Our Team
The Sojourner Investment Team: Seasoned operators, digital pioneers, and strategic investors.
We are a team bound by a shared mission to build impactful brands that win. Our complementary expertise in e-Commerce, performance improvement, marketing, sustainability, and private equity investing enables us to help our companies accelerate progress and realize their full potential.
Rob DesMarais
Senior Partner
Rob DesMarais brings extensive experience in private equity, consumer products, investment banking, and leadership to the Firm. Prior to co-founding Sojourner, he was a Partner and Managing Director at Swander Pace Capital, joining the firm in early 2005.
Rob started his career in staff and management roles at Sara Lee Corporation, and later served as an investment banker at Banc of America Securities and Deutsche Banc Alex Brown, focusing on the global consumer products industry.
Zach Johnson
Senior Partner
Zach Johnson brings extensive experience in e-Commerce, digital marketing, data and technology application for consumer products, organizational design, and leadership to the Firm.
Before co-founding Sojourner, he was an executive and a Director at Amazon, which he joined in early 2004. While at Amazon, Zach built and scaled the global Advertising business, which helped drive growth for Amazon’s Retail and Device strategy. He began his career with Shopnow.com (Network Commerce), helping connect buyers and sellers online in the early days of e-Commerce.
Roger Dickhout
Senior Partner
Roger Dickhout is an experienced CEO and investor with a track record of delivering strong financial results alongside sustainability improvements. Prior to co-founding Sojourner, Roger partnered with Swander Pace Capital (SPC) to help the firm expand into Canada.
Over 14 years, Roger collaborated with SPC to acquire 18 companies, build and improve them, and eventually exit each platform company to a suitable buyer. These four successful platforms spanned organic yogurt (Liberté), baked goods (Pineridge Bakery), eco-friendly cleaning products (Lavo), and household and automotive fluids (Recochem). For three of these companies, Roger served as CEO. He also served as a strategic operating partner with a fourth. Before these roles, as President & CEO, he led a broad-scale turnaround, renewal, and growth of Canada Bread.
Previously, Roger was a Partner at McKinsey & Company for 15 years, where he helped consumer and industrial clients in North America and around the world embark on new directions, lead organizational change, and improve operations.
Julie Albright
Principal
Julie Albright brings extensive and diverse experience in brand marketing, product innovation, e-Commerce, and general management across the oral, personal, and home-care categories with industry-leading brands.
Before joining Sojourner in 2024, Julie was a General Manager and Senior Director at Colgate-Palmolive, where she worked for the last 12 years. Julie started her career in private equity at Wedbush Capital Partners and investment banking at Wachovia Securities (Wells Fargo). Her entire career has been focused on the consumer product goods industry.
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Linda Naselli
Chief Operating Officer
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Clay Scarafia
Chief Financial Officer
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Shamus Dailey
Senior Vice President
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Francesco Ambrosio
Associate
Francesco Ambrosio brings private equity experience to the team, with a background in the personal care, food, business services, and industrials segments. He recently completed his MBA at Wharton and worked with Natureza Growth Partners. Previously, he was an investment analyst at Stirling Square Capital Partners in London, where he focused on mid-market investments and value creation initiatives across Europe.
Shamus Dailey brings extensive experience in consumer-packaged goods, both as an investor and operator. Before joining Sojourner, Shamus was general manager for several e-Commerce-native brands, where he focused on brand management, advertising, product development, supply chain, talent management, and acquisitions. He also has over a decade of experience in private equity and investment banking, principally with Main Post Partners and Bison Capital.
Clay Scarafia
Chief Financial Officer
Clay Scarafia is a senior finance executive and Chief Financial Officer with extensive experience in private equity and alternative investments. He specializes in fund operations, financial reporting, and strategic oversight, partnering with investment teams to build scalable, institutional-grade finance and operating infrastructure. Previously, Clay served as a Managing Director at SS&C Technologies, where he advised private equity, hedge fund, and asset management clients on fund administration, reporting, and operational best practices. Across his career, he has supported investment managers throughout the fund lifecycle, from fund formation and growth to institutionalization.
Linda Naselli is an experienced CEO and CFO with a track record of value creation through EBITDA growth and margin expansion. Prior to joining Sojourner in 2025, Linda served as a Senior Advisor with Sojourner and Hawaii Coffee Co., overseeing a CFO transition and leading the implementation of certain process improvements.
Before this role, Linda served as the CEO and CFO at Reliance Vitamin, a Swander Pace Capital (SPC) portfolio company, where she led the organization through the global pandemic, a major facility expansion, a serious cybersecurity breach, the implementation of a new ERP system, and a successful sale in 2024 to a private equity buyer. EBITDA more than doubled over five years.
Additionally, Linda has served as CFO with multiple consumer-branded companies, including Michael Angelos Gourmet Food (frozen Italian entrees), a family-owned business for over 30 years, where Linda was recruited to help professionalize and scale the company prior to its sale in 2017 to Sovos Brands (platform company owned by Advent International, a global private equity firm). Throughout her career, Linda has consistently demonstrated the ability to think strategically while rolling up her sleeves to build and improve companies.
