Mike Zabik

Mike Zabik is a Partner of the firm.

Prior to joining RedBird, Mike was a Vice President of Ares Management LLC, a diversified asset manager, where he focused primarily on opportunities in business services, healthcare, industrials, consumer and specialty finance. Prior to Ares, Mike was an Associate of Kelso & Company, a New York-based private equity firm, where Mike evaluated investment opportunities across a broad set of industries including renewable energy, shipping, industrials, business services and consumer.

Mike leads the firm’s Financial Services practice. In addition, Mike currently sits on several boards across the RedBird investment portfolio, including (i) Aquarian Holdings, an asset manager and holding company for Investors Heritage Life Insurance Company; (ii) Constellation Affiliated Partners, a platform buy-and-build of managing general agents in the insurance distribution space; (iii) Credit Key, a leading point of sale B2B lending platform, (iv) Majority Strategies, an influence marketing platform utilizing data, digital and print services; (v) OneTeam Partners, a partnership with the Players Associations of the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB) to monetize the Name, Image and Likeness (“NIL”) of the collective players; (vi) Tally Energy Services, a buy-and-build oilfield service platform focused on fit-for-purpose solutions for shale producers in the verticals of directional drilling, completions and artificial lift; and (vii) Zenith Shipping, a portfolio of product tankers and dry bulk shipping vessels. In addition to his involvement on company boards, Mike plays an active role in the following RedBird investments: (i) Grafine Capital Partners, a private investment and advisory firm focused on seeding platforms and capital raising; and (ii) Skydance Media, a diversified content-production studio founded by David Ellison focused on subscription video on demand (SVOD), feature film, animation and interactive gaming. Mike previously served on the board of On Location Experiences, which was sold to Endeavor in January 2020.

In addition to these responsibilities, he also leads the Portfolio Financing Team, which is top-down monitoring of the existing financing structures in place across the portfolio, with a view to opportunistically adjust the capital structures of portfolio companies on a go-forward basis.

Mike received a B.S. in Finance and Accounting from Indiana University. He is the former Chairman and a current member of Indiana University’s Investment Banking Network Advisory Council.