John Smith

John Smith is a Partner on AEA Investors’ Private Debt team and Co-Head of Private Debt Origination. In his role, he focuses on junior capital, equity co-investment, and senior debt investment opportunities in addition to managing co-investment relationships among Limited Partners. He is a member of the Investment Committees for all AEA Private Debt funds.

Prior to joining AEA, John worked at AlpInvest (subsidiary of the Carlyle Group) in New York, a global private equity manager focusing on secondaries, fund investments, mezzanine and equity co-investments. Prior to AlpInvest, John worked at (212) Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm. John started his career at Credit Suisse First Boston in the Leveraged Finance & Financial Sponsors group.

John earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration (BSBA), with a double major in finance and marketing, and a minor in psychology, from Georgetown University, where he graduated magna cum laude. At Georgetown, John was a member of Beta Gamma Sigma and Psi Chi as well as president of the Georgetown Business School. John also studied at Trinity College, Oxford University.

John has been actively involved with Read Ahead for 20 years, first as a reading mentor and since 2012, as a board member. John is also a founding board member of Come to Believe, an organization that assists higher education institutions in developing and launching a two-year college model that provides a pathway for underserved students to receive four-year degrees. He serves on the Board of Trustee of his alma mater Loyola School as Vice Chair, previously chaired the Investment Committee, and has been a member of the Executive Committee, Finance Committee and Strategic Planning. John also dedicates his time supporting the Irish Arts Center and Georgetown University.