About Rowan Street Capital
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Founded in 2015, Rowan Street Capital is a long-term investment partnership dedicated to compounding value through ownership of exceptional businesses built by extraordinary owner-operators — people who allocate capital with skill, integrity, and long-term vision.
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Inspired by the principles of Warren Buffett, we focus on sustainable wealth creation through disciplined, patient ownership. We seek to partner with like-minded investors who share our belief in the power of compounding and the enduring rewards of thinking like a business owner.
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What Investors Can Expect from Rowan Street
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After a decade of managing capital through every kind of market environment, we have a clear understanding of what we are — and what we’re not.
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We have no edge in predicting the economy, the Fed’s next move, or the market’s short-term direction.
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We don’t call exact bottoms or tops.
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We don’t trade frantically, use leverage, short stocks, or build complex hedges to time the market.
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We don’t rotate between sectors or chase whatever happens to be “hot” at the moment.
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Where we do have an edge is in recognizing greatness. Our strength lies in identifying exceptional businesses run by extraordinary owner-operators — buying them at fair prices, and then getting out of their way to let time and compounding do the heavy lifting.
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We’re very good at being patient, staying disciplined, and saying “NO” to almost everything that doesn’t meet our strict investment criteria.
The Team
Alex Kopel, CFA
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Alex founded Rowan Street Capital in 2015 after more than a decade managing capital for private clients and institutions. Earlier in his career, he worked at U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, where he co-managed portfolios for high-net-worth families with assets exceeding $650 million, and later as a Portfolio Manager at a privately held investment firm overseeing more than $300 million in client assets.
After years inside large financial institutions, Alex came to believe that the best investing happens when incentives are aligned, capital is patient, and decisions are made with a long-term owner’s mindset. Rowan Street was born out of that belief.
Alex earned his B.S. in Finance from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Joseph M. Maas, CFA
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Joe brings over three decades of professional investment experience to Rowan Street Capital. An entrepreneur at heart, he has spent his career building and managing businesses that combine deep financial expertise with an owner-operator mindset.
Before co-founding Rowan Street, Joe founded Synergy Asset Management and its related companies, specializing in asset management, business valuation, and mergers and acquisitions. Under his leadership, the firm grew to manage more than $700 million in assets. Earlier in his career, Joe also founded and operated an independent securities broker/dealer and an insurance company, giving him a unique, hands-on understanding of business building from the ground up.
Joe holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and the Certified Merger and Acquisition Advisor (CM&AA) credential. He has been a guest lecturer at the University of Washington, Seattle University, and the Washington State Bar Association, and has taught corporate finance as an adjunct professor at Seattle Pacific University.