Anthony J. de Nicola is Chairman of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, a New York private investment firm, which manages over $33 billion in its various funds. Tony joined WCAS in 1994, he has served on the firm’s Management Committee since 2000, he was appointed President in 2007 and Chairman in 2021. Tony led the firm’s investment activities in the technology industry and has been involved with some of the firm’s most successful and profitable investments. He serves on the board of directors for several of the firm’s private and public companies. Prior to joining WCAS, Tony worked in the private equity group at William Blair & Company and the merger department at Goldman Sachs & Co.
Tony earned his BA degree from DePauw University, where he graduated summa cum laude with an economics major and a minor in computational mathematics. Tony also earned an MBA with distinction from the Harvard Business School.
Tony and his wife Christie have been married for over 35 years. The de Nicola’s are active philanthropists, using a ‘venture funding’ mindset to investing in and working with many non-profit organizations. They focus their philanthropic efforts on education, poverty relief, healthcare and supporting the Catholic Church in myriad ways.
The de Nicola’s strive to live Gospel values, particularly aware of Luke 12:48, as they steward the blessings God has bestowed upon them. They are dedicated to improving the lives of others and to supporting the work and mission of the Catholic Church. The mission of their family foundation stems from their deep commitment to their Catholic faith and the Church’s ministries, to the great American republic based on individual and religious liberty, and to supporting strong communities. Through their extensive philanthropic work, their gifts help to strengthen families and communities while supporting the freedoms, values and principles that define our great nation, consistent with their religious faith.
Catholic schools and scholarships have been a high priority for the de Nicola family. As a result, school choice has been a central philanthropic focus for Tony and Christie for decades. In addition to his day job, and to spending time with his family, Tony also serves as Chairman of Invest in Education Foundation, the only national organization exclusively dedicated to advancing educational opportunities at the federal level.
Tony co-founded Invest in Education in 2012 to promote improvement in K-12 education and expand access to school choice. On July 4, 2025, Tony and the Invest in Education team led the way in helping to transform the school choice landscape by securing passage of the landmark federal tax credit scholarship law, establishing a permanent federal tax credit for private donations to fund K-12 scholarships. This incentive is designed to dramatically expand private charitable support for children nationwide. This historic law is the most significant school choice victory in U.S. history, and when fully implemented, it is poised to benefit millions of children for generations to come.
The de Nicola’s dedication to children and education does not stop there. Tony is also a founding board member of Brilla College Prep, a public charter school in the Bronx, and the de Nicola’s co-founded another charter school, Paterson Prep, in Paterson, NJ. Tony also serves on the boards of The Inner-City Scholarship Fund and The Catholic Foundation for the Archdiocese of New York.
The de Nicola’s are Stewards of St. Peter in the Papal Foundation, members of The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, and they have been honored for their commitment to Catholic education by the Archdiocese of New York, the Archdiocese of Newark, the University of Notre Dame, St. John’s University, and Don Bosco Prep, among others.
As parents of Notre Dame alums, Tony and Christie have long supported the university in numerous ways. In 2019, the de Nicola family established the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at Notre Dame, promoting the university’s wider efforts to share the richness of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition through teaching, research, and public engagement. The de Nicola Center animates Notre Dame’s Catholic character on campus and brings the University’s voice into the public square on the most important issues of our time: human dignity, authentic human freedom, religious liberty, and the common good.
Mr. and Mrs. de Nicola reside in the Diocese of Venice, Florida.