Star Mountain Capital, a rapidly growing, employee-owned investment firm with approximately $4.5 billion in assets under management (“AUM”), is pleased to announce that Donald Raymond has joined the firm as a senior advisor. Dr. Raymond will add value to Star Mountain by supporting investment and portfolio construction efforts, contributing to firmwide thought leadership through his rigorous, research-driven approach and leveraging his senior leadership experience at Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments).
“Don’s leadership at some of the world’s largest asset owners, combined with his deep expertise in portfolio construction and institutional governance, brings a differentiated and highly valuable perspective to Star Mountain,” said Brett Hickey, founder and CEO of Star Mountain Capital. “We are excited to have him as an aligned Senior Advisor.”
“Star Mountain’s specialized focus on the lower middle-market has the potential to have a positive impact on many investment portfolios,” said Dr. Raymond. “The quality of the team, their disciplined approach to investing and their long-term alignment with investors match the principles that have guided my work across global institutional portfolios.”
Dr. Raymond has over 30 years of global investment experience across public and private markets, portfolio construction and institutional governance, having held senior leadership roles at some of the world’s largest asset owners and financial institutions.
Dr. Raymond previously served as Chief Investment Strategist at QIA and CPP Investments, both among the top 15 asset owners globally. At CPP Investments, he was the first Chief Investment Strategist. He helped architect CPP Investments’ innovative Total Portfolio Approach and played a key role in the development of the United Nations’ Principles of Responsible Investing (UNPRI) and CPP Investments’ early adoption in 2005. He also oversaw the growth of the public markets portfolio from $11 billion in passively managed funds to $100 billion in assets actively managed by more than 130 employees across five distinct active investment strategies.
Before CPP Investments, Dr. Raymond worked at Goldman Sachs in Toronto as a top ranked fixed income strategist and later in New York in global equity and fixed income portfolio management. Earlier in his career, he worked for Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) in China and trained as a pilot in the Canadian military.
Dr. Raymond has also served as Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Alignvest Management Corporation, an alternative investment management firm focused on private equity and alternative investments. He has held a range of senior governance roles, including Chair of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Investment Committee of Queen’s University Endowment, and as a Board Director and Chair of the Investment Committee of Great West LifeCo (TSX: GWO), one of Canada’s leading global insurance companies with over $600 bn AUM.
He advises the central banks of Singapore and Thailand and serves as an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and as Chair Emeritus of the International Centre for Pension Management.
Dr. Raymond holds a B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Queen’s University and is a CFA charterholder.
