Former CIO of $35 Billion AUM Public Pension Plan, ERS of Texas, Tom Tull Joins Star Mountain Capital as a Senior Advisor

Star Mountain Capital, LLC, a specialized investment manager, with approximately $2.5 billion in assets under management, focused exclusively on investing in established, private small and medium-sized North American businesses (lower middle-market), is pleased to announce that Tom Tull has joined as a Senior Advisor. Star Mountain Senior Advisors / Operating Partners are aligned with Star Mountain’s full-time team and investors through sharing in carried interest and personal capital invested.

“I have had the privilege of knowing Tom for over 10 years so it is wonderful to be working with him now at Star Mountain”

“We are delighted to have another veteran senior executive with over 40 years of investment management, portfolio allocation, and manager selection experience broadening our value-add capabilities in helping grow established smaller businesses across the U.S.,” said Brett Hickey, Star Mountain Capital Founder & CEO. “Tom has deep and distinguished investment experience and insights which we believe will further add value to our team, our investors and the portfolio companies we invest in.”

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“I have had the privilege of knowing Tom for over 10 years so it is wonderful to be working with him now at Star Mountain,” said John Ide, Star Mountain Capital Managing Director.

“Star Mountain has built a distinctive business to address the challenges and opportunities of the lower middle-market, a less competitive market segment that has the potential to generate compelling absolute and risk-adjusted returns,” said Tom Tull, “I am delighted to be joining this high-quality firm that over the prior decade has built an experienced team nationwide with infrastructure to execute within this attractive but labor intensive and fragmented marketplace.”

Mr. Tull was most recently the Chief Investment Officer at the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) where he managed a ~$35 billion public pension plan that administers on behalf of employees and retirees of State of Texas employees. While at ERS, Mr. Tull was involved with over 200 completed investment transactions totaling $13 billion encompassing private equity, private credit, private real estate, global credit, hedge funds and special situations. He served in this capacity since 2009 and was responsible for all aspects of public and private markets investments including managing a team of approximately 80 staff members.

A sought-after speaker at investment industry events, Mr. Tull’s industry accolades include the CIO Industry Innovation award, Institutional Investor Public Funds CIO of the Year and AIF Institute Statewide Accredited Program Excellence award.

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Prior to joining ERS, Mr. Tull was the Founding Partner of Gulfstream Global Investors, an international equity management firm sold in 2001 to German state-backed financial institution WestLB.

Previously, Mr. Tull was a Director – Employee Benefit Fund Investments for The LTV Corporation and also served as President of Western Reserve Capital Management, Inc., the pension asset management subsidiary of The LTV Corporation. In this capacity, he was responsible for the investment of a $1.2 billion retirement trust.

Prior to joining LTV in February 1983, Mr. Tull served for seven years as Director – Pension Investments of The Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company. He managed an in-house pension fund, introduced international investing and other diversification policies and performed a variety of corporate duties including corporate acquisitions.

During his career, Mr. Tull also served a three-year term as a member of the National Adjudicatory Council of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). FINRA is the largest independent regulator of securities firms doing business in the United States.

Mr. Tull, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder, received a B.S. in Finance from The Ohio State University and an M.B.A. from Xavier University. Following his military service in both Korea and Vietnam with the U.S. Army, Mr. Tull’s investment career began in 1971.

Since 2010 through 2021, Star Mountain has made over 135 direct investments in U.S. small and medium-sized businesses and over 25 secondary / fund investments within its Collaborative Ecosystem®, exclusively focused on the North American lower middle-market. One of Star Mountain’s specialties is seeking current cash income and yield for investors that is materially above the typical yields found in the public markets through its distinctive origination, underwriting and value-added lending capabilities.

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