LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 29, 2026--
48North Partners, a Los Angeles-based buy-side M&A advisory firm serving founder-led and privately held businesses, today announced the addition of five new team members to its Los Angeles office. The firm has welcomed two associates and three analysts: Trae Smith, Wells Watts, Gabriella Ramsaran, Grace Kotsay, and Wells Leland.
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The new team members join 48North's buyside advisory practice, where they will support business owners across various industries at every stage of the M&A process.
The expansion comes at a defining moment for privately held businesses in the United States. As a generation of founders approaches retirement, amid a shift widely described as the largest transfer of private business ownership in American history, more owners are seeking specialist advisors tailored to founder-led businesses. 48North has positioned itself squarely within that movement, with the firm's leadership regularly publishing commentary on independent sponsors and search funds in founder-led M&A and the state of founder advisory in 2026.
“We are thrilled to welcome this talented group to 48North,” said Chapin Newhard, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of 48North Partners. “Every one of them shares the quality that defines our firm: a genuine respect for the people who build businesses. As more founders approach some of the most important decisions of their lives, growing our team allows us to serve them with the depth and attention they deserve.”
Chapin Newhard founded 48North Partners after beginning his career on the buy side of the transaction table at a private equity firm focused on family-owned and founder-led service businesses, an experience that shaped the firm's founder-first advisory model. He has written on transition readiness as an operating discipline for privately held companies and contributes regular commentary on M&A and exit planning for national business publications.
“Our clients trust us during one of the most consequential decisions of their professional lives,” Newhard added. “We hire people who take that responsibility seriously and who bring energy to everything they do, on and off the clock.”
True to form, the firm marked the occasion with a team pickleball tournament in Los Angeles, a fitting welcome for a group 48North expects to hit the ground running. The event also celebrated summer analyst George Gale, who wraps up his internship with the firm this season.
The new hires reflect 48North's continued investment in its advisory team and its talent pipeline as the firm expands its capacity to serve business owners in Los Angeles and across the country.
About 48North Partners
48North Partners is a Los Angeles-based M&A advisory firm serving founders and privately held business owners. 48North's approach is built on the belief that every transaction is unique and that the best outcomes come from a deep understanding of each client's goals. Learn more at 48northpartners.com or follow the firm on LinkedIn.
Chapin Newhard and the team at 48North Partners
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Sen. Lindsey Graham returned for the last time Wednesday to South Carolina, where powerful friends remembered him as someone who never stopped working for the state he loved.
After Graham was eulogized Tuesday in the nation's capital as an indefatigable dealmaker by the president, vice president and others, mourners in Columbia recalled the son of pool hall owners who “was born with a plastic fork in his mouth,” as former Rep. Trey Gowdy put it.
Graham seemed to know every small-town mayor and police chief and the location of every Chick-fil-A across South Carolina. He made sure Republicans had money to run in legislative and local elections across the state.
“Lindsey Graham understood the hopes and dreams and needs of his state and delivered every time,” said Republican Gov, Henry McMaster, who ended his remarks by telling Graham he loved him.
Graham died suddenly on July 11 at his home in Washington, likely of an aortic tear, according to preliminary findings. He had just returned from a whirlwind trip to a NATO summit in Turkey, where he celebrated his 71st birthday, and a visit to Ukraine as he negotiated punishing sanctions against Russia. Senators voted late Tuesday to advance the package as a final gesture for their colleague.
Wednesday's funeral was at First Baptist, the giant downtown church where his predecessor Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond was honored 23 years ago.
One of Graham's many friends in Congress, Gowdy described how Graham rose to power through humor, genuine caring for all people and a relentless work ethic. He joked the governor should change the name of the state capital of Columbia to honor Graham, even though his friend wouldn't want it.
“It wasn't the trapping of office he cared about. It was the work,” Gowdy said.
Graham's body was first brought to the South Carolina Statehouse, where he started his political career in 1993. It paused in front of about a dozen law enforcement officers and four military jets flew over. A horse-drawn caisson then carried his casket to the church, where his family followed military pallbearers carrying it inside. A 130-member choir sang hymns.
Hundreds of movers in South Carolina politics gathered. Both nominees for governor — Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson and Democratic state Rep. Jermaine Johnson — came, along with longtime Republican politicians like former House Speaker and Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins and U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, who served 10 years before leaving in 2011.
Republicans Gov. Henry McMaster, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and former U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy were expected to speak. Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the only remaining member of the South Carolina delegation there when Graham arrived in Washington in 1995, will read Scripture.
Graham's burial Wednesday near his home in Pickens County was planned as a private ceremony.
On Tuesday, Graham’s flag-draped casket was at the U.S. Capitol, where the Republican spent more than 30 years talking and laughing and badgering his colleagues into action.
President Donald Trump then joined foreign leaders at the Washington National Cathedral, a testament to Graham’s stature on the global stage.
Trump called Graham “a giant of the United States Senate, a true American original who left us much too soon.”
Graham's death has created opportunities for change in South Carolina. Graham had already won the Republican nomination as he ran for a fifth term. McMaster named his younger sister Darline to hold his seat until January. Darline Graham then surprised many by deciding to run for the full six-year term herself.
State law has Republicans holding a special primary in two weeks to decide the new nominee. Eight others are competing, including former Gov. Mark Sanford and U.S. Reps. Ralph Norman and Russell Fry. Three candidates who paid the filing fee were kicked off the ballot because they didn't meet new party requirements for voting in the Republican primary.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster speaks during the funeral service for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham's casket on a horse-drawn caisson arrives at First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)
The casket of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., sits at the front of First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., during a funeral service, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The casket of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is escorted into First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., for a funeral service Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
The flag-draped casket of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is carried on a horse-drawn caisson to his funeral at First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins).
The casket of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is escorted to First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., for a funeral service, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The casket of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is carried into First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., for a funeral service, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., left, who is running to fill the seat of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., greets an attendee before the late Sen. Graham's funeral at First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A guest looks at the program during the service for Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
An Armed Forces Body Bearer Team places the flag-draped casket of Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., cries during the funeral of her brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at the Washington National Cathedral, Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks at the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at the Washington National Cathedral, Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other guests, attend the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Tuesday July 28, 2026, at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
