Partners in
your legacy

Garrison Snell is the founder and President of Snell Ventures, a ministry-focused family holding company based in Nashville, Tennessee. He leads all M&A activity for the firm and frequently steps into active management roles within the portfolio companies themselves. Through his career he has led M&A activity across intellectual property ownership, hospitality brands, manufacturing, and business services.

Before founding Snell Ventures, Garrison spent five years leading Gyrosity Projects, a performance marketing agency he built and later sold to The Stadiumred Group. He went on to serve as CEO of Stadiumred’s digital marketing business unit before being promoted to Vice President of Data Strategy, where he built the company’s internal data management and measurement practice as a key growth initiative. That combination — operator, marketer, and acquirer — shapes how he approaches permanent ownership at Snell Ventures: buying good companies, keeping them, and stewarding them well for the people and communities they serve.

Bruce Petschen serves as Chief Operating Officer of Snell Ventures, bringing more than thirty years of manufacturing leadership to the portfolio’s operating companies. He began his career at Metal-Matic in 1994 and advanced through the plant floor to Plant Manager over the course of three decades — later relocating to Ohio to lead a ground-up project that brought the company’s third and largest facility to life. Before joining Snell Ventures, he served as Continuous Improvement Manager at Plymouth Tube.

That trajectory shapes how Bruce leads today. He drives LEAN process improvement across the portfolio, working alongside plant teams to build durable operating discipline and a culture where change is something people participate in rather than absorb. His conviction is that results follow the team: as he puts it, “You never achieve greatness alone, it takes a team of people.”

Alex Judge serves as Chief of Staff at Snell Ventures, where he oversees the financial function across the portfolio — leading analysis and underwriting, guiding capital allocation, and giving each operating company the financial visibility it needs to make sound decisions. He joined Snell Ventures in December 2024 after five years with 615 Ventures, where he rose to Director of Investments and led diligence, valuation, and deal execution across the firm’s holdings. Much of that time was spent inside the portfolio rather than above it: Alex served as Staff Accountant and then Analyst at TechnologyAdvice, a 615 Ventures company, giving him a hands-on command of how financial statements actually get built before he was the one underwriting them.

Alex holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Belmont University and earned his Certified Management Accountant (CMA) designation in 2020. Before his finance career, he served in the United States Marine Corps. That background — along with his service as Governance Chair and Executive Committee member on the board of 4:13 Strong, which provides faith-based vocational and life-skills training — reflects the conviction he brings to stewarding what’s been entrusted to Snell Ventures: that the numbers exist to serve people, not the other way around.

Amanda McBrayer serves as Executive Controller of Snell Ventures, where she oversees the financial operations of every company in the portfolio. She joined the firm in 2019 as an intern while completing her degree at Belmont University, and within a year had moved through Administrative Manager to Executive Controller — a trajectory that reflects both the trust she earned early and the responsibility she has carried since. Nearly seven years in, she owns the reporting, controls, and day-to-day financial rhythm of each operating business.

Amanda holds a Bachelor of Science in Social Entrepreneurship from Belmont University. Her earlier work in social media and brand growth — for a Brentwood fitness studio and for Both Hands Foundation, a nonprofit serving adoptive families and widows — gave her a view of business that starts with people rather than spreadsheets. It’s a perspective that fits a firm built on permanent ownership, and one she brings to a function where precision and adaptability both matter.

Jannesa Kaylor serves as Admin and HR Manager for Snell Ventures, where she supports the people and operations of the full portfolio while leading its marketing efforts. Over three years with the firm she has built the administrative and HR foundation that keeps a multi-company operation running, and has taken ownership of marketing and commercial design across the portfolio — developing brand and campaign work for companies spanning manufacturing, financial services, and hospitality, and keeping each one’s voice consistent as the portfolio grows.

Before joining Snell Ventures, Jannesa spent ten years with Chick-fil-A, advancing to Front-of-House Director. It’s a company known for moving fast and taking care of its people, and both of those instincts carried over: she works at the pace the portfolio requires and keeps the employee experience at the center of it. A background in acting and improv sharpened her instincts for listening and reading a room — skills she brings to hiring conversations, employee support, and the marketing work of finding the right words for the right audience.