THL Credit Announces Executive Appointments and New Hires

BOSTON, Feb. 14, 2017 -- THL Credit Advisors LLC (“THL Credit” or the “Company”), an alternative credit investment manager, announced today the appointment of Jim Fellows to Chief Investment Officer of THL Credit and Monty Cook and Howard Wu to Co-Heads of Direct Lending.  THL Credit also announced the additions of Michelle Handy, Eric Lee and Will Karim.

“Having recently grown the THL Credit platform to over $8 billion in assets under management, we are continually focused on building a deep and talented team to support our growing breadth of product offerings,” said Sam Tillinghast, Co-CEO of THL Credit.  “We are expanding our bench of leaders working across both our Direct Lending and Tradable Credit strategies to discover synergies, leverage best practices and drive strong returns for our investors.  Jim Fellows’ extensive experience of over twenty-eight years investing in leveraged credit will strengthen the oversight of investment decisions across the entire platform.”

Jim Fellows, who is based in Chicago, currently serves as Co-Head of THL Credit’s Tradable Credit strategy and is a member of both the Direct Lending and Tradable Credit Investment Committees.  Mr. Fellows joined THL Credit in 2012 in connection with the Company’s acquisition of McDonnell Investment Management, LLC, where he was Co-Head of the Alternative Credit Strategies Group.

Chris Flynn, Co-CEO of THL Credit said, “The promotions of Monty and Howard to Co-Heads of Direct Lending recognize their strong leadership and valuable contributions to our Direct Lending strategy and to establishing our presence as a premier capital provider in the lower middle market.”

Monty Cook is a Managing Director in THL Credit’s New York office and a member of the Direct Lending Investment Committee.  Mr. Cook joined THL Credit in 2013 and leads the Business & Financial Services vertical.  Howard Wu is a Managing Director in THL Credit’s Los Angeles office and a member of the Direct Lending Investment Committee.  Mr. Wu joined THL Credit at its outset in 2007 and leads the Consumer & Healthcare vertical. 

THL Credit also announced the following additions:

Michelle Handy joins THL Credit as a Managing Director in the Boston office, where she is responsible for portfolio monitoring of all Direct Lending investments.  Previously, Ms. Handy worked at GE Capital, where she held several roles in underwriting, portfolio management and workouts.  Most recently, Ms. Handy was Chief Operating Officer of GE Capital Americas’ workout function.

Eric Lee joins THL Credit as a Director in the New York office, where he is responsible for originating, evaluating and executing new investment opportunities and for managing portfolio investments for THL Credit's Direct Lending strategy.  Previously, Mr. Lee held various roles within Credit Suisse in their Corporate Credit Solutions Group and Investment Banking Division. 

Will Karim joins THL Credit in the Boston office as Senior Counsel and a Director responsible for structuring, negotiation and review of investment opportunities in addition to corporate matters.  Previously, Mr. Karim served as legal counsel at Keurig Green Mountain, Inc., where he worked on a variety of commercial and corporate lending matters, and as an Associate in the Private Credit Group of Proskauer Rose LLP and the Banking & Finance practice of Mayer Brown LLP.

About THL Credit Advisors LLC

THL Credit is an alternative credit investment manager for both direct lending and broadly syndicated investments through public and private vehicles, collateralized loan obligations, separately managed accounts and co-mingled funds.  THL Credit maintains a variety of advisory and sub-advisory relationships across its investment platforms, including THL Credit, Inc. (Nasdaq:TCRD), a publicly traded business development company, and THL Credit Senior Loan Fund (NYSE:TSLF), a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company. 

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements made in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect various assumptions by the Company concerning anticipated results and are not guarantees of future performance. The accuracy of such statements involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that, in some ways, are beyond management’s control, including the factors described from time to time in filings by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made herein. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release.

Investor Contact:
THL Credit Advisors LLC 
Lauren Vieira
617-790-6070

Media Contact:
Sard Verbinnen & Co
Matthew Benson
212-687-8080