NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 7, 2025--
Star Mountain Capital, LLC ("Star Mountain"), a rapidly growing, employee-owned investment firm with over $4 billion in assets under management (“AUM”), is pleased to announce that William J. Kelly has joined the firm as a Senior Advisor. Mr. Kelly will support Star Mountain’s mission by contributing to investor relations, portfolio governance, educational initiatives, and thought leadership as Star Mountain continues building its presence across the alternative investments ecosystem.
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Mr. Kelly brings more than four decades of executive leadership experience in asset management, financial governance, and professional education within the alternative investment industry.
“Bill is a respected voice in the industry with a career focused on raising standards and improving outcomes for investors,” said Brett Hickey, Founder & CEO of Star Mountain Capital. “His experience in growing mission-driven organizations and advancing best practices across the alternative investments space will bring meaningful insights to our firm and stakeholders.”
As the Founder and Managing Member of Educational Alpha, LLC, Mr. Kelly currently writes, speaks, and podcasts on investor education, transparency, and democratized access to differentiated risk premia. Through this platform, he remains a leading voice in shaping thought leadership and elevating standards across alternative investing.
From 2014 to 2024, Mr. Kelly served as CEO of the CAIA Association, the global professional body for the alternative investment industry. Under his leadership, CAIA significantly expanded its global reach while advocating for stronger fiduciary standards, educational rigor, and ethical conduct across the industry.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Kelly was the CEO of Boston Partners, a $107 billion AUM investment firm, and one of seven founding partners of its predecessor firm. Before its majority acquisition by Robeco Group (Rotterdam) in 2002, Boston Partners was a respected employee-owned firm with a disciplined approach to asset management. Mr. Kelly began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), earning his CPA designation (inactive).
He also currently serves as Chairman and Lead Independent Director of the Boston Partners Trust Company and as Independent Director and Audit Committee Chair of the Artisan Partners Funds, where he is designated as an SEC Audit Committee Financial Expert. Additionally, he sits on the Advisory Board Member of the Certified Investment Fund Director Institute (IOB Dublin), where he supports professional excellence among independent directors.
“Star Mountain is a mission-driven firm, built on values that mirror my own including integrity, education, and long-term alignment with stakeholders,” said Mr. Kelly. “I am excited to support the continued growth of this exceptional team and platform.”
Mr. Kelly earned a B.B.A. in Accounting from Iona University.
About Star Mountain Capital
With over $4 billion in AUM (committed capital including debt facilities as of 7/31/2025), Star Mountain specializes in providing scalable and data-driven investment solutions across two core strategies:
Star Mountain’s investors include public and private pensions, insurance companies, commercial banks, endowments, foundations, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals. Employee-owned and sharing profits with 100% of its U.S. full-time employees, the firm prioritizes alignment of interests to maximize value for stakeholders.
Since 2010, Star Mountain has completed over 300 direct investments and 50 secondary/fund investments in the North American lower middle-market. The firm has been recognized as one of the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private companies and a Best Place to Work by Crain’s New York Business and Pensions & Investments.
For more information, visit www.starmountaincapital.com.
Legal Disclaimer:
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase interests in any investment product. Awards and recognitions by third-party rating agencies, companies, or publications should not be interpreted as a guarantee of future results or performance. They should not be considered as an endorsement, recommendation, or referral of Star Mountain Capital or its representatives by any client or third party. Rankings published by media and industry organizations are based on information provided by the recognized advisor. Additionally, readers should understand that past performance is not indicative of future results. Award descriptions and selection methodologies may vary.
Awards and Recognition Disclosure:
Star Mountain Capital's awards and recognitions are based on third-party evaluations and criteria, which may be subjective. These honors do not imply a guarantee of future performance or an endorsement by current or past clients.
Ranking Methodologies:
William J. Kelly joins Star Mountain as a Senior Advisor.
MADRID (AP) — Venezuelans living in Spain are watching the events unfold back home with a mix of awe, joy and fear.
Some 600,000 Venezuelans live in Spain, home to the largest population anywhere outside the Americas. Many fled political persecution and violence but also the country’s collapsing economy.
A majority live in the capital, Madrid, working in hospitals, restaurants, cafes, nursing homes and elsewhere. While some Venezuelan migrants have established deep roots and lives in the Iberian nation, others have just arrived.
Here is what three of them had to say about the future of Venezuela since U.S. forces deposed Nicolás Maduro.
David Vallenilla woke up to text messages from a cousin on Jan. 3 informing him “that they invaded Venezuela.” The 65-year-old from Caracas lives alone in a tidy apartment in the south of Madrid with two Daschunds and a handful of birds. He was in disbelief.
“In that moment, I wanted certainty,” Vallenilla said, “certainty about what they were telling me.”
In June 2017, Vallenilla’s son, a 22-year-old nursing student in Caracas named David José, was shot point-blank by a Venezuelan soldier after taking part in a protest near a military air base in the capital. He later died from his injuries. Video footage of the incident was widely publicized, turning his son’s death into an emblematic case of the Maduro government’s repression against protesters that year.
After demanding answers for his son’s death, Vallenilla, too, started receiving threats and decided two years later to move to Spain with the help of a nongovernmental organization.
On the day of Maduro’s capture, Vallenilla said his phone was flooded with messages about his son.
“Many told me, ‘Now David will be resting in peace. David must be happy in heaven,’” he said. “But don't think it was easy: I spent the whole day crying.”
Vallenilla is watching the events in Venezuela unfold with skepticism but also hope. He fears more violence, but says he has hope the Trump administration can effect the change that Venezuelans like his son tried to obtain through elections, popular protests and international institutions.
“Nothing will bring back my son. But the fact that some justice has begun to be served for those responsible helps me see a light at the end of the tunnel. Besides, I also hope for a free Venezuela.”
Journalist Carleth Morales first came to Madrid a quarter-century ago when Hugo Chávez was reelected as Venezuela's president in 2000 under a new constitution.
The 54-year-old wanted to study and return home, taking a break of sorts in Madrid as she sensed a political and economic environment that was growing more and more challenging.
“I left with the intention of getting more qualified, of studying, and of returning because I understood that the country was going through a process of adaptation between what we had known before and, well, Chávez and his new policies," Morales said. "But I had no idea that we were going to reach the point we did.”
In 2015, Morales founded an organization of Venezuelan journalists in Spain, which today has hundreds of members.
The morning U.S. forces captured Maduro, Morales said she woke up to a barrage of missed calls from friends and family in Venezuela.
“Of course, we hope to recover a democratic country, a free country, a country where human rights are respected,” Morales said. “But it’s difficult to think that as a Venezuelan when we’ve lived through so many things and suffered so much.”
Morales sees it as unlikely that she would return home, having spent more than two decades in Spain, but she said she hopes her daughters can one day view Venezuela as a viable option.
“I once heard a colleague say, ‘I work for Venezuela so that my children will see it as a life opportunity.’ And I adopted that phrase as my own. So perhaps in a few years it won’t be me who enjoys a democratic Venezuela, but my daughters.”
For two weeks, Verónica Noya has waited for her phone to ring with the news that her husband and brother have been freed.
Noya’s husband, Venezuelan army Capt. Antonio Sequea, was imprisoned in 2020 after having taken part in a military incursion to oust Maduro. She said he remains in solitary confinement in the El Rodeo prison in Caracas. For 20 months, Noya has been unable to communicate with him or her brother, who was also arrested for taking part in the same plot.
“That’s when my nightmare began,” Noya said.
Venezuelan authorities have said hundreds of political prisoners have been released since Maduro's capture, while rights groups have said the real number is a fraction of that. Noya has waited in agony to hear anything about her four relatives, including her husband's mother, who remain imprisoned.
Meanwhile, she has struggled with what to tell her children when they ask about their father's whereabouts. They left Venezuela scrambling and decided to come to Spain because family roots in the country meant that Noya already had a Spanish passport.
Still, she hopes to return to her country.
“I’m Venezuelan above all else,” Noya said. “And I dream of seeing a newly democratic country."
Venezuelan journalist Caleth Morales works in her apartment's kitchen in Madrid, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
David Vallenilla, father of the late David José Vallenilla Luis, sits in his apartment's kitchen in Madrid, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Veronica Noya holds a picture of her husband Antonio Sequea in Madrid, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
David Vallenilla holds a picture of deposed President Nicolas Maduro, blindfolded and handcuffed, during an interview with The Associated Press at his home in Madrid, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Pictures of the late David José Vallenilla Luis are placed in the living room of his father, David José Vallenilla, in Madrid, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
