Erie Street Growth Partners Appoints Shane Kern Managing Director
Veteran CFO charged with designing and delivering next-level growth through operational efficiency
CHICAGO – NOVEMBER 2, 2022 – Erie Street Growth Partners (“Erie Street”), a private investment firm that partners with founders, management teams, and investors to achieve next-level growth, today announced the appointment of Shane Kern as Managing Director of Operational Performance.
Kern will lead and manage Erie Street’s operational efficiency and performance transformation programming for its partner companies, to ensure their teams, systems, and processes are fit to scale efficiently as their businesses grow. He was most recently the Chief Financial Officer of Erie Street partner company 3Q Digital, which merged with DEPT in May of this year. Kern will report to Jerry Graunke, President, Erie Street.
“As the former CFO of 3Q Digital, Shane brings proven operational and finance experience as well as a unique perspective from the partner side of Erie Street’s growth model,” said Graunke. “After working closely with Shane for three years, it became clear that he shares our values and could have a broader impact on our partner organizations’ next-level growth journeys in a transformational leadership role at Erie Street.”
In this role, Kern will focus on driving efficiency and performance across key foundational areas of operations including finance and accounting, client delivery, and IT optimization.
“I was able to experience the Erie Street ecosystem and culture of growth first-hand – it’s part strategic capital and part transformational guidance, with collaborative teams working side-by-side to drive toward that next level of growth,” said Kern. “I’m excited to roll up my sleeves and work with our partner companies on their transformational journeys, as we continue to unlock business value and outsize outcomes together.”
Kern brings significant operational, financial, and transactional experience to his role at Erie Street. In his most recent role as Chief Financial Officer at the high-growth digital marketing agency 3Q Digital (now 3Q/DEPT), Shane worked in partnership with Erie Street to build scalable processes to improve business efficiency and performance. Prior to his role at 3Q Kern spent the bulk of his career building disruptive high-growth companies backed by private equity that resulted in several successful exits, including Rewards Network where he was SVP and Chief Financial Officer. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance with Honors from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
As technology, cultural shifts, and market movements continue to disrupt entire industries, Erie Street has transformed the traditional value creation playbook and is building a team of operational partners to focus on the highest priority drivers of value – spanning leadership and human capital transformation, revenue enhancement, and operational efficiency. In September of this year, Michelle Stallings joined Erie Street as Managing Director of Human Capital and Operations to spearhead leadership and human capital transformation efforts.