Jeff Paduch joined Advent in 2002 and is a Managing Partner. He moved to the London office in 2005 and recently returned to the Boston office in 2023. Jeff advises on investments in the technology and business & financial services sectors. He has advised on 30 investments during his career at Advent.
Prior to joining Advent, Jeff worked in the Financial Sponsors / Leveraged Finance Group of UBS Warburg in New York.
Jeff received a BA, cum laude, from the University of Virginia.
What is it like to work with other colleagues at Advent in light of its partnership structure?
When Advent was founded in 1984, the world was a lot less connected than it is today. Early partners needed to make a real effort to work across borders, share ideas, accept compromises, and create consensus. Advent attracted low-ego, team-oriented people who were willing to put the firm first, and we’ve maintained that culture of partnership and collaboration ever since. It means we form good partnerships with others, whether we’re supporting management teams and founders, investing alongside like-minded firms, or working with other stakeholders. We want to be their partner of choice and make them successful.
What would you like external stakeholders to say about the experience of working with Advent?
It sounds trite, but I would like them to say we are good people – professional, respectful, humble, high integrity. For founders, management teams, and boards – that they had a partner who was present, that turned up and invested their time to really learn about their business, their team, and was there to support them with every ounce of the resources at our disposal.
What advice would you give to a new hire at Advent to set them up for long-term success?
Never stop learning. If you are into continuous improvement and have intellectual curiosity, this is a great career to pursue. Advent is a firm that looks to learn from others and learn from itself – both successes as well as failures. There is a real search for best practices, a willingness to embrace challenges, and an openness to pivot when circumstances change. And focus on building lasting relationships and helping others – it’s a people business after all.
“Advent attracted low-ego, team-oriented people who were willing to put the firm first, and we’ve maintained that culture of partnership and collaboration.”
Jeff Paduch
Managing Partner, Advent International
Since you began your career, what’s changed the most about the industry?
I would say the main thing that has changed is that our industry has become much bigger and ever more competitive – it’s grown from a cottage industry to a meaningful sector of the global economy. To adapt, we continuously look for opportunities to invest in resources to give ourselves and our portfolio a competitive advantage in delivering profitable growth at scale. In the past, this took the form of our Operating Partner program and then our Portfolio Support Group. Today, we are investing heavily in digital capabilities to find new investee companies as well as the talent to help us unlock their potential. I can’t wait to see what the next decade brings.
