MARC LEDER

CO-CEO & CO-FOUNDER, SUN CAPITAL PARTNERS, BOCA RATON

Leder co-founded Sun Capital Partners, a global private equity firm, with Rodger Krouse, whom he met when they were students at Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Since 1995, the firm has invested in more than 570 companies with revenues in excess of $50 billion across a broad range of industries. The firm has about 80 employees in offices in Boca Raton, Los Angeles and New York, and an affiliate with offices in London. The firm's Sun Capital Partners Foundation, established in 2007, has donated more than $17 million to more than 700 charities.

EDUCATION: University of Pennsylvania (BS)

NOTABLE TREND: Capital alone is no longer a competitive advantage in private equity. Operational discipline, sector expertise and the ability to drive measurable performance inside portfolio companies are what differentiate outcomes now. Firms that built that capability before it was fashionable — and proved it across cycles — are the ones that matter in this environment.

NEXT GEN ADVICE: Integrity isn't a strategy — it's a filter. When we started Sun Capital, we spent two years getting outbid because we wouldn't misrepresent deals to sellers. That cost us in the short term and defined us for 30 years. Do the right thing even when it's expensive. Especially then.

IN MY DOWNTIME: Contemporary art. I've been collecting it and supporting emerging artists for years — it's not a hobby I picked up; it's something I'm genuinely passionate about. There's a rigor to evaluating art that I find similar to evaluating a business: pattern recognition, conviction and willingness to back something before the market catches on.