Approach

Collaborating to Build Great Businesses

Collaboration is the key to our success.  Onward Capital works shoulder to shoulder with our teams to build shareholder value.  We offer investment opportunities and equity incentives to key managers so that we all benefit from the company’s long-term success.

Onward’s Playbook

Support Human Capital Investment
Our broad network of industry and institutional contacts assists our teams in making investments in human capital to benefit long-term business sustainability, including creating a strategic board of directors and recruiting top management talent.
Lead Corporate Development Efforts
Identifying, acquiring, and integrating add-on acquisitions to broaden our companies’ geographic reach, product suite, customer base, competitive positioning, and purchasing power.
Drive Continuous Improvement Efforts
Investing in our companies to generate sustainable advantages, including technology & reporting improvements, and operational tools to pursue organic margin expansion and productivity gains.
Access to Growth Capital
Supporting our companies’ growth via additional capital with the support of our partners.

Capabilities

Onward seeks opportunities where our capital and expertise will help accelerate growth.  Our industrial sector focus enables us to identify and invest in high-potential companies where we have deep expertise built over 30 years of investment in the sector.

Marcus George

Partner

Marcus founded Onward Capital in 2015. He is responsible for developing investment theses, executing transactions and leading value creation within the portfolio. He is a member of the board of directors of each of Onward’s portfolio companies.

Prior to Onward Capital, Marcus was a Partner at Code Hennessy and Simmons.  He spent 18 years there, reviewed hundreds of investment opportunities and executed dozens of transactions across a variety of industries.

Prior to CHS, Marcus worked in the Corporate Finance Group of Heller Financial and he started his career at KPMG.

Marcus earned a BA in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. He lives in Park Ridge, Illinois with his wife and their two children.

Laura Lester

Partner

Laura founded Onward Capital in 2015. She is responsible for developing investment theses, executing transactions and leading value creation within the portfolio. She is a member of the board of directors of each of Onward’s portfolio companies.

Prior to Onward Capital, Laura spent over ten years at Code Hennessy and Simmons where she reviewed hundreds of investment opportunities and executed dozens of transactions across a variety of industries.

Early in her career, Laura worked in the Investment Banking Division of Lehman Brothers where she advised industrial companies and their boards on strategic alternatives.

Laura earned a BA in Economics from Cornell University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She lives in the suburbs of Chicago with her husband and their three children.

Jack Tresley

Vice President

Jack joined Onward Capital in 2024.

Prior to Onward Capital, Jack was an Associate on the investing team at Granite Creek Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, where he evaluated, structured, executed, and managed both debt and equity investments across a wide range of lower middle market companies.

Prior to Granite Creek, Jack was an investment banking analyst at Metronome Partners, a Chicago-based investment bank, where he worked on a variety of sell-side transactions primarily for lower middle market companies.

Jack earned a BS in Finance from Indiana University, Bloomington – Kelley School of Business and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He lives in Lincoln Park with his wife.