Meet the Nuance Partners
How Did Nuance Partners Start
Co-founders Nigel and Samuel met at Vanderbilt University in 2013. After spending a decade building operational and leadership skills across technology, education, and finance, they reconnected in business school around a shared mission: to own and operate a business. Having worked across varied industries, tackled complex organizational challenges, and led teams from all walks of life, they share a deep conviction that their diverse, real-world experiences set them apart. Grounded in over a decade of mutual trust and complementary skill sets, they launched Nuance Partners to serve as dedicated, long-term operators on the front lines.
Nigel Walker
A former educator and investor dedicated to honoring an owner's legacy through operational excellence and people first leadership.
Co-Founder-
I was sitting in my car in the school parking lot deciding what to do next. It was my first year as an algebra teacher, and after 4 months of poor performance, I was deciding whether to go inside the school again or drive home and find another career.
This was not the first time I had faced a challenge. I was a walk-on for the Vanderbilt football team. I had traveled the world alone.
But teaching was different. Imagine standing in front of a classroom with 38 teenagers laughing at you because someone asked, “Mr. Walker, are you a robot?” Besides the momentary embarrassment, I could not wash off the stain of failure across those first 4 months. Teaching was different because no matter my efforts I could not succeed.
That morning as I sat in my car, I thought teaching was too difficult for me. Then, other teachers began to arrive and walk inside. I remembered I was part of a team. Following the examples of my teammates, I got out of my car and walked inside the school because it was time to take accountability for my contribution to the team. As a team, we could succeed.
Teamwork and accountability helped me in my next career as an investor. My firm had invested in a company and their CEO, Ben, called me asking if I could help him with something. He explained that a competitor wanted to sell his company. Ben had been with his company for over 20 years so there was nothing I could teach him about his business.
However, I did know how to structure an acquisition. So I asked Ben what is most important to the seller? The seller and his wife wanted to retire and leave equity to the management team which had helped grow their business. So I created a presentation showing how the seller’s team would own a piece of the business after the sale. Ben, the seller, and myself successfully closed the deal in a few months by working together.
Now that I am an entrepreneur, I appreciate that moment when I was a teacher sitting in the parking lot watching other teachers show up for work. It was a moment when I remembered success is about the team.
As an algebra teacher, I learned Accountability + Teamwork = Success. When we find an owner who shares my appreciation for this winning formula, then we can succeed together. -
Sovereign's Capital: Private equity associate focused on acquisitions and operations
Fifth Third Securities: Investment banking analyst focused on sell-side M&A and industry research
Teach For America: High school math teacher focused on algebra and geometry
B.S. in Engineering Science, Vanderbilt University
MBA, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business
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Morning Routine: Journal for an hour with a cup of black coffee
Active Lifestyle: Completed my first half marathon and training for a full marathon
Faith: Attending Antioch Baptist Church North
Community Leadership: Serving on the Board of Directors for Wesley International Academy and the Black Alumni Council for the Westminster Schools.
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Samuel McDaniel
An operator at heart with 10+ years in family-owned healthcare, a background spanning consulting, product management, and tech sales, and a drive to build businesses from the inside out.
Co-Founder-
I grew up watching my mother build a healthcare business from the ground up. Long before she opened a single door, there were sleepless nights, months spent navigating accreditations, and years of laying a foundation that most people never see. In a regulated industry, the work begins long before the business does. Watching that unfold shaped how I understand every business I look at today, because I know the effort that came before the first dollar of revenue.
By twelve, I was part of it. I served as a pseudo caretaker across my mom's personal care homes and helped lead community engagement for our clients. I took them to baseball games and to the movies, and I hosted birthday parties at Golden Corral and CiCi's Pizza. Along the way I built relationships with our clients, their families, and the staff who cared for them, and many of those relationships I still hold dear today.
As I grew older, the work deepened. I began working shifts at the homes, administering medicine, making lunches, bathing our clients, cleaning our facilities, learning protocol, and standing shoulder to shoulder with our frontline workers, because I had become one of them. There were mornings I finished an overnight shift at one of our sites and drove straight to my product management role at Home Depot. When my mom called to say someone had called out, I went. That was never a question.
Working inside a family business while building a career at a Fortune 500 company gave me a perspective I could not have gotten any other way. I saw the nuances that define small business operations, where every decision is personal and every hire matters, and I could hold that against the scale, structure, and resources of a large organization.
What I took away from all of it is the reason I am here. I saw the impact a business can have on a community, the jobs it creates, the opportunities it opens, and the responsibility that comes with leading it well. That is what pulled me toward entrepreneurship, and it is what Nigel and I intend to protect and build on in the business we acquire.
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Consultant, Mergers & Acquisitions at PwC, Dallas office
Product Manager at The Home Depot and MassMutual, Atlanta office
Technology Sales at Salesforce, New York office
10+ years in family-owned healthcare operations, from frontline caregiving to onboarding, training, and serving on the board
B.S. in Human & Organizational Development, Vanderbilt University, 2016, with a minor in Corporate Strategy
MBA, The Wharton School, 2026, concentrating in Accounting and Management
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Volunteer with Per Scholas and Junior Achievement, organizations focused on transferable skills, financial education, and professional development
Two-time marathoner, Marine Corps and Nashville Rock 'n' Roll
ATL bred and inspired by the history of Black economic mobility, from Alonzo Herndon to Herman Russell
On a mission with my mom to visit every NFL stadium, with eleven down: Chicago, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Baltimore, Las Vegas, Oakland, Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia
Golfer, traveler, and lifelong Cowboys fan
Known to smoke a mean brisket on the Big Green Egg
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