John Cozzi

John is Co-Head of AEA Small Business Private Equity and a Partner on AEA’s Small Business Private Equity team. In his role, he focuses on investment opportunities in the consumer and business services and industrial products sectors. John currently serves as a board member of 50 Floor, American Expediting, Barnet Products, Connexus Resource Group, Impetus Wellness Group, Montway,  P&B Intermodal, Scan Global Logistics and WorldWide Electric. He also served on the boards of former AEA portfolio companies CLS Management Services, Colony Hardware, Entregado Group, Evans, Galco, Implus Footcare, Inovar, In the Swim, Industrial Controls Distributors, NCS, National Rehab, Pexco, Phillips Pet Food and Supplies, PLZ Aeroscience, Sextant Education and Troxell Communications.

Before joining AEA, John was a managing director at Arena Capital Partners, a private equity firm that invests in small companies in the consumer and business services sectors. Previously, he was a managing director in the leveraged finance group of Credit Suisse First Boston. Prior to joining Credit Suisse First Boston, he worked at Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. and NYNEX Corp.

John received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in economics and computer science from Union College with honors.

John is the Chairman of KIPP Team & Family, a charter school system in New Jersey and Florida, with over 8,000 children. In 2019, he co-founded Propel America, a multi-state organization providing technical certification training that enables high school students to obtain career-oriented jobs. Previously, he has served as Chairman and a Board Member of Everybody Wins!, a program which provides one-to-one literacy mentoring for inner city school children, and as a Board Member of Pride First, a program dedicated to serving disadvantaged children in the New York City school system.