In 2017, Bryce Bowman founded People 1st Advisors (P1A), a company focused on investing in small and middle-market companies and partnering with the teams to find the best path forward together. During his career, he has founded four businesses and successfully acquired and operated more than 10 service-based firms.
Previously he was CEO, managing partner and board member of Community 1st Advisors, a homeowner association management firm with more than 30,000 properties that was recently acquired by Associa, the nation’s largest association management group. He was also founding executive director and board member of Citizen Schools, an organization that operated within Chicago Public Schools in order to advance student proficiencies in under-resourced neighborhood schools. Bowman was Partner and Founder of SMB Asset Advisors, a commercial real estate investment firm which invested in, and successfully exited, a series of real estate ventures.
He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a B.S. in Political Science and Systems Engineering and obtained an MBA from the Olin Business School, Washington University, St. Louis. Bryce also holds the prestigious Masters in Education Leadership from The Broad Center housed at Yale University’s Graduate School of Management. He served in the U.S. Army, achieving the rank of Captain.
Bryce is very active within Chicago’s philanthropic community and has decades of experience on nonprofit and for profit boards.
He is Varsity Assistant Football Coach at DePaul College Prep, Chicago. Bryce lives in Chicago with his wife of 20 years and their seventh, fifth and third-grade children.
Erik VanLaningham joined People 1st Advisors (P1A) in March of 2023. During his career, he has successfully spent nearly two decades in various executive leadership positions at Emerson, a Fortune 100 global leader of technology, industrial, and service businesses. Erik brings a deep background of operating management, strategic planning, sales and marketing and supply chain experience to P1A.
He was most recently a Global Vice-President at Emerson Automation Solutions within the $1B+ Industrial Automation business unit. Under Erik’s marketing and business development leadership, the business added more than +$210M of incremental revenue since 2018 and achieved record sales and profitability in 2022. Before that, he was Vice President, Marketing for InterMetro Industries, an Emerson Commercial and Residential Solutions Company, where he successfully led the integration of three technology acquisitions to deliver Emerson’s Industrial & Commercial Customers, an interoperable hardware, software and service solution. Erik held a wide range of operating management and senior executive management roles across several functions during his 18-year tenure at Emerson.
VanLaningham achieved the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army and obtained his B.S. degree in Business Management and Systems Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an MBA from Washington University’s Olin Business School.
Erik is passionate about supporting local and national veterans organizations and is a board member of Oasis Plumbing, Heating & Cooling, Countryside Property Maintenance, Vincent Fire Protection & Plumbing and board chairman at QEI Automation Solutions.
He lives in Princeton, New Jersey with his wife of 14 years and their 3rd grade daughter.
Myles Walters joined People 1st Advisors (P1A) in 2024 as Portfolio Manager. Walters obtained his B.S. degree in Systems Design and Management from the United States Military Academy at West Point, was deployed twice and achieved the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army. He lives in Shorewood, IL with his wife, Vanessa, and children ages 6, 3 and 10 months.
Nick Kastenholz joined People 1 st Advisors (P1A) in February 2026. Prior to Joining P1A, Nick served as the Chief of Staff for Wavemaker Partners, a VC fund in Singapore, and as a project engineer for Shaw Construction. While at Wavemaker, Nick led transactions to support startups across multiple geographies, including an $80M investment round to Lhoopa, named Southeast Asia’s VC deal of the year.
Nick graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a BS in Civil engineering and
earned an MBA from the Chicago Booth School of Business. Nick lives in Chicago.
David Blank brings two decades of C and executive level operating, private equity, and investment banking experience across PE-backed, venture-backed, and Fortune 500 businesses. He is currently an investor and advisor to middle market and growth stage companies. David has led teams scaling operations both regionally and nationally in a high growth environment, delivering successful outcomes for investors.
David began his career at Morgan Stanley's Investment Banking Division in New York City and Resilience Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity firm. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he commissioned as an Infantry Officer and served overseas with the 82nd Airborne Division and 1st Infantry Division.
Tom Prybylo is highly successful entrepreneur, investor and owner of several businesses across several sectors within the Midwest and Southeast. Mr. Prybylo brings vast operating expertise within facility & construction services and deep knowledge on middle market board governance and strategy.