Jason spent his early years in a neighborhood with limited resources, which directly shaped how he wanted to serve similar communities. But he did not know how and when, until he was sitting in the pews in his church and his attention was drawn to a new face in the choir. Olaide Lawal was a tall newcomer with a wide smile. Jason thought, “What is he so happy about? I have to meet this guy someday.”

Someday happened a month later, when Jason gave a speech to the church youth group on community impact and Olaide had been in the audience. Soon thereafter, Jason heard a talk on search funds and said to Olaide, “I think I found the thing that we’re going to work on together.”

After a meeting with Irv Grousbeck at Stanford, they knew for certain the search fund model was ideal for their partnership. Two years later they acquired Unified Dental, a dental practice management group which operates in resource constrained communities in Michigan.

Susan was on their board, and through that relationship Jason once again “found the thing to work on together,” this time with us. Jason is now transitioning from his operating responsibilities at Unified Dental to Futaleufu. He brings a treasure of operating knowledge and is an expert resource in helping search fund entrepreneurs transition to the CEO role.

Jason now lives in Michigan with his wife and three children, and continues to look for ways to help search fund CEOs through different avenues including the Black Searcher Network, which he co-founded.