Thomas J. Hillman currently serves as managing partner of FTL Capital LLC, a St. Louis-based merchant banking and private equity investment company he co-founded in 2001. He is a seasoned executive with considerable experience acquiring, building and restructuring a variety of businesses. Throughout his career, he has helped dozens of businesses grow profitably over the long term.
Hillman is actively involved with FTL Capital’s current portfolio of companies: FTL Finance, a national specialty home improvement finance company; Valley Minerals LLC, a manufacturer of dolomitic lime; Community Housing Partners LLC, a purchaser/reseller of tax credits to individual and corporate taxpayers; and Sendouts, a company steeped in on-demand, web-based recruiting software solutions. FTL Capital also maintains other investments in additional companies such as Pulse Therapeutics, a biomedical company with cutting-edge procedures in the treatment of blood clots; Emerald Peak Minerals, LLC, a potash mining and development operation in Utah; and Nawgan Products, LLC, a company committed to the development of products that support optimal brain function among adults. Most recently, Hillman was elected to the Board of Pulse Therapeutics.
Hillman has been involved with private business enterprises over the course of his career and has likewise consistently served as an active partner and catalyst for starting, acquiring, building and monetizing a number of businesses.
As co-president of America’s Water Heater Rentals LLC, a specialty finance company that leases water heaters to more than 130,000 residential customers, Hillman helped substantially improve profitability, grow its customer base, and guide the company through a profitable sale to Macquarie Bank in 2007.
He was a founding shareholder and board member of Hoover’s Inc. (HOOV), serving as chairman of the Nominating Committee and member of the Audit Committee. The public business content and research company was sold to Dun & Bradstreet in 2003.
Hillman was president and CEO of The Fresh Fish Co Inc., a wholesale fish distributor, until its ultimate sale to Global Seafoods LLC. During that same time, Hillman founded and remained involved with Rain Forest Aquaculture Products Inc., a tilapia fish producer, before its sale to Commonwealth Development Corporation of the U.K. was finalized in 2000.
Hillman is a past director and current investor at Appistry Inc., a developer of computing products for enterprise applications in public and private cloud environments.
Hillman proudly contributed his time as board president of the Center of Creative Arts (COCA), a St. Louis-based community performing arts center. He has served as Trustee of the St. Michael School, was a member of the Executive Committee, and chaired both Strategic Planning and Development Committees.
Additional positions of influence Hillman has held include advisory director at Southwest Bank and Board of Advisors at Creve Coeur Camera.
Hillman is a 1978 graduate of Washington University.