Star Mountain Capital, a rapidly growing, employee-owned specialized private investment firm focused on the lower middle-market with over $3 billion of assets under management (AUM) announced that Austin Ericson, former Assistant General Counsel at $50+ Billion AUM H.I.G. Capital, has joined as Legal Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer.

NEW YORK – Star Mountain Capital, LLC (“Star Mountain”), a specialized investment manager with over $3 billion in assets under management focused on investing in established, private small and medium-sized North American businesses (lower middle-market), is pleased to announce that Austin Ericson has joined as Legal Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer. A differentiating factor of Star Mountain’s investor-aligned business is that 100% of its team including Senior Advisors / Operating Partners share in the investment profits.

“Austin brings highly relevant experience towards where Star Mountain is growing having overseen a broad range of legal and compliance matters relating to multiple alternative investment funds and portfolio company investments,” said Brett Hickey, Star Mountain Capital Founder & CEO. “We are excited to continue growing our services and capabilities for all stakeholders.”

“Having participated in approximately $30 billion of AUM growth including private credit and private equity during my time with H.I.G., I am thrilled to join Star Mountain as they continue to target compelling risk adjusted returns for investors,” said Austin Ericson, “Star Mountain has heavily invested in firm infrastructure demonstrating its commitment to its team members, portfolio investments and investors and I look forward to playing my part in its continued success.”

Mr. Ericson is an experienced legal counsel and compliance expert further strengthening Star Mountain’s finance and operations infrastructure. Prior to joining Star Mountain, Mr. Ericson was most recently Assistant General Counsel at H.I.G. Capital, LLC a $50+ billion AUM global alternative investment firm, where he served as the primary internal counsel focused on fund formation, regulatory management, compliance across a variety of private capital investment strategies including private credit and private equity. During his tenure with H.I.G., they grew assets under management approximately 150% from approximately $20 billion to over $50 billion. Products he helped structure and administer included private credit funds, private equity funds, rated note investment structures for insurance companies, a publicly traded business development company (BDC) and collateralized loan obligation (CLO) vehicles. His responsibilities included implementing and monitoring compliance processes throughout all functions of the firm including fundraising, general corporate matters, marketing review, regulatory filings, and administering H.I.G.’s compliance program. His legal and compliance responsibilities also included negotiating investor side letters and reviewing all marketing materials.

At H.I.G. he also assisted with U.S. regulatory and public company filings and advised investment professionals and portfolio companies on a variety of corporate, intellectual property, data privacy, employment, litigation, finance, contractual, and ESG matters. He also worked actively with the private investment team on various legal matters including negotiating and managing investments.

Prior to H.I.G., Mr. Ericson was an Associate Attorney in the Corporate and Transactional Department of McDermott Will & Emery LLP a 1,400+ lawyer global corporate law firm working with leading alternative investment and corporate clients, including H.I.G. which led to Austin later joining the firm. He drafted and negotiated all ancillary merger & acquisition documents including employment agreements, seller notes, stock option plans, escrow agreements, restricted activities agreements, and reviewed and revised all core transaction documentation, working with specialists, attorneys and paralegals. Mr. Ericson led legal diligence processes on over 25 closed mergers and acquisitions (including new platform investments, tuck-ins and add-ons).

Mr. Ericson is a graduate of the University of South Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Florida Levin College of Law where he graduated Cum Laude and in the top 5% of his graduating class. At the University of Florida Levin College of Law, Mr. Ericson served as the Managing Editor of the Florida Law Review and the Chief of Communications for the Association of Law and Business. He was also elected to the Order of the Coif, an honorary scholastic society encouraging excellence in legal education recognizing law students who attained a high grade of scholarship.

Mr. Ericson is also an Adjunct Professor at University of Miami School of Law where he teaches a course on Drafting and Negotiating Private Equity Related Agreements.

Read the full press release on BusinessWire.

About Star Mountain

With over $3 billion in assets under management (as of October 31, 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 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 employees as part of its focus on maximizing value for its stakeholders and investors through alignment of interests.

Since 2010 through October 2022, Star Mountain has made 175+ direct investments in U.S. small and medium-sized businesses and 25+ 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 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 once again one of the 2021 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/

H.I.G. Capital AUM is based on total capital commitments managed by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates.