DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Beneficient Company Group, L.P. (“Ben”), which empowers investors with new liquidity options for their alternative asset portfolios, announced today that James Silk will join the company as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. This is a newly created senior leadership position located at Ben’s headquarters in Dallas and reporting to Ben Chairman and CEO Brad Heppner. A senior counselor with more than 20 years’ experience in the asset management space, Mr. Silk will be responsible for leading certain operational, compliance and tax functions within Ben in addition to his role overseeing Ben’s General Counsel and legal team.
“I am delighted to welcome James to Ben. He is one of the most well-respected and experienced attorneys in the alternative assets space and his appointment fills a vital role within our leadership team,” said Mr. Heppner. “James is joining Ben at an important and exciting time, as we embark upon our next phase of growth in serving the rapidly growing universe of owners of alternative assets and removing many of the traditional barriers to liquidity faced by these investors. Our goal is to offer these investors liquidity when it’s needed, when it’s wanted and when it makes financial sense, and I am confident that James will be a driving force in helping us achieve it.”
Mr. Silk joins Ben from Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, where he was a Partner in the Asset Management Group in Washington D.C. During his career, he has advised clients on a variety of transactional and regulatory matters across the alternative asset space and has extensive experience consulting on investment advisor launches, registrations, operational issues and dozens of successful asset management M&A transactions. Mr. Silk has also counseled many of the industry’s largest and most recognizable public and private asset management firms – including Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Ares Capital, KKR, Brookfield, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley – on a wide variety of legal, compliance and regulatory issues.
“I am thrilled to be joining Ben at such an exciting time for the company,” said Mr. Silk. “Through my work with the company to date, it is clear Ben is building a unique and vital new market that will create liquidity in alternative assets for individual and small-to-mid-sized institutional investors like never before. I am looking forward to working with Brad and the Ben team as we continue to innovate in the alternative asset space.”
About The Beneficient Company Group, L.P.
The Beneficient Company Group, L.P. (“Ben”) is a first mover in the growing and largely untapped market of investors seeking liquidity from alternative assets, such as private equity, private debt, real estate, natural resources and other professionally managed alternative investments. Ben provides private trust solutions – including a unique suite of lending and liquidity products – to bring liquidity to owners of alternative assets while acting as principal and utilizing its own balance sheet. Ben’s innovative liquidity solutions are designed to serve individuals, small-to-mid-sized institutional investors and asset managers who have historically possessed few attractive options to access early liquidity from their alternative assets. In addition to liquidity offerings, Ben offers a variety of related services including custody and clearing of alternative assets, fund and trust administration, retirement funds and insurance services for covering risks attendant to owning or managing alternative assets. For more information, visit www.trustben.com.
