Visiting ETA Advisors

Fall 2025 Advisors

Matt Cook, MBA ’01

CEO at SquareTop Capital Partners

Matt Cook, MBA ’01

CEO at SquareTop Capital Partners

Matthew Cook is the CEO of SquareTop Capital Partners as well as Managing Partner at STS Packaging. He was previously the CEO of LBP Manufacturing, a former portfolio company of Pritzker Private Capital. Under his leadership for over 20 years, the company expanded manufacturing products and services around the globe.

Within the foodservice industry, Matthew has a long history of servicing a broad range of clients with fiber-based and sustainable foodservice packaging. Companies such as McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks and Chick-fil-A seek differentiation, sustainability and innovation in their packaging portfolios.

He was previously Chairman of the Board of the Veterans Outdoor Fund, which enables wounded veterans to start the healing process through outdoor activities. He is currently Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (www.trcp.org).

Matthew holds an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School and a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri.

Alex Hodgkin, MBA ’14

Senior Advisor for ETA; Polsky Center Entrepreneur-in-Residence

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Alex Hodgkin, MBA ’14

Senior Advisor for ETA; Polsky Center Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Alex Hodgkin has spent his career in the shoes of the entrepreneur, strategist, and capital markets specialist, having developed his finance acumen as an investment banker serving companies large and small, and his entrepreneurial skills as the cofounder of a multi-service financial advisory firm.

During the first part of his career as an investment banker with Salomon Smith Barney and later Headwaters MB, he completed engagements involving strategic alternative reviews for multinational corporations, liquidity strategies for middle market entrepreneurs, sell side advisory assignments, equity and subordinated debt offerings in the public and private capital markets, and fairness opinions.

As an entrepreneur, Hodgkin cofounded Intrinsic, a financial advisory firm that he has helped grow from a kitchen table concept to one of the largest firms of its kind in the Rocky Mountains, servicing some of the most well-known and well-respected institutional investment firms and privately-held companies in the region.

As a steadfast supporter of entrepreneurship through acquisition, he has been instrumental in the creation of Chicago Booth’s ETA program, where he currently serves as entrepreneur-in-residence and senior advisor for ETA.

Hodgkin earned undergraduate degrees in economics and electrical engineering from Claremont McKenna College and the University of Colorado, respectively, and an MBA from Chicago Booth. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Darrin Shillair, MBA ’16

President, Specialty Sales LLC

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Darrin Shillair, MBA ’16

President, Specialty Sales LLC

Darrin Shillair is President at Specialty Sales, acquired through a self-funded search in 2018. Specialty Sales is a stocking distributor of hoses, tubing, fittings and other components serving the water treatment, agriculture, food & beverage & car wash industries. Darrin has an MBA from Chicago-Booth and a BSE from University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Santiago Villalobos, MBA ’16

Nexxus Capital

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Santiago Villalobos, MBA ’16

Nexxus Capital

Santiago is part of Nexxus Capital, a Mexico and Spain PE fund specializing in private debt and private equity. Prior to rejoining Nexxus in 2019, Santiago co-founded Tera Capital, a Mexico-based search fund. Previously, he was an Equity Research Analyst at UBS in the Latin American group based in Mexico City. Santiago has an M.B.A. from Chicago Booth School of Business and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana, where he served as a professor. He has continued to be involved in the search fund community, and serves on several boards in Mexican companies.

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