About

Epione is an affiliation of senior executives and investors with deep networks and significant experience running companies with large employee work forces.  Specific industry expertise includes transportation, warehousing, risk management, health care, manufacturing, media & entertainment, consumer products, retail stores and supermarkets.
 
Epione is focused on providing new and disruptive business technology and opportunities that generate revenue, create new markets and drive value. Each Epione Partner has over 30 years of senior officer and investor experience in both public and private companies, as well as early stage start-up entities. We have been investors, owners, advisors, officers and transitional management as the situation required. Epione also provides senior "real world" level guidance and reach for strategy, operations, finance, sales, logistics, marketing, employee health plans and risk management.
 
We are “hands on” executives and investors who are success driven and comfortable with high-risk situations. We know how to deal with the tough issues and make the hard decisions.

 Grounded in Reality - Driven by Results... ​Quite Simply, "We Get It"

Our Team

​​PAUL H. FREISCHLAG, JR. - Managing Partner/Founder 
Mr. Freischlag is a seasoned, "hands-on" executive with extensive experience in both US and global financial markets, business practices, strategy and operations. He has been involved with a wide variety of business enterprises in the US, Europe, South America and the Far East, including large public corporations, private equity and start-up ventures.

Mr. Freischlag has been associated with many high profile business transactions and partners, such as Royal Ahold, Household International, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) the Stop & Shop Companies, Inc., ShopKo Stores/Provantage Health Services and Price Waterhouse, and has consummated more than $20 billion in debt and equity financing over the past 30 years. Mr. Freischlag is a founding partner of Triton Value Partners, Allyne Health Care and EHI Healthcare.
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A graduate of University of Illinois, Mr. Freischlag also holds a Master's Degree in Taxation from DePaul University and is a CPA.  He as served as Chairman of the Board of Junior Achievement of Eastern New England (Boston), Corporate Chair of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation in both Boston and Wisconsin, and Executive Vice President of Tax Executives Institute in Washington, DC.. He has sponsored the VCIC Venture Capital Competition at Emory Graduate School of Business since 2004. 

JOEL M. KOBLENTZ - Managing Director/Co-founder 
Mr. Koblentz is a Senior Partner and Founder of the Koblentz Group and nationally recognized for resolving sensitive, critical and confidential client situations. Accordingly, his practices, as developed over the last 25 plus years, can best be described as "at the value creation level" for publicly traded companies and for private equity concerns. Mr. Koblentz advises various corporate boards, their chairmen and chief executive officers on succession and recruitment of new board members, CEOs and executive leadership. Previously, Mr. Koblentz was a Senior Partner at Egon Zehnder, and led its New York and Atlanta practices. .Mr Koblentz has also been associated with  Cox Cable Communications, Tiger International, Occidental Petroleum and Ernst & Young. Mr. Koblentz was co-founded Emory University's Goizueta Directors Institute, which centers on the study of corporate governance and best practices for boards of directors. 

​Mr. Koblentz is a certified public accountant (CPA) and holds an MBA from the University of Southern California. He has lectured at various educational institutions and societies  and has authored numerous articles on leadership; corporate governance; board of director responsibilities. Mr. Koblentz has been named repeatedly as one of Atlanta's "100 Most Influential." 

JEFF FREEMYER - Managing Partner  
As a serial entrepreneur in high technology, Mr. Freemyer has been a visionary and amongst the early stage pioneers in interactive distance learning, outsourced Business TV production and distribution as well as interactive multimedia content development and publishing.
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Mr. Freemyer has been CEO of Convergent Media and has won a multitude of awards including the first ever Georgia Business Ethics Award.. Convergent installed, maintained and operated satellite communications networks for 250+ of the Fortune 500 companies as well as the world’s largest private satellite based distance learning network serving 8 million students in 12,000 high schools daily.
 
Mr. Freemyer has collaborated with numerous world-class thought leaders including helping create and produce an innovative interactive mulitmedia platform for Topgrading (#1 best-selling book on selecting, hiring and developing A-players) with Dr. Brad Smart. Among others, he also collaborated with Dr. Daniel Amen (named America’s most well known psychiatrist by USA Today) and Mark Affleck, author of Mark’s Minute daily  Mr. Freemyer has been certified as a Speed of Trust facilitator by Stephen M.R. Covey and as an effective leadership assessment and development coach by the creators of the globally recognized The Leadership Circle’s 360 evaluation tools.
 
Mr. Freemyer’s high tech experience also includes artificial intelligence, cognitive computing (such as IBM Watson) and machine learning R&D for business and healthcare applications and solutions and IT outsourcing. He has a post-graduate degree in entrepreneurial leadership from MIT, a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech as a National Merit Scholar (MENSA qualified) and MBA studies at Georgia State

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 ​Jack Clark - Managing Director 
​Mr. Clark is an accomplished Sales, Marketing and Operations executive with significant General Management experience.  Most recently, he was Group President for Education Corporation of America.  His foundation in Sales & Marketing was gained with roles of increasing responsibility in both Procter & Gamble and The Coca-Cola Company.  Mr. Clark was the former Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing for Owens & Minor, the nation’s leading distributor of medical/surgical supplies and logistics to large healthcare systems.  He deepened his healthcare leadership experience as Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing for Omnicare, leading distributor of pharmaceuticals to long term care.  Mr. Clark served as Chief Revenue & Operations Officer for NovaMed, a leading owner of ambulatory surgery centers.  He was also a division President of Matria Healthcare. 

​Mr. Clark is a graduate of Grove City College, the Covey Leadership Center and executive leadership programs at the University of Virginia’s Darden School.  He also served as an officer in the United States Air Force.”

Chad Hite - Managing Director
Chad has been primarily in the commercial banking industry for over 3 decades. He has run new business operations for several money center banks ranging from Bank of America to Truist as well as multinational banks such as BBVA (Spain). Chad has created and managed significant banking business in the areas of senior commercial debt; asset based lending, international banking, foreign exchange, interest rate management, treasury management, SBA lending and bank participations and syndications.

Chad also co founded two companies in the early stages of cyber-finance and debt collection, both of which were funded by a subsidiary of Ellis Capital, Atlanta.  He additionally has spent time in the “turn-around” industry and was with Triton Value Partners for nearly 10 years where he assisted in the formation, sales, real estate and banking strategies of Triton’s clients.

Chad has been very active on many philanthropic boards and advisory committees as well as being on the boards of two re-insurance companies.
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Chad has a BS in Finance and a BA in History from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.

​​Michele Sutherland - Managing Director - Epione Health Care Services 
Founder of Velocity Made Good (VMG) Healthcare Consulting and Managing Director  of - Epione Health Care Services is an incredibly skilled Revenue Cycle Leader. Before VMG Michele served as the corporate director of patient access and patient financial services for multiple hospitals, as well as large medical groups. She is an active professional member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association and the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management.

​​Sean Niles - Associate Partner 
Mr. Niles is an Associate at KLH Capital, a FL-based private equity firm that serves family- and founder-owned, lower middle-market companies. We make majority and minority equity investments in businesses to provide ownership opportunities for key managers and allow owners to harvest the value in their businesses. Mr. Niles is also a Partner and Founder of Nordicity Capital Partners, an operationally-focused private equity firm that primarily invests in commercial real estate. As an entrepreneur, investor, and steadfast “learner”, Mr. Niles has been actively involved in private investment transactions from early-stage startup companies to very established businesses with 40+ year track records. Prior to Nordicity Capital Partners, Sean invested in healthcare businesses with a portfolio company of microcap private equity firm, Shore Capital Partners. Mr. Niles was previously on the Investment Team at K2 Growth Partners, a lower middle market private equity firm investing in industrial companies, business services companies, and select tech-enabled companies. Mr. Niles is widely recognized for his ability to convey complex situations in a clear and concise manner, and his ability to structure incentivized deals for all parties across a variety of complex financial transactions with various capital structures. He has been involved in a broad spectrum of industries and sectors, including the industrials space, niche manufacturing, distribution, B2B services, automotive, energy, technology, and healthcare.

Mr. Niles is a graduate of the Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University where he holds a B.S. in Finance. At Wayne State University, he was the Captain of the Men's Golf Team, and Member of the Student Advisory Committee. Mr. Niles has played competitive golf at the elite global level, reaching the top-300 in the world ranking. He is an active member of his church, Bayside Community Church, and in his remaining free time, you can find him playing with his dog, Finn.

​David Weinerman - Advisory Partner 
Thirty (30) years’ experience in Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management.  Dave is an in-house expert in third party liability and industrial injury billing and follow-up and has developed/implemented legal strategies in order to achieve fair reimbursement the providers earn.  Dave has developed and negotiated client contracts with and maintained C-Suite level relationships with providers including, but not limited to, Adventist Health, HCA/Parallon Business Performance Group, the Providence St. Joseph Health System, Universal Health Services, Inc. and myriad other regional providers throughout the United States. 

Dave has also successfully developed and managed investor relationships raising millions in a privately owned and managed real estate development company based in Beverly Hills, California while consistently generating investor returns far above the industry norm.  Dave enjoys helping others less fortunate by giving his time and emotional support to those in need.

​David is a graduate of  San Diego State University with a BA in Business with Emphasis in Marketing

Albert “Buck” Kolkmeyer - Advisory Partner
Mr. Kolkmeyer is a forty year veteran of motion picture distribution and exhibition. As a distributor, he was the youngest branch manager for Roger Corman’s New World Pictures. Kolkmeyer was responsible for the launch of Ron Howard’s directorial debut “Grand Theft Auto” in the Chicago and Milwaukee branches.  As an exhibitor, Kolkmeyer was director of operations for Essaness Theatres, followed by Director of Film at Excellence Theatres. The Excellence circuit started as forty screens and expanded to 385 screens in three years. After the sale of Excellence to Carmike, Buck Kolkmeyer was a founder of Theatre Service Network which in three years became one of the top three buying services in the U.S. Kolkmeyer then created Nova Cinetech where he developed and licensed the “Stealth Cinema” a patented theatre design. At Nova Cinetech, Mr. Kolkmeyer developed management information systems for film accounting and specialized in remarketing distressed theatres.

Mr. Kolkmeyer is partner in Murphy Media Distribution and is responsible for the acquisition and distribution of licensed product.