Marc Lederman

When Marc R. Lederman and Michael DiPiano co-founded NewSpring Capital in 1999, venture capital was still a cottage industry, and many firms didn’t last beyond the initial founding partners.

NewSpring Capital, though, is well on its way with a long-term trajectory. The firm has grown from five employees and $90 million of assets under management to 70 employees and more than $3 billion AUM.

“We have succeeded in growing the next generation of partners, to ensure NewSpring will be here for the next 20 years plus,” said Lederman, co-founder and general partner.

NewSpring is a private equity firm headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania. The firm focuses on five strategies: 1) NewSpring Growth Capital, an ITfocused, growth-stage equity fund; 2) NewSpring Healthcare, a healthcare-focused, growth-stage equity fund; 3) NewSpring Mezzanine Capital, a lower-middle-market mezzanine debt fund; 4) NewSpring Holdings, a lower-middle-market control buyout fund; and 5) NewSpring Franchise, a control-oriented fund focused on lower-middlemarket franchisors.

NewSpring is focused on continuing to build out each of its existing five strategies and more than doubling the existing AUM in the next five years. The firm is raising more than $1 billion over the next 12 months across Growth, Healthcare and Mezzanine.

Lederman said he had to learn early in his career that not every decision would be clear-cut, and sometimes as a leader you need to make a quick assessment and proceed.

“I learned that ‘uncertainty is the spotlight that reveals your leadership,’” he said. “It is easy to make decisions in black or white situations — learning to apply judgment when things are in the gray and being decisive is critical to leading. In my industry, private equity/venture capital, we must make investment decisions in the gray and then wait four to six years to truly understand if we made the ‘correct’ decision.”

Lederman serves on the executive committee of the Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technology (PACT) and was a former chairman of the organization. He was part of the team that merged the Greater Philadelphia Venture Group with the Eastern Technology Council to create PACT. Lederman has served on the boards and worked with numerous technology companies over the years, including InnaPhase, Quintiq, Vacasa, LiquidHub, Star2Star Communications and Raritan.

He is on the executive committee of Wharton Private Equity & Venture Capital Association. Lederman also served as both a national judge and regional judge for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards. Lederman was selected one of the Philadelphia region’s Outstanding Directors in 2014 and 40 Under 40 business leaders in 2005. He also serves on the Provost Board at Villanova University, his alma mater.