Providence COO Departs Firm

Providence Equity Partners’ chief operating officer is no longer with the buyout shop, less than three years into his new role, sister Web site peHub has learned.

The Providence, R.I.-based shop confirmed the report in a statement. “We appreciate Gary’s contributions to the firm over the last three years, and we wish him well in his future endeavors,” the firm said in a statement e-mailed to peHub.

Gary Weinstein came to Providence from Lehman Brothers in June 2008, where he had served as managing director and global chief administrative officer of investment banking, according to a statement by Providence at the time Weinstein was hired.

It isn’t clear why Weinstein left the firm. Providence appears to have gone about his departure quietly. His name has been scrubbed from the firm’s Web site and it doesn’t list the title of chief operating officer anywhere on its team page. According to the firm’s Web site, Providence has $23 billion under management. PeHub could not reach Weinstein for comment.

In one bit of good news for Providence, the buyout shop likely didn’t rub up on any key man provisions with Weinstein’s departure, since he was at the firm for such a limited amount of time. A source told peHub that the position will be eliminated within Providence and that responsibilities previously handled by Weinstein will be distributed to other executives within the firm.

Providence raised its last fund—a sixth fund totaling $12 billion—in 2007. Another source tells peHub that Providence has already delayed a first close on a seventh fund and is cutting expectations for the fund. It isn’t clear if the departure of Weinstein will have any impact on fundraising efforts.

(Jonathan Marino is editor/columnist at sister Web site peHub. Luisa Beltran contributed to this report.)