Brightwood Capital Advisors, a middle-market private credit firm, appointed Eric Pratt chief credit officer. Pratt has more than 20 years of experience in credit and risk management. In this new position, Pratt will oversee Brightwood’s existing portfolio and play a role in the firm’s analysis of new investments.
“We are thrilled to welcome Eric to the team,” Sengal Selassie, CEO and managing partner of Brightwood Capital Advisors, said. “As we continue to grow and scale our portfolio, Eric’s depth of knowledge and expertise across portfolio and risk management will help ensure the safety and security of our portfolio in a rapidly rising interest rate environment and be instrumental to Brightwood’s go-forward strategy.”
“Brightwood has a longstanding track record of supporting growth-oriented businesses across the middle market, which I believe speaks to the team’s deep-rooted sector expertise and network of longstanding industry relationships,” Pratt said. “I look forward to working alongside a team of dedicated professionals and contributing to the firm’s growing portfolio of investments.”
Pratt has experience managing risk, establishing risk governance frameworks, structuring transactions with middle-market and large-cap clients and engaging with regulations. Most recently, he served as managing director and global head of corporate and investment banking credit portfolio management at Wells Fargo, where he established a new credit portfolio function to enhance loan portfolio management and risk control capabilities. Pratt also previously held various senior leadership positions at Mizuho Financial Group over a five-year tenure, most recently serving as managing director, deputy chief risk officer and chief credit officer in the Americas. In addition, Pratt served at Deutsche Bank in several leadership roles, including of director, head of U.S. credit portfolio management and senior credit officer for leveraged and structured finance credit prior to Mizuho. He has also held similar credit and managerial positions at JPMorgan Chase and Procter & Gamble.
