Mesirow expands Alternative Credit team with three strategic hires
- Investment in team follows Mesirow’s December 2024 acquisition of Bastion Management, now operating as Mesirow Alternative Credit.
- New hires bring deep expertise in asset-backed specialty finance, deal origination, structuring, strategic partnerships and client relationship management.
- Mesirow continues to expand its differentiated alternative investment solutions for institutional and high-net-worth investors.
CHICAGO, March 24, 2025 – Mesirow, an independent, employee-owned financial services firm, is pleased to announce the expansion of its Alternative Credit team with three strategic hires. This growth reinforces Mesirow’s commitment to providing institutional and high-net-worth investors with an increasing number of differentiated alternative investment offerings.
The new hires follow Mesirow’s December 2024 acquisition of Bastion Management, a leading asset-backed lender now operating as Mesirow Alternative Credit:
- Nicholas Paidas joins as Director, Capital Markets and Sourcing, leading efforts in deal origination, structuring, and strategic partnerships. He brings extensive experience in capital markets, having previously held senior roles at Yieldstreet and Mission Capital Advisors, where he specialized in Private Credit and Specialty Finance structuring, underwriting, and originations.
- Servia Rindfleish has been appointed Client Portfolio Manager, leveraging 14 years of investment management experience. In this role, she will drive business development efforts, focusing on building and strengthening partnerships with existing and prospective clients, LPs, consultants and other investor classes.
- Bryce Labonski joins as Associate, Asset Management, bringing expertise in portfolio monitoring and unit economic modeling.
“We are pleased to welcome Nicholas, Servia and Bryce to the team,” said Jay Braden, CEO and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Mesirow Alternative Credit. “We look forward to their contributions as we continue to offer clients strong return potential and top-tier client service.”
Since its inception in 2013, the Alternative Credit team has successfully closed over 50 transactions, committing more than $2 billion to both traditional consumer lending platforms and emerging fintech companies. Under the leadership of Jay Braden; Tim Joyce, Co-Chief Investment Officer; and Tim Reimink, Head of Asset Management, the Alternative Credit team will continue to provide creative solutions to small and mid-sized businesses in the alternative finance space across North America and the UK.
Beyond Alternative Credit, Mesirow remains focused on its established Private Capital and Currency platform, which includes Mesirow Currency Management, Mesirow Private Equity and Mesirow Institutional Real Estate Direct Investments. Additionally, the firm continues to grow its wealth management, fiduciary services, and capital markets/investment banking offerings.
As of December 31, 2024, Mesirow had $306.2B in total assets under supervision.1
About Mesirow
Mesirow is an independent, employee-owned financial services firm founded in 1937. Headquartered in Chicago, with offices around the world, we serve clients through a personal, custom approach to reaching financial goals and acting as a force for social good. With capabilities spanning Global Investment Management, Capital Markets & Investment Banking, and Advisory Services, we invest in what matters: our clients, our communities and our culture. To learn more, visit mesirow.com, follow us on LinkedIn and subscribe to Spark, our quarterly newsletter.
Mesirow has been named one of the Best Places to Work in Chicago by Crain’s Chicago Business multiple times and is one of Barron’s Top 100 RIA firms.
Mesirow refers to Mesirow Financial Holdings, Inc. and its divisions, subsidiaries and affiliates. The Mesirow name and logo are registered service marks of Mesirow Financial Holdings, Inc., © 2025, Mesirow Financial Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved. Investment management services provided through Mesirow Financial Investment Management, Inc., Mesirow Institutional Investment Management, Inc. and Mesirow Financial Private Equity Advisors, Inc., all SEC-registered investment advisor, a CFTC registered commodity trading advisors and member of the NFA, or Mesirow Financial International UK, Ltd. (“MFIUK”), authorized and regulated by the FCA, depending on the jurisdiction.
As of 12.31.2024 unless otherwise noted. | 1. “Assets under supervision” includes regulatory assets under management; assets under advisement; and non-securities currency assets under management. For these purposes: (1) regulatory assets under management (“RAUM”) is calculated in accordance with Instruction 5A of Form ADV and includes all assets of securities portfolios (both discretionary and non-discretionary). (2) Some assets under advisement (“AUA”) are on a 45-to-90-day lag due to time needed to confirm away assets. (3) Currency assets under management includes AUM associated with (i) active and passive currency risk management products $175.23 billion, (ii) non-fx overlay strategies such as equitization and beta overlays $885.03 million, and (iii) alpha strategies $1.57 billion. In all such cases, AUM is calculated based on notional value of currency investments. Additionally, AUM for alpha strategies is adjusted because clients can select a volatility target (generally between 2% and 12% annualized), which is normalized to 2% in order to create a consistent depiction of alpha strategy AUM. This results in a “scaled” AUM, which is higher than the actual aggregate notional value of all alpha strategy portfolios if clients have selected a volatility target higher than 2%. As of 12.31.2024, the “unscaled” AUM for alpha strategies was $365.38 million.