— SENTRY FINANCIAL
Deploying conscious capital to accelerate growth
In Sentry Private Equity, our vision is to be a premier value-add investor in a range of opportunities offering synergy to our existing investments or to our real estate and equipment finance divisions. Generally our investment philosophy is centered around providing conscious capital to accelerate growth to companies with proven acceptance of their product or service and some level of existing revenue.
— DIVISION OVERVIEW
Sentry prefers to take an active role in the investments it makes. Typically this will involve Board participation and taking an active and supportive role in key projects where Sentry’s experience and expertise can be of significant assistance.
Sentry’s portfolio comprises a range of investment sizes from participation in Seed and follow-on rounds to significant minority partnership investments alongside a small number of institutional and founder equity positions. These investments range from between $50,000 to $5million.
— OUR portfolio
Salt Lake Brewing Company
Salt Lake Brewing Company was founded over 30 years ago by Jeff Polychronis and Peter Cole. In 2022 Sentry, in partnership with Jeff, Peter, and others purchased the seven restaurants operated by SLBC. The restaurants are located at the Salt Lake International Airport (2), in Salt Lake City (3) and in Park City (2) and operate under the “The Park City Roadhouse Grill” “Squatters” “Wasatch Ales” and “Craft Café” brands.
Better Body Foods
Better Body Foods, founded by Steve Richards, is a health food manufacturing company with multiple lines of packaged goods sold in retailers across the world.
Level
Level is a company that design their products to put people before technology and home before smart. Level smart locks are the only ones designed to disappear, not interfere. Level locks are now available in all Apple Stores.
Cascadiant
Cascadiant is a provider of back-up power to mission critical applications using methanol and solar fuel cell technology. Cascadiant is the leading provider of back-up power for cell phone towers to Telkomsel, which is Indonesia’s largest cell phone operator.
leafplanner
leafplanner is a personal organizing, encrypted data storage and planning tool for estates and family offices. Developing a leafplan helps discover blind-spots by bringing all of life's complicated details together, all in one place. By sharing with and educating your family and advisors, leafplanner enables you to apply the deliberateness of a family office to your communication, decision-making, and more.
Playful Studios
Playful’s mission is to set the standard for a diverse, sustainable, world class entertainment organization that has a lasting impact on community, players and the gaming industry generally. Playful studios utilizes market leading virtual reality technology as the platform for its portfolio of games.
STRT
STRT builds education and learning communities by combining living and working spaces under one roof to form an ecosystem that accelerates the development and success of startup companies. STRT has recently partnered with ACC one of the largest developers of college campuses in the US.
Vavani Productions
Vavani is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sentry. Vavani was founded by Jared Ruga in 2016. Initially Vavani focused on producing documentaries and in 2019 won a day time Emmy for “Quiet Heroes”. More recently Vavani has focused on writing content in the form of scripts for TV production.
BENEFACTIS.ai
Benefactis.ai Inc. uniquely delivers high-value automation for charitable foundations, corporate giving, and individuals. With Benefactis, charitable organizations and individuals can create and manage Fiscally Sponsored Projects, Donor Advised Funds, and individual causes, amplifying donations and levels of impact with tax-deductible crowdfunding. Benefactis was formerly GVNG Technology Inc.
LIT
LIT enables aaS/OpEx across global enterprise technology estates by providing devices as a service in conjunction with other partner delivered cloud and technology services. The Leasing industry has been slow to respond to market changes in the provision of technology, and LIT is taking advantage of that opportunity.
chptr
Chptr is a technology startup company focused on empowering people to create lasting memories for the passing of loved ones. Chptr makes it possible for family members to digitally publish personal stories to inspire generations to come.
Polaris Modular
Polaris Modular is addressing the US housing shortage of 7 million homes by ushering in an evolution in construction for the modern world. The company integrates with residential and commercial developers to leverage the efficiencies of offsite construction and achieve unprecedented economies of scale. Using manufacturing automation paired with BIM and 3D modeling, Polaris Modular is able to build 5X faster compared to traditional construction. Simply put, we can turn a 3D model into a framed home in just a few days.
— OUR TEAM
Andrew Bebbington
Executive VP
As the Executive Vice President, Andrew is responsible for origination and execution of structured investments ranging from private equity through to project finance. Andrew is a graduate of the London School of Economics and was the winner of the “KPMG” Prize for outstanding academic performance. Andrew went on to join KPMG in London and after obtaining his chartered accountancy qualifications moved into their consulting group and was one of the founder team that established the KPMG private equity advisory group. Andrew left KPMG to do a management Buy In of a UK public company where he became the M & A Director. After acquiring a US company, Andrew moved to the US as CEO of a division operating in the semiconductor and pharmaceutical markets. He moved to Utah as CEO of a Hi tech NASDAQ company commercializing scientific technology out of BYU. More recently, Andrew has been working for various private equity groups structuring debt and equity transactions as well as providing operating management on either a full or ad hoc basis. Andrew is an active squash player and skier.
Forging A Better Future
Andrew Bebbington
Executive VP
Jonathan M. Ruga
Chief Executive Officer
Jonathan is the CEO of Sentry Financial, a company he and Scott Young co-founded in 1986. Jonathan is responsible for Sentry’s strategic direction and is integrally involved in all of the company’s divisions: Equipment Financing, Real Estate, and Private Equity. Prior to co-founding Sentry, Jonathan worked with the law firm of Parr, Brown, Gee & Loveless, focusing on litigation, and business and corporate law. He has co-authored several professional books, including The Handbook of Leasing (1982), and International Leasing: The Complete Guide (2000). In his effort to help bring about positive social change, Jonathan is the board chair of The Justice Party and The Lightspark Foundation, the Vice Chair of Alliance for a Better Utah, and a member of the board of trustees of St. Mark’s Hospital, and has previously served on the boards of The Boys and Girls Clubs, High Road for Human Rights, The Road Home, the S.J. Quinney College of Law, and several other organizations. Jonathan and his wife, Tina, are life long residents of Salt Lake City and support a variety of local and national forward thinking organizations, including Equality Utah and Planned Parenthood.
Forging A Better Future
Jonathan M. Ruga
Chief Executive Officer
Scott F. Young, Esq.
Chief Operating Officer
As the co-founder and COO of Sentry, Scott is involved in determining Sentry’s strategic direction and leads its Equipment Financing division. After graduating from law school, Scott was a clerk at the Utah Supreme Court for Justice Christine Durham, a practicing lawyer focusing on business litigation and transactions (for over a decade at Parr Brown Gee & Loveless, and outside counsel for Sentry until he rejoined Sentry on a full-time basis in 1998. Scott has co-authored professional books on equipment leasing, including The Handbook of Leasing (1982) and The Guide to Captive Financing (1984), and lectured on the topic of equipment leasing as an instructor for Amembal, Isom, & Halladay. Scott is a member and former president of the board of trustees of The Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Salt Lake, a founding member of the Wasatch Clean Air Network, and a founding board member of The Lightspark Foundation. Recently, Scott was a member of the Finance Committee of the Jackie Biskupski for Mayor campaign. Scott supports an array of community organizations that promote protection of human rights and our environment.
Forging A Better Future
Scott F. Young, Esq.
Chief Operating Officer
President, Equipment Financing
Ryan Scrivano
Investment Analyst
Ryan joined Sentry in 2021 as an Investment Analyst where he performs credit and investment analyses on equipment leasing and private equity transactions, and monitors current investments. After graduating from the University of Utah with a Master’s in Finance, Ryan worked for Goldman Sachs (on its credit risk team), then Morgan Stanley (analyzing various securities), and then Utah Retirement Systems (on its investment & operations team). In his free time, Ryan is often in the mountains either skiing, hiking, or fishing, and also enjoys playing tennis and golf with friends.
Forging A Better Future
Ryan Scrivano
Investment Analyst
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