Star Mountain Capital, a specialized investment manager, with over $2 billion in assets under management, focused exclusively on investing in established, private small and medium-sized North American businesses (lower middle-market), announced that Renald “Ray” Durand has joined as Director of Finance. Durand brings a broad skillset across in finance, accounting and fund administration and will become a valued addition to Star Mountain’s finance and operations department led by Chief Financial Officer Chris Gimbert.

“Having been part of Star Mountain’s growth since inception, I am proud of the Star Mountain team’s continued focus on providing the highest quality of service to our stakeholders,” says Star Mountain Capital CFO, Chris Gimbert. “Ray’s unique credentials as a CPA, CFA and CAIA member coupled with experience at leading institutions such as JPMorgan, Credit Suisse and Ernst & Young will bring additional talent to the team as we continue Star Mountain’s growth and service to our investors.”

"Having been involved in private equity fund services at large institutions and having worked with many large investment firms, I find Star Mountain’s infrastructure to be high caliber within an entrepreneurial firm, focused on a differentiated end of the market,” said Durand. "I look forward to be joining the collaborative and team-centric culture of success at Star Mountain where transparency with investors and service to the community is paramount.”

Durand is the second person this year that Star Mountain has hired from international commercial and investment banking group JPMorgan Chase. John Ide joined as a Managing Director in July after spending the bulk of his career, 22 years, at JPMorgan Asset Management, the $2+ trillion AUM investment manager that is part of JPMorgan Chase.

Durand was most recently a Vice President at JPMorgan Chase in the private equity fund services division in New York where he managed a team of 12 staff and was an active participant in hosting Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) awareness events. Prior to JPMorgan Chase, Durand was a Vice President at global fund administration firm Maples Group in the Cayman Islands and in Hong Kong. This followed roles as Senior Fund Accountant at Credit Suisse and Account Manager at Global Captive Management, also in the Cayman Islands.

Durand started his career as an auditor at RSM Richter Chamberland and then as a Senior Auditor at Ernst & Young.

Durand is a graduate of HEC Montreal with a degree in Business Administration. In addition to his Chartered Accountant (CA) and Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designations, Durand also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) as well as the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations.

Since 2010 through November 2021, Star Mountain has made over 100 direct investments in U.S. small and medium-sized businesses and over 20 secondary / fund investments within its Collaborative Ecosystem®, exclusively focused on the North American lower middle-market. One of Star Mountain’s specialties is seeking current cash income and yield for investors that is materially above the typical yields found in the public markets through its distinctive origination, underwriting and value-added lending capabilities.

For the third straight year, Star Mountain was again named one of the 2021 Best Places to Work by Crain’s New York Business highlighting the firms focus on culture and community.