# Black Diamond Capital Partners

Black Diamond Capital Partners is a Private Equity based in Austin, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Private Equity
- **Headquarters:** Austin, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** 7000 Mopac Service Road, Plaza 7000, 2nd Floor, Austin, Texas 78731, United States
- **Founded:** 2005
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** www.blackdiamondpartners.com

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Black Diamond Capital Partners I L.P. is a specialty private equity firm focused on insurance sector investments with significant value-creation opportunities. With New York roots and now headquartered in Austin, the firm's partners identify insurance companies for investment. Black Diamond offers management expertise and provides innovative strategies to improve operations and increase shareholder value.

## Sectors

- Insurance

## People

- Heidi Hutter — Principal
- Jay Novik — Principal
- Jose Montemayor — Principal
- Cathy Lockett-Conniff — Chief Financial Officer

## Questions

### How does Black Diamond source deal flow?

The firm’s sourcing draws heavily on the regulatory and turnaround experience of its team. Jose Montemayor’s track record of creating early-intervention protocols for insurers at risk of insolvency positions Black Diamond to identify acquisition targets before broad auction processes begin. The principals’ board seats at carriers such as CNA Financial and Aspen Insurance Holdings also create visibility into mid-market insurance platforms.

### What investment structures does Black Diamond use?

The firm takes both controlling and non-controlling positions. In non-controlling investments, Black Diamond requires key negative-control provisions, board representation, or both. It will also participate as a syndicate member when transaction size warrants, though it evaluates the lead investor’s track record closely in those situations.

### Does Black Diamond invest outside the insurance sector?

No. Black Diamond’s mandate is confined to insurance companies and brokers. Its advisory arm provides M&A advice to middle-market insurance firms, but both the principal investment and advisory businesses remain strictly within the insurance vertical.

### What is Black Diamond Advisory Services, and how is it separated?

Black Diamond Advisory Services is an affiliated M&A advisory practice that counsels middle-market insurance companies on sales, purchases, and mergers. The firm cites the advisory business as separate from the fund, leveraging the same team’s regulatory and actuarial relationships for third-party clients.

### Where does Black Diamond’s team experience combine regulatory, actuarial, and operational expertise?

The founding partners bring three distinct but overlapping competencies: Heidi Hutter and Jay Novik are fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society or Society of Actuaries and former Swiss Re executives; Jose Montemayor is a CPA and former state insurance commissioner who led solvency enforcement over an $80-billion premium market; CFO Cathy Lockett-Conniff spent 31 years as a senior insurance examiner and is a Certified Fraud Examiner and CPA. This concentratiion of actuarial, regulatory, and operational experience inside a single GP group is the firm’s defining feature.

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- [Bison Investment Advisors](https://altss.com/profile/bison-investment-advisors)
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Updated: 2026-08-11T15:06:13.093Z

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