Sean Sullivan
Managing Director, Chief Legal Officer
Biography
Sean oversees all legal matters and enterprise risk management at TSG Consumer and partners with our investment team on transaction execution. He brings nearly 20 years of experience advising public and private companies through significant transformations, including strategic acquisitions and IPOs, and brings extensive expertise in the consumer sector.
Prior to joining TSG Consumer, Sean was an Executive Vice President and the Chief Transformation and Legal Officer at The Duckhorn Portfolio, a former TSG partner company, where he led Duckhorn’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021 and its take-private transaction in late 2024.
Prior to that, he worked at Gibson Dunn, where he led teams advising on founder- and sponsor-backed IPOs and spin-offs; fiduciary duties; capital raising; governmental affairs; and more than 100 M&A transactions. He also worked as an investment banker at Credit Suisse.
Sean served as a member of Dutch Bros Coffee Board of Directors, another former TSG partner company, and as a member of the Green Coffee Company Board.
Education
Sean holds a degree from Saint Mary’s College, where he graduated summa cum laude, and a JD from Columbia University School of Law, where he was a James Kent Scholar and Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.
Q&A
Opportunities to be a student and a teacher—I strive to find an opportunity to be both every day. I love learning about a new business, area of the law or approach to problem-solving. By equal measure, it is exceedingly rewarding to find an opportunity to share my knowledge and experience with my teammates and contribute to a great outcome.
I first worked with TSG in 2007. Over the years, I had the opportunity to work with many members of the TSG Consumer team as a member of the management team at The Duckhorn Portfolio, Board member at Dutch Bros., and an advisor working with CytoSport, Yard House and other partner companies. I experienced firsthand the strategic insight, deep consumer knowledge, and true partnership approach that define this firm. I jumped at the opportunity to join TSG Consumer and support the continued growth and success of our partner companies. Being a part of a dynamic firm working alongside passionate management teams to connect with consumers inspires me every day.
Energetic and thoughtful—delivered with a sense of humor.