Profile

Adams Street Partners has been recognized as one of the most respected and experienced private markets investment managers for over five decades. Adams Street is 100% employee-owned, which fosters a positive and unique culture of collaboration, intellectual rigor, integrity, and a commitment to professional development. For the eighth year in a row, Adams Street was named one of Pension & Investments’ Best Places to Work in Money Management in 2025. 

The firm’s integrated platform of relationships, data, and insights provides institutional and high-net- worth investors with customized access to a spectrum of private markets investment strategies. Employees operate as a single global team, integrating the expertise of the firm’s investment professionals across five strategies: primary investments, secondary investments, growth equity, private credit, and co-investments.  

Adams Street is considered a private markets pioneer and was inducted into the Private Equity Hall of Fame in 2000.

www.adamsstreetpartners.com

Awards

2025 Top Private Equity Firms

2024 Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors

2023 Top Private Equity Firms

2020 Top Growth Equity Firms

2017 Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors

2015 Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors, Top Growth Equity Firms

Features

Growth Equity Leader: Adams Street’s Brian Dudley

GrowthCap’s RJ Lumba spoke with Brian Dudley on May 14, 2025. Brian has led the firm’s application software investments, focusing on growth equity in software, fintech, and consumer sectors, while actively contributing to thought leadership, industry events, and several key committees, since joining Adams Street’s Growth Equity Team in 2013.

Key People

Bon French, Board Chairman

Bon French is the Chairman of Adams Street’s Board of Directors. Bon has been with Adams Street and its predecessor organizations since 1980. He was instrumental in the development of Adams Street’s private equity investment strategies, fund management, and investor relations.

Jeff Diehl, Managing Partner & Head of Investments

Adams Street is led by a Managing Partner & Head of Investments, Jeff Diehl, who reports into an independent Board of Directors. Jeff joined the firm in 2000 as a Partner on the Growth Equity Investment Team and was named Head of Investments in 2014 and Managing Partner in 2015. Jeff has 32 years of experience.

Michael Kurlander, Partner & Chief Financial Officer / Chief Operating Officer

Michael reports to Jeff Diehl and leads Adams Street’s non-investment shared services teams. Michael is a member of Adams Street’s Executive Committee. He has 26 years of experience.

Miguel Gonzalo, Partner & Head of Investment Strategy and Risk Management

Miguel reports to Jeff Diehl and leads Adams Street’s Investment Strategy and Risk Management Team. Miguel is a member of Adams Street’s Executive Committee. He has 30 years of experience, all of which has been with Adams Street.

Kevin O’Donnell, Partner & Global Head of Investor Relations

Kevin O’Donnell reports to Jeff Diehl and leads Adams Street’s 40-member Global Investor Relations Team. Kevin is a member of Adams Street’s Executive Committee and has 38 years of experience.

Funds Raised

Adams Street Partners was founded in 1972 as the growth equity investment team of the First National Bank of Chicago. After several corporate events, the firm operated for many years as a part of UBS Global Asset Management. In 2001, Adams Street Partners, LLC was established as an independent entity, and in 2008 it became a 100% employee-owned firm.

The firm is dedicated exclusively to private markets investment management. The initial focus was direct venture and growth equity investing. Adams Street’s primary fund investment activity began in 1979 when it first made commitments to primary partnerships on behalf of clients, thereby creating the first private equity Fund of Funds (FoF). Today, the firm also offers secondary (first established in 1986), co-investment (1989), and private credit (2016) strategies to its global client base through both multi-strategy and single strategy vehicles. Adams Street was one of the first private markets firms to create a multi-strategy FoF, an annual offering which is now in its 31st vintage. The firm currently manages $65 billion.

Key Investments

Representative private credit portfolio companies can be found on Adams Street’s website.

Growth equity portfolio companies can be found on Adams Street’s website.

Capital Responsibility

Adams Street believes that the integration of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors in investment decision making can have a positive impact on performance by helping to mitigate investment risk. The firm’s commitment to ESG integration is further demonstrated by its participation in industry-wide initiatives.

Adams Street became a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2010 and to the Initiative Climat International (iC International) in 2021, which seeks to harmonize action on climate risk in private markets. Adams Street is also a member of the ESG Data Convergence Initiative, which aims to standardize and promote ESG reporting and benchmarking in private equity portfolios. This directly supports the firm’s efforts to improve ESG transparency in private markets.

Adams Street has a dedicated ESG Committee which meets quarterly and oversees ESG integration. The committee includes representatives from each of the firm’s investment teams and each of the key geographies in which it invests.