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Nicholas Advisory Board

Dennis P. Duerst, CFA

Senior Advisor, Star Mountain Capital

President, 3M Investment Management Corporation; Retired in 2021

Dennis Duerst currently serves as a Senior Advisor to Star Mountain Capital, a lower middle market private credit firm.  Star Mountain manages approximately $4 billion in direct and secondary private credit funds that provide unique and differentiated private capital solutions to lower middle market companies.  In his role, he provides an institutional investor perspective to the firm’s senior management, focusing on strategy and business development.

Previously, Dennis was President of 3M Investment Management Corporation, and Vice President of 3M’s Benefit Funds Investment organization where he was responsible for all aspects of the investment of 3M’s global retirement assets, totaling over $35 billion. Dennis retired from this role in 2021 after serving in this capacity since 2003. Dennis held other senior management roles in Finance at 3M over his 39-year career, including roles in corporate finance, capital markets, financial risk management and international finance. 

Dennis has served on a number of boards and advisory committees.  He currently is a member of the Board of Directors of the St. Croix Valley Foundation where he chairs the Finance and Investment Committee.  He has been a member of the Investment Advisory Council for the Minnesota State Board of Investments and a Board member and Executive Committee member of CIEBA.  Dennis has participated on governance boards and LP Advisory Committees for a many private equity partnerships across a variety of private equity and private credit firms during his career.

Dennis holds a BBA in Finance from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA in Finance from the University of Minnesota Carlson School and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).