Oaktree Capital Management has built out its leadership team, the firm announced Monday, adding a CEO and dividing the chairman position into two roles.
The outgoing head of bailed-out insurer American International Group’s (AIG) retirement business will join Oaktree as a result of the reorganization. The alternatives firm named AIG executive Jay Wintrob as its first CEO, effective November 1.
Bruce Karsh, Oaktree’s president, will join his fellow co-founder Howard Marks as co-chairman of the firm—a position until now held by Marks alone.
Karsh will continue in his role as CIO, the distressed debt specialist confirmed.
“After nearly 20 years, including the last two and a half as a public company, Oaktree has expanded substantially in terms of assets, employees, breadth and complexity,” Marks said. “It’s time for us to turn to a world-class financial services executive to take our business to the next level.”
He continued to say he is “thrilled that Jay has agreed to take the helm, bringing to Oaktree his intimate familiarity” with the business and “vast experience managing large and complex financial services companies.”
Wintrob has served on Oaktree’s board of directors since 2011. His tenure at AIG and its predecessors stretches back to the 1980s. He announced his resignation last month after being passed over to replace the insurer’s retiring CEO. The job instead went to property and casualty division head Peter Hancock.
As CEO of Oaktree, Wintrob will take the lead on business management and development, the company said, as well as “helping the firm capitalize on its many growth opportunities.”
Oaktree’s assets under management totaled $91.1 billion at the end of June, the vast majority of which (77%) came directly from institutions.
Marks, Karsh, and Oaktree were among the most popular firms and investors cited by the young asset owners on this year’s Forty Under Forty.