Gordon R. Caplan

Gordon R. Caplan is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Dutchess Management LLC, a strategic advisory firm dedicated to helping clients navigate complex business challenges and promoting social good through philanthropic ventures.

Prior to establishing Dutchess Management LLC, Mr. Caplan was the Co-Chairman of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP from 2015 to 2019. He led the private equity practice and built one of the largest private equity practices in the world. Mr. Caplan was the Chair of the Private Equity Practice at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP from 2010 to 2015 and the Chair of the Venture Capital Practice from 2005 to 2010. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Connecticut Telephone from 2004 to 2006.

Mr. Caplan was named a “Dealmaker of the Year” by American Lawyer in 2018 and featured in publications on M&A, private equity, corporate governance, and high-technology transactions. He has lectured on private equity and technology transactions at Columbia University Graduate School of Business, the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Fordham Law School.

Mr. Caplan received a JD from Fordham Law School in 1991, where he was an Editor of the Fordham Law Review in 1990, and a BA from Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences in 1988. Mr. Caplan is a member of Fordham's Law School's Dean's Planning Council, and a Board Member of Publicolor and was the Chairman of the Board of Publicolor from 2014 to 2018. He received the 2016 Louis J. Lefkowitz Public Service Award from Fordham Law School.

Gordon also serves as a voice for criminal justice reform, spearheading the Prison Visitation Fund (prisonvisitationfund.org), a non-profit dedicated to keeping families together during a loved one’s period of incarceration.