Private Equity Career News caught up last month with Mary Strother, managing director of OnCor Capital, a Stamford, Connecticut-based placement agency. Strother met the managing partner of OnCor Capital, Gus Long, while she was director of investor relations at venture firm Athenian Venture Partners. His firm at the time, Fort Washington Capital Partners, was a limited partner.
How did you get into private equity? I started my career working as an analyst on traditional fixed income and equity portfolios at JPMorgan Chase. I wrote a piece on investing in an oil-bust economy for a writing contest. That got me noticed by the marketing side of the bank, and I ended up switching to sales and becoming pretty darned good at it. I also volunteered my time at a startup business incubator—camping out there, getting people coffee, soaking in that world. I was excited by the IPOs and the lingo and decided I wanted more exposure to alternatives. After four years I had the opportunity to move to the Ohio University Endowment as an investment officer. They were just breaking into alternatives and I had the privilege of working with venture capital managers and lower-middle-market buyout fund managers. One of the firms I got to know well was a life sciences and IT specialist, Athenian Venture Partners. I eventually pitched them on the idea of hiring me as an internal marketing and IR person.
What was your first experience in IR like at Athenian? I was part of a 10-person team. The firm was on fund three, so they already had a PPM and subscription documents in place. But I had a lot of responsibility and an opportunity to make improvements. I introduced a regular electronic newsletter for both investors and prospective investors. I retooled the annual meeting, which we held ever January in Columbus. When I arrived it wasn’t being used as a marketing tool at all; it was just the managing partner providing an update, along with a CEO or two. I gave speaking parts to all of the partners in their areas of expertise. I created a packet for LPs with an agenda and list of attendees so that they could use it as a networking event.
How did that lead to getting into the placement business? I was spending about 25 percent of my time in Manhattan because we had portfolio companies and LPs on the East Coast. I was getting to know a lot of the local fundraisers and marketers in private equity and hedge funds. When three or four people left Deutsche Bank to form a new placement agent called Snowbridge Advisors they asked me to join.
What do you like least and most about the placement business today? It’s a very crowded marketplace. I am very sensitive to investors getting inundated day in and day out with solicitation emails and phone calls. I’m pretty good at not being annoying. But it’s frustrating when you don’t get a response. What I like most is the diversity of asset classes I get to work in. It really appeals to me that we can raise a variety of funds, from venture funds to credit funds to real estate to private equity, which is my preferred asset class. I’m kind of a diversity fanatic. It’s also rewarding to work closely with the GPs and to give them advice, such as to develop a succession plan for the founding partners before approaching LPs.
What kind of training and qualities is it important to have in fundraising? I feel as though having an outgoing personality and good presentation skills were once enough to get you on the road to marketing and IR. Today you really need quantitative and analytical skills as well. It helps to have a background working as an analyst with an investment bank. If you’re responsible for assembling a marketing deck for the road show, you’re not going to want to run to the CFO. You really need know how the cash flows stack up and need to be familiar with the numbers. Why are the net returns higher or lower in any given year? Why are the management fees calculated differently this year? Today you have to have a broader skillset.
Edited for clarity