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Clarus Capital's Co-Founder and Chairman is veteran financial executive and entrepreneur Tim Conway. Clarus' formation comes on the heels of Tim having founded and led NewStar Financial from its inception in 2004 until its sale to First Eagle Investment Management in 2017. In his roles as Chairman of the Board and member of the Investment and Funding Committees, Tim's leadership experience, credit track record, relationships, and knowledge of the private equity and capital markets continue to be integral to Clarus' success. In addition to his roles with Clarus, Tim is also an Operating Partner with Clarus' lead investor, BharCap Partners.
After earning his MBA while working in various positions for the State of Connecticut, Tim began his career in finance in the Bond Investment Department of Aetna Life and Casualty, where he was responsible for investing Aetna's portfolios in the alternative, private credit markets. Tim joined Citigroup in New York in 1987 where he spent more than 10 years as a Managing Director and Senior Securities Officer. At Citigroup, Tim ran the firm's Private Placement, Global Loan Syndications and Acquisition Finance businesses and was a member of the High Yield Credit Committee. Tim was recruited to join Fleet Financial Group in Boston in 1997 where he led the repositioning and build-out of Fleet's Corporate Finance and Capital Markets businesses at a time when Fleet emerged as a national presence in a variety of lending and capital raising disciplines. During his tenure at Fleet, Tim ran Corporate Finance, Capital Markets, Industry Banking, Loan Syndications, Real Estate Capital Markets, Acquisition Finance, Asset Based Lending, Asset Securitization and other businesses. He was a member of the bank's Management and Credit Policy Committees.
Tim left FleetBoston in 2002 and began working on the creation of an independent commercial finance company. NewStar Financial was established in 2004 with the backing of seven institutional investors. NewStar went public in 2006 and was sold to First Eagle Investment Management in 2017. When Tim retired from the company in 2020, NewStar had become one of the most active middle market lending platforms in the country. Over the years, NewStar underwrote more than $15 billion in credit for domestic middle market companies, executed more than 25 asset securitizations and grew Assets Under Management to nearly $8 billion. NewStar also built successful Asset Based Lending and Equipment Finance businesses. The Equipment Finance business, which was managed by Steve O'Leary, was sold to a regional bank in 2016. When Tim retired from NewStar, he and Steve began discussions to establish Clarus Capital with a strategy based on reuniting an experienced, cohesive equipment finance team with strong NewStar roots.
Tim is a graduate of Fairfield University and the University of Connecticut. He and his wife, Kathryn, have three children. They live in Boston and spend summers in Rhode Island. Tim has been actively involved in a variety of not-for-profit activities and enjoys many longstanding friendships and relationships throughout the finance community.