Private credit

Robert is the Global Head of Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners (formerly Comvest Credit Partners), where he leads the firm’s investment strategy, portfolio management, and capital formation initiatives. He also serves on the investment committees for the platform’s credit vehicles. Today the platform manages over US$21.5 billion¹ of assets under management.

In addition to his role at Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners, Robert is the chair and Chief Executive Officer of Commonwealth Credit Partners BDC I, Inc. and Comvest Senior Lending Fund “C-VEST”, private business development companies focused on directly originated loans to middle-market businesses.

With more than 30 years of experience, Robert is a seasoned leader in private credit, structured finance, and operational leadership. Prior to his current role, he served as Chief Executive Officer, Managing Partner, and Co-Founder of Comvest Credit Partners the direct lending arm of Comvest Partners, a prominent middle market private equity and credit investment firm.

Earlier in his career, Robert served as CEO and President of Commonwealth Associates, Comvest’s predecessor entity. Under his leadership, the firm raised and invested more than $1 billion in equity to support the growth acquisition and restructuring of over 100 lower-middle-market companies across the technology, healthcare and service sectors.

1 As of March 31, 2026. AUM is in U.S. dollars (USD).

• Education: B.A., Geography, University of London (King’s College London and LSE)
• Joined the company: 2000
• Began career: 1993

Jason is a Partner and the Chief Operating Officer and Co-Head of Direct Lending for Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners (formerly Comvest Credit Partners). He leads the platform’s operations and portfolio management functions and is responsible for investment management across the platform. Jason also serves on the investment committees for the direct lending, specialty lending, and opportunistic credit strategies.

Prior to joining Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners, Jason was a Director of Goldman Sachs Specialty Lending Group within the Special Situations group, where he focused on underwriting and structuring senior and junior debt transactions to middle market companies and led the development and growth of a successful Lender Finance product line that invested capital in commercial and consumer specialty finance companies. Before that, he was a Vice President at Antares Capital, where he provided senior and junior capital to private equity sponsor-backed middle market companies. Jason’s lending career has also included commercial lending positions at First Source Financial and LaSalle National Bank.

• Education: M.B.A., Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University, B.B.A. in Finance, University of Iowa.
• Joined the company: 2013

Charlie is a Partner of Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners (formerly Comvest Credit Partners). He is a responsible for originating, structuring and managing investments across the Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners platform. Charlie also serves on the investment committees for the opportunistic credit and specialty lending strategies.

Prior to joining Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners, Charlie founded Aves Capital Management, a manager of special situation-oriented structured capital investments and funds. Before that, he worked at Victory Park Capital Advisors, where he was a partner, an investment committee member, and most recently led the firm’s special opportunities strategy and team. Before that, Charlie held several other positions in the private equity and investment banking industries, including with Code Hennessy & Simmons and J.P. Morgan.

• Education: B.S. in Finance and Accounting, Indiana University Bloomington
• Joined the company: 2023

Mike is a senior managing director, responsible for managing Manulife Investment Management’s senior credit business. He joined Manulife Investment Management private equity and credit in January 2017 and has 29 years of experience. Prior to joining Manulife, Mike was head of the loan products group at BMO Global Asset Management, where he was primarily involved in credit selection, portfolio management, and fund-raising, taking AUM from $0 to $1 billion across three separate middle market CLO vehicles. Prior to BMO, Mike spent nearly 20 years in key senior credit management roles at leading middle market debt providers, including Pangaea Asset Management (founder), GE Antares, Antares Capital, PPM America, and First National Bank of Chicago. He was an investment committee member at both BMO and Pangaea. 

• Education: M.B.A., Finance, DePaul University; B.A., Economics, Marquette University
• Joined the company: 2017

Lee is a Partner of Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners (formerly Comvest Credit Partners). He leads Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners’ global Investor Relations team and serves as a voting member of the investment committees for the platform’s direct lending, specialty lending, and opportunistic credit strategies.

Prior to joining Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners, Lee was a Managing Partner of Tennenbaum Capital Partners (TCP), where he led its Global Investor Relations team and all fundraising and investor activity. He joined BlackRock (the successor organization) on the sale of TCP to BlackRock. Previously, he held senior investment positions at The Carlyle Group and Babson Capital Management (now Barings). Lee began his career in investment banking at First Union (now Wells Fargo).

• Education: B.A., University of Georgia; M.B.A., Vanderbilt University
• Joined the company: 2023