Matthew L. Caras

Matt is a founder and principal of Leaders LLC, and leads the firm’s petroleum marketing and propane practices.  In addition to representing privately-owned companies in the sale of their businesses and in growth through acquisition, he focuses on the representation of business owners and companies operating in a wide range of industries in restructurings, management buyouts, and shareholder buyouts. 

Matt’s appreciation for alternative dispute resolution in the context of disagreement among businesses owners, and in particular family businesses, spurred him to develop skills as a neutral mediator.  He has been trained as a mediator by Harvard Law School and Northwestern University, and is certified as a mediator by the State of Maine Judicial Branch.  Prior to his career in corporate finance, Matt practiced law with Verrill Dana LLP, a full-service law firm with 100 attorneys and offices in Portland, Boston, and Washington, D.C.

Matt graduated cum laude from Bowdoin College in 1978, where he captained the varsity soccer and lacrosse teams, and received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1984.

Matt’s clients with whom he fishes kid him that the intensity with which he represents them pales in comparison to the intensity with which he fights the current of a remote river or ocean rip in pursuit of his passion. Matt is a salt and freshwater fly fishing enthusiast who will wet a line anywhere at any time, whether it’s chasing striped bass in Maine’s Kennebec River or stalking bonefish in the Bahamas.

Brian T. Deveaux

Brian is a founder and principal of Leaders LLC. Prior to forming Leaders, he was Chief Operating Officer at Seabrook International (a manufacturer of surgical instruments), and held several management positions at Bath Iron Works Corporation (a subsidiary of General Dynamics). In addition to working with the firms manufacturing, distribution and service related clients, Brian leads the firm's industrial, medical, and specialty gases practice, an industry in which the firm has completed more than 20 transactions since 2002. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and has been widely published on the topic of mergers and acquisitions in national publications.

Brian received his A.B. from Bowdoin College in 1990 with majors in Economics and Math and is a certified instructor in Project Management. Brian has a passion for improving the lives of adults who struggle with low literacy and has served as an officer and board President of several adult literacy programs in Maine. He is also a former board member of the United Way where chaired the committee on Strengthening Families in York County.

Kenneth M. Nelson

Kenneth M. Nelson, who has been a Leaders principal since its founding, has taken on a more active role in the firm beginning in January 2013.  Kenny is a native of Portland Maine, a graduate of Bowdoin College and Boston University School of Law. A member of both the Maine and Massachusetts bars while engaged in active practice, he was a partner of the Boston based law firm of Mintz Levin, practicing business and real estate development law. He also served as The Staff Judge Advocate of the Maine Army National Guard.

Since returning to Maine in 1980, Kenny has assumed many business, community, and charitable leadership roles. For nearly thirty years he has served as the CEO and President of Nelson & Small, Inc., a 77 year old diversified New England-wide wholesale distributor of energy efficient consumer and commercial equipment, as well as President of numerous affiliated enterprises. In the early 1980s Kenny founded the Committee on High Technology of the Greater Portland Chamber to provide educational and economic support to Maine's emerging advanced technology sector. He co-founded the Masterton Foundation and was instrumental in the establishment of an electrical engineering degree program at the University of Southern Maine. He was a founding trustee and early President of The University of Southern Maine Foundation and served as Chairman of the University's Board Of Visitors. Together with his wife Mary Nelson, he co-chaired the successful campaign to build the Osher Map Library at USM, housing one of the country's foremost cartographic collections and study programs. Kenny was a founding director of The First NH Bank of Maine and of Atlantic Bank (now part of TD Bank). He is a trustee of The Maine College of Art, The Portland Symphony, and The Maine Jewish Alliance. In 2004 The Maine JA inducted Kenny into its Maine Business Hall of Fame. Kenny is married to Mary Pennell Nelson who represents Falmouth in the 126th Legislature.

J.R. “Buzz” Campbell

Buzz joined Leaders in 2002, bringing 40+ years of experience in the industrial gas industry to the firm. Buzz began his career in the industry in 1962 with Air Products and Chemicals. He left Air Products in 1975 to join Burdox, Inc. in Cleveland, OH as EVP and COO. In this position, he was instrumental in the sale of Burdox to AGA (now Linde AG). In 1981, Buzz started J.R. Campbell & Associates, Inc. to provide highly focused marketing and strategy consulting services to US and international businesses. In 1989, he began publishing CryoGas International, which has become the leading journal covering the industry. Buzz is considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on Helium and was recently appointed to a committee of the National Academy of Sciences to review and make recommendations regarding the US crude helium reserves. Buzz has a B.M.E. from RPI and an MBA from Lehigh University.

Senator Angus S. King (member of the firm from 2003-2012)

In November 2012, Maine’s former two-term Governor Angus King was elected to the US Senate.  Running as an independent, he will fill the seat vacated by Maine’s long-standing Senator Olympia Snowe, and in so doing will become Maine’s first independent US Senator.  The people of Maine elected Angus because of his proven track record of success; yet, they are counting on him to take the innovative thinking and voice of reason that characterized his success in Maine to the nation’s capital to help resolve the many difficult issues that currently face the nation.

In 2003, following his second term as Governor of Maine and a now well-publicized cross-country adventure with his family, Senator King  joined Leaders.  Angus has served our business and clients well since 2003, and has brought critical insight to the work we do with businesses and their owners.  With his election to the US Senate, Angus will step out of his role with Leaders and focus his attention on his new role.  While we won’t be working with Angus on a day-to-day basis in our firm, we will stay in close contact with him, and of course we wish him the best in serving Maine and the country in the United States Senate.  Angus was sworn in by Vice President Biden on January 3, 2013.