Churchill Asset Management announced that Leland Richards has joined the firm as a managing director. The appointment will be effective October 2016 and Richards will report to Senior Managing Director and Head of Origination and Capital Markets Randy Schwimmer.

Richards joins Churchill with more than 15 years of experience in middle-market finance and strong relationships with leading middle-market private equity firms and lenders. He previously worked at GE Capital, where he served as a managing director of GE Sponsor Coverage and led the structuring and underwriting of transactions with middle-market private equity investment firms providing senior and unitranche financing to their portfolio companies.

“Leland’s extensive industry knowledge and strong sponsor relationships will add meaningfully to our business at Churchill,” said Schwimmer. “This appointment underscores our commitment to building a deep and experienced investment team with a strong track record in middle market senior debt financing.

Based in New York, Churchill Asset Management is a leading provider of senior and uni-tranche debt financing for middle market companies. Churchill is led by a senior management and investment team that has worked together for over a decade and has collectively invested more than $5 billion in more than 400 middle market companies and has approximately $1.9 billion of committed capital under management.