StoneGate Capital Group
Creatively Enhancing Business Values
for Over 35 YearsJoel Martin Hartstone - Managing Director
Professional Profile
Mr. Hartstone is the founding principal of StoneGate. He is also the creator and author of the StoneGate
One Day MBA Program presented by StoneGate Training Services.
The StoneGate One Day MBA Program is a business boot camp
designed for both owner-managers of private businesses and their
professional advisors and providers, such as lawyers, IT
professionals, business lenders, and media sales
representatives.
Mr. Hartstone co-founded StoneGate’s predecessor firm, Hartstone & Dickstein Incorporated, in 1982 when he redirected his career from the practice of law to private investment and merchant banking. Since that time, Mr. Hartstone has been responsible for engineering billions of dollars of M&A and financing transactions involving hundreds of businesses in numerous industries. Mr. Hartstone provides clients with strategic, management, and operating consulting, as well as transactional structuring advice and execution. A substantial portion of Mr. Hartstone’s activities have involved transitioning companies. Those activities have included new venture start-ups; business ramp-ups; companies engaged in major acquisitions; workouts, turnarounds and restructurings; and, crisis management situations.
From 2014-2019, Mr. Hartstone also served as Emtrepreneur-In-Residence and counsel at Cohn Birnbaum & Shea P.C. (CB&S) in Hartford, Connecticut. In that capacity, Mr. Hartstone provided full business analysis, strategic business advice, start-up, ramp-up, and operating advice to business clients participating in the affiliated, Accelerated Ventures program. In that regard, he provided partner companies with the business guidance needed to succeed and accelerate their growth. Accelerated Ventures served as a seasoned business partner, adding the experience required to create a company ready for investment.
For two years prior to working with CB&S, under a consulting arrangement with StoneGate, Mr. Hartstone served as the EIR at The IP Factory, Inc. (IPF), a non-profit corporation promoted by the State of Connecticut. IPF sponsored the formation and growth of new, technology-based, companies in Connecticut, using dormant or alternatively deployed Intellectual Property provided by Connecticut’s leading corporations. In that role, Mr. Hartstone engaged and guided student-faculty-technologist teams to originate and explore opportunities to commercialize provided technologies. For promising opportunities, Mr. Hartstone guided the formation of new companies until CEOs or teams were recruited for each venture.
For over 25 years, Mr. Hartstone also held ownership interests in, and directly managed, numerous enterprises. In the media area, as CEO of various private corporations, limited partnerships, and limited liability companies, he managed over 50 radio stations in 20 markets and held ownership interests in over a dozen television stations. He also served as the first President and CEO of Commander Premier Aircraft Corporation. In that role, he negotiated the acquisition of the aircraft production assets and inventory of Commander Aircraft Company from its Chapter 7 Bankruptcy trustee, moved all assets to another state, and established an FAA approved quality assurance program and new operations to provide the existing Commander fleet with FAA certified parts and service.
Prior to his investment banking career, Mr. Hartstone was the managing member, and head of the corporate finance and securities department, of Hebb & Gitlin, a Hartford based law firm that represented banks, insurance companies, commercial finance companies, and venture capital companies across the Nation in lending and investment transactions. In addition to new financing transactions, Mr. Hartstone’s practice included the representation of institutional clients in complex workouts and reorganizations. In addition to his law practice, Mr. Hartstone managed his firm’s growth from four to 20 lawyers. Following the course set before his withdrawal, the firm grew to over 50 lawyers and eventually became the Hartford office of global law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
Before entering private practice, Mr. Hartstone was the chief investment counsel for Aetna Life & Casualty (where he began his professional career upon graduation from law school). There, Mr. Hartstone had legal responsibility for the Aetna corporate investment and loan portfolios, including closing all new loans and investments (over $1 billion annually) and managing all troubled assets. As Aetna’s chief investment counsel, Mr. Hartstone managed a team of 8 corporate finance and investment lawyers and oversaw the work of all outside deal counsel.
While practicing law earlier, Mr. Hartstone was also active in various bar sponsored activities relating to financial and investment transactions. In that regard, Mr. Hartstone served as an organizer, a Founding Trustee, and the first Secretary-Treasurer of the American College of Investment Counsel (www.aciclaw.org). He also served as program chairman, panelist and moderator for numerous American Law Institute-American Bar Association programs regarding finance and investment transactions.
Mr. Hartstone is a graduate of the Isenberg School of Management of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1967), and Cornell Law School (1970). He has also completed the Mediation Certificate Program of Quinnipiac Law School and the University of Connecticut Graduate School. Mr. Hartstone is an emeritus member of the Cornell Law School Advisory Council, having served as an active member for 20 years. He also served Cornell Law School as a Visiting Instructor; Judge – CLS Transactional Lawyering Competition from 2010, the inaugural year of the competition, to 2020. While at Cornell Law School, he was a member of the International Law Journal and the Legal Aid Clinic. While at the University of Massachusetts, Mr. Hartstone was Vice President of the Senior Men’s Honor Society, Editorial Chairman of the Newspaper, Vice Chairman of the Student Union Governing Board and President of the Flying Club. Mr. Hartstone has served on several Isenberg School committees and has been an occasional guest lecturer. Mr. Hartstone has also served as a Trustee of The Forman School and Watkinson School (independent college preparatory schools in Connecticut).
Mr. Hartstone is admitted to practice law in Connecticut and Massachusetts and before the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition to the One Day MBA Program, Mr. Hartstone is the author of The Way – Management Koans in Haiku-Like Verse, a management book presenting themes of human nature for managing oneself and others. Mr. Hartstone is also an instrument rated private pilot (not current).
Mr. Hartstone co-founded StoneGate’s predecessor firm, Hartstone & Dickstein Incorporated, in 1982 when he redirected his career from the practice of law to private investment and merchant banking. Since that time, Mr. Hartstone has been responsible for engineering billions of dollars of M&A and financing transactions involving hundreds of businesses in numerous industries. Mr. Hartstone provides clients with strategic, management, and operating consulting, as well as transactional structuring advice and execution. A substantial portion of Mr. Hartstone’s activities have involved transitioning companies. Those activities have included new venture start-ups; business ramp-ups; companies engaged in major acquisitions; workouts, turnarounds and restructurings; and, crisis management situations.
From 2014-2019, Mr. Hartstone also served as Emtrepreneur-In-Residence and counsel at Cohn Birnbaum & Shea P.C. (CB&S) in Hartford, Connecticut. In that capacity, Mr. Hartstone provided full business analysis, strategic business advice, start-up, ramp-up, and operating advice to business clients participating in the affiliated, Accelerated Ventures program. In that regard, he provided partner companies with the business guidance needed to succeed and accelerate their growth. Accelerated Ventures served as a seasoned business partner, adding the experience required to create a company ready for investment.
For two years prior to working with CB&S, under a consulting arrangement with StoneGate, Mr. Hartstone served as the EIR at The IP Factory, Inc. (IPF), a non-profit corporation promoted by the State of Connecticut. IPF sponsored the formation and growth of new, technology-based, companies in Connecticut, using dormant or alternatively deployed Intellectual Property provided by Connecticut’s leading corporations. In that role, Mr. Hartstone engaged and guided student-faculty-technologist teams to originate and explore opportunities to commercialize provided technologies. For promising opportunities, Mr. Hartstone guided the formation of new companies until CEOs or teams were recruited for each venture.
For over 25 years, Mr. Hartstone also held ownership interests in, and directly managed, numerous enterprises. In the media area, as CEO of various private corporations, limited partnerships, and limited liability companies, he managed over 50 radio stations in 20 markets and held ownership interests in over a dozen television stations. He also served as the first President and CEO of Commander Premier Aircraft Corporation. In that role, he negotiated the acquisition of the aircraft production assets and inventory of Commander Aircraft Company from its Chapter 7 Bankruptcy trustee, moved all assets to another state, and established an FAA approved quality assurance program and new operations to provide the existing Commander fleet with FAA certified parts and service.
Prior to his investment banking career, Mr. Hartstone was the managing member, and head of the corporate finance and securities department, of Hebb & Gitlin, a Hartford based law firm that represented banks, insurance companies, commercial finance companies, and venture capital companies across the Nation in lending and investment transactions. In addition to new financing transactions, Mr. Hartstone’s practice included the representation of institutional clients in complex workouts and reorganizations. In addition to his law practice, Mr. Hartstone managed his firm’s growth from four to 20 lawyers. Following the course set before his withdrawal, the firm grew to over 50 lawyers and eventually became the Hartford office of global law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
Before entering private practice, Mr. Hartstone was the chief investment counsel for Aetna Life & Casualty (where he began his professional career upon graduation from law school). There, Mr. Hartstone had legal responsibility for the Aetna corporate investment and loan portfolios, including closing all new loans and investments (over $1 billion annually) and managing all troubled assets. As Aetna’s chief investment counsel, Mr. Hartstone managed a team of 8 corporate finance and investment lawyers and oversaw the work of all outside deal counsel.
While practicing law earlier, Mr. Hartstone was also active in various bar sponsored activities relating to financial and investment transactions. In that regard, Mr. Hartstone served as an organizer, a Founding Trustee, and the first Secretary-Treasurer of the American College of Investment Counsel (www.aciclaw.org). He also served as program chairman, panelist and moderator for numerous American Law Institute-American Bar Association programs regarding finance and investment transactions.
Mr. Hartstone is a graduate of the Isenberg School of Management of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1967), and Cornell Law School (1970). He has also completed the Mediation Certificate Program of Quinnipiac Law School and the University of Connecticut Graduate School. Mr. Hartstone is an emeritus member of the Cornell Law School Advisory Council, having served as an active member for 20 years. He also served Cornell Law School as a Visiting Instructor; Judge – CLS Transactional Lawyering Competition from 2010, the inaugural year of the competition, to 2020. While at Cornell Law School, he was a member of the International Law Journal and the Legal Aid Clinic. While at the University of Massachusetts, Mr. Hartstone was Vice President of the Senior Men’s Honor Society, Editorial Chairman of the Newspaper, Vice Chairman of the Student Union Governing Board and President of the Flying Club. Mr. Hartstone has served on several Isenberg School committees and has been an occasional guest lecturer. Mr. Hartstone has also served as a Trustee of The Forman School and Watkinson School (independent college preparatory schools in Connecticut).
Mr. Hartstone is admitted to practice law in Connecticut and Massachusetts and before the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition to the One Day MBA Program, Mr. Hartstone is the author of The Way – Management Koans in Haiku-Like Verse, a management book presenting themes of human nature for managing oneself and others. Mr. Hartstone is also an instrument rated private pilot (not current).