Star Mountain Capital, a specialized lower middle-market private investment firm, which prides itself on culture and shareholder alignment (including being 100% employee-owned and having 100% of employees sharing in the profits) with approximately $3 billion in assets announced that Susan Starr has joined as Director of Talent & Human Resources.
Star Mountain Capital, LLC ("Star Mountain"), a specialized investment manager, with approximately $3 billion in assets under management, focused exclusively on investing in established, private small and medium-sized North American businesses (lower middle-market), is pleased to announce that Susan Starr has joined as Director of Talent & Human Resources. Ms. Starr brings a strong skillset in talent management and human resources with approximately 15 years of experience in the financial services and sports industries. Prior to joining Star Mountain, Ms. Starr helped build two fast growing investment firms, one in the insurance space, which sold to Tokio Marine Group for $3.1 billion and another in the quantitative investment space.
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In addition to her recruiting and talent development experience with investment firms, her diverse skill set includes being a starting team Division 1 soccer player and Ivy League championship winning member at Yale University and running the operations for a Division 1 college soccer program at Fairfield University. “We believe Susan’s skills, experience and culture make her a great addition to the Star Mountain family”, says Star Mountain Founder & CEO, Brett Hickey. “Across many verticals, Susan is used to fast paced, competitive, and goal-oriented cultures where she has thrived and loves to help others thrive.”
“Team, culture and shareholder alignment are important parts of Star Mountain’s DNA as we are aligned with each other as an employee-owned firm as well as with our investors given 100% of our team shares in the profits we deliver to our investors”, says Star Mountain Capital Chief Operating Officer John Polis. “Susie’s impressive background will help us further professionalize our talent development, including with our distinctive, year-round paid internship program.”
"I am thrilled to be joining such a high caliber, forward-thinking organization,” said Ms. Starr. "The team and investor-centric culture of success at Star Mountain is evident and I am excited to leverage my experience to add value.”
Ms. Starr has extensive recruiting experience having assisted in hiring over 100 employees for leading investment and insurance companies through both on-campus and lateral hiring strategies.
Ms. Starr was most recently Talent Acquisition Lead at Five Rings, a proprietary quantitative trading firm that leverages sophisticated mathematical models and advanced technology to generate investment strategies. In this role, she focused on senior and junior recruiting including developing and managing a campus recruiting strategy.
Prior to Five Rings, Ms. Starr was Campus Recruiting Lead at PURE Insurance, a member owned insurance carrier that Tokio Marine Group acquired in 2019 for $3.1 billion. She analyzed sourcing tools and recruiting processes, implemented usage of marketing campaigns via digital platforms, assessed compensation packages, and created a formal on-boarding program and retention strategy.
Ms. Starr started her career as an Assistant Soccer Coach at Fairfield University where she ran all operations of the Division One college soccer program. She later joined Chelsea Piers Connecticut as Director of Partnerships & Sponsorships where she oversaw all corporate partnerships/sponsorships and identified strategic initiatives to provide incremental revenue with existing and new business relationships. She was also a Head Coach for the Connecticut Soccer / Football club. At the same time, she found and ran all aspects of their competitive soccer club, Chelsea Piers Soccer Club, now home to over 400 boys and girls soccer players ages 8 through 18. She still actively coaches their 2006 (U16) girls Regional Team.
Ms. Starr is a graduate of Yale University where she was a member of the Women’s Soccer Team and received the Mellon Forum Grant for Senior Research in Gujarat, India. She received an MBA from Fairfield University.
ABOUT STAR MOUNTAIN
With approximately $3 billion in assets under management (as of April 30, 2022), Star Mountain takes a data-driven approach to investing into the North American lower middle-market through two complementary investment strategies: (i) direct debt and equity investing and (ii) secondaries (acquiring LP interests and direct assets). Star Mountain believes these complementary strategies provide scalable and diversified access for its institutional and high-net-worth investors to established small and medium-sized businesses that generally have at least $15 million in annual revenues. Star Mountain’s 100% employee-owned team and Collaborative Ecosystem® provides distinctive value to lower middle-market businesses as a flexible capital solution partner.
Since 2010 through April 2022, Star Mountain has made 150 direct investments in U.S. small and medium-sized businesses and 29 secondary / fund investments within its Collaborative Ecosystem®, exclusively focused on the North American lower middle-market. One of Star Mountain’s specialties is seeking current cash income and yield for investors that is materially above the typical yields found in the public markets through its distinctive origination, underwriting and value-added lending capabilities.
Star Mountain believes its focus and dedication has been productive for job creation and economic development. Star Mountain is dedicated to this large market of underserved businesses purpose-built to address the challenges and opportunities of these companies. As part of its commitment, Star Mountain has trademarked Investing in the Growth Engine of America®.
As part of its ESG program (Environmental, Social and Governance), Star Mountain’s Charitable Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)3 focuses on improving lives through economic development, including job creation, health & wellness and cancer research. Notable missions include helping match veterans and women with high quality small and medium-sized business career opportunities across the country, including within Star Mountain’s portfolio.
For the third straight year, Star Mountain was again named one of the 2021 Best Places to Work by Crain’s New York Business as well as by Pensions & Investments highlighting the firm’s focus on culture and community.
Note: This does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase interests in any investment product. Awards and recognitions by unaffiliated rating services, companies and/or publications should not be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he / she / it will experience a certain level of results if Star Mountain is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services; nor should they be construed as a current or past endorsement, testimonial endorsement, recommendation or referral of Star Mountain or its representatives by any of its clients or any other third party. Rankings published by magazines and others are generally based exclusively on information prepared and / or submitted by the recognized advisor. Moreover, with regard to all performance information contained herein, directly or indirectly, if any, readers should note that past results are not indicative of future results. The description and the selection methodologies of each award and recognition are subjective and will vary.
Awards and recognitions by unaffiliated rating services, companies, and/or publications should not be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she/it will experience a certain level of results if SMFM is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services; nor should they be construed as a current or past endorsement, testimonial endorsement, recommendation or referral of SMFM or its representatives by any of its clients or any other third party. Rankings published by magazines and others are generally based exclusively on information prepared and/or submitted by the recognized advisor.
Crain’s two-part survey process consisted of evaluating each nominated company’s workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems and demographics. The second part involved an employee survey to measure the employee experience. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking. Star Mountain must pay a fee to Crain’s only for survey collection purposes. Detailed eligibility criteria can be found here: https://bestcompaniesgroup.com/best-companies-to-work-for-in-new-york/eligibility/
To be named to P&I‘s Best Places list, all firms met Best Companies’ high threshold for inclusion and were evaluated against others of similar size. Individual firm profiles, which were compiled based on survey results, reflect U.S. employment numbers and were confirmed by Best Companies in the summer. Company and employee comments were edited for space, style and clarity. Assets under management or advisement are as of June 30, unless otherwise noted. To participate, companies had to have at least 20 employees in the U.S., at least $100 million of discretionary assets under management or advisement and be in business for at least one year. An anonymous employee survey, which aimed to evaluate employee engagement and satisfaction, accounted for 75% of a firm’s score; an employer survey, which evaluated workplace policies, practices, benefits and demographics, made up 25%.
https://www.bestplacestoworkmm.com/eligibility-criteria
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Contacts
John Polis – Media@StarMountainCapital.com
