Alex joined AEA in 2004. After three years with the firm, he pursued other entrepreneurial focused initiatives before returning to AEA in 2009. He became a Partner in 2018. Alex focuses on AEA’s investments in the Consumer sector and currently serves on the boards of 24 Hour Fitness, BMS Enterprises, Jack’s Family Restaurants, Melissa & Doug and ThreeSixty. Prior to AEA’s exit, he also sat on the board of 1-800 Contacts.
Prior to joining AEA, Alex was a strategy consultant with Bain & Co. in San Francisco. Prior to Bain, he spent a year as a consultant to DataCom, Mongolia’s first internet service provider, as a Henry Luce Scholar.
Alex was a Morehead-Cain Scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill.
James joined AEA in 2001 as an Associate and became a Partner in 2013. He focuses on AEA’s investments in the Consumer and Services sectors. James currently serves on the boards of Melissa & Doug, ThreeSixty and Traeger Wood Pellet Grills. He also served on the board of 24 Hour Fitness and Brand Networks. Prior to AEA’s exit from the investment, James served on the board of 1-800 Contacts and Shoes for Crews.
Prior to joining AEA, James was a strategy consultant with Bain & Company in Chicago, advising both private equity and corporate clients. During his time there, he developed acquisition perspectives and post-merger integration strategies for clients across a wide variety of industries, including consumer products, general industrial and services sectors.
Martin Eltrich joined AEA in 2001 and became a Partner in 2003. He leads the Consumer investment practice and currently serves on the boards of 24 Hour Fitness, Jack’s Family Restaurants, Melissa & Doug, ThreeSixty and Traeger Wood Pellet Grills, and previously sat on the board of Brand Networks. Prior to AEA’s exit from the investment, Martin also sat on the boards of 1-800 Contacts, Acosta, At Home, Burt’s Bees, Cogent Healthcare, Henry Company, Li & Fung Distribution, Shoes for Crews and Tampico Beverages.
Before joining AEA, Martin was an investment banker covering the consumer products industry. He was an investment banker at Greenhill & Co. in New York, joining that firm at its inception in 1996. Prior to joining Greenhill, Martin was a banker in the consumer products group at Morgan Stanley.