Thomas E. McInerney

Secretary, Invest in Education Coalition
Chief Executive Officer, Bluff Point Associates

Thomas E. McInerney is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Bluff Point Associates, a private equity investment company focusing on small and mid-size companies in the fintech and healthcare information processing sectors.

Previously, Mr. McInerney was a General Partner at Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS), one of the larger private equity investment firms in the U.S. Mr. McInerney specialized in WCAS activities in the information services and telecommunications industries. As his first responsibility at Welsh Carson, Mr. McInerney served as President and CEO of Momentum Technologies, Inc., a New Jersey-based privately-owned provider of computer systems and services. The company later went public as DecisionOne Corporation and became the largest independent computer maintenance company in the U.S. before it was sold. During his 23 years at the firm, Mr. McInerney led the acquisition of dozens of companies, took many of them public and served as CEO of several of them.

Before joining WCAS, Mr. McInerney served as the President and Chief Executive Officer at Dama Telecommunications Corporation, which he co-founded in 1982. He has also served as President of Automatic Data Processing’s (ADP) Brokerage Services Division and then as Group Vice President – Financial Industry Services, ADP’s second largest business unit. Mr. McInerney also served as the Senior Vice President, Operations and Technology at the American Stock Exchange where he was responsible for all trading floor, clearing corporation and technology operations.

Mr. McInerney received a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. John’s University in 1964 and attended NYU Graduate School of Business from 1965-1968.

He currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Bread and Life Program, as a board member of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research in NYC and as Chair of the Foundations in Education Board for the Diocese of Bridgeport, CT. He is a former member of the Investment Committee for the Eastern Province of the Congregation of the Mission and a past member of the board of the Institute for Catholic Schools.

Robert H. Niehaus

Treasurer, Invest in Education Coalition

Robert H. Niehaus is the Chairman and Founder of GCP Capital Partners LLC, an independent, privately held investment management firm which currently manages four U.S. private equity funds totaling $1.8 billion in committed capital.  GCP has had a successful track record investing $1.6 billion in approximately 68 portfolio companies. Mr. Niehaus formed GCP Capital Partners in 2009 as the successor to Greenhill Capital Partners, the merchant banking business of Greenhill & Co., Inc. (NYSE: GHL). Mr. Niehaus joined Greenhill & Co. in 2000 to begin the formation of Greenhill Capital Partners and served as its Chairman and Chair of its Investment Committee from 2000 to 2009.

Prior to joining Greenhill in 2000, Mr. Niehaus spent 17 years at Morgan Stanley & Co., where he was a Managing Director in the merchant banking department from 1990 to 1999.  Mr. Niehaus was Vice Chairman and a Director of the Morgan Stanley Leveraged Equity Fund II, L.P., a $2.2 billion private equity investment fund, from 1992 to 1999 and was Vice Chairman and a Director of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners III, L.P., a $1.8 billion private equity investment fund, from1994 to 1999. Mr. Niehaus was also Chief Operating Officer of Morgan Stanley’s merchant banking department from 1996 to 1998.

Mr. Niehaus is Chairman of Iridium Communications, Inc. (NASD: IRDM), and is a director of several private GCP portfolio companies. Mr. Niehaus is a Trustee of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and chairs its Investment Committee which oversees a $5.4 billion endowment. Mr. Niehaus also chairs the New York Catholic Foundation and is a Board Member of the Asia Society, the Jesuit Refugee Services USA, Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, Student Sponsor Partners, and Success Academy Charter Schools. Mr. Niehaus is a graduate of Princeton University (1977) and the Harvard Business School (1982), from which he graduated with high distinction as a Baker Scholar.

Anthony J. de Nicola

Chairman of the Board, Invest in Education Coalition
Chairman, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe

Anthony J. de Nicola is Chairman of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, a New York private investment firm, which manages over $31 billion in its various funds.  Mr. de Nicola joined WCAS in 1994, he has served on the firm’s Management Committee since 2000, he was appointed President in 2007 and Chairman in 2021.  Mr. de Nicola has led the firm’s investment activities in the technology industry and has been involved with some of the firm’s most successful and profitable investments.  He serves on the board of directors for a number of the firm’s private and public companies.  Prior to joining WCAS, Mr. de Nicola worked in the private equity group at William Blair & Company and the merger department at Goldman Sachs & Co.   

Mr. de Nicola earned his BA degree from DePauw University, where he graduated summa cum laude with an economics major and a minor in computational mathematics.
Mr. de Nicola also earned an MBA with distinction from the Harvard Business School.

Mr. de Nicola and his wife Christie have been married for over 35 years and are active members of the community including their extensive philanthropic work, with a focus on education, poverty relief, healthcare and supporting the Catholic church.  Mr. de Nicola serves on several non-profit boards including The Hospital for Special Surgery, The Partnership for New York City, Invest in Education Coalition, The Inner-City Scholarship Fund and The Catholic Foundation for the Archdiocese of New York.  He is also a member of the Finance Committee and the Pension Investment Committee for the Archdiocese.  He is a founding board member of Brilla College Prep, a public charter school in the Bronx.  Previously, he served on the Board of Trustees and the Investment Committee of DePauw University.

Tony and his wife, Christie, are the proud parents of three children and four grandchildren.