Salus Capital Partners, LLC, announced the following new hires:

Christopher A. Gouskos joins Salus as Senior Managing Director, Corporate and Business Development. Based in Dallas, Gouskos will focus on corporate strategy, origination and structuring of new business opportunities of the South-Central Region of the United States and maintaining an industry leading quality of service to prospects and customers across the region. With over 20 years of relevant experience in the industry, Gouskos' prior achievements include the start up of an ABL platform for GreenTree Financial, which was grown to over $600MM in outstandings, as President of Textron Business Credit, developed a direct origination capability, and as a Managing Director at Focus Management Group, a nationwide turnaround and restructuring firm, managed a primary contract with the FDIC to sell and/or liquidate the assets of failed bank subsidiaries. Chris is an active member of the CFA, TMA and ACG and is a former Board Member of the CFA’s Southeast Chapter.  He is a graduate of Iowa State University where he received a BBA in Accounting with an emphasis in Finance.  He has also received his Series 7 and Series 63 certifications and is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt.

Peter Coates joins Salus as Senior Vice President, Special Opportunities and Risk Management, responsible for managing a portfolio of special assets in order to minimize risk through a restructuring process, while proactively identifying the needs of Salus Capital’s borrowers. Coates has more than 30 years of banking, asset-based lending and restructuring experience, most recently at RBS Citizens, where, as a Senior Vice President in the Global Restructuring Group, he was responsible for developing and implementing restructuring strategies to minimize credit risk. Prior employers include GE Business Credit, People’s Bank, HSBC Bank USA and the First National Bank of Boston.  Coates is a graduate of Westfield State University with a BS in Business Management.

“We are excited to welcome Chris and Peter to the Salus team,” said Andrew H. Moser, President and CEO of Salus Capital. “We look forward to Chris’ leadership in the South-Central Region as we extend our reach nationally, and Peter’s industry experience will be a valuable resource to our Special Opportunities and Risk Management group and borrowers.”

Salus Capital is a direct originator of secured asset-based loans to the middle market across a variety of industries with additional complementary financing throughout the capital structure. Target transaction sizes range from $5 million to $50 million, with the ability to hold up to $100 million and to syndicate larger transactions. The Salus Capital platform may also serve as an asset manager for like-minded institutional investors such as community and regional banks, insurance companies, family offices, private equity funds and hedge funds who may lack the infrastructure and dedicated competency within senior secured lending.