Daphne Dufresne is the Founder and Managing Partner of Awani Capital, a private equity firm launched in 2024 to provide capital and strategic resources to middle-market companies, with a particular focus on business services. She leads the firm’s investment strategy and oversees its proprietary four-step process for delivering transformative growth in portfolio companies.

Prior to founding Awani Capital, Daphne was a Managing Partner at a New York-based private equity firm with $2.2 billion under management, where she served on the Investment Committee and led investments in four platform companies and 31 add-on acquisitions. Before that, she co-founded and led a $230 million middle-market private equity fund, where she played a key role in fundraising, team building, and investing in a portfolio of 12 companies.

Earlier in her career, Daphne was a Partner at a $1 billion fund of funds, where she led the co-investment program, and a Principal at Weston Presidio, a diversified private equity firm with $4.4 billion in assets under management. She began her investment career in structured finance for European buyout transactions.

Daphne currently serves on the board of United Natural Foods, Inc. (Nasdaq: UNFI), where she chairs the Compensation Committee. She is also active in the Washington DC/Baltimore chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Business School.