Peter Schmidt-Fellner is retiring from NewStar Financial, as chief investment officer and as a member of the company’s board of directors. Schmidt-Fellner was a founding member of the company and has held the role of chief investment officer since 2004. He will remain involved with the company as an external advisor to provide decision support to its Investment Committee and to advise the risk policy committee of the board on strategic risk management matters as needed. The company’s board of directors will be reduced to seven members.

NewStar’s current chief credit officer, Dan McCready, will succeed Schmidt-Fellner as chief investment officer and assume his role on the company’s investment committee. Since joining NewStar in March 2013, McCready has led the company’s leveraged finance credit team and played a key role in all related credit decisions.

He has more than 30 years of experience in leveraged finance and joined NewStar as chief credit officer from CIT Group, where he was chief credit officer of CIT Corporate Finance. Prior to that, McCready held senior positions at GE Capital, CIBC World Capital Markets, Bankers Trust and Bank of America.

Reflecting on Schmidt-Fellner’s legacy and contributions to the firm, NewStar’s CEO, Tim Conway commented, “It would be difficult to overstate Peter’s impact on NewStar’s success. He played a pivotal role in building the company and establishing our credit track record. He was the architect of our investment process and risk management frameworks and he built a world-class credit organization with deep expertise and a disciplined credit culture. His leadership also helped guide us through one of the most challenging business cycles of our lifetimes. As a result, he leaves us with a lasting legacy and we are grateful for his many significant contributions.”

“While it is difficult to lose a trusted partner and valued colleague like Peter, I am very confident in our credit team and excited about the opportunity to work even more closely with Dan as we continue to build on an outstanding track record and capitalize on opportunities to further develop our credit investment capabilities and expand our asset management platform,” Conway added.