Scott Couto has over 30 years of experience in the asset management business including executive leadership, distribution, investment strategy, marketing and investment product development experience.

Mr. Couto was most recently Executive Vice President & Head of North America at Columbia Threadneedle Investments ($650+ bn), where he was responsible for all aspects of the North America asset management business including product development, marketing, intermediary markets, global consultant relations, institutional sales and relationship management. Mr. Couto served as Chair of the North America Risk and Controls Committee and Chair of the North America Business Management Committee, the Columbia Threadneedle Global Executive Group, and was also a member of Columbia Threadneedle parent, Ameriprise’s ($40+ bn market cap NASDAQ: AMP) Executive Leadership Team.

At Columbia Threadneedle investments, he provided regular updates to mutual funds’ boards of trustees and the Ameriprise Board of Trustees on intermediary and institutional, trends, areas of concern, new products and or/product changes and business results. He was also the executive sponsor for Columbia Threadneedle Diversity and Inclusion Group, Columbia Threadneedle Women’s Interest Network and Ameriprise Pride Employee Resource Group.

Prior to Columbia Threadneedle investments, Mr. Couto served as President of Fidelity Institutional Asset Management at Fidelity Investments (~$4.9 tn AUM), where he was responsibility for Fidelity Investments’ U.S. Intermediary and U.S. Institutional businesses and was responsible for $580 bn in client AUM.

Prior to Fidelity, Mr. Couto served as Chief Operating Officer at Evergreen Investments, now part of Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), which had ~$250 bn of AUM and where he was responsible for Evergreen’s U.S. Intermediary Business including mutual funds, separately managed accounts, sub-advisory and retirement markets. At Evergreen, Mr. Couto also served as Global Head of Product Management & Development and was a Member of the Operating Committee, Investment Product Committee, Investment Strategy Committee, Risk Management Committee, Global Distribution Operating Committee and Hedge Fund Operating Committee.

Prior to Evergreen Investments, Mr. Couto served as Senior Vice President & Director of Investment Strategy at Liberty Funds (now Columbia Threadneedle Investments). He began his career in 1991 as a Senior Investment Executive at Liberty Financial Companies.

Mr. Couto has served on multiple boards including the Insured Retirement Institute (executive committee), Posse Foundation and Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce (finance committee).

Mr. Couto received his B.S. in Finance and Investments at Babson College and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He holds FINRA series 7, 63, 51, 3, and 24 licenses. Mr. Couto is a Member of Boston Security Analysts Society and the CFA Institute.

As an aligned Senior Advisor, Mr. Couto assists Star Mountain with deal origination and investor relationships, industry and other strategic insights to help Star Mountain and its portfolio investments maximize value.