Jay is the Founder and Chairman of LB Equity, a venture capital and growth firm focused on investments in the wellness sector, including longevity, regenerative health, human performance, fitness, nutrition and natural beauty. He began his career at Bain & Company, where as a Partner, he developed growth strategies for consumer brand and marketing information based companies on a global basis. Through his work for his clients, Jay has developed a depth of experience in several industry sectors including consumer products, retail marketing, pharmaceuticals, and healthy living, among others. Following Bain, Jay founded The Lucas Group, where he serves as Chairman. The Lucas Group is focused on the specialized needs of private equity investors and their portfolio companies; performing due diligence and developing growth strategies. In addition to his business interests, Jay has also been active in government and politics. While in college, he served two terms in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, and later in 1998, was a candidate for Governor in the general election. He has been an active supporter of veterans and is the founder of the American Sunshine Movement, a grassroots effort to revitalize small towns and communities across America with the goal of Impacting more than 1,0000 towns throughout the country Jay has received his Bachelor’s degree from Yale College, his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and his J.D. from the Harvard Law School and studied International Relations as a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University.

Ian has fifteen years of experience in the entrepreneurial and investing space, with roles in fund management, start-ups and advisory roles on the boards of emerging growth brands and companies. At LB Equity, Ian has led the firm’s deal sourcing efforts, identifying and helping to complete investments in Mad Rabbit, Defunkify, Crown Affair and Opus, among others. Currently, he has also taken role of helping to lead the efforts in the launching and management of the firm’s most recent fund, LB Equity Wellness Growth, L.P. The fund is focused on early-stage investments in the burgeoning trend toward healthy living, especially longevity, wellness and fitness. In essence, capitalizing on the trend toward people taking agency over their own health, with metrics, preventive, natural and personalized care solutions. Earlier in his career, Ian led a successful rollup effort in the craft beer sector, as well as serving as interim CEO of a mid-size ‘ready to drink’ tea company. Ian continues to have interests in the healthy drinks industry as an active advisor to both Tost, a sparking alcohol free natural beverage and hiyo, a non-alcoholic functional seltzer.

Karen Ballou is co-founder and partner at LB Equity, a private equity fund focused on emerging brands in skincare, haircare and cosmetics. She leads the firm’s efforts in product development, formulation and the sourcing of cannabis related brand opportunities.  Karen is also chief executive and founder of LB Equity portfolio company, Immunocologie, a natural, luxury skincare brand, which utilizes a proprietary technology promoting skin health and appearance. In that role, she also has appeared on QVC and other related venues explaining the brand’s unique benefits. Karen started her career in skincare and cosmetics at Elizabeth Arden where she served in a variety of marketing and sales roles. Later at Redken, Karen was recruited to grow a small start-up company providing beauty tools and instruments for use by spas as well as for consumers to use at home, and then growing the company several-fold over a three-year period. As an independent marketing and branding consultant, Karen has successfully developed and helped bring to market more than 65+ brands in the beauty industry, with an emphasis on natural ingredients that are not only good for skin health, but are highly effective delivering proven results.  Today, Karen is largely focused on new product ideation with biotech companies and naturally sourced ingredients from regions around the world sourced using fair trade and sustainable practices.  Merging her business background with her industry knowledge, Karen is sought after as an industry leader bringing integrity to her formulations and the know how to be successful and shape brands for success.

Jim has spent the last four years as C.E.O. of Apollo Biowellness. Prior to Apollo, Morrison was C.E.O. of StarShop, which was the first celebrity driven video shopping app., launched in a partnership with SPRINT. His track record of leadership and accomplishment in the beauty space has been unparalleled. Morrison was President of L'Oreal for 9 years. He was responsible for many acquisitions including both Redken and Matrix, and top line growth which averaged over 20% during his tenure. Prior to L'Oreal Morrison was President and C.E.O. of Graham Webb one of the most successful start-ups in the hair care space. After leaving L'Oreal Morrison was C.E.O. and owner of Sexy Hair Concepts for four years. Morrison's track record of leadership and accomplishment spans three decades and includes over 36 years of experience in successfully launching start-ups and masterfully running global powerhouses.

Cavan Pohlschroeder has been a Venture Capital and Growth Equity investment professional since 2009, joining LB Equity in 2015. Prior to LB Equity, Mr. Pohlschroeder worked at Brightline Capital Partners, a growth stage private equity sponsor focused on impact and sustainability investing. During his time at BCP he was responsible for generating, analyzing and diligencing new investment opportunities within the agribusiness, bioenergy and energy sectors, along with working with portfolio companies. In addition to investment responsibilities at BCP, he spent two years in Corporate Development at an agribusiness portfolio company. Mr. Pohlschroeder started his career with the investment bank Williams Capital Group, where he spent 5 years working with clients across a variety of transactions, including M&A and capital markets related activity in the consumer and energy industries. Mr. Pohlschroeder received a BBA in Finance from Emory University and an MBA from Columbia University.

Adam Muniz is a transformative operations leader with 17 years of experience in health, beauty, wellness, and fashion. He has a proven track record of driving multi-million-dollar P&L growth, executing strategic exits, and scaling businesses, including roles at Google, Uber, Glamsquad, and Ever/Body. Adam specializes in streamlining complex operations and applying data- driven strategies to boost efficiency and profitability. He has successfully turned multi- million-dollar losses into profits and secured eight-figure investments. Recognized in the press as a startup mentor, Adam has partnered with Yale University to host entrepreneurial events featuring leaders from IBM, Squarespace, and Warby Parker. He is driven, innovative, and committed to delivering exceptional results.

Lexi has been at LB Equity since 2018. Previously, Lexi worked supporting the Global Board & CEO Practice team at DHR International and held administrative assistant roles at Fresh Beauty and at the Bloomingdale’s 59th Street corporate offices. Outside of work, Lexi enjoys working out, reading, and being outdoors. She received a BA from Stony Brook University. Lexi currently lives on Long Island with her husband and son.

Danielle enjoys combining her business and health science backgrounds with her passion for beauty and wellness. She studied Biology at Tufts University. After graduating she spent 3 years in Fidelity Investments internal consulting group, Fidelity Consulting, where she focused on strategic initiatives for various parts of Fidelity’s business as well as enterprise wide. Before joining the LBE team, Danielle earned her MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business with concentrations in Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Marketing.