Private equity plays a pivotal role in the energy sector, absorbing the risk that is inherent in the exploration for oil and natural gas -- risk that public companies can't afford to take, says Howard Newman, the founder and chief executive of Pine Brook Road Partners LLC, a New York-based firm founded in 2006. Pine Brook enjoyed the first exit for its debut $1.43 billion fund in May when Common Resources LLC, a Houston, Texas, oil and gas exploration and production company, was sold to three investors for $805 million, yielding investors a 3 times return. Newman has been backing energy companies since the late 1970s and previously spent 20-plus years at Warburg Pincus. For more on Newman and other movers and shakers of private equity, see Claire Poole's article, "A good story to tell," in the current issue of The Deal magazine. - Mary Kathleen Flynn