Sun Capital Partners

Leder and Krouse founded Sun Capital in 1995. They chose Boca Raton, Florida for their headquarters, believing the New York market was already too saturated and competitive.

Leder describes the difficult first five years for Sun Capital, saying he and Krouse were, "just two investment bankers trying to get into private equity." And, when he asked his private equity contacts for advice, they told him, "stick with investment banking."^[6] Undeterred, Leder says they honed a careful strategy, which was "to buy companies that others didn't want to buy."^[7] Through perseverance, their strategy proved successful, leading to nearly a decade of rapid growth until 2008, when the market downturn and global Great Recession took hold. That forced Leder and Krouse to retrench, and to once again rework their strategy, and by July 2013, Sun Capital had $8 billion in invested assets.^[8]

Leder credits the lessons learned from the global recession for helping him guide Sun Capital's path through the COVID-19 Pandemic a decade later. He told RSM US, "We had the playbook for this pandemic—not the social distancing, but the dramatic economic impact, the deep recession we find ourselves in. And we shared that playbook with our management teams, and they were outstanding at getting and understanding the challenges that were facing them, whether it be employee safety and health, to cutting costs, to maintaining liquidity, to serving customers."^[9]

As of January 2024, Sun Capital reports $14 billion in cumulative capital commitments from a portfolio of around 40 companies that employ nearly 28,000 people worldwide.^[10]

The Sun Capital Partners Foundation

In 2007, Leder and Krouse created the charitable arm of the company called the Sun Capital Partners Foundation. The foundation pools and triple-matches employee contributions.^[11] The foundation says its goal is to "promote sustainable, positive change" by working with local nonprofit organizations.^[11] Since its inception, the Sun Capital Foundation reports over $17 million in donations to over 700 charities.^[11]

Criticism of Sun Capital

In 2012, The New York Times criticized Sun Capital for its recovery from the 2008 financial crisis, pointing in particular to certain portfolio bankruptcies and job losses that had occurred over the previous four years.^[12]

Notable Foundation Donations

• $2 million to establish the Marc J. Leder Behavior Change for Good Term Fund at the School of Arts and Sciences and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.^[23]
• $2 million to the Boca Raton Regional Hospital's "Keeping the Promise" capital campaign.^[24]
• $1 million to endow a curatorial directorship at Penn’s Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), where Leder sits on the board.^[25]
• A 2023 gala to benefit Mommy's Heart, a 501(C)3 supporting abuse victims.^[26]
• $100,000 to support the development of artist-centered programming.^[27]

Philanthropic Awards

• 2021 Yitzhak Rabin Financial Leadership Award (American Friends of Rabin Medical Center) ^[28]
• 2023 Haute Living's Haute 100 List of the Most Influential Names in Miami ^[29]

Mitt Romney Remarks Controversy

In 2012 Leder hosted a $50,000-per-plate fundraising dinner at his Boca Raton home for Romney's presidential bid.^[35] At it, Romney spoke to the attendees and said that 47% of Americans believed that government should take care of them, viewed themselves as victims, and did not pay income tax, saying, "my job is not to worry about those people -- I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."^{[36] [37]} Romney's remarks made national headlines, and according to ABC News, they might have hurt Romney in the polls, which showed a sharp drop after the tape was released.^[38]