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Seeking Outperformance
The firm was purpose-built to seek long-term outperformance — for our investors and our entrepreneur partners. We achieve results through deep domain expertise and alignment with our investors. We commit substantial capital to our funds and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our investors and partners.
Our approach encourages collaboration, engagement, creativity, and discipline — prerequisites to investment results. As demonstrated by the consistent top quartile returns of our funds, this approach has been highly successful and we believe it is sustainable.
Foundation for Success
Investment success is built upon culture, character, and expertise
COLLABORATIVE CULTURE
A culture of collaboration and respect guides the Clarion team, our engagement with market participants, our shared efforts with investee companies, and our interactions with investors.
DEEP DOMAIN EXPERTISE
We provide deep expertise and decades of experience across the credit ecosystem. We have honed our skills across challenging and favorable market environments.
FOCUS & LEADERSHIP
The members of our credit team are long-time leaders in their specialties. We combine careful origination, insightful analysis, opportunistic trading, thoughtful portfolio construction, and creativity to credit investing.
FLEXIBILITY & VERSATILITY
Our broad skills in private credit, private equity, and across the capital markets enable us to identify opportunities, implement strategies, and manage diverse risks.
Our Expertise
PPLI/PPVA
Building wealth with private placement life insurance
IDFs
Access alternatives with insurance dedicated funds
CLO Equity
Compound your returns with collateralized loan obligations
Approved on Leading Insurance Carriers
Meet Our Team
Marc Utay
Managing Partner
Robert Klein
President & CIO - Structured Credit
Ho Hong Lau
Principal - Structured Credit
Doug Mellinger
Managing Director & Head of Marketing
Hubert Kang
Controller
Marc Utay
Managing Partner
Marc founded Clarion in 1999 and provides the firm’s strategic vision and leadership.
Marc was previously a Managing Director and Co-Head of the MET Group, the Leveraged Finance Group, and the Retail Group at Wasserstein Perella & Co. In addition, he has held senior positions at BT Securities, Kent Capital Partners, and Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. Marc serves on the board of directors at V10 Entertainment, Ad.Net, Premiere Digital and OpenRoad Lending. Marc previously served on the board of directors at Madison Logic, SQAD, Lenox Holdings, Moravia, Ametros, Cross Mediaworks, Crowe Paradis Servicing Corporation, Great Northwest Insurance Company, Hartmann, Reliant, Strategic Outsourcing Inc., and Oceanaire.
Marc graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a BSE in 1980 and an MBA in 1981.
Robert Klein
President & CIO - Structured Credit
Robert leads Clarion’s Structured Credit group.
Robert has over 30 years of experience in investment banking, credit portfolio management, and structured finance. He previously was Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of Structured Credit Funds at CIFC LLC, a leading CLO manager. Prior to CIFC, Robert was lead portfolio manager at Prospect Capital where he led the firm’s CLO investments, building CLO AUM at two registered vehicles that grew to $1.5 billion in investments. Robert also worked at American Capital, Ltd. where he was a Managing Director and led the New York private equity and financial sponsor lending teams, leading numerous debt and equity investments. He worked at American Securities and American Industrial Partners, both active middle-market private equity firms. Robert began his career in the Mergers and Acquisitions groups at First Boston and Morgan Stanley.
He holds a JD with Distinction from Stanford Law School and a BA summa cum laude from Yale College where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He has been admitted to the California bar (inactive status). He serves on the Committee for Ancient and Byzantine Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. He is a past Professional Fellow of the New York University Center for Law and Business.
Ho Hong Lau
Principal - Structured Credit
Ho Hong is responsible for Clarion’s Structured Credit investment process.
Ho Hong joined Clarion in 2019 as an Associate. Prior to joining Clarion, Ho Hong began his career at CIFC Asset Management LLC in 2013, where he worked in the Structured Credit and Corporate Finance teams. Within these teams at CIFC, Ho Hong contributed to CLO tranche investing and trading activities, portfolio monitoring and investor reporting, and management of CIFC’s CLO business and reporting. Ho Hong holds a M.S. in Finance from the Ohio State University and a B.A. in Economics and History from Franklin & Marshall College.
Doug Mellinger
Managing Director & Head of Marketing
Doug is responsible for Clarion’s sourcing and investor relations.
Doug joined the firm in 2013 from Palm Ventures where he was a Managing Director. An avid entrepreneur, Doug is a founder of numerous groups and organizations including Foundation Source, the nation’s leading provider of outsourced services for private foundations and Enherent, a global software development company. He graduated from Syracuse University where he created his own degree in Entrepreneurship and afterward founded the Young Entrepreneurs Organization. He is a longtime member of Young President’s Organization.
.Hubert Kang
Controller
Hubert Kang has 19 years of professional experience in structured finance and tax. Prior to joining Clarion as Controller for Structured Credit, Hubert worked as a controller at Torchlight Investors, LLC, where he worked extensively on funds investing in structured finance products and real estate related debt investments. His previous professional experience includes high net worth tax compliance and planning, as well as private equity tax compliance.
Hubert is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of California and holds an MBA and an MS from Northeastern University and a BA from Columbia University.