Ms. Stark has over 30 years of experience in finance. She is the managing member and owner of CICS, LLC that she established in 2003 to provide independent directors for all types of special purpose vehicles, including bankruptcy remote companies and the co issuer for CLO’s. Over the past 17 years, Ms. Stark has served as a director for more than 500 entities.
From 2001 to 2007, Ms. Stark concurrently served as a principal and co-founder of Water Tower Capital, LLC (“WTC”), a Chicago based investment advisory firm and president of CICS. While at Water Tower Capital, Ms. Stark led the marketing team for the WTC distressed debt fund and controlled the company operations. From 1994 to 1996 she was a vice president in fixed income research at Duff & Phelps (now known as Fitch) where she covered high yield bonds in the retail industry. From 1991 to 1994, Ms. Stark was vice president, special investments at PPM America, Inc. and actively participated in maximizing the investment values of distressed securities through restructuring companies in and out of bankruptcy. From 1990 to 1991, Ms. Stark was a senior loan credit analyst with Dai Ichi Kangyo Bank in Los Angeles and from 1986 to 1990 she was a leveraged buyout financial analyst with Citicorp Venture Capital Ltd. in New York.
Melissa Stark is a 1985 graduate of the University of Michigan with a BS in Biology. In 1990 she received an MBA in Finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business.