Join us for a fireside chat featuring David Shapiro, MBA ’89, Cofounder and Managing Partner, KPS Capital Partners. This conversation will be moderated by Steve Kaplan, Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at Chicago Booth and Kessenich E.P. Faculty Director of the Polsky Center.

David Shapiro is a cofounder and managing partner of KPS Capital Partners, LP, and a member of its investment committee and management committee. KPS, through its affiliated management entities, is the manager of the KPS Special Situations Funds, a family of private equity funds with approximately $19.4 billion of assets under management (as of March 31, 2025), focused on making controlling equity investments in manufacturing and industrial companies across a diverse array of industries, including basic materials, branded consumer, healthcare and luxury products, automotive parts, capital equipment and general manufacturing.

David and the partners of KPS have successfully developed and executed a proprietary investment strategy of creating new companies to acquire assets or businesses from large corporations, businesses owned by families or entrepreneurs, and businesses presented for sale in connection with financial restructurings, including companies owned by former creditor groups. KPS then transforms these businesses into independent, world-class, industry-leading enterprises by structurally improving their strategic position, competitiveness and profitability.

The KPS Funds’ portfolio companies currently generate aggregate annual revenues of approximately $22.2 billion, operate 216 manufacturing facilities in 21 countries, and have approximately 57,000 employees, directly and through joint ventures worldwide (as of March 31, 2025). David currently serves on the board of directors of the following KPS portfolio companies:  C&D Technologies (Chairman), Alta Performance Materials,  AIS Global, AM General, Autokiniton Global Group, Briggs & Stratton, Innomotics, Life Fitness, Lufkin Industries, Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope, PEMCO, Primient, Speira and Sport Group. In addition, David previously served on the Board of Directors of 34 former KPS portfolio companies.

Prior to joining its predecessor in 1991 and creating KPS in 1997, David was an investment banker with Drexel Burnham Lambert and Dean Witter Reynolds.

He received a BA in history from the University of Michigan with High Honors and an MBA with a specialization in finance from Chicago Booth.

David serves on the board of directors, the executive committee and is a co-chair of the audit committee of the Child Mind Institute, the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health, operating three mission areas in care, education and science, that work together for greater impact. David is also a member of the board of directors and is a co-chair of the audit committee of The Doe Fund. The mission of the Doe Fund is to break the cycles of poverty, homelessness, and recidivism through economic opportunity, housing, and comprehensive support services.