Who We Are

Founding Partner

Omar A. Sawaf

Omar is the Founding Partner and CEO of Yellowstone Capital Partners LLC, a boutique merchant bank and venture capital firm based in Houston Texas. Prior to co-founding YCP in 1993 with his brother Bashar Sawaf, Omar was the President of Capital Guidance, the US subsidiary of a global investment group with core operations in real estate, international trade & distribution and private equity.

Omar's business development experience encompassed a variety of companies such as Chung's Foods (Lead - Asian), Grayloc Products (Lead - Oilfield Equipment sold to Oceaneering),Utopia Spring Water (Lead - sold to Perrier), Huxtable's Foods (Lead - Replacement Meals), Master Tile (Lead – Flooring products distribution), and United Meridian Corp (Founding investor, board member from startup to IPO: oil & gas).  In venture capital, YCP’s notable investments were in Capstone Turbines (IPO), Senscient (Gas sensing - Sold to Mine Safety), Agennix (Biotech) SolFocus (Solar), Heliovolt (Solar), Sadra Medical (Percutaneous valve replacement sold to Boston Scientific), IDEV (Stents - sold to Abbott), Atheromed (PAD Atherectomy - sold to Volcano), Cellex & Protonex (Fuel Cells - sold to Plug Power and Ballard)

Harvard Business School
M.B.A

Ohio State University
B.S., Industrial and Systems Engineering

principal

Sami Sawaf

Sami is a Principal at Yellowstone Capital Partners LLC. Previously, Sami was a Director in the FTI Corporate Finance/Restructuring practice based in Dallas, TX where he focused his time and efforts on the energy, retail, and consumer goods sector. He served both large and small companies tasked with increasing operational efficiency and improving productivity and also represented clients in financial restructuring events. His experience also includes working through complex financial restructurings (credit/loan amendments, recapitalizations, covenant negotiations, ABL placements, etc.) between Companies and Creditor groups. Previously, Sami worked for MENA Solar Energy, a renewable energy startup, and White River Energy, an energy hedge fund. 

Operating partner

Rick Harris

Harvard Business School
M.B.A.

Hampden-Sydney College
B.A.

Rick is an Operating Partner at Yellowstone Capital Partners, LLC, focusing on growing the firm’s food and beverage portfolio. He also serves as President and CEO of Chung’s Gourmet Foods, the nation’s leading branded, frozen Asian Appetizer company, headquartered in Houston, Texas.

An executive to both large multinationals and start-ups, Rick’s broad experience cuts across diverse areas of finance, operations and supply chain, product development, sales and marketing, and information technology.

Rick began his career on Wall Street with Chemical Bank’s World Banking Group (JP Morgan), working in corporate finance specifically on food and agribusiness companies. 

Prior to Chung’s, Rick served as President of BBX Sweet Holdings (BBX Capital) in Florida, a portfolio of confectionery companies with plants located in Florida, Utah, and California. Rick was recruited by the Private Equity firm Dolphin Capital in 2010 to run Maxfield Candy, a leading chocolate manufacturing and marketing company in Utah.Before Maxfield, he served as President of Sunkist-Taylor LLC, a pioneering fresh-cut fruit snacking joint venture with both east and west coast processing plants. He also served internationally in several leadership roles in operations and supply chain with Dole Foods (principally in Latin America and California), and helped lead start-ups in B2B e-commerce at Global Food Exchange in Atlanta and organic products at Food Logic in Boston. He is fluent in Spanish.