Darren M Snyder

Bio

Darren Snyder has over a dozen years of private equity experience in addition to his six years of middle market lending and insurance experience. He currently serves as Partner in Prairie Capital, and is responsible for investment origination, due diligence, deal structuring, and negotiation. Darren also has portfolio management responsibility for Prairie Capital, with board responsibilities for over sixteen companies across Prairie’s five funds. Darren is currently a director for five Prairie Capital portfolio companies, including Fortis, GPA, Messenger, Pioneer Metal Finishing, and Plastimayd. Prior to joining Prairie Capital, Darren spent six years working closely with privately-held businesses as a Vice President for American National Bank and Trust Company (now part of J.P Morgan Chase). While with American National Bank, Darren's experiences included financing leveraged buyouts, venture backed firms, and managing a relationship-based lending portfolio of middle market companies. Prior to joining American National, Darren was a commercial underwriter for an insurance company, and owned and operated a family-held business. Darren has served on the board of the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies (NASBIC), and is a former President of the Midwest Region. He is also on the executive committee and is a board member of the Illinois Venture Capital Association (IVCA), currently serving as Vice Chairman, and as Chairman of the legislative committee, as well as serving on the board of its political action committee. In addition to his responsibilities at Prairie, Darren and his wife have been active participants in the support of their community and schools through a variety of volunteer and fundraising services, among them LINK Unlimited and the Park West Nursery Co-op. Darren also sits on the founding board of Polaris Charter Academy, a free, public school option for K-8 children in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. Darren graduated magna cum laude from Drake University with a BA in Economics. He received an MBA from the University of Chicago, and continues to be active with the university, guest lecturing in private equity classes and acting as a judge in the New Venture Challenge competition.