Russell Negus is the founder and Executive Chairman of Abacus Private Equity (www.abacuspe.com). He oversees the strategic direction of the company. Prior to founding Abacus Private Equity in 1995, Russell Negus built two successful businesses. The first, in real estate development,. The second, a nationwide consolidation of agricultural farming corporations, provided an opportunity to develop and create value in mergers and acquisitions.

Abacus is an independent investment firm which has been successfully acquiring Canadian and international businesses for over a decade. In 2012, Abacus was acquired by the Hillcore Group (www.HillcoreGroup.com). Since 2005, the Hillcore Group, directly or indirectly through its investment funds, has closed transactions with an aggregate asset value in excess of $5.5 billion with $690 million in 2012 alone. Entities under the Hillcore Group’ management have an asset value in excess of $3.1 billion, as of December 31, 2012. The Hillcore Group has offices in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, and, in its various groups and portfolio companies, employs 1,860 people throughout Canada & the USA.

In June, 2011, Russell Negus, then Chief Executive Officer for Abacus Private Equity, stepped into the role of Executive Chairman, appointing Jean-Marc Bougie as the new Chief Executive Officer. Russell Negus, continues to be actively involved with specific attention to product development, international expansion and overall strategic development.

Prior to joining Hillcore, Jean-Marc was Managing Director in RBC Capital Markets’ investment banking group where he had coverage responsibility for some of the bank’s largest clients in the Province of Quebec. As part of his 15 year career with RBC Capital Markets, Jean-Marc was involved in numerous financings (debt, equity, IPO) and mergers and acquisition advisory assignments in Canada, Europe, South America and the United States. Also, as part of his tenure with RBC Capital Markets, between 1997 and 2001, Jean-Marc was a Principal with Royal Bank Equity Partners, where he sourced, executed and monitored investments for RBC’s private equity group.

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