Sweetwater Capital

Scott J. Sonnone

After time in New York City and San Francisco, Scott’s career brought him to Asheville, North Carolina in the spring of 1998. With every intention of moving back to the West Coast, the people and places of Western North Carolina quickly altered his plans and he has been here ever since.

Over his career, Scott has been involved in over 30 mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and capital raising transactions. Prior to the formation of Sweetwater, Scott headed the Mergers & Acquisition practice of Carolina Financial Group, an investment-banking boutique serving middle market companies throughout the Southeast.

Prior to Carolina Financial Group, Scott was Vice President of Corporate Development for TestAmerica Incorporated, an environmental laboratory company pursuing a consolidation strategy within its fragmented industry. In his role, Scott was responsible for all acquisition activity and capital raising efforts of the company. During his involvement with the company, TestAmerica completed five acquisitions that increased revenues by over five times. In connection with these transactions, TestAmerica's capital structure involved four senior lenders, a mezzanine investor, seller financing and a private equity group.

Prior to TestAmerica, Scott was a professional at Sagaponack Partners, a private equity fund that provides growth capital to established small and medium sized companies. Scott has also held corporate finance and mergers & acquisition positions at Montgomery Securities, Wasserstein Perella & Co. and Chemical Bank.

Scott holds a B.A. in Economics from Trinity College.