Our Team

Fernando Gentil

Fernando Gentil is the co-founder and managing partner of Natureza Growth Partners. He serves as a Board Director at Windmill, Hosted, Jiant, Luminary Brands (Chairman), Slrrrp, and Dormify. Prior to co-founding Natureza, He was Associate Finance Director at Anheuser-Busch Inbev working in St. Louis, New York, and Shanghai, China. Fernando began his career in the M&A Group at Deutsche Bank in New York before moving to JPMorgan’s Global Investment Opportunities Group in the Private Bank. He received his MBA from Oxford University and BS from Georgetown University (Foreign Service).

Collin Eckles

Collin Eckles is the co-founder and managing partner of Natureza Growth Partners. He serves as a Board Director at Luminary Brands, Buffalo Market, Jiant, and Arber and a Board Observer at Cleancult and Cabinet Health.

Prior to Natureza, Collin spent 6 years at the Rose Rock Group beginning in its venture arm to then building the family office’s Asia platform. Collin earned a BS in Finance from Georgetown University.

Joe Tonnos

Joe Tonnos is an active investor in the consumer and retail industry with experience across private equity, venture capital and investment banking, spanning a wide range of transaction sizes and structures, both public and private. Joe is currently a Managing Director at Roth Capital Partners and a serial SPAC sponsor. He is also the co-founder of Ketch Ventures, an investor in early stage, disruptive, consumer facing businesses. Joe was a principal at Mistral Equity Partners and prior to that worked in the consumer investment banking group at Lazard and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Joe earned a BS in Finance and an MBA from Niagara University.

Sam DeLise

Sam DeLise is a member of the Natureza MBA associate program and is currently a 2nd year candidate at The Wharton School. Sam assists the Natureza team in conducting due diligence, performing financial analysis, and drafting investment memorandums. In addition to his diligence duties, Sam engages with the management teams of the existing portfolio companies. Prior to Wharton, Sam was a Senior Associate at Compass Diversified and earned a BS in Finance from Georgetown University.

Clyde Tuggle

Clyde Tuggle is an Operating Partner with Natureza Growth Partners. Clyde brings over 30 years of operating and management experience from The Coca-Cola Company, where he was a Senior Vice President and member of the Executive Committee. Previously, Clyde held several senior management roles at The Coca-Cola Company and was most recently Senior Vice President and Chief Public Affairs and Communications Officer.