Amy Silverstein
Partner at e2p

Please describe your background and what led you to your current position in private equity.

At first glance, my career journey may appear to be somewhat of a paradox – management consultant to ESG strategist to private equity partner. However, one click down you’ll see there is a cohesive theme of innovation, value creation, and impact.  Today, I’m a partner at e2p, a middle market food-focused private equity firm based in Chicago and the mother of three -- Jessica (19), Sloane (15), and Max (12) –who are my toughest critics and greatest supporters.
 
At e2p, in addition to traditional investment committee responsibilities, I’m the partner in charge of ESG as well as our e2p ecosystem of family-owned businesses and entrepreneurs. We’re focused on building ESG as an asset in our portfolio and as part of our investment process. In other words, we’re using ESG as a proxy for smart business decisions that save money, create value, and have a positive impact on people and the planet. This role is a natural extension of my experience over the past 20 years focused on activating purpose, ESG strategy, and sustainability programs for some of the most influential consumer-facing companies in the world.
 
Prior to joining e2p, I was a Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting – a partner in the growth strategy practice and a leader in ESG strategy. I started my career at Deloitte more than 20 years ago and spent the past ten years advising F100 executives on how to incorporate environmental, social and governance considerations into corporate strategy to accelerate growth, minimize risk, and drive impact. Through this work I’ve seen the power of strategic ESG to reduce cost, grow revenue, and build equity with customers and employees. I’m committed to bringing these insights to the private markets through the ownership model to grow profitable, resilient companies for the long term.

What is a skill you have that sets you apart from your colleagues? 

At Deloitte we called these unique skills “super powers” – my super power is the ability to see possibilities in white space and create something from nothing. I have not felt limited by what is and through multiple influential mentors have honed the art of manifesting the future you want to see. To that end, after the early formative years building core consulting skills, I have had the opportunity to create almost every role I’ve held. Even in a massive professional services firm, I developed an entrepreneurial track record selling through a business case to raise capital that enabled us to shape new market opportunities and build assets that new teams continue to execute and improve.

How were you able to create these new roles and what advice do you have for others who want to advocate for a role that doesn’t yet exist at their firm?

To be honest, until ~five years ago I had no idea. In 2017, I was sitting in a strategy retreat in Sonoma where a colleague drew the ikigai visual freehand as part of a brainstorming session. Something crystallized for me – it’s the model I had followed instinctively for most of my career. For context, “ikigai” is a Japanese concept portrayed by four intersecting circles – what I love, what I’m good at (best at!), what I can get paid for, and what the world needs. The center of these four is thought to represent your unique purpose in the world. We’ve seen similar versions like Jim Collin’s Good to Great Hedgehog Model. My advice – get in touch with what drives you and where you can uniquely create value and impact. Get super smart on this space – smarter than anyone else – and craft an old-fashioned business case. Passion, a solid hypothesis, and rigorous data is an unbeatable combination.  Be willing to iterate, be relentless, and -- success or failure -- be accountable. Sounds a lot like an investment thesis!

What advice do you wish you would have learned earlier in your career?

For most of my career, I’ve been striving for a new market or frontier. When I transitioned from Deloitte to e2p, one of the most surprising realizations was that I had mistakenly assumed the striving was a necessary burden for the thrill of achievement. But as I looked back over the last 20 years, I realized that the most rewarding, fun and fulfilling moments were actually made while striving and not in the achievement itself. I try to keep this in mind today when I’m presenting (i.e., selling!) a provocative or futurist view to a board or management team – and challenge myself to use the pushback or skepticism as an advantage to improve the plan or hone my pitch.

Any words of wisdom for balancing life, family, and motherhood with a career in investing?

I was fortunate to work for an amazing female leader early in my career –when I met her, Deb DeHaas was in her late 30s with three young boys running the flagship Chicago Office of one of the most respected professional services firms in the world. Category of one in the pre-Y2K and pre business casual era! As you can imagine, Deb was constantly invited to speak on “work-life balance”. She would present her go-to slide, a picture of a blender – think Vitamix – with lots of words thrown in the mix  i.e. sports, kids, carpool, clients, recruiting, etc. Her point was to think less about balancing these siloed priorities and more about blending and blurring the lines across. She would use examples like leaving work to attend her son’s game or getting back online after bedtime and working from remote locations. While these practices are more common today, the mindset shift is still meaningful. In short, there is no work life, home life, social life … there is only life! Do what you love, be fluid, and don’t be shy to invest in help at home.

Thank you for your time, Amy! To learn more about e2p, click here.