Gary Stead is the managing director of HPS Investment Partners LLC based in Sydney, Australia. Prior to his current role, Mr Stead was the managing director and co-head of Olympus Capital Asia Credit, founder and managing director of Australia-focused structured credit fund Shearwater Capital, and chief executive of Fortress Investment Group Australia where he established its Australian operations in 2004. His prior experience included 13 years at Merrill Lynch where he held various leadership positions including as co-head of investment banking in Japan, vice chair of investment banking in Australia, and head of mergers and acquisitions in Australia, Asia-Pacific and Japan following earlier roles at Schroders in Australia and Salomon Brothers in New York. After starting his working career as a solicitor, with degrees in law and commerce from the University of New South Wales, he subsequently completed an MBA at Wharton Graduate School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania before commencing a 30-year investment banking career.
