Kane & Company Expands Senior Leadership Team with Appointments of Stuart Skeates and Jacob Hormes

From left to right: Jacob Hormes, Mark Kane, Stuart Skeates Business Wire

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Commercial due diligence advisory firm establishes presence in Washington, D.C., its first new market entry since Kane & Company’s founding in 2024

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Seeks to disrupt traditional commercial due diligence industry with a senior-led model, delivering sharper insights for private equity investors

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DALLAS — Kane & Company Insights LLC (“Kane & Company” or the “Firm”), a commercial due diligence advisory firm serving private equity investors, today announced the appointments of Stuart Skeates as Partner and Chief Operating Officer in the Firm’s newly established Washington, D.C. office, and Jacob Hormes as Partner in its Dallas headquarters.

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Kane & Company was founded to deliver focused, senior-led commercial due diligence that effectively answers the critical questions driving clients’ investment decisions. The Firm’s differentiated approach challenges the traditional consulting model in commercial due diligence, in which consulting firms often produce costly, dense, and imprecise deliverables created by junior team members. Skeates’ and Hormes’ additions strengthen Kane & Company’s ability to deliver on the Firm’s mission while broadening its geographic presence and deepening its expertise across technology, consumer, healthcare, industrials, and business services.

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“We are thrilled to welcome Stuart and Jacob, who share our view that commercial due diligence should be treated as a true partnership with the deal team that helps shape the investment decision, rather than a procedural rubber stamp at the end of a deal process,” said Mark Kane, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kane & Company. “Their experience advising investors and commitment to a senior-led approach will help us to continue delivering deeper insights and clearer answers for private equity clients. Stuart’s addition also establishes Kane & Company’s presence in Washington, D.C., an important step in our strategy to build a national platform for delivering senior-led diligence to private equity investors.”

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Stuart Skeates joins as Partner and Chief Operating Officer

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Skeates brings more than a decade of experience advising investors on due diligence, value creation, and strategy. He previously spent nine years at McKinsey & Company, working across the firm’s London and Washington, D.C. offices. During that time, he supported private equity investors on commercial due diligence and post-investment strategy across sectors including technology, industrials, financial services, retail, healthcare, and the green economy. He is also a seasoned operator, having successfully acquired and expanded a chain of children’s gymnastics facilities in the Washington, D.C. area. Skeates earned his MBA at Harvard Business School and his BSc in economics at the University of Nottingham.

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At Kane & Company, Skeates will lead due diligence engagements across the technology, industrials, and telecommunications sectors and oversee the Firm’s operations from its new office in Washington, D.C.

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“The best commercial due diligence happens when experienced practitioners are deeply involved in the work alongside the client deal team — speaking directly with customers and experts, interpreting the results, and building and presenting recommendations to the client,” said Skeates. “Kane & Company was built around that principle, and I’m excited to help bring our approach to more private equity investors as we establish the Firm’s presence in the nation’s capital.”

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Jacob Hormes joins as Partner

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Hormes brings more than a decade of consulting and private equity advisory experience, including ten years at Bain & Company, where he specialized in due diligence and growth strategy engagements for private equity clients. His experience spans consumer, retail, and business services sectors, including diligence engagements across retail, hospitality, consumer products, managed services, last-mile delivery, and commercial insurance.

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Hormes is an experienced operator, having sourced, acquired, operated, and exited a number of businesses across baked goods, salons, and bars in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University.

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“Too often commercial due diligence turns into a bloated process that produces hundreds of pages that fail to answer the critical questions that actually determine the viability of an investment opportunity,” said Hormes. “I was drawn to Kane & Company because they understand the quality of the output, the seniority of the team, the flexibility of the engagement, and the closeness of the partnership are the metrics that matter most. I look forward to working alongside Mark, Stuart, and the full Kane & Company team to deliver clear answers to our clients’ most important questions.”

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A new model for commercial due diligence

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Kane & Company employs a new model for commercial due diligence that combines the rigor of top-tier consulting firms with the flexibility and focus of specialized diligence partners.

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The Firm tailors the scope and pace of each engagement to the priorities and timing needs of its clients. Instead of relying on the traditional consulting staffing pyramid or a standardized diligence process, Kane & Company deploys small, senior teams that focus exclusively on the analyses most likely to shape the investment decision. The result is a partnership with the sponsor deal team in which experienced practitioners execute at every phase of the engagement to deliver clear, focused answers within the required timeframe, rather than junior analysts executing rigid processes built around a standardized set of diligence questions.