory Committee of many private equity funds. He is the Chairman of the Brown Brothers Harriman mutual fund complex and is a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Vermont Foundation and serves on its Investment Committee.
Whit attended St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH and graduated with a BA in Political Science from the University of Vermont. He lives in Boston.
Ken Strachan joined Clear Brook in January 2018 as a Managing Director and is engaged in all aspects of the private markets business at Clear Brook. Since 2000, Ken, as a member of the investment committee of a private investment company, has managed a portfolio of illiquid alternative and direct investments. Prior to working at Clear Brook, Ken served as an M&A executive and general counsel at a variety of Boston-based, private equity owned or start-up companies. He started his career as a corporate securities and transactional attorney in the Boston office of Wilmer Hale.
The grandson of missionaries in Central America, Ken was born in Costa Rica and remains tied to the region by serving on the board of a small foundation that provides grants to innovative education and health programs in Central America, including Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama.
Ken graduated with a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2000, and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1995. Ken lives in Winchester, Massachusetts with his wife and three sons.
Alex Munnell joined Clear Brook in September 2013. Alex graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2006 with a degree in Engineering. He completed a Masters in Finance at Harvard University in 2017. Previously, Alex worked in Paris and Boston for Downer & Company, an international boutique investment bank and at Ryse, Inc., a risk management consulting business serving pension plans. Alex oversees the Firms due diligence of private equity funds and monitors the cash flow forecasting of client portfolios.
Alex lives in Boston.
Anna Laura Di Martino joined Clear Brook Advisors in 2019. Anna Laura graduated from the university of Naples in 2008 with a degree in Industrial Engineering and completed a business certificate in Corporate Sustainability at Harvard Extension School in 2017.
As the office manager Anna Laura works in close collaboration with the team to maintain and update our databases and track performance of investment funds. Anna Laura lives in the Greater Boston area with her husband and their daughter.