Tom McHale is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Gritstone Asset Management and is based in Bethesda, Maryland.

Prior to co-founding Gritstone, Mr. McHale served as an Executive Vice President and Senior Managing Director at American Capital, a publicly traded alternative investment manager.  Mr. McHale joined American Capital in 1998 and worked with the company through its ultimate sale in 2017.   

When Mr. McHale joined American Capital, the company managed $151 million in assets, principally focused on private equity and debt investments in middle-market companies.  During his tenure at the company, Mr. McHale developed the firm’s capital markets team and was instrumental in expanding the firm’s capital resources and establishing new businesses, most significantly its asset management platform.  These efforts included:

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• $3.8 Billion Securitization Platform - Launching the first securitization of middle market subordinate debt, which ultimately led to a dedicated securitization platform

• $9.4 Billion Syndication Platform - Establishing a dedicated middle-market loan syndication platform, which ultimately syndicated more than $9 billion across 120 transactions

• $4 Billion CLO Investment & Management Platform – Initially leading the firm's investments in structured products which ultimately led to the establishment of a dedicated CLO management and investment platform

In 2006, American Capital launched a dedicated initiative to significantly expand the firm’s third-party asset management platform.  Related to this effort, Mr. Skibo and Mr. Cressall, the other founders of Gritstone, joined American Capital’s capital markets group in 2006 and 2007 respectively, under the leadership of Mr. McHale.  Together, the co-founders of Gritstone worked together for nearly a decade building the company’s asset management platform.

During his tenure at American Capital, Mr. McHale led over 120 capital markets transactions, raising over $40 billion of capital.  In addition to his capital markets roles, Mr. McHale served as a member of several investment committees at American Capital and led investments totaling more than $1 billion of capital commitments. 

American Capital was acquired by Ares Capital Corporation in 2017. Prior to its sale, American Capital was a leading alternative asset manager, with $77 billion in assets under management generating $152 million in related annual revenue.  Following the sale of American Capital, Mr. McHale joined Ares Management, a global alternative asset manager with $106 billion in assets under management.  Mr. McHale served as a Managing Director at Ares.

Before joining American Capital, Mr. McHale was the Controller for Silver Diner, a publicly traded restaurant company.  He started his career at PriceWaterhouse where he worked as a staff auditor and CPA.  

Mr. McHale holds a B.S. from Georgetown University in Business Administration in Accounting and Management.

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