New York – Star Mountain Capital, LLC (“Star Mountain”), a specialized investment manager with over $3 billion in assets under management focused exclusively on investing in established, private small and medium-sized businesses in the North American lower middle-market, is pleased to announce that T. J. Della Pietra has joined as a Senior Advisor.  Star Mountain Senior Advisors / Operating Partners are aligned with Star Mountain’s full-time team and investors by investing their personal capital and sharing in the firm’s carried interest.

“We are happy to add to our advisory network another veteran senior executive with more than 35 years of leadership, strategic, investment and governance experience in the financial industry,” said Brett Hickey, Star Mountain Capital Founder & CEO. “As an aligned Senior Advisor, T. J. will assist with developing and implementing best practices across a wide range of activities to help maximize and protect value for all Star Mountain stakeholders.”

“Star Mountain brings large-market expertise, capital and capabilities to the lower middle-market,” said T. J. Della Pietra.  “I am thrilled to be working with an established and growing firm that is purpose-built to capitalize on the market inefficiencies of the large and fragmented lower middle-market.”

Mr. Della Pietra held several senior operating roles at Citigroup (NYSE: C), with responsibility for strategy, profit & loss, balance sheet, risk management, stakeholder relationships and people for complex businesses undergoing significant transformations.  Most recently he was global head of Citi Holdings, where he led a significant reduction in the size and complexity of the business unit responsible for managing Citigroup’s non-core consumer and institutional businesses and assets in the U.S. and overseas.  Prior to this role, Mr. Della Pietra served as CEO for Citigroup in Japan, based in Tokyo, where he led the successful divestiture of Citi’s local consumer businesses and the multi-year restructuring of the local operating platform for Citi’s institutional business.  Before that, Mr. Della Pietra served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Investment Officer for Citi in Japan.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Della Pietra served in divisional general counsel roles at both Citigroup and J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM), where he had extensive experience handling strategic, regulatory, compliance, governance, litigation and investigation matters and managing legal and compliance teams.  Mr. Della Pietra began his legal career at Davis Polk & Wardwell, where his practice focused on banking and finance, capital markets, funds and investment management, bankruptcies and restructurings, and corporate governance.

Mr. Della Pietra holds a J.D. degree from the University of Virginia and a B.S. degree in Economics (summa cum laude) from Boston College.  He is admitted to the bar in New York and Washington, D.C.

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®, 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.

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/