LFM Capital is a private equity firm focused on creating value for smaller industrial services businesses through operational excellence. The firm is led by LGO graduates, both in their corporate office and in the leadership teams of their eight portfolio companies. LFM Capital is looking to offer engineering-intensive internships in their portfolio, in such roles as helping an industrial fastener company assess their manufacturing capability to expand their product lines. With 11 LGO graduates already at the firm, LFM Capital is looking to hire more LGOs as they add to their portfolio.
Jacob Tomasovic (LGO ’23)
Title: Manufacturing Integration: Managing Throughput and Organizational Change
Engineering Department: Mechanical Engineering
Max Tanski (LGO ’23)
Title: Making more miles: Automating Load Selection, Truck Dispatch, and Backhaul Activation in Outbound Logistics Operations
Engineering Department: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Gregory Cass (LGO ’23)
Title: Driving Growth through Sales Planning, Inventory Management and Supply Chain Expansion
Engineering Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Caitlin Braun (LGO ’21)
Title: Breaking the Mold on Job Shops
Engineering Department: Mechanical Engineering
LFM Capital is looking for full-time hires who want to have a significant impact in a smaller organization. Roles are cross-functional and typically report to the CEO of one of our portfolio companies. The company seeks students who want to rapidly grow their careers after graduation with the goal of being a CEO of a portfolio company around 5 years after graduating. Students who want to be change agents and and have who have extraordinary drive and leadership are a fit for LFM Capital.
Rotational & Leadership Development Opportunities: LGO hires will have a rotation tailored through leadership roles and different portfolio companies to meet each student’s developmental needs to help them to be in a position to be CEO of a portfolio company 5 years after they graduate from the LGO program. Unlike many leadership development/rotational programs at larger companies, students are expected to be promoted and take on significantly more responsibility with each new role they take at an LFM company.
Recent Post-Graduation Job Titles: Portfolio Executive, Director of Strategy and Continuous Improvement
Ryan Kochert (LGO ’24)
Head of Operations, SisTech Manufacturing, LLC
At LGO: MBA and SM, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Previous studies: Previous studies: United States Naval Academy, Systems Engineering and Weapons Design (B.S.), National Intelligence University, Technology Intelligence, Data Science (M.S.)
Stephanie Smolinski (LGO ’22)
Chief Executive Officer, Novex
At LGO: MBA and SM, Mechanical Engineering
Previous studies: Washington State University, B.S., Mechanical Engineering
Stephanie began her career at Boeing as a Manufacturing Engineer Intern and worked her way up over the course of seven years to Production Support Engineering Manager prior to joining the LGO program. She then returned to Boeing as a Senior Flight Line Operations Manager prior to joining Novex, an LFM Capital portfolio company, where she was promoted to Chief Executive Officer in 2025.
Caitlin Braun (LGO ’21)
Director of Strategy Alloy
At LGO: MBA and SM, Mechanical Engineering
Previous studies: Washington University in St. Louis, Mechanical Engineering, and Kalamazoo College, Physics
An Ironman athlete, Caitlin developed medical devices at Stryker before coming to MIT. Caitlin’s LGO internship at J&E Precision Machining, an LFM Capital portfolio company, drove the company’s on-time delivery from 55% to 95%. Hiring on as Director of Strategy and Continuous Improvement after graduation, Caitlin now works to build community at the company and become a standard in the aerospace parts industry.
Steven Cook (LGO ’98)
Executive Managing Director, LFM Capital
At LGO: MBA and SM, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Previous studies: US Naval Academy, Electrical Engineering
Steve is a cofounder of LFM Capital and a long-serving member on the LGO Operating Committee. Previously, he was Principal with TVV Capital, a lower middle market private equity firm, held executive roles at MFG.com and Dell, and served as an officer in the US Navy.
