The Partners

Built from both sides of the table.

One partner is a career private-equity investor. The other built, ran, and sold a company. This is who leads HarborWind, and what it means to work here.

Managing Partners

Chicago

Managing Partner

Rocky Lopez

Rocky spent his career on the investing side of the table.

Before HarborWind, Rocky was a principal investor, board chairman, and finance chief at a Chicago private investment firm, where he built a personal record of roughly 17 lower-middle-market acquisitions, 6 platforms and 11 add-ons, sourced, closed, and overseen over about 14 years.

He carries that same discipline into every HarborWind deal: sourcing carefully, underwriting conservatively, and sitting on the board once a deal closes.

EducationMBA, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. BBA, Goizueta Business School, Emory University.

Boston

Managing Partner

Sean Mahoney

Sean built the operating side first.

Sean built a digital-transformation consultancy from the ground up and sold it to private equity in 2022, to Ensono, a KKR portfolio company. He then ran the acquirer's North America consulting business before founding HarborWind.

He brings that operator's eye to every company HarborWind buys: the systems, the people, and the unglamorous work of actually running a business well.

EducationMBA, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. MS, Information Technology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute. BS, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Every person we hire carries the standard the partners hold: know the company, do the work, and answer for it for as long as we own it. That is how we grow the number of companies we own while keeping every promise made at the closing table.

A ship is safe in harbor. That is also where it is provisioned, repaired, and readied to sail again. Our name carries both port cities that shaped us: Boston Harbor, where we started, and the Windy City, where HarborWind is home today.

you are here

How the days break down

What working here looks like

Three phases, the same small team all the way through. Nobody hands a deal off to someone else once it gets interesting.

Source and Evaluate

We build relationships with intermediaries and owners well before a deal is live, then screen every opportunity against a clear set of criteria before spending real time on it.

Model and Diligence

Every live deal gets a full financial model and a hands-on diligence process, built by the same people who will sit on the board once it closes.

Close and Create Value

The team that sourced and diligenced the deal stays in the room afterward, carrying that context straight into the board seat and the first ninety days of work.

Careers at HarborWind

No Spectators

There is no bench here. Everyone sources deals, builds models, and sits in diligence meetings from day one.

You will not spend your first year formatting slides for someone else's thesis. You will have a thesis, and you will be expected to defend it.

We keep the firm lean by design, even as we grow the number of companies we own. That means fewer layers between you and a decision, and more of the work landing in your hands.

Analyst

A generalist seat across sourcing, modeling, and diligence, working directly with both partners on every live deal.

LocationChicago or Boston
TypeFull-time
Experience1 to 3 years

Summer Intern

A full-cycle look at how a lower-middle-market deal actually gets sourced, modeled, and closed.

TermSummer 2026
Duration10 to 12 weeks
CandidateMBA or advanced undergraduate

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