BluWave Recognizes Frontenac with 2026 Top PE Innovator Award

BluWave’s fifth annual awards program recognizes Frontenac amongst North America’s most innovative private equity firms

Chicago, IL

BluWave, a market network platform that connects the private equity industry and their portfolio companies with top-tier specialized professional service providers and interim executives, today announced Frontenac as a 2026 Top PE Innovator Award winner.

BluWave’s fifth annual Top Private Equity Innovator Awards recognize private equity firms that differentially embrace proactive due diligence, transformative value creation, modern private equity firm operations and corporate citizenship practices.

The Top Private Equity Innovator awardees were selected by a cross-functional committee that assessed candidates in consultation with a broad universe of limited partners, investment bankers, industry thought leaders and service providers in the private equity ecosystem. As part of their selection process, the committee evaluated more than 6,000 private equity firms and utilized more than 75 different factors, incorporating more than 400,000 data points.

“The year’s top private equity innovators demonstrate how thoughtful innovation can fuel real economic impact,” said Sean Mooney, Founder and CEO of BluWave. “By rethinking how value is created, they are working to lead the industry forward and striving to deliver meaningful outcomes for businesses, communities, and investors alike.”

The Top Private Equity Innovator Awards are distinctive in that they involve no financial obligations from any participants and the selection process is independent of any customer relationships.

As the go-to connector of private equity-grade resources for due diligence and value creation, BluWave has a one-of-a-kind perspective that enables it to uniquely understand best practices and innovation across the private equity industry. For further information on the BluWave 2026 Top Private Equity Innovator Awards, including the selection process, selection criteria and recipients, please visit bluwave.net/awards.

About Frontenac

Frontenac is a Chicago-based private equity firm. The firm focuses on investing in lower middle market buyout transactions in the consumer, industrial, and services industries. Frontenac works in partnership with established operating leaders, through an executive-centric approach called CEO1ST®, which seeks to identify, acquire, and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and operational excellence. Over the last 50+ years, Frontenac has built a franchise working with over 325 owners of mid-sized businesses as they address complex transition issues of liquidity, management enhancement, and growth planning. For more information, please visit www.frontenac.com.

About BluWave

BluWave is the execution and value creation resources platform of the private equity industry. Trusted by hundreds of PE firms and thousands of their portfolio companies, BluWave connects the exact-fit third-party resources business builders need to assess, create, and grow value. The company combines proprietary AI technology, data-driven insights, and a concierge-grade experience to help PE firms and their portfolio companies execute with speed, precision, and confidence. For more information, please visit www.bluwave.net.

Disclaimer

BluWave’s “Top 50 Private Equity Innovator” award is a program designed by BluWave consulting firm to recognize what it considers to be the top 2% of private equity firms for proactive due diligence practices, transformative value creation, modern private equity firm operations and corporate citizenship. Recipients were selected based on consultation with limited partners, investment bankers and others in the private equity industry. The award is based on BluWave’s review of the more than 6,000 private equity firms in the U.S. and Canada from which 69 private equity firms were selected as award recipients in 2023, 82 private equity firms were selected as award recipients in 2024, 103 were selected as award recipients in 2025 and 105 were selected as award recipients in 2026. BluWave, LP has not received investment capital from and holds no ownership interest in the private equity firms evaluated or recognized under the Top Private Equity Innovator awards program. Frontenac did not pay a fee to receive this award but is a client of BluWave. This award is not to be construed as indicative of Frontenac’s future performance. Reference to an award is only one piece of information relevant to an evaluation of an investment adviser such as Frontenac and additional factors are available. Finally, this award represents information as of a specific date and time and may not reflect important information related to an evaluation of the investment adviser which has occurred prior to, or subsequent to, the award. Frontenac is not affiliated with BluWave. Frontenac received this award in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026.