Altamont Capital Partners, a private investment firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area, has hired Joe Zuk, previously of Orchid Underwriters, as an Operating Partner with a focus on insurance and insurance-service investments.
He most recently served as the Managing Director of Corporate Development and Strategy at Orchid, and prior to this, served as the President of the Commercial Division of Atlas General.
For the first ten years of his career in the industry, Zuk worked in reinsurance underwriting and broking.
Commenting on his new role, Zuk said: “I was particularly drawn both to Altamont’s deep commitment to investing in the insurance space, as well as their uniquely long-term orientation. I’m looking forward to bringing my many years of operational experience at underwriters and distributors into play both in vetting potential new investments and working with existing portfolio companies.”
Sam Gaynor, a Principal at Altamont, said: “With our existing investments in Accelerant Holdings, Embark General, Kuvare Holdings, and, pending regulatory approval, Topa Insurance Group, we have a broad franchise in insurance – across carriers and services entities, life and annuity, and property and casualty – that will undoubtedly benefit from Joe’s skillset. We are looking forward to working with him to both scale our existing investments and develop new platforms.”
Altamont has a focus on investing in middle market business where it can partner with leading management teams. Since its inception, the firm has completed six platform insurance-related acquisitions and inclusive of add-on acquisitions to those platforms, 18 overall.
Keoni Schwartz, a co-founder and Managing Director at Altamont, added: “We founded Altamont around the premise of generating superior returns through a combination of deep industry expertise and by driving operational improvements at our portfolio companies – Joe’s addition expands our capabilities on both fronts, and we are thrilled to have him join the team.”
