The Dreamliner Story: A Timeline
2019: As Rich Thomson was starting Caprice Capital, he learned about a niche industry that provided critical transportation to the music tours. Although there was no immediate opportunity at the time, he really liked what he saw and started looking deeper into the industry. Rich kept an eye out and continued to explore how to reach this niche market.
October 2020: At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with music touring at a standstill, Rich had an opportunity to purchase 12 touring buses — 10 custom-built entertainer coaches and two Prevost shells not yet outfitted. With no certainty if or when touring would commence again, Rich liked the industry enough that he took this opportunity to purchase these coaches and knew he would figure it out. These 12 coaches were the beginning of Dreamliner Coaches.
August 2021: Dreamliner embarks on its first tour post COVID with tour director David Licursi and The Jonas Brothers.
June 2022: Dreamliner more than doubles its fleet with the acquisition of Diamond Coach Leasing from the company’s longtime owner and entrepreneur, Kylee Ervin. The purchase expands Dreamliner’s abilities to serve the country-music industry and establishes Dreamliner’s new headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee.
July 2022: Dreamliner opens new Fontana facility to service coaches while on West Coast.
November 2023: Dreamliner purchases Hemphill Brothers Coach Company, an acquisition that almost triples the number of entertainer coaches in the company’s fleet. With nearly 200 coaches and the ability to service more than 50 percent of the larger arena stadium tours in the U.S., Dreamliner is now the largest provider of entertainer coaches in the world. Today the company provides upscale entertainer coaches for the hottest names in entertainment, from The Weekend, Beyoncé, Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan, Tool, Drake, SZA, Olivia Rodrigo, and more. Dreamliner also provides executive coaches for group meetings and executive trips for Fortune 500 companies that include NASCAR, the National Football League, National Basketball Association and the Professional Golfers’ Association of America.
Rich Thomson
Chairman and Founder
Dreamliner Coaches
Rich grew up in Chico, CA helping his parents with their family-owned frozen yogurt shoppes. After high school, Rich moved to the Bay Area to play tennis and graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration from Saint Mary’s College. It was there that he found his interest in analyzing numbers and businesses.
Prior to founding Dreamliner, Rich founded Caprice Capital Partners, a private credit fund that focuses on lending money to founder, family and entrepreneur-owned companies. Caprice is located in Manhattan Beach, CA and has successfully invested in 30+ companies and invested $700+ million since inception. Prior to founding Caprice, Rich opened a West Coast office for Brightwood Capital, a $3B+ direct lending fund. Rich’s experience in lending and investing includes time at Citibank and GE Capital where he was recognized for various achievements across both organizations. It was this experience that led him to recognize a unique market and industry worth exploring.
Rich is heavily involved as Vice Chair at St Jude and actively sits on various boards. Rich resides in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife, Erika and their two daughters, Elle, Charlie and son, Richie.
The Dreamliner Team
We are immensely proud of the 380 members of the Dreamliner team, each of whom is committed to our goal of providing a best-in-class travel experience, from providing tour quotes to designing custom coaches, servicing coaches to ensure they’re the best vehicles on the road, and outfitting each coach with the luxury-driven details today’s leading music artists have come to expect.
With each new acquisition, we have understood that they haven’t been acquiring coaches only; they’ve been acquiring new members of the Dreamliner family, employees with years of industry experience and a shared passion for providing the best in tour travel.
