Susan Starr has joined Star Mountain Capital, a specialized investment manager with approximately $3 billion in assets under management focused exclusively on investing in established, private small and medium-sized North American businesses, as director of talent and human resources. Starr brings a strong skillset in talent management and human resources with approximately 15 years of experience in the financial services and sports industries. Prior to joining Star Mountain, Starr helped build two fast growing investment firms, one in the insurance space, which sold to Tokio Marine Group for $3.1 billion and another in the quantitative investment space.
In addition to her recruiting and talent development experience with investment firms, her diverse skill set includes being a starting team Division 1 soccer player and Ivy League championship winning member at Yale University and running the operations for a Division 1 college soccer program at Fairfield University.
“We believe Susan’s skills, experience and culture make her a great addition to the Star Mountain family,” Brett Hickey, founder and CEO of Star Mountain, said. “Across many verticals, Susan is used to fast paced, competitive and goal-oriented cultures where she has thrived and loves to help others thrive.”
“Team, culture and shareholder alignment are important parts of Star Mountain’s DNA as we are aligned with each other as an employee-owned firm as well as with our investors given 100% of our team shares in the profits we deliver to our investors,” John Polis, chief operating officer at Star Mountain Capital, said. “Susie’s impressive background will help us further professionalize our talent development, including with our distinctive, year-round paid internship program.”
“I am thrilled to be joining such a high caliber, forward-thinking organization,” Starr said. “The team and investor-centric culture of success at Star Mountain is evident and I am excited to leverage my experience to add value.”
Starr has extensive recruiting experience having assisted in hiring more than 100 employees for leading investment and insurance companies through both on-campus and lateral hiring strategies.
Starr was most recently talent acquisition lead at Five Rings, a proprietary quantitative trading firm that leverages sophisticated mathematical models and advanced technology to generate investment strategies. In this role, she focused on senior and junior recruiting including developing and managing a campus recruiting strategy.
Prior to Five Rings, Starr was campus recruiting lead at PURE Insurance, a member owned insurance carrier that Tokio Marine Group acquired in 2019 for $3.1 billion. She analyzed sourcing tools and recruiting processes, implemented usage of marketing campaigns via digital platforms, assessed compensation packages and created a formal on-boarding program and retention strategy.
