NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Star Mountain Capital, LLC (“Star Mountain”), a specialized investment manager with approximately $3.5 billion in assets under management (committed capital including debt facilities as of 3/31/2023) focused on generating systematic excess risk-adjusted returns by investing in the less efficient “lower middle-market” of established, private small and medium-sized businesses in North America, is pleased to announce that Leanne Schmitt has joined as a Managing Director.

Star Mountain’s senior team as well as its Senior Advisors / Operating Partners are aligned with Star Mountain’s investors by investing their personal capital and sharing in the firm’s carried interest with all U.S.-based employees.

“Leanne is joining our team in response to the increasing demand by institutional and retail investors to target defensive, high yielding and asymmetric upside returns,” said Brett Hickey, Star Mountain Capital Founder & CEO. “Leanne’s skills in technology, investing and client service will allow Star Mountain to continue to deliver high quality trusted communications to our growing investor base and enhancing our value proposition to investors and business owners. We are aligned with Leanne’s values including helping develop women professionals in the finance industry which Star Mountain is committed to through both its non-profit and for-profit initiatives.”

“I was attracted to Star Mountain’s investor-centric differentiated and purpose-built business focused on generating systematic alpha for investors with the further benefit of low market correlation, which I think is increasingly important in today’s uncertain economic environment,” said Leanne Schmitt. “I believe Star Mountain’s distinctive business model and highly aligned team, including sharing its profits with 100% of its US team, will be a great place for me to utilize my 20 years of experience including at Intech where I helped manage the global institutional equity portfolios during the firm AUM peak of $72 billion in 2007 and then transitioned to educate, support and grow the investor base. I look forward to leveraging my experience and network of relationships to help do the same at Star Mountain.”

Mrs. Schmitt joins Star Mountain’s President George Mattson in its recently opened office in the West Palm Beach area (Star Mountain’s 3rd office in Florida and 10th nationwide).

Mrs. Schmitt is an investor relations, portfolio management and financial systems investment professional with over 20 years of experience in the industry. Mrs. Schmitt was most recently a Managing Director at Intech Investment Management, a global quantitative equity firm which spun out from the Janus Henderson Group ($400+ billion AUM) in 2022. She has advised some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated institutions and private clients on their investments across asset classes including quantitative public equities and alternatives.

She began at Intech in 2003 as a Senior Quantitative Portfolio Analyst / Trader focusing on portfolio management. As her career progressed, since 2010 she began focusing on institutional and intermediary investor relationships as well as thought leadership and content development by creating client facing investment messaging focusing on setting strategy expectations and explaining the potential investment outcomes. Mrs. Schmitt presented a sophisticated mathematical investment philosophy, process, investment portfolio and performance results to institutional plan sponsor staff, investment boards, consultants, manager research analysts, RIAs and wealth management advisors across North America. She was also a member and coordinator of the Women of Intech committee which coordinates philanthropic efforts for female employees at Intech.

Prior to Intech, Mrs. Schmitt was in Global Prime Brokerage Technology at Salomon Smith Barney where she worked in web development as well as new client development of extracts, reports and Prime Brokerage financial systems working closely with traders on the desk. Following 9/11, she was appointed Head of the Disaster Recovery team for the Prime Brokerage Support Team implementing user tests and monitoring Disaster Recovery website.

With a computer science degree, Mrs. Schmitt began her career as a Teacher’s Assistant in the Fordham University Computer Science Department for undergraduate courses prior to joining Salomon Smith Barney in NYC in 2001.

Mrs. Schmitt is a graduate of Fordham University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science where she played Division I Women’s Soccer as well as Women’s Rugby.

She obtained her Master of Business Administration from Keller Graduate School of Business with a concentration in International Business with Entrepreneurial Focus and is FINRA Series 63 and 7 licensed.

In 2021, Mrs. Schmitt received the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate from the University of South Florida.

Read the full press release here.

About Star Mountain

With approximately $3.5 billion in assets under management (as of March 31, 2023), 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 and making primary LP commitments). Star Mountain believes these complementary strategies provide data-enhanced, scalable, diversified and customizable 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 and under $50 million in EBITDA. Its investors include public pensions, private pensions, insurance companies, commercial banks, endowments, foundations, family offices and high-net-worth individuals. Star Mountain is 100% employee-owned and shares its profits with 100% of its full-time employees as part of its focus on maximizing value for its stakeholders and investors through alignment of interests.

Since 2010 through 2022, Star Mountain has approximately 200 direct investments in U.S. small and medium-sized businesses and 30 secondary / fund investments within its Collaborative Ecosystem®, 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.

For the 4^th straight year, Star Mountain was again named one of the 2022 Best Places to Work by Crain’s New York Business as well as once again one of the 2022 Best Places to Work by Pensions & Investments.

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 ®.

Star Mountain has a dedicated Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Committee led by Anne Yang, Strategic Portfolio Manager & ESG Committee Chair, who was formerly a Managing Director & Member of Executive Office at Goldman Sachs. Star Mountain believes that ESG is aligned with financial stability and long-term shareholder value creation.

As part of its ESG program, 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.

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://bestcompaniesgroup.com/best-places-to-work-in-money-management/eligibility/