Willem Mesdag
Chairman
bio
Will is the Managing Partner of Red Mountain Capital Partners, an investment firm with a significant ownership interest in Intrinsic. He is also a Senior Advisor to HPS Investment Partners, where he focuses on governance, management assessment and compensation, strategic direction, capital allocation, margin enhancement and exit alternatives for HPS portfolio companies.
Will was previously a Partner and Managing Director of Goldman Sachs where he worked in New York, London, Frankfurt and Los Angeles in the Fixed Income and Investment Banking Divisions. He was a founder of Goldman’s debt capital markets, asset securitization and European financial institutions businesses, and led its U.S. West and German region investment banking businesses. Prior to joining Goldman in 1981, he was a securities lawyer with Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll. He received his B.A. from Northwestern University in 1974 and his J.D. from the Cornell Law School in 1978.
In addition to his service on the board of Intrinsic, Will serves or has served on the boards of eight public companies, including Heidrick & Struggles (professional services), Destination XL (retail), Encore Capital (financial services), Cost Plus (retail), Nature’s Sunshine Products (retail), Yuma Energy (energy), 3i (financial services) and Skandia (financial services) and four private companies, including Estrella Media (media), Acra Lending (financial services), Abcentra (biotech) and Davis Petroleum (energy). He also serves on the board and investment committee of the Equity Alliance, a fund-of-funds that invests in diverse, emerging venture capital fund managers with a focus on people of color and women.
Will also serves on the board of the Aspen Music Festival and School, and previously served on the boards of the Pacific Council on International Policy, Scripps College, the Harvard-Westlake School, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Paley Center for Media and the California Institute of the Arts. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relation.