With experience in M&A, business development, corporate development, consulting, management, and corporate law professionally, Jude’s career has centered around advising advisors, consulting for consultants, and providing strategic management advice to owners and managers. Because of the trust and confidence his clients have placed in him, Jude has acted as advisor in acquisitions amounting to more than $3 billion in the aggregate. Additionally, Jude sits at the helm of Kin Capital Partners, a small private equity group that focusses on acquiring manufacturing and building material businesses. Having bought and sold businesses himself, his understanding of what the parties to a transaction go through is not just academic. He realizes, in a way that many advisors cannot due to a lack of personal experience, that buying or selling a business is a turbulent collision of business sense and emotional distress. Navigating that minefield requires precision, experience, and skill, but the difficult task is worth it in the end.
In his free time, Jude serves on numerous nonprofit boards, including the national Life Legal Defense Foundation, the Desormeaux Foundation / Women’s Center of Acadiana (Director and Treasurer), and the Jacob Crouch Foundation for Suicide-Awareness, Education, & Prevention. He sits as a director for each business in the Kin Capital Partners portfolio, and he additionally manages a private real estate network comprised of nine companies and more than 300 leased properties. When he has time, he enjoys hunting, fishing, college football, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.
Jude holds a Juris Doctorate (Magna Cum Laude), a Diploma of Comparative Law (Magna Cum Laude), a Master of Business Administration Degree (Summa Cum Laude), and a Finance Bachelor’s Degree from Louisiana State University. He was a Senior Editor of the LSU Law Review and a member of Order of the Coif. He received honors and distinctions at every level of his education, including the LSU law “Corporate and Business Law Excellence” Award (awarded to a single student), the “Outstanding First Year MBA Student” Award (awarded to a single student), both “New Member of the Year” and “Member of the Year” from Theta Xi Fraternity (each awarded to a single student), and he was the two time Louisiana state champion in speech and debate.
Jude has been married to Ashley David, his high school sweetheart, for 12 years, and they have five children. They live in their family home in Lafayette, Louisiana.