About Michael Gaudiani
A thinking partner for entrepreneurs navigating hard problems
Michael works selectively with business owners and entrepreneurs facing meaningful transitions — performance challenges that resist obvious fixes, strategic inflection points, succession planning, and exit preparation.
After four decades operating in both publicly traded corporations and small privately held companies, he has developed an eye for where the real bottlenecks are — strategic, operational, physical and often mental — and where strengths lie that can be built on. That kind of perspective is hard to develop from inside a business.
Experience
Oil Skimmers Inc.
2007 — Present
Team Leader, OSI Environmental LLC; dba "Oil Skimmers, Inc."
Identified and acquired this niche industrial manufacturer as part of an investment portfolio. Managed this business among others for nearly two decades. OSI designs and builds oil skimmers, oil-water separators, and related equipment, and engineered systems for industrial wastewater applications, with customers in over 50 countries across petrochemical, steel, food processing, mining, power, transportation, and military sectors.
Bought out co-investors in 2014 after well-exceeding investment expectations; then significantly expanded the company’s ambitions: insourced assembly operations, built a design engineering capability, launched a custom-engineered systems business alongside the products business, and entered new product and market segments. Co-invented five of the company’s seven patents. Built international customer reach through a focused digital marketing and inbound lead generation strategy.
Danville Partners
2000 — Present
Managing Partner / Portfolio Company CEO
Founded Danville Partners to provide operating leadership and advisory support to privately held enterprises, and to raise capital and invest selectively in niche industrial businesses where hands-on involvement could create meaningful value.
Led acquisitions of companies in material handling, automation, and environmental equipment — including turnarounds and transitions from retiring founders. Served in roles ranging from Chairman and CEO to operating advisor and interim executive for private equity-backed portfolio companies in packaging, specialty transportation, and hydraulic lifting equipment, among others.
Teledyne Fluid Systems & Specialty Equipment
1990 - 1999
President
Recruited by Teledyne — at the time a publicly traded industrial conglomerate, roughly analogous to a publicly traded private equity portfolio — to run underperforming businesses in their industrial group.
Spent a decade growing a portfolio of companies and divisions, ultimately responsible for Teledyne Fluid Systems & Specialty Equipment: a group of eight companies and approximately 900 employees across the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia.
The companies delivered substantial and measurable improvements across every division. Following Teledyne’s merger with Allegheny Ludlum, completed the assignment by leading the divestiture of the industrial portfolio.
General Motors
1979 — 1990
Various Roles
Began as a production line supervisor at the GM Assembly Division plant in Baltimore, managing UAW workers building the Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Returned post-MBA to GM in Detroit and progressed through operations and strategic planning roles.
Moved to the GM Treasurer’s Office in New York to engage in business development work including acquisitions, joint ventures, and divestitures, and managing international corporate finance for GM’s subsidiaries and joint ventures in Latin America and Asia. Staffed the GM Board of Directors meetings held in New York and Detroit.