After he finished university, he worked at
Lehman Brothers in their corporate
investment banking unit in New York City, eventually rising to the position of Senior Vice President. With the goal of it becoming a regional private equity firm, they located their company in
Boca Raton, Florida thinking that they would get advance notice of potential acquisitions in the Southeast before their competitors in New York. Locating the firm in Florida did not afford the advantage they expected, and for the first two years were repeatedly outbid by large New York firms. Their first acquisition was a distressed company called
Atlas Papers, and thereafter the company focused on underperforming and distressed companies exclusively. they retrenched. As of July 2013, Sun Capital had $8 billion in invested assets. Krouse served as vice president and vice chairman of
Northland Cranberries since 2001; and as vice president and director of
Loud Technologies, Inc. since 2003. In the past he served as co-chairman and director of
Labtec, Inc; and as director of
World Air Holdings. Krouse believes that what differentiates Sun from other private equity firms is its focus on fixing a failed company's culture: "Our revelation came in 2008, when all our companies were hit hard and we saw (that those) with strong cultures had the best financial results." "Businesses are a collection of assets...and people. Unify them with a common purpose and you get success." In 2013, he was one of the recipients of the 2013 Leadership Award for Outstanding Achievements in M&A by
The M&A Advisor. ==Political contributions==