New Catalyst Strategic Partners and Ironleaf Capital Announce Strategic Partnership

New Catalyst’s inaugural strategic partnership exemplifies its strategy to catalyze experienced, Next Generation GPs and propels Ironleaf Capital’s launch with capital and operational support

Ironleaf Capital, led by former Veritas Capital Partner, T.J. Rose, unveils experienced healthcare team hires from notable private markets firms and healthcare companies

WASHINGTON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New Catalyst Strategic Partners (“New Catalyst”) announced its first strategic partnership, officially launched with Ironleaf Capital (“Ironleaf”), a newly formed specialized, technology-focused healthcare private equity firm. This partnership marks a major milestone for New Catalyst as the firm executes on its strategy to invest in experienced and high-potential private market founders. New Catalyst assists the Next Generation of emerging managers in launching and scaling their firms with acceleration capital and specialized operational support across several aspects of business building.

Ironleaf Founder and Managing Partner, T.J. Rose, brings extensive experience in healthcare-focused private equity investing. Prior to founding Ironleaf, he was most recently a Partner at Veritas Capital, and previously served as a Partner at Abry Partners.

Ironleaf will target control investments in partnership with growth-minded founders and operators focused on building market-leading tech-enabled businesses that improve the efficiency, cost, and quality of healthcare. Investments will be driven by Ironleaf’s specialized focus and theme-based, thesis-driven investment strategy to identify sub-sectors that are supported by durable growth trends and alleviate industry pain points through technology. The firm’s founding team combines decades of healthcare-focused investing experience with real-world operating expertise to empower companies to scale with purpose.

“Our partnership with Ironleaf reflects the caliber of thoughtful, differentiated managers that New Catalyst was built to invest in and support,” said Jason Howard, Founder and Managing Partner of New Catalyst. “We are excited to announce our bespoke strategic partnership with Ironleaf, which includes capital to support the firm’s launch as well as operationally-intensive value creation resources.”

“In founding Ironleaf, we set out to assemble a cohesive team of investors and experienced operators with passion for improving healthcare costs and quality through technology,” said T.J. Rose. “We saw an opportunity within healthcare IT and tech-enabled solutions to leverage our combined expertise and partner with teams of fast-growing healthcare companies. From our first conversation with New Catalyst, it was clear that the team understands what it takes to build enduring, high-performing firms, and our partnership has already begun to help our vision come to fruition.”

Ironleaf also announced its founding investment team, composed of experienced healthcare investors from notable private equity platforms. Ironleaf welcomes prior Vestar Capital investors Mike Vaupen, who joins as a Partner, and Wilson Orr, who joins as Principal. John O’Malley, previously at Great Point Partners, rounds out the senior investment team, joining as Vice President. Seasoned operators and executives, Oni Chukwu and Mary Catherine Person, with whom T.J. previously worked, also joined the firm as inaugural members of the Management Solutions Group (“MSG”). MSG is a fully dedicated, proprietary team partnering with management teams to translate strategic vision into measurable operational and financial outcomes through hands-on support, data-driven insights, and functional expertise.

New Catalyst was launched in 2024 in strategic partnership with Apollo.

About New Catalyst Strategic Partners

New Catalyst Strategic Partners (“New Catalyst”) is an independent alternative investment firm that focuses on GP seeding, GP acceleration, and strategic capital solutions for Next Generation private markets managers. New Catalyst seeks to back visionary founders who are building category-defining investment firms across private market strategies. The firm focuses on providing catalytic, flexible, and strategic capital as well as value creation resources to help private market founders build successful and enduring private market firms. To learn more, please visit www.newcatalystsp.com.

About Ironleaf Capital

Ironleaf Capital (“Ironleaf”) is a specialized, technology-focused private equity firm that seeks to partner with founders and management teams to build market-leading tech-enabled businesses that improve the efficiency, cost, and quality of healthcare. Founded in 2025, Ironleaf brings together a team of seasoned investors, former operators, and healthcare specialists with passion and perspective to build enduring partnerships with the next generation of innovative healthcare companies. Ironleaf primarily targets control-oriented investments where its strategy, focus, and experience can drive transformation and growth through collaborative partnership. To learn more, please visit www.ironleafcapital.com.