Our Team

Britton H. Murdoch

Managing Director

Britton H. Murdoch is the Chairman of the Bryn Mawr Trust Company (NSAD: BMTC) since January 2015 and was the Lead Director between 2010 and 2015. He is also the Founder and Managing Director of Strattech Partners, a business consulting and venture capital firm formed in 2000. Mr. Murdoch serves as a Senior Advisor and Investment Committee member at Rittenhouse Ventures II, an early-stage venture capital firm. In the non-profit area, Mr. Murdoch was a Trustee at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital for eleven years until June 2016 and served as head of the Audit and Finance Committees at various times. Mr. Murdoch continues as a Trustee Emeritus. Mr. Murdoch is also Managing Trustee of the EMF Foundation, which supports local charities and sponsors named scholarships in nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson University, and the University of Delaware.

Mr. Murdoch was the Principal and CEO of BMW/MINI of the Main Line from 2006 to 2012. The businesses, based in Bala Cynwyd, PA, had combined revenue of $120 million and won BMW’s Center of Excellence Award in 2012. The dealerships were successfully sold to EuroMotorcars in December 2012.

From 1997 to 2006, Mr. Murdoch was a board member at Susquehanna Bank East.

From 1997 to 2001, Mr. Murdoch was Acting CFO and board member at Fiberlink and V-Span (venture backed, communications and Internet security companies). Sales for both companies doubled each year during that period and both were able to attract strategic investors including Comcast, Goldman Sachs and GE Capital. Mr. Murdoch remained on the Board at Fiberlink until it was sold to IBM in 2013 for a 4.5x gain.

Mr. Murdoch was Chief Financial Officer for Internet Capital Group (NASD: ICGE), a development company for B to B e-commerce companies, from 1997 until June 1998. He was responsible for ICGE’s second round equity financing, bank financing, strategic planning and SEC exemptions, which were key to the company’s IPO in 1999. Internet Capital, at its high, had a market capitalization in excess of $50 billion.

Mr. Murdoch served on the Board of Directors of Rental Service Corp. (NYSE: RSV), an acquisition oriented industrial equipment rental business, from 1997 until August 1999 when the company was sold to Atlas Copco. Mr. Murdoch managed the company on the two-person Executive Committee of Rental Service from March 1999 until August 1999. During that time, the CEO required a medical leave of absence and Mr. Murdoch guided the company through a major merger transaction with Nationsrent (NYSE: NRI) and a hostile takeover bid by United Rentals (NYSE: URI) prior to selling the company to Atlas Copco. Rental Service was sold for a 20% premium over the hostile bidder’s offer.

Prior to 1997, Mr. Murdoch was the Chief Financial Officer, Vice President of Finance and Treasurer for Airgas, Inc. (NYSE: ARG), a distributor of industrial gases and welding supplies. Between 1987 and 1990, Mr. Murdoch was Vice President-Corporate Development. During his tenure, Airgas acquired over 200 companies which expanded the industrial gas distribution network from 65 locations in 12 states to over 570 locations in 41 states, Canada and Mexico. Revenues grew from $100 million to over $1.2 billion and Airgas common stock performed in the top 100 of all NYSE stocks every year between 1992 and 1996. During this time, Mr. Murdoch was awarded Mitchell and Company’s CFO 100 Award for three consecutive years.

Mr. Murdoch began his career at Marine Midland Bank in New York City before joining the Philadelphia National Bank, where he was Vice President and Unit Manager of the Eastern Corporate Division. Mr. Murdoch was responsible for the large corporate market from Philadelphia to Florida where he arranged various credit facilities, loan syndications, and Euro-market financings.

Mr. Murdoch is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, earning a Bachelor of Science in Economics, with majors in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management. He also received a Master of Business Administration Degree from New York University.

Mr. Murdoch resides with his family in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania and has six children, all of whom completed college in four years!

Steve R. Holstad, Jr.

Managing Director

Steve R. Holstad, Jr. is a Managing Director with Strattech Partners, LLC based in Devon, PA. Strattech Partners was founded in 2000 and is a business consulting, advisory and venture capital firm. Mr. Holstad is also CFO of Rittenhouse Ventures, an emerging-growth venture capital firm based in Philadelphia, PA. Rittenhouse has nearly $50 million of assets under management.

From 2006 to 2012, Mr. Holstad was CFO and part-owner of City Line Motors, LLC which owned BMW of the Main Line and MINI of the Main Line. Both businesses are based in Bala Cynwyd, PA with combined annual revenue of $120 million. Both dealerships were successfully sold to Euro Motorcars in December, 2012.

From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Holstad was acting CFO of Around Campus, Inc. a Philadelphia-based publishing company with over 125 college directory publications and independent telephone directory publications in Maine and Pennsylvania.

In 2001 and 2002, Mr. Holstad was acting CFO of StarCite.com, Inc. a Philadelphia-based technology company serving the global meetings and events industry. During 2002, he led the acquisition and integration of two leading companies in the travel industry and completed a $3 million financing round for StarCite with participation from Starwood Hotels, American Express and Internet Capital Group.

In 2000 and 2001, Mr. Holstad was acting CFO and VP of Finance of TeleSpectrum Worldwide, Inc. a $300 million teleservices company. While at TeleSpectrum he negotiated a $130 million bank credit agreement with TeleSpectrum’s bank group, brought in a new executive management team to run the company, and oversaw the company’s treasury and banking operations. In 2001, Mr. Holstad also served as acting CFO of BidTrac.com, Inc. a software developer and application service provider for the real estate industry.

Mr. Holstad has more than 15 years of financial experience in the commercial banking, chemical and energy industries. Prior to joining Strattech Partners in 2000, Mr. Holstad held a number of senior management positions at the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) during an eight-year career. Most recently, Mr. Holstad managed ARCO’s worldwide financial planning organization in Los Angeles. He was a core member of ARCO’s Global Cost Reduction Task Force, a cost reduction effort that resulted in cost savings of over $500 million.

Mr. Holstad also served as the Manager of Corporate Finance for the ARCO Chemical Company based in Newtown Square, PA. In this capacity, he was responsible for ARCO Chemical’s global corporate finance activities, including a $1 billion debt portfolio, financing strategies, investment banking and rating agency relationships, capital structure issues, pension activities, and dividend policy. During his tenure as Corporate Finance Manager, Mr. Holstad managed all investment banking issues related to a $600 million chemical acquisition. Mr. Holstad also held various positions within ARCO’s Treasury, Planning, and Business Analysis functions.

Prior to its merger with British Petroleum, ARCO was the fifth largest U.S. oil company with $25 billion in assets, approximately 18,000 employees and a market capitalization of $25 billion.

Before joining ARCO, Mr. Holstad was employed in the banking industry. He holds a BA Degree in Economics from Duke University and an MBA in Finance from the University of Michigan, where he graduated with High Distinction. In the non-profit area, Mr. Holstad is past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Main Line Art Center, past President of the Board of Directors of A Better Chance in Lower Merion, and is on the Board of Directors of Spark The Wave.