Matt Fenner is a finance and operations executive with more than 30 years of experience helping businesses grow, navigate complexity, and create lasting value. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Matt has spent his career partnering with entrepreneurs, operators, and investors across startups, family-owned businesses, and large public enterprises. His expertise spans financial strategy, mergers and acquisitions, operational management, and building organizations positioned for long-term success.
Matt currently serves as COO of Caplin Ventures, the Jacksonville-based investment firm he helped co-found in 2019. Under his leadership, Caplin has grown to include 10 operating companies and more than 20 passive investments spanning healthcare staffing, technology services, engineering, dentistry, medical research, retail, and professional sports. The portfolio businesses collectively employ more than 1,000 people, demonstrating the firm's commitment to building enterprises that generate real, lasting value for employees, customers, and investors.
His career began to take shape in the alarm security industry, where Matt joined the senior leadership team of Scott Alarm and contributed to building what became one of the largest privately held alarm security companies in the United States. Following the company's acquisition by Republic Industries, Matt joined Republic as an executive leader on its mergers and acquisitions team. Working within an organization built by entrepreneur H. Wayne Huizenga offered direct exposure to business growth, acquisition strategy, and value creation on a meaningful scale.
Matt subsequently served as CFO and startup equity partner of Indian Motorcycles Florida, LLC, overseeing retail operations across several Florida locations with more than 50 million dollars in combined annual revenue. He also held a senior financial executive role at Convergys Corporation, then one of the world's largest business process outsourcing companies, where he managed financial operations for a division with approximately 17,000 employees and roughly 800 million dollars in annual revenue.
Throughout his career, Matt has contributed to the growth and successful exit of several micro-cap businesses. One prominent example is Certified Security, a Florida-based alarm and fire security company serving more than 20,000 residential and commercial customers. Serving as CFO, Matt played a central role in positioning the business for its eventual sale to Vector Security, a transaction that yielded one of the strongest valuation multiples in the security industry at the time.
Matt holds an MBA in Finance and a BBA in Accounting from the University of North Florida. His career has been guided by the belief that strong businesses share a common foundation: capable leadership, disciplined financial management, operational clarity, and a commitment to building organizations that create genuine long-term value for everyone they serve.
Portfolio: mattfennerjacksonville.com