Claire McDonnell

Underwrite a diverse range of high-growth borrowers—including pre-seed to Series D/E startups, SMBs, and established middle market firms—for Rho's innovative 30-day extended credit product, leveraging financial analysis and market insights to support rapid credit decisions.

Senior Credit Associate at Rho (Series B Fintech Company) (2024-12 – 2026-03)

Underwrite a diverse range of high-growth borrowers—including pre-seed to Series D/E startups, SMBs, and established middle market firms—for Rho's innovative 30-day extended credit product, leveraging financial analysis and market insights to support rapid credit decisions.

• Develop comprehensive financial models and investment memos for 5–10 weekly revolving credit transactions, efficiently managing multiple concurrent deals including middle market loans averaging $1M–$5M per transaction.
• Conduct detailed risk analyses for short-term corporate card facilities, evaluating revenue trajectories, EBITDA/FCF metrics, repayment likelihood, industry dynamics, product/service risks, and liquidity runway to determine prudent credit limits and deal structures.
• Oversee ongoing portfolio risk through weekly high-risk client assessments, proactive documentation tracking, and periodic re-underwriting of existing accounts for credit limit adjustments, maintaining rigorous compliance and credit quality standards.

Private Credit Reporter at PitchBook (2023-12 – 2024-11)

Produce in-depth analytical pieces detailing trends in the leveraged loan and leveraged finance marketplace and how these segments interact relying on sources/interviews and LCD research.

• Interviewed key market players and industry experts, delivering exclusive insights and in-depth profiles that enhanced the publication's reputation.
• Conducted in-depth research and analysis on private credit markets, identifying key trends and investment opportunities.

Senior Analyst at Cloud Equity Group (2022-04 – 2023-11)

Involved with all phases of debt investments from initial sourcing and pre-LOI preliminary due diligence to monitoring investment performance post-close and working with senior management teams to ensure targets are hit.

• Analyzed companies during the due diligence process, by developing a deep understanding of their customers, sales process, lead generation, churn, product positioning, competition, team and market.
• Build financial models, researching industry dynamics, and writing investment memorandums for potential investment opportunities.
• Spearhead all efforts related to the firm's launch of its first Mezzanine fund, including finding and pitching to LPs, sourcing dealflow, creating whitepapers and researching target investment verticals, etc.

Commercial Credit Analyst at GreenState Credit Union (2018-08 – 2020-11)

• Prepared analytical credit presentations, market and industry research, and company management due diligence to assign appropriate risk ratings for C&I, CRE, Construction, Leveraged and Syndicated deals.
• Spread and analyzed clients' historical financials to develop projections for cash flow analysis.
• Analyzed collateral charts to ensure compliance with policy guidelines and federal regulations.

B.B.A. in Finance – The University of Iowa (2020-05)

M.S. in Master of Finance – The University of Iowa (2021-05)

Master's Thesis in Finance – The University of Iowa (2020-02 – 2021-05)