Charlesbank Announces Partnership with Veteran GRC Professionals through Salus GRC

Charlesbank Capital Partners announced today that it has entered into a partnership with a team of industry veterans to pursue opportunities in the governance, risk, and compliance (“GRC”) consulting space through an investment in Salus GRC. Headquartered in Westport, CT, Salus is a new firm led by founders William Mulligan (CEO) and Chris Lombardy (President), along with Alan Binder (CFO), who have a combined 70 years of industry experience.

Salus GRC provides a full suite of tech-enabled GRC support to private fund managers and other financial services firms, with offerings that include regulatory registration and filing services, compliance program development and ongoing support, regulatory exam assistance, compliance training and education, and regulatory due diligence. Salus aspires to be the employer of choice in the compliance industry, attracting experienced professionals who bring a singular focus on providing the highest level of client service. Over time, the Company expects to expand its service offering to include cybersecurity, ESG, regulatory technology (RegTech), and GRC support for other industry verticals.

“We are excited to partner with Bill and team to build the Salus GRC platform,” said David Katz, Managing Director at Charlesbank. “We have been evaluating the GRC market with Bill since 2021, and we have been impressed by his industry expertise and strategic vision. His track record of growing and building GRC businesses makes him ideally suited to lead Salus GRC, and he has a strong team to help him succeed.”

Prior to Salus GRC, Mr. Mulligan founded and led Cordium (originally branded HedgeOp Compliance), a private equity-backed provider of GRC services. Cordium was a pioneer in the use of technology in GRC consulting and was acquired by ACA Group in 2018. In his new role, Mr. Mulligan is supported by a team of industry veterans, including President Chris Lombardy, who bring decades of related experience and strong industry relationships.

“We are thrilled to announce the partnership between Charlesbank and the founders of Salus GRC,” said Mr. Mulligan. “The Charlesbank team knows the GRC space well and we have had the opportunity to forge a strong relationship in our work together over the past two years. They bring significant resources and experience that will be invaluable to Salus GRC as we grow.”

“We believe we have all the ingredients to attract and develop the best talent and build a leading platform in this dynamic market,” added Chris Lombardy. “Our team has the expertise, discipline, and focus to provide robust services across the full GRC spectrum, providing our clients and our GRC professionals with all the resources they need to stay ahead of ever-changing rules and regulations.”

Joining the board as Non-Executive Chairman is Roger Carlile, the founder and former CEO of Ankura Consulting, a leading global expert advisory firm that scaled to more than $550 million in revenue over his five years as CEO. Prior to that, he was CFO of FTI Consulting, a publicly traded consulting firm, which grew its revenue from $225 million to over $1.5 billion during his decade with the company. Roger’s more than 25 years of leadership experience founding and scaling complex professional services organizations will be an asset to the Salus GRC team.

Ropes & Gray LLP provided legal counsel to Charlesbank and Salus GRC.