Justin Garrod has 25+ years of alternative investment, corporate finance and legal experience from both large global and specialized institutions. Over the last 15 years he has been specializing in U.S. lower middle-market private capital fund, secondary and direct deal advisory within private equity and private credit across a broad range of industries.

Having worked with several senior team members at Star Mountain on various direct and secondaries investment opportunities with his U.S. lower middle-market clients during his prior roles over the last decade, Mr. Garrod is now focused on originating, analyzing and helping manage fund, secondary and direct investments at Star Mountain.

Mr. Garrod’s experience in secondaries dates back to 2007 when he worked with the Lehman Brothers secondaries business, now part of Neuberger Berman. During the Global Financial Crisis of 2009, he assisted the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy estate in the sale of its LP interests.

Mr. Garrod co-founded and was co-Managing Partner for Stonington Capital Advisors, a specialist placement agent and strategic advisor on fund, secondaries, and direct investments in U.S. lower middle-market private equity and private credit. For over a decade, he worked with numerous managers and global institutional investors. He also specialized in working with independent sponsors, advising them on deal structuring and raising them capital for often proprietary transactions.

Mr. Garrod was most recently a Partner at Mercury Capital Advisors, a division of Investcorp where he primarily focused on originating secondary and primary fund investment opportunities as well as direct to company debt and equity transactions for independent sponsors. He was a member of the firm’s leadership committee.

Mr. Garrod started his career as a corporate attorney at one of the most revered corporate law firms, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in the private equity acquisition financing, securities and mergers & acquisition groups where he helped analyze and advise on a broad range of investments, mergers and acquisitions. He subsequently joined Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP to augment his corporate legal experience becoming a member of Schulte’s hedge fund and private equity fund formation group where he helped analyze, structure and form many investment and fund entities.

After his time as a corporate attorney, Mr. Garrod transitioned to Deutsche Bank and later Lehman Brothers where he focused on alternative investment product structuring and capital formation. He then joined distressed/special situations private equity firm Fundamental Advisors as Head of Business Development & Investor Relations.

Mr. Garrod holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston University and earned a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. While earning his law degree, he was a member of the Fordham Law Review. Mr. Garrod holds Series 7, 24, 63 and 79 FINRA licenses and is a current member of the Board of Governors of Newark Academy, an independent co-educational day school for grades 6-12 founded in 1774.