Reference from Mike Hernandez

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I have had the pleasure of working with Colton since July 0f 2020. To start, he is one of the most talented and driven individuals I have ever worked with. His ability to assess and address critical issues, in a fast paced environment, are unmatched. In my time with him at TPG, he was my direct manager. I came into the company as a SQL developer with no private equity experience. He hired me knowing he could coach me up and not only make me a serviceable employee, but a thriving employee with a myriad of possibilities. 

While showing me the ropes of the company and bringing me on board, he took the extra time to make sure I understood the business processes of private equity that directly impacted our team. Even if that caused him to perform some of his daily duties on his own time. When I came in, I had a bad taste of being in a leadership role. I just wanted to come in, and do great work, and keep my head down. He saw the opposite in me. He revitalized my desire to be a leader in the workplace, take ownership of projects, and be an influential presence through out our department. 

The team I joined didn’t exist before Colton. Him and his teammate, saw a need in the company to provide applications and solutions to the GP accounting team, and they took the initiative to build a team that is now the heartbeat of the operations department at TPG. His personality, work ethic, and desire for building relationships still remains after his departure. Beyond the impact Colton had on me, he left an impression on so many people and processes at TPG. There is a “Colton way” of doing things, and that is now the standard. He owned multiple processes during his time. From our homegrown distribution model, our CODA accounting application, our FirmView application, our datamart, as well as our database aggregation tool Denodo. 

Nothing happened in operations, without Colton’s involvement because we all knew he would have the answers. The fact that he was a CPA turned developer, provided a leader that had a broad knowledge of processes that bridged the gap between the accountants and developers. There are few that can provide that cross departmental knowledge in this industry. 

Colton is never one to leave work undone. He goes to extreme lengths to meet deadlines, but do so in a sustainable and dependable manner. There are so many things to say about Colton about an employee, but I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about him as a person. He truly cares about you as the person. He will invest his time to make sure that you are taken care of. He care about you, he cares about your family, and he cares about making sure you are able to live your life. Colton truly is one of a kind. His departure from TPG will be felt company wide for a long time. I will finish with this, I would follow this man into battle, any day of the week. The next company that gets him, will be changed for the better.

Mike Hernandez

VP, Engineering at TPG Capital