Martin Hunt, Founder and Managing Partner
Martin Hunt is the founder of HWI Partners and managing partner for Providence Friends Capital (PFC). Mr. Hunt has been a board member of several HWI companies, has led HWI Partners’ transition to Providence Friends Capital, an interim chief executive officer for a group of cable assembly and installation companies and managed significant consulting engagements for HWI Partners.
Prior to his roles at PFC, Mr. Hunt directed marketing and strategy for two multi-billion dollar loan businesses for MBNA America Bank, now Bank of America, completed a $16 billion M&A deal for the Unicom Corporation to form the Exelon Corporation (the largest electric utility at the time) and consulted for American Management Systems, now CGI, in strategy, business process redesign, change management and information technology. Prior to AMS, Mr. Hunt was an associate for Harvard Business School’s Professor Michael Porter during the founding stage of Porter’s Initiative for a Competitive Inner-city (ICIC).
Mr. Hunt has an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Swarthmore College where he was a McCabe Scholar. Mr. Hunt was the first African-American President of the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Philadelphia from 2011 to 2013, a member of the Harvard Club of New York, the Pyramid Club in Philadelphia and the Harvard Business School Alumni Clubs of New York and Washington, DC. Mr. Hunt has volunteered time as a member of the Swarthmore College McCabe scholarship selection committee, an executor for the Hunt Family Foundation and an undergraduate interviewer for Harvard College.
Selected former and current HWI advisors
Bertram Scott, EVP, TIAA-CREF
Bertram L. Scott is a senior F500 executive and was Executive Vice President, Chief Institutional Development and Sales Officer at TIAA-CREF responsible for business development, sales and marketing to current and prospective clients, retirement plan sponsors, benefits consultants and other institutional audiences. Mr. Scott joined TIAA-CREF in 2000 as president of the TIAA-CREF Life Company, where he was responsible for sales and marketing, product development, systems and finance in the insurance division of TIAA-CREF. These areas included group life and disability, universal life, group and long-term care insurance and term insurance products.
Before joining TIAA-CREF, Mr. Scott served as president and CEO of Horizon Mercy, a joint Medicaid managed care program between Mercy Health Plan of Pennsylvania and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New Jersey.
Mr. Scott began his career in 1972 with the Prudential Insurance Company in claims operations. He later became vice president in charge of Marketing and, in 1994, vice president of Managed Care Operations.
Mr. Scott is a member of the boards of Becton, Dickinson Corporation (BDX), DePaul University, Carolina’s Medical Center, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and an advisor to HWI Technologies, LLC.
In 2004, he was named as one of the “75 Most Powerful Blacks in Corporate America” by Black Enterprise magazine and, in 2002, was included in Fortune magazine’s “The 50 Most Powerful Black Executives in America.” Also in 2002, he received DePaul University’s School for New Learning David O. Justice Award. Mr. Scott is a graduate of DePaul University.
Earl F. Hilliard, Managing Partner, Hilliard, Hunt & Hilliard
Congressman Hilliard was a member of the US House of Representatives from 1992 to 2002. Congressman Hilliard began his political career in the Alabama House of Representatives in 1974. He served in the Alabama House from 1975 to 1981 and the Alabama Senate from 1981 to 1992. Congressman Hilliard is an investor in a variety of businesses and is Managing Director of Hilliard, Hunt & Hilliard, a civil law and lobbying firm.
Mr. Hilliard graduated from Morehouse College and is a member of the board of the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and HWI Technologies, LLC.
Brian Holland, Executive Consultant, HWI
Mr. Holland is an Executive Consultant for HWI. Mr. Holland is an investor and co-founder of TheLaundryCafe.com. Mr. Holland was Interim Chief Operating Officer for HWI’s past portfolio company, Custom Cable, and provided leadership for the Workplace Connectivity Division, Engineering, Information Technology, Materials Management, and Manufacturing.
Mr. Holland is a seasoned investor and solution-focused executive with nearly twenty five years of cross-functional expertise concentrated in strategic planning, operational efficiency, and new business start-up. Prior to HWI, Mr. Holland served as Senior Vice President & Managing Director while launching inVentiv Resource Solutions, a talent acquisition business for InVentiv Health. During his tenure at inVentiv Health, he also served as Senior Vice President of Marketing & Sales and executive consultant to UCB Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for strategy, design and deployment of a start-up operation targeting the Psychiatry market.
Mr. Holland has developed his track record of excellence with several multi-national companies, including, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis PharmCeuticals, and Merck & Co, Inc. He held positions of increasing responsibility in field sales, marketing, training & development, managed markets, medical education, customer marketing, operations, analytics, and advocacy & professional relations.
Mr. Holland holds a BA degree in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, with minors in Chemistry, American Civilization, and French.
Lee Ciccarelli, Managing Partner, Ciccarelli Law Offices
Mr. Ciccarelli is the Managing Partner of the Ciccarelli Law Offices with numerous offices throughout Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Ciccarelli is a graduate of Bucknell University and received his law degree from George Washington University. He is a former member of the board of HWI Technologies and a member of the American Bar Association of Pennsylvania, Chester County Bar Association, Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association, and the Pennsylvania Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.
Preston Polk, Managing Director, Glyph Consulting, HWI Advisor
Mr. Polk is an advisor to HWI Partners and the Managing Partner of Glyph Consulting. Mr. Polk’s expertise includes the vision and development of revenue growth strategies, the design and assessment of new products and new market entry strategies as well as the re-engineering of external sales teams, and performance management systems.
Prior to founding Glyph Consulting, Mr. Polk was a senior executive for two Fortune 500 companies – Wells Fargo Bank and First Data Corporation. Mr. Polk help found an internet services firm, Home Account, and was Senior Engagement Manager with Booz • Allen & Hamilton’s Financial Services Consulting Practice. Mr. Polk earned his MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business, and also holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Swarthmore College.
Stephen Hurly, Managing Director, Boenning & Scattergood
Mr. Hurly is a senior executive for several merchant banks and biotech companies after being a managing director at Boenning & Scattergood, an investment banking group headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. He focused on publicly-traded companies and privately-held businesses in the healthcare, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. Mr. Hurly advises HWI on transaction valuation and structuring.
Prior to joining Boenning, Mr. Hurly was a managing partner at Janney Montgomery Scott and Head of their Life Sciences Group. Mr. Hurly has completed over 50 M&A transactions and has raised over $750 Million in capital for clients.
Mr. Hurly previously served as a member of the Executive Offices of Hambrecht & Quist in San Francisco. His duties included managing key accounts and high profile transaction execution for the firm. He has deep experience in supporting high quality clients at all stages of development with their strategic and corporate finance initiatives. Earlier in his career, Mr. Hurly was with JP Morgan and Wasserstein Perrella in New York City. Mr. Hurly has an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS in Engineering from Swarthmore College.
Alexander Wit, Managing Director, PHI Industrial Acquisitions
Mr. Wit is managing director of Phi Industrial Acquisitions, a firm focused on restructuring investment opportunities throughout Europe. Prior to launching PHI Industrial Acquisitions through a management buy-out, Mr. Wit was managing director at Arques Iberia in Madrid, Spain where he founded the Spanish and Portuguese M&A groups specializing in acquiring distressed companies. Mr. Wit is also a supervisory board member of Scooterdepot Inc. in Miami, FL and Dooyoo AG, in Berlin, Germany.
Prior to working for Arques, Mr. Wit was managing director at Viajarbajoprecio.com, an online travel agency in Spain with reverse auction business model. Mr. Wit, also a co-founder of Dooyoo AG, led the international expansion of the company, establishing offices in five European countries. Mr. Wit started his career as an analyst for Deloitte Consulting.
Mr. Wit earned his Bachelors of Arts and Bachelors of Science from Boston College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Kenneth W. Hunt, Jr., Executive Consultant
Mr. Hunt advised HWI Technologies on a variety of issues. His background includes operating and advisory experience in business/commercial banking, financial services and the pharmaceutical industry.
Prior to Mr. Hunt’s HWI consulting efforts, Mr. Hunt held executive roles at leading Fortune 100 companies Bank of America, TIAA-CREF, and Merck & Company. He led national operations at Bank of America, headed enterprise-wide new product development and research at TIAA-CREF and served for two decades of increasing responsibility at Merck & Co., Inc. in sales, marketing, market expansion, training, and strategy development.
Mr. Hunt earned his B.A. from the University of Delaware in Biological Sciences and is a certified new product development professional by the Product Development & Management Association.
