Management Team
Kevin W. Kuykendall, Managing Partner
Kevin W. Kuykendall is an accomplished private equity investor with a 25+ year track record of value creation as an investor, Board member and team builder. Mr. Kuykendall has led or played a significant role in over two dozen equity and debt investments across the energy sector and has made or managed numerous investments in other sectors such as telecommunications, health training, food manufacturing and processing, aftermarket automotive parts manufacturing and industrial services.
Kevin is currently an independent private equity sponsor through his own entity, K2 Energy Capital, LLC, which he created in 2013. As part of K2, he has worked with several family offices, institutions and private equity firms. From 2016-2018 Kevin served as a full-time Senior Advisor to Blue Wolf Capital, a family of private equity funds which focus on transformational investments in middle market companies, where he helped lead Blue Wolf’s investment activities in energy services. For all of 2015 Kevin served as a Senior Advisor to The Riverside Fund with a focus on energy services.
Before founding K2, Kevin was with American Capital, Ltd., where he created and led the American Capital Energy Group, building a peak portfolio of nearly a billion dollars of market value of energy-related equity and debt investments across the oil and gas production, oilfield services, utility services and alternative energy sectors.
Prior to ACAS, Kevin co-founded the Enron North America Principal Investments Group, where he played a significant role in building the group over a six-year period. At Enron, he focused on originating, executing, managing, and exiting a wide variety of energy-related investments, including leveraged buyouts, asset breakups, and early-stage direct equity investments in the exploration and production, oilfield services, coal, utility services, power, and energy technology sectors.
Kevin has served on over 20 Boards of Directors, has served as Chairman for five companies and has been a members of many Board committees such as Audit, Compensation and others.
Kevin received a B.B.A. with a concentration in finance and a minor in business law, summa cum laude and co-valedictorian, from the University of Oklahoma and an M.B.A. with a finance concentration from the University of Texas at Austin.
Kacy M. Ellis, Partner
Kacy M. Ellis has dedicated her career to investing, portfolio management and M&A across multiple sectors. Most recently, Kacy has consulted for Condire Investors, LLC, a hedge fund focused on precious metals, mining and energy with over $450 million in management. Mrs. Ellis has portfolio management responsibilities for their Special Investment portfolio of international junior mining companies.
Kacy acted as a Director and Manager for a private family-owned business from 2012 through 2016 responsible for their oil and gas non-working interest properties, mineral acquisitions and water sales. During this times, she was responsible for managing and investing over $10 million in assets.
Mrs. Ellis joined American Capital in 2002 as an Associate in the Generalist group of the Dallas office. She later specialized in energy transactions in 2006 joining the Dallas Energy team and was promoted to Vice President in early 2007. During her time with American Capital, Kacy participated in the investment, management and sale of eleven companies representing approximately $500 million in American Capital’s equity and debt investment in controlled and non-controlled entities and served on the Board of numerous portfolio companies working hands on with senior level executives to grow and optimize their businesses. Kacy was a senior team member for American Capital’s investment in three ethanol production facilities from project development to S-1 filing to exit through an acquisition that generated a 97.9% IRR and a $75.4 million gain for American Capital.
Mrs. Ellis joined Salomon Smith Barney’s (Citigroup) Merger and Acquisition group in New York as an Analyst upon graduating from college. While at Salomon, she worked on M&A transactions encompassing all industries, with a focus on transportation, logistics, energy and technology. Most notable of those transactions was Marine Drilling’s merger with Pride International, a transaction valued at $2 billion for a combined Enterprise Value of $6.2 billion, and United Parcel Service’s acquisition of Fritz Companies for a transaction value of $503 million.
Mrs. Ellis received a B.A. in Economics and a Minor in Business from the University of Texas at Austin.