Churchill Stateside Taps Ex-Madison Capital Exec for Originations

Churchill Stateside Group has hired Jeff Banker as Vice President Originations Officer, the Chicago-based lower mid-market lender announced Monday. Banker joins from Madison Capital Funding, where he spent four years sourcing and structuring sponsor-backed transactions.

The move comes as direct lenders scramble to lock down relationships with private equity sponsors in a market where quality deal flow has become the primary bottleneck. With dry powder at record levels and competition compressing spreads, originations teams — not credit committees — are increasingly the constraint on deployment.

Banker brings more than 20 years of middle-market lending experience to Churchill Stateside, which focuses on senior and unitranche loans in the $5 million to $50 million range. Before Madison Capital, he spent nearly a decade at Hilco Corporate Finance and held roles at MB Financial Bank and TCF Bank.

"Jeff's deep relationships and proven track record in sponsor finance make him a natural fit," said Doug May, Managing Partner at Churchill Stateside, in a statement. The firm manages over $2 billion in assets under management and has completed hundreds of transactions since its founding in 2006.

This isn't just another mid-level hire. In the current lending environment, originators with established sponsor networks are among the most valuable assets a platform can add. With private credit AUM surpassing $1.7 trillion globally — up from under $800 billion five years ago — the industry's growth has outpaced its ability to find transactions that meet return hurdles.

The result? Lenders are competing on more than just terms. Speed, certainty, and relationship depth have become the differentiators. A VP Originations who can walk into a sponsor's office with institutional credibility and 20 years of closed deals becomes a revenue generator, not a cost center.

Churchill Stateside's focus on the lower mid-market — defined here as companies with EBITDA under $15 million — makes the originations function even more critical. Unlike large-cap sponsor deals that flow through established syndication channels, lower mid-market transactions are won through direct sponsor relationships, proprietary channels, and boots-on-the-ground hustle.

"At our end of the market, deals don't come through bankers," one lower mid-market lender told us on background. "They come through the guy who answered the phone when the sponsor needed a bridge loan at 10 PM on a Friday three years ago. That's Jeff Banker's world."

Madison Capital Funding — itself a well-established player in the lower mid-market — underscores how competitive the talent market has become for seasoned originators. Madison manages over $3 billion and has been active in sponsor finance for more than two decades.

Losing a four-year veteran with a sponsor rolodex isn't catastrophic, but it's a reminder that institutional loyalty runs thin when platforms are bidding aggressively for deal-makers. The compensation structures have shifted — originators are increasingly paid like rainmakers, not like lending officers.

Churchill Stateside has been steadily building its team over the past 18 months. This hire follows the addition of two senior credit professionals in late 2025 and the opening of a Dallas office to expand its geographic footprint. The firm now operates from Chicago, Dallas, and New York.

For context, here's how Churchill Stateside's hiring strategy compares to peer lower mid-market lenders:

The pattern is clear: every platform in this segment is adding bodies. The question is whether the market can produce enough quality deals to justify the expanded originations capacity.

Hilco Corporate Finance — a firm known for asset-based lending and turnaround finance — gave him exposure to stressed and distressed situations. That's valuable context when underwriting sponsor deals in the lower mid-market, where credit quality can be uneven and situations can deteriorate quickly.

Churchill Stateside Group has positioned itself as a flexible capital provider for sponsor-backed lower mid-market companies. The firm offers senior secured, unitranche, and mezzanine debt, often stepping into situations where bank lending has become unavailable or too restrictive.

The firm's sweet spot is companies with $10 million to $75 million in revenue and EBITDA under $15 million — a segment that sits below the radar of most institutional direct lenders but above the reach of traditional bank lenders. It's a zone where private equity sponsors still operate actively but where capital sources are fragmented.

Churchill Stateside's track record includes hundreds of transactions across industries ranging from manufacturing and distribution to business services and healthcare. The firm has developed a reputation for speed and execution certainty — table stakes in a market where sponsors often run compressed timelines.

The firm's $2 billion AUM puts it in the middle tier of lower mid-market lenders — large enough to handle $30-50 million unitranche deals but not so large that it's competing with Ares or Blue Owl on $200 million financings. That positioning has served it well as the lower mid-market has consolidated around a handful of credible, repeat players.

With Banker now in place, the firm will likely push harder into deal flow from sponsors that overlap with his Madison Capital relationships. That includes regional sponsors focused on buy-and-build strategies, family offices writing equity checks in the $5-15 million range, and independent sponsors piecing together capital stacks.

One area where Churchill Stateside's expanded originations capacity could pay off: buy-and-build strategies. Lower mid-market sponsors increasingly rely on serial acquisitions to manufacture growth, and those add-on transactions require incremental financing. A lender with strong sponsor relationships can lock in multiple transactions per platform — not just the initial buyout.

Banker's background at Hilco and Madison Capital suggests he's comfortable with those structures. Buy-and-build deals often involve stretched leverage, integration risk, and working capital dynamics that require more credit work than a standalone LBO. That's where experience matters.

Pull back from the individual hire for a moment. What does this move — and dozens like it across the private credit industry — tell us about where the market is heading?

First, the lower mid-market remains undersupplied with flexible capital despite the explosion in private credit. The mega-platforms are focused on larger deals. Regional banks have retrenched. That leaves a persistent gap for lenders willing to do the work — and willing to pay originators who can find the deals.

Second, talent is moving. The lower mid-market lending world is small enough that senior hires like this get noticed. When a VP with 20+ years of experience changes platforms, it's a signal that the receiving firm is serious about growth — and that the departing firm may need to replace more than just one person's deal flow.

Third, the industry is professionalizing. A decade ago, lower mid-market lending was dominated by family offices, regional BDCs, and opportunistic lenders. Now it's institutionalized platforms with billions in AUM, dedicated originations teams, and multi-office footprints. Churchill Stateside's hiring trajectory reflects that shift.

Here's the uncomfortable question: is the industry adding originations capacity faster than the market is producing quality deals? If every lower mid-market lender is expanding its originations team, and the sponsor community isn't growing at the same rate, the math stops working.

The likely outcome? More competition for the same deals, tighter spreads, looser structures, and increased credit risk. That's the cycle the industry saw in 2021. We might be entering another version of it now.

Banker's LinkedIn profile — though not cited in the press release — shows a consistent focus on sponsor finance across economic cycles. He underwrote and closed deals through the 2008 financial crisis, the post-crisis recovery, the 2020 pandemic, and the 2022-23 rate shock.

That's the kind of experience that matters when credit conditions deteriorate. Bankers who've only underwritten deals in a zero-rate environment tend to learn hard lessons when leverage multiples compress and equity cushions evaporate. Banker's resume suggests he's seen the movie before.

His role at Churchill Stateside will likely involve managing sponsor relationships, sourcing proprietary deal flow, and collaborating with the credit team on structuring and pricing. In a platform this size, the VP Originations role is both relationship manager and deal quarterback — responsible for getting transactions across the finish line, not just sourcing them.

Given Churchill Stateside's emphasis on speed and certainty, Banker will also need to manage internal coordination — making sure underwriting, legal, and portfolio management move quickly enough to compete with platforms that have more resources but less flexibility.

To put this hire in context, here's a snapshot of other recent senior originations moves in the lower mid-market lending space:

In February 2026, Garrison Capital added a Managing Director for Originations from Twin Brook Capital. In January, Encina Private Credit hired a senior originations professional from White Oak Global Advisors. In late 2025, Patriot Financial Partners brought on a VP from Audax Private Debt.

The pattern is unmistakable. Every credible lower mid-market platform is adding originations talent, often poaching from direct competitors. The talent pool is finite. The competition for experienced professionals is fierce. And the platforms willing to pay are winning.

What's less clear is whether this hiring spree will result in better returns for LPs — or just more competition for the same deals at worse terms.

If you're a private equity sponsor focused on the lower mid-market, here's what this hire tells you about Churchill Stateside as a capital partner:

The firm is investing in originations capacity, which means it's serious about deploying capital in 2026 and beyond. Platforms that are retrenching don't hire VPs.

Churchill Stateside is willing to compete for talent, which suggests it has the capital backing and LP support to justify the investment. That's a signal of platform stability.

With Banker's arrival, the firm now has deeper bench strength on the originations side, which should translate to faster response times and better execution. In a market where timing often determines whether a deal closes or craters, that matters.

For sponsors who worked with Banker at Madison Capital, there's now a new option for capital. Relationships follow people, not logos. If you had a good experience with Banker on a prior transaction, Churchill Stateside just became a more attractive financing source.

Press releases don't answer the questions that matter most. Here's what we still don't know:

What's Churchill Stateside's deployment target for 2026? If the firm is adding originations capacity, it presumably has capital to put to work. How much, and under what terms?

Is this hire part of a broader team build, or a one-off replacement? If Churchill Stateside plans to add more originators, that's a different story than backfilling a departure.

What's the firm's view on credit risk in the current environment? Lower mid-market lenders are sitting on portfolios originated at historically low rates. As those portfolios mature and companies face margin pressure, how aggressive will Churchill Stateside be on new originations?