Greg Richter, CEO of Medalist Partners, has spent nearly four decades at the center of innovation in asset-based finance. His career began in 1985, just as the structured credit market was taking shape. “The late 1980s through the late 1990s was an incredibly innovative period,” Richter says. “I was fortunate to be front and center during those days.”

Richter’s entry into finance started at Prudential Securities in a middle-office role bridging operations and the mortgage trading desk. That early exposure gave him a foundation in mortgage funding, allocations and trading. He quickly moved into trading asset-backed securities and rose to lead all structured credit trading at Prudential, including CMBS, RMBS, ABS and CDOs. His team created and sold the first ABS CDOs, which became a major market in just a few years.

In 2000, Richter joined Credit Suisse, where he oversaw trading and syndication for securitized products. “We packaged and sold $100-200 billion of bonds annually,” he says. He later ran the Global Asset Finance group and led the Specialty Finance banking effort through 2008. When the financial crisis hit, he shifted to asset management. “Markets shift, firms collapse, times change. Rather than fearing the inevitable change, I welcomed the challenges.”

That shift led to the launch of Medalist Partners, an alternative asset manager focused on structured and asset-based credit. “Specialty finance is a massive market and growing exponentially,” Richter says. “We’re providing funding where traditional banks have pulled back.”

Richter believes in leading by example. “Always treat people with respect and thoughtfulness,” he says. “This is a people business. Never underestimate the importance of a handshake and good conversation.”

Looking ahead, he wants Medalist to be known as a trusted, innovative firm. “There are no problems in life,” he says. “Just solutions.”