White Oak Global Advisors hired Kenneth Wendler as partner, chief credit officer and member of the investment committee.

Wendler was most recently chief credit officer for the Commercial Finance business at CIT where he served as chairman of the investment committee as well as deputy chief credit officer for CIT Group and vice chairman of CIT’s investment committee.

“Kenneth brings decades of commercial finance experience to White Oak, having worked for one of the largest and well-established institutions in the sector. We believe he will bring tremendous value to our organization and support our growth,” said Andre A. Hakkak, CEO and co-founder of White Oak.

Previously, Wendler was head of the problem loan management group at CIT and led Citigroup Capital Solutions, a middle market lending unit at Citigroup. He will be replacing Dr. Ali Amiry on the investment committee as Dr. Amiry will be retiring and focusing on special projects for White Oak from time to time.

Hakkak concluded, “We would like to thank Dr. Amiry for his many years of service and commitment to White Oak.”

San Francisco-based White Oak Global Advisors is a global alternative asset manager specializing in originating and providing financing solutions to facilitate the growth, refinancing and recapitalization of small and medium enterprises.