Our Team

Bob Forbes is the president and founder of Forbes Partners. He is based in the firm’s Denver, Colorado office.

Since beginning his career in 1991, Bob has led more than 150 corporate finance initiatives as a business owner, private equity executive, and investment banker. His experience includes M&A, debt and equity financings, and corporate restructurings in a wide range of industries including technology, consumer products, food, healthcare, entertainment, energy, industrials, and business services.

This experience has been hard won. Bob has been in the trenches, collaborated with hundreds of industry experts, launched dozens of ventures, sat on both sides of the transaction table, put his own companies and capital at risk time and again, navigated rough waters, and learned innumerable lessons along the way.

Bob began his career in the 1990s as a transaction and finance specialist, continuing on the entrepreneurial successes of his father. He led global finance and development activities with Independent Energy Partners, WPP, Westar Capital, and Tricor Partners, building and acquiring companies in the power, renewable energy, and cleantech industries.

He founded Peak Network Communications (technology), Energyworld (business intelligence), and Authentor Systems (security technology). At Authentor, he orchestrated a merger with a subsidiary of T-NETIX (NASDAQ: TNTX), as well as built key financial partnerships to fund growth with FLV Ventures, Catalyst Partners, and SI Ventures. Authentor’s technology platform became a cornerstone of security management today. He also co-founded M2M Data Corporation (remote monitoring communications), backed by NERD Energy and Fusion Ventures, and ultimately sold to Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT).

In 2004 Bob launched Forbes Partners, a boutique advisory firm specializing in bringing multiple senior advisors with diverse real-world expertise to every transaction.

When not working, Bob enjoys spending time with his wife, Sharleen, and his daughter, Daisy. Bob has lived in the Denver area for 30 years and enjoys everything Colorado has to offer, including skiing; riding road and dirt bikes; fly-fishing, hunting, and camping. He also enjoys traveling; serving as a local, national, and international volunteer.