Ex-JPMorgan infrastructure group CEO joins small New York private equity firm

The former CEO of J.P. Morgan's infrastructure investment group, Mark Weisdorf, has just signed up to a lower-middle-market private equity firm Star Mountain Capital after two years running his own company.

Weisdorf has just joined as a strategic investor and senior advisor at the New York-based PE firm. He will "assist the team with institutional relationships and fundraising, deal flow," he told us.

“I expect to provide advice and assistance wherever needed,” he said. “In general, I see the incoming [Trump] administration’s stated intentions as particularly supportive of small businesses focused on the domestic U.S. market.”

Weisdorf has held senior roles across both investment banking and asset management. In 1996, he joined HSBC as deputy CEO and head of investment banking and equity capital markets for Canada. He went on to become the head of private markets at the $250bn Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). During his time there, he co-founded the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) for private equity professionals.

Moving from Toronto to New York, Weisdorf became managing director, global CIO and CEO of the infrastructure investments group at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

“My role was to design the strategy, educate investors on it – infrastructure investing was new to most U.S. institutional investors in 2005 – build the team and support the team members whose tasks were to raise the money, find and do due diligence on appropriate investment opportunities, invest in appropriate opportunities, set strategy and support management teams in executing on strategy to reduce risk, grow their businesses and create value for investors,” Weisdorf said.

After close to a decade in that role, Weisdorf left the bank to start his own strategic consulting and advisory firm, Mark Weisdorf Associates, whose clients are institutional investors and investment management firms, primarily those with private equity investment platforms.

“People may not know it, but in my career, I’ve always had the luxury of moving back and forth between large and small organizations, clients and markets,” Weisdorf said. “I like the creative, entrepreneurial environment and growth involved in the lower middle market, so I’ve worked in the lower middle market at places like HSBC Capital and Midland Walwyn in Canada."

[caption id="attachment_268609" align="alignnone" width="300"] Mark Weisdorf of Star Mountain Capital[/caption]

Lead photo credit: a_Taiga/GettyImages; photo of Weisdorf courtesy of Star Mountain Capital