Star Mountain Capital announced that Bryan Johnson has joined as a Managing Director based in Star Mountain’s Los Angeles office, one of its team’s 20+ locations nationwide.
With over $4 billion in assets under management (committed capital including debt facilities as of 4/30/24), alignment of interest is a core value of Star Mountain’s investor-centric business, including being 100% employee-owned and sharing investment profits with 100% of its U.S.-based full-time team. Star Mountain is a purpose-built business with one of the largest teams focused on investing in established, profitable, small and medium-sized private U.S. businesses (the “lower middle-market”) which represents approximately 50% of U.S. GDP and one of the potentially most attractive locations for investors to diversify their portfolios.
Bryan Johnson has nearly 20 years of leadership experience advising and consulting on strategic investment solutions to some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated wealth managers, family offices and high-net-worth individuals. In addition to his financial expertise, business owners and investors appreciate his seven years of management and operating experience in the semiconductor industry.
“We are committed to providing our investors with the best resources and service possible in accessing the benefits of the less efficient and large U.S. lower middle-market which can include a higher cash yield, tax advantages and portfolio constriction benefits of less correlated assets,” said Brett Hickey, Star Mountain Capital Founder & CEO. “We are thrilled for Bryan to join our Los Angeles office and add to our presence on the West Coast where Star Mountain has numerous important investors and investments.”
"I've been impressed by Star Mountain's leadership team and the existing client base of sophisticated clients and investors," Johnson said. "I was also intrigued to learn how large and highly fragmented the lower middle-market is at nearly 50% of the U.S. economy. This presents a great opportunity for investors to target higher potential returns by either providing liquidity to these smaller, yet resilient, businesses or by providing liquidity to other investors through Star Mountain's secondaries platform. Investors may benefit from exposure to this fragmented segment of the market and economy, which many portfolios do not have exposure to. This is also a compelling and timely opportunity due to the expected increase in M& A activity with small businesses due to aging demographics. Star Mountain has a distinctive origination and underwriting platform to capitalize on these opportunities."
Most recently, Johnson spent 15 years in Los Angeles at AQR Capital Management, an alternative investment management firm with over $200 billion in assets under management at its peak, rising from a Vice President to a Managing Director including leading RIA business development on the west coast and strategic relationships nationally. During his tenure, he consulted with RIAs, wealth managers, and single/multi-family offices on sophisticated alternative investments. He joined AQR from Dimensional Fund Advisors, a ~$650 billion asset management firm where he spent three years, most recently as a Regional Director based in Los Angeles.
Johnson began his career at Infineon, a ~$15 billion revenue global semiconductor solutions company, where he held business development and project management roles over the course of a seven-year tenure.
He graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and earned an MBA from University of Southern California. Mr. Johnson is FINRA Series 3, 7, 24, 30 and 66 licensed.
Johnson is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder and also holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation. He is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society Los Angeles, which he has lectured for since 2011.