Kyle Asher

Managing Director, Head of Underwriting & Structuring Opportunistic Credit Group, Monroe Capital LLC

40 Under 40 Category: Underwriting

Biography:

Kyle Asher is a managing director and head of underwriting and structuring for Monroe Capital’s Opportunistic Private Credit investment vehicles. He is a key member of this business and also sits on its investment committee. Kyle is responsible for deal origination, structuring, and portfolio management, as well as managing the underwriting team. He has 10 years of investment experience and has led the underwriting of over $2 billion of debt and equity transactions, across a variety of opportunistic private credit investments. Prior to Monroe, Kyle was an Analyst with Chicago-based Calder Capital Partners, a direct and fund-of-funds private equity firm partly owned by Goldman Sachs and Ares Capital (formerly Allied Capital), where he performed due diligence on various direct and fund-of-fund investments, sourced transactions and assisted in capital raising. Kyle began his career as an Equity Analyst for MindShare Capital, an institutional money manager where he focused on the valuation and trading patterns of small-cap growth companies. He received his B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science and his M.B.A. in Finance and International Business from Northwestern University.

What is the best professional advice you have been given and how have you implemented it?

“Always think forward.”  Sometimes, when you are working in your job every day (which can be 12-14 hours-plus in commercial finance), you can get absorbed in the task in front of you. When aspects of their job become somewhat routine, many grow complacent and sometimes grow too comfortable.  This can be dangerous, given the pace at which the world changes and the pace at which capital flows into new asset classes. Comfortability can be the enemy of progress and innovation. That said, it is always important to leave time to reflect backwards and think forward, especially at a time when many others are not. For me, I tend to generate my best ideas when I allow myself some space and time to think; this does not necessarily mean extended time out of the office; it means allowing some time during the day (or evening) to reflect. This has resulted in constantly finding new areas to invest capital, new companies to interact with and new ways to structure transactions.  This has allowed me to help close several billion dollars of unique transactions over the last ten years at Monroe Capital. In particular, we have been making opportunistic debt investments for many years at Monroe Capital, but we recently formalized the Monroe Capital Opportunistic Group into a separate business line with a dedicated team of quality employees and partners. 

How would you define what a good leader is, and what can you do to reflect those characteristics as you progress in your career?

Key tenets of leadership include: providing guidance, structure, strategic planning and resources to one’s team.  At its core, however, leadership is about responsibility for one’s team and putting the team and the underlying goals first.  The most effective way to do that is to lead by example and that is how I try to lead my team.  This is especially important when managing more junior folks that are often in the process of forming work habits.

What advice do you normally give to the junior talent you mentor/what advice would you give to forthcoming generation of talent aspiring to win this award?

Consistency is key.  Mentors are important, being around people who are successful will serve you well.  Being around negative people won’t do you much good.  The world is moving increasingly fast: keep learning, keep thinking and keep striving.

When interviewing junior talent, what do you say to pique their interest on why they should accept a position in this industry?

When I interview talent for roles at Monroe Capital’s Opportunistic Credit Group, I always talk about the growth of the firm and the hierarchical flatness of our platform.  Both of these elements have become increasingly attractive to the younger generation.  People typically want to help build something and be an integral part of something that is new or is growing rapidly. And in the commercial finance industry there are myriad of such opportunities. I think that we will see a lot more automation and innovation in the industry in the coming years, which I think is an exciting change for the younger generation.