Who We Are
At The Blue Collar Partners, we are entrepreneurs, operators, and investors with a shared belief: service businesses deserve the same strategic tools, capital, and leadership opportunities once reserved for larger corporations. Our team brings decades of hands-on experience building, transforming, and scaling companies across industries.
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Paul Lambert @ The Blue Collar Partners
Managing Partner | Strategy & Operations
Paul has over 25 years of leadership as a four-time CEO, two-time founder, and private equity partner. He has executed nearly $1 billion in M&A, scale-ups, and turnarounds across industries from food safety to automotive. Known for defying the odds in post-merger growth, Paul has overseen a decade of cross industry post transaction annualized growth in excess of 24% while delivering an average ROIC exceeding 50% for partners ranging from Owner Operators to publicly traded Private Equity firms.
Paul is a avid outdoorsman, hiker, biker and Mountain Safety first responder. He holds a BSEE from Carnegie Mellon and a CSO from Wharton. As a mentor for Carnegie Mellon’s Project Olympus, you can find him coaching our next generation of leaders when not working with clients.
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Matt Duckworth @ The Blue Collar Partners
Partner | Financial Architect
Matt bridges operations and capital markets, guiding businesses through growth, acquisition, and transformation. He has co-founded multiple companies, served as CFO and advisor to some of the Southeast’s top-performing enterprises, and taught Financing Entrepreneurial Ventures as an adjunct professor. With experience across chemistry, manufacturing, fitness, and professional services, he has led M&A transactions delivering over 100% ROIC. Matt brings the rare combination of financial strategy and operational know-how that helps companies scale with discipline and creativity.
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Dylan Cullers @ The Blue Collar Partners
Partner
Dylan Cullers is an accomplished professional with a strong background in finance and strategic development. With Blackstone’s PSSI investment, $275M+ in Buy-side & Sell-side M&A, roll-ups, and scale-ups within the specialty chemistry and pest control industries. He has held senior level management roles with a deep understanding of operations and finance, scaling businesses by strategic vision, operational excellence, and high-performance culture. Dylan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Master's degree in Economics with an emphasis in Quantitative Analysis from Western Illinois University.
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Jay Lopez @ The Blue Collar Partners
Advisor
Jay Lopez advises The Blue Collar Partners on deal sourcing and market intelligence, building the AI-powered research and pipeline systems that surface owner-operator acquisition targets across the firm's platform industries. Jay is Partner at Bonaventure Equity, Co-Owner of ESI Healthcare Business Solutions, and serves on the Board of Advisors of Pebble Life Sciences.