Investment Professionals

Daphne J. Dufresne
Managing Director 

Ms. Dufresne joined RLJ Equity Partners from Parish Capital Advisors, where she was a Venture Partner managing the direct investment and co-investment program. Formerly, Ms. Dufresne was a Principal at Weston Presidio Capital, a private equity organization with $3.4 billion of assets under management.  She also served as Associate Director in Bank of Scotland's Structured Finance Group.  Ms. Dufresne received her B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania and her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Rufus H. Rivers
Managing Director 

Mr. Rivers joined RLJ Equity Partners from The Carlyle Group, where he was a Managing Director and Co-Founder of Carlyle Mezzanine Partners, LP, a $436 million investment fund.  Prior to founding Carlyle Mezzanine Partners, Mr. Rivers was a Senior Vice President and Principal at TCW/Crescent Mezzanine, LLC a private equity organization with $2.5 billion of assets under management.  Prior to TCW/Crescent Mezzanine, Mr. Rivers served as the Group Credit/Investment Officer of Heller Financial, Inc.  Mr. Rivers received his B.A. from Morehouse College and his M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.

Jerry L. Johnson
Vice President

Mr. Johnson joined RLJ from American Capital, a publicly traded alternative asset manager with over $16 billion of assets under management.   Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Johnson was a Vice President in the Financial Sponsors and Private Equity Group at Bank of America. He also served as a White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense. Mr. Johnson began his career with Donaldson, Lufkin, & Jenrette and prior to that he was with McKinsey & Company.  Mr. Johnson received his B.S. from the University of Tennessee and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

T. Otey Smith
Vice President 

Mr. Smith joined RLJ Equity Partners in 2006.  Prior to RLJ Equity Partners, Mr. Smith was a Senior Associate and founding member at Reliant Equity Investors, a lower middle-market private equity fund.  Prior to Reliant, Mr. Smith was an Analyst in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Goldman Sachs.  Mr. Smith received his B.A. from Morehouse College and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.