The team at Donovan Ventures has over 85 years of combined energy financial services and private equity experience. We have developed in-depth energy expertise and cultivated industry-wide relationships that allow us to market, structure and close transactions that maximize value for management teams and existing investors. The partners at Donovan Ventures are directly involved in executing every transaction. Our niche focus and hands on approach ensures our clients receive executive-level attention and proven results.
John Donovan, Jr. – Founder and Managing Partner
Mr. Donovan founded Donovan Ventures in 2007 to provide private equity and advisory services to energy entrepreneurs. Since inception, the firm has invested in 14 distinct energy companies and has advised on over $2.4 billion of advisory transactions across 54 deals.
Prior to forming Donovan Ventures, Mr. Donovan spent five years at Quantum Energy Partners. Mr. Donovan joined Quantum during their second fund which targeted middle market investments in the upstream and midstream energy sectors. Mr. Donovan actively participated in the firm’s investment activities and supported the firm’s growth as a vice president from $300 million to over $3 billion in assets under management at which time he left to form Donovan Ventures.
Mr. Donovan began his career in 2000 as an analyst with Credit Suisse (fka: Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette) where he focused on structured financings in the firm’s energy investment banking group in Houston. Mr. Donovan holds a B.B.A. in Finance with a concentration in Accounting from the University of Texas.
Jason Holton – Managing Director
Mr. Holton is responsible for sourcing and executing investment banking advisory transactions. He also leads investor relations and fundraising efforts for Energy Founders Fund and serves on the investment committee.
Prior to joining Donovan Ventures, Mr. Holton served as the Founder and CEO of Omega Sands (an Energy Founders Fund portfolio company) from 2017 – 2019.
Prior to Omega Sands, Mr. Holton spent 11 years in Morgan Stanley’s investment banking division, running coverage of the U.S. refining, marketing and logistics sectors (2014 – 2017), helping rebuilding the Asia-Pacific energy team in Hong Kong (2011 – 2014), executing energy financing and M&A transactions from the Houston based natural resources group (2007 – 2011) and working as a member of the New York based financial sponsors group, where he executed leveraged buy-out and sell-side transactions for private equity firms.
Mr. Holton started his investment banking career at JP Morgan in 2005, where he also focused on financing and M&A transactions for private equity firms.
Throughout his investment banking career, Mr. Holton has executed over 50 capital markets and M&A transactions in the U.S. and Asia.
Mr. Holton holds a BBA in Finance from Southern Methodist University and an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina.
Wayne W Wagner, MBA, CIMA® – Managing Director
Mr. Wagner joined Donovan Ventures in June 2022 as Managing Director, Capital Markets. In this role, he will lead the firm’s efforts to partner with and serve US broker-dealers, RIAs, and selected family offices as partners in the Donovan Ventures’ retail investment offerings.
Prior to his role at the firm, Mr. Wagner was Head of National Accounts at InvestX Capital, a Vancouver, Canada based private equity firm that focused on acquiring shares of large cap pre IPO unicorn giants, units of which were sold through the significant network that Wayne and his team built here in the US.
During the course of his nearly 30 years of serving financial advisors, Mr. Wagner has had the good fortune of representing some of the globe’s largest and most respected global asset management firms including AllianceBernstein, Russell Investments, and MacQuarie Group (parent of Delaware Investments). He has held significant leadership roles in the ’40 Act world as well, having run both the Central and Western divisions for Principal Financial Group’s (NYSE:PFG) Principal Funds’ unit, which he was part of from inception. In 2014, Wayne was asked to build out Ameriprise Financials’ Wealth Management Consulting unit as National Head of Wealth Management Consulting.
A native of San Antonio, Texas, he holds a BS in Finance and Business Economics from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from the University of San Diego. Mr. Wagner has served actively on both the Editorial Board and the Conference Planning committee for IMCA / IWI and currently serves as a committee member on the Publications and Education Committee for ADISA.
Marcus Minton – Operations Partner
Mr. Minton started his career as an operations engineer at Lewis Energy Group, where he was the sole engineer for the company’s coiled tubing department. He oversaw continuous operations for the two coiled tubing units and 35 operators/technicians. Later he transitioned to the fracturing department as an engineer, where he oversaw daily operations for one of the company’s fracturing spreads. During his time at Lewis, he oversaw the completion of over 200 wells. After two years with Lewis, Mr. Minton joined Donovan Ventures as a Summer Associate.
During his time with Donovan Ventures, Mr. Minton led several oilfield service assignments further enhancing his transition into the financial side of the business, including co-founding Regiment, LLC, a pressure pumping company that serves both the Eagle Ford and Permian Basin, in November of 2017. Mr. Minton holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Petroleum Engineering from Louisiana State University, and an MBA from Texas State University. Mr. Minton currently serves on the boards of Regiment, LLC and Huntington Oil and Gas.
Jordan Stone – Associate
Mr. Stone joined Donovan Ventures in 2023 as an associate with over 6 years experience in upstream oil and gas.
Prior to joining Donovan Ventures, Mr. Stone was an Associate at Pickering Energy Partners on the Oilfield Services team producing equity research and a Research Analyst with IHS Markit on the Upstream Insights team where he modeled well- and basin-level production, costs, and economics for Lower 48 resource plays. He started his career with Halliburton as a hydraulic fracturing field engineer.
Mr. Stone holds a BS in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Oklahoma where he captained the PetroBowl team. He is Series 7, 63, 79, and 87 licensed.
Jamie Showers – Managing Director
Mr. Showers joined Donovan Ventures in 2024 to focus on sales and distribution of Oil and Gas ABS securitizations. He is a securitized products specialist with over 25 years of sales and trading experience in fixed income focusing on esoteric ABS and other structured products.
Prior to joining Donovan Ventures, he worked in senior roles at Cowen & Co, focused on Esoteric ABS and CMBS sales as well as sourcing bankruptcy claims in their Cross-Asset group. He also worked in the Structured Products group at Stifel Nicolaus, focused on sales of ABS, RMBS and Trust Preferred CDOs. Prior to that, he managed a large balance sheet at HSBC Bank, within their Derivatives group, focused across the spectrum of Structured and Securitized Products.
Mr. Showers holds a B.A. in Political Science from St. Lawrence University. He is Series 7, 24 and 63 licensed.