Great Rock Capital, a private credit firm specializing in middle market lending, promoted Christina Zielinski to chief commercial officer and head of originations, and Jake Goldberg to head of capital markets. Zielinski and Goldberg will be based in the New York metro area and will be responsible for expanding the firm’s origination efforts and strategic relationships across North America.
“Christina and Jake have each played an important role in Great Rock’s growth,” Stuart Armstrong, CEO of Great Rock Capital, said. “As head of originations, Christina will build on her ability to develop long-standing, trusted relationships while leveraging her credit expertise to structure tailored solutions that meet our customers’ evolving financing needs. In his new role as head of capital markets, Jake will draw on his extensive capital markets background to further strengthen Great Rock’s ability to execute larger, more comprehensive financing solutions by coordinating complementary sources of capital and leading multi-lender transactions.”
Zielinski has been with Great Rock since its founding and has played a central role in the firm’s growth, most recently as managing director, head of underwriting and a core member of the executive leadership team. She previously held roles at Barclays and GE Capital. As chief commercial officer and head of originations, she will set the strategic direction for Great Rock’s origination platform, leveraging her established relationships with industry partners to strengthen the firm’s market presence and to shape how the firm evaluates and structures new opportunities.
“It has been a privilege to grow with Great Rock for more than 10 years,” Zielinski said. “I look forward to driving our originations strategy forward and partnering with middle market companies from the earliest stages, delivering bespoke financing solutions that maximize their liquidity.”
Goldberg has 15 years of middle market lending experience, most recently as an executive director at J.P. Morgan, where he structured and syndicated asset-based lending transactions for public, private and sponsor-backed companies and was a founding member of J.P. Morgan’s ABL syndications team. He will continue to originate for Great Rock in the Northeast while leading the firm’s capital markets function. In his expanded role, Goldberg will deepen Great Rock’s relationships with private equity sponsors, banks and complementary capital partners to support the firm’s execution of larger, more complex transactions.
“I’m excited to build out Great Rock’s capital markets function and enhance the way we structure and execute financing solutions for our clients,” Goldberg said. “By coordinating the right capital partners around each transaction, we can serve a broader range of middle market companies with more diverse financing needs while maintaining the speed and flexibility they’ve come to expect from Great Rock.”
