48North Partners Expands Los Angeles M&A Team With Five Hires
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Buy-side M&A advisory firm adds two associates and three analysts to support growing demand from founder-led businesses
48North Partners, a Los Angeles-based buy-side M&A advisory firm serving founder-led and privately held businesses, has announced the addition of five new team members to its Los Angeles office. The firm welcomes two associates and three analysts: Trae Smith, Wells Watts, Gabriella Ramsaran, Grace Kotsay and Wells Leland.
The new team members join 48North’s buyside advisory practice, where they will support business owners across various industries at every stage of the M&A process.
As a generation of founders approaches retirement amid a shift widely described as the largest transfer of private business ownership in American history, more owners are seeking specialist advisors tailored to founder-led businesses. 48North has positioned itself within that movement, with the firm’s leadership regularly publishing commentary on independent sponsors, search funds in founder-led M&A and the state of founder advisory in 2026.
“We are thrilled to welcome this talented group to 48North,” said Chapin Newhard, co-founder and managing partner of 48North Partners. “Every one of them shares the quality that defines our firm: a genuine respect for the people who build businesses. As more founders approach some of the most important decisions of their lives, growing our team allows us to serve them with the depth and attention they deserve.”
Chapin Newhard founded 48North Partners after beginning his career on the buy side of the transaction table at a private equity firm focused on family-owned and founder-led service businesses, an experience that shaped the firm’s founder-first advisory model. He has written on transition readiness as an operating discipline for privately held companies and contributes regular commentary on M&A and exit planning for national business publications.
“Our clients trust us during one of the most consequential decisions of their professional lives,” Newhard added. “We hire people who take that responsibility seriously and who bring energy to everything they do, on and off the clock.”
The firm marked the occasion with a team pickleball tournament in Los Angeles.
Information for this article was sourced from 48North Partners.
