Star Mountain Capital, a specialized investment manager focused on investing in private small- and medium-sized businesses, hired Bob Shettle as a managing director.
Shettle has 30 years of experience investing senior debt, junior debt and private equity and making lower middle-market fund investments. He will support Star Mountain’s focus on value-added debt and equity investing in established U.S. small- and medium-size businesses that generally have between $15 million and $250 million in annual revenues as well as Star Mountain’s LP investments in lower middle-market funds.
“Bob brings tremendous experience, insights and relationships to further benefit us as we continue to scale our business adding more value to business owners and investors in an aligned manner,” Brett Hickey, founder and CEO of Star Mountain Capital, said. “Bob is another great cultural fit with a roll up the sleeves, detail-oriented personality from having personally led over 70 private investments, coupled with leadership experience from chairing investments committees for a $325 billion institution and overseeing approximately $10 billion in private credit, mezzanine and private equity investments.”
“Having invested in the private markets for approximately 30 years, I find the lower middle market to be the most compelling bridge between the risks of startups and the more commoditized larger markets,” Shettle said. “Star Mountain has built a differentiated business, including its origination platform, underwriting and value-added capabilities, coupled with deep investments in team, culture and technology that induced me to join a firm I believe will continue delivering compelling results for investors and the businesses we invest in.”
Shettle spent 22 years at Barings, the more than $325 billion asset under management investment manager owned by insurance group MassMutual.
At Barings, he was named the chairman of both the North American mezzanine and the North American private finance investment committees. Shettle was also the co-head of the North American private finance group, co-managing a team of 35 private credit professionals across three U.S. offices and overseeing a $10 billion senior loan and junior debt portfolio. He also helped advise on, analyze and manage lower middle-market private equity fund investments. Shettle was also president of two publicly traded New York Stock Exchange closed-end funds focused on private debt securities.
Prior to Barings, Shettle was a vice president in commercial lending at Fleet Bank (now part of Bank of America). Shettle started his career in management consulting at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) in the late 1980s.
