Churchill Asset Management, an investment-specialist affiliate of Nuveen providing customized financing solutions to private equity firms and their portfolio companies, announced that Nick Lawler has joined as Managing Director and Head of Secondaries. He is responsible for leading the Firm's new secondaries strategy and investing across the secondaries landscape. Mr. Lawler is based in Churchill's Chicago office and reports directly to Jason Strife, Head of Junior Capital & Private Equity Solutions.
 
"As the private capital industry continues to grow, mature and evolve, Churchill is constantly enhancing the array of financing solutions we provide to our private equity partners. Bespoke liquidity solutions are a logical and complementary extension of our offerings," said Mr. Strife. "We are thrilled to welcome Nick, a highly seasoned secondaries investor, to the team, and believe his substantial experience, relationships and shared values will be instrumental as we continue to expand the Churchill platform to meet the needs of our clients."

Prior to joining Churchill, Mr. Lawler spent 14 years at Northern Trust Corporation, 10 of which were at 50 South Capital Advisors, LLC, the alternative investment arm of Northern Trust. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President within 50 South Capital and was integral in building and leading the secondaries business. Additionally, Mr. Lawler and his team were responsible for the deal sourcing and execution of over $1 billion of secondary, direct, structured and preferred equity investments.  

"I'm thrilled to join Churchill at this exciting time for both the Company and the secondaries asset class," said Mr. Lawler. "As a blue-chip LP and partner to hundreds of private equity firms across the United States, Churchill has a unique opportunity to capture the growing market opportunity and source proprietary opportunities unavailable to many other industry participants."
 
In September 2021, Churchill completed its inaugural secondaries transaction in partnership with Ardian, a world-leading private investment house. By completing a sale of private equity fund commitments, Churchill established two new commingled funds totaling nearly $1.5 billion of committed capital; Churchill Secondary Partners, L.P. and Churchill Co-Investment Partners, L.P. This innovative secondaries transaction expanded institutional investor access to Churchill's private equity platform and provided the limited partners with a diversified, U.S. middle market portfolio of 39 blue-chip funds with additional exposure to Churchill's market-leading co-investment strategy.