James K. Hunt has joined Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors as managing partner and CEO of Middle Market Credit. In addition to focusing on corporate credit product development, Hunt will work with a senior credit team based in Chicago and the junior capital team based in New York.

Those teams will continue to be led, respectively, by middle market lending veterans Ken Leonard, Al Ricchio, Andy Marek and Doug Goodwille in Chicago and Tom Archie, John McNulty and Jenna Young in New York.

Previously, Hunt was the founding chairman, chief executive officer and chief investment officer of THL Credit, an investment manager for direct lending and tradeable credit. Prior to THL, Hunt was managing partner and chief executive officer of Bison Capital which he co-founded in 2001 with an emphasis on unsponsored investments. From 1990 through 2000, he was president of SunAmerica Corporate Finance and an executive vice president of SunAmerica Investments, where he was responsible for high-yielding investments including CLO management, private placements, acquisition financing, term loans and portfolio purchases, structured finance and specialty finance corporate acquisitions.

Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors is an independent alternative investment management firm focused on niche investing in upstream oil and gas companies, energy infrastructure, specialized real estate, middle market credit and growth private equity.