Hercules Capital named Scott Bluestein chief executive officer and president and elected him to the company’s Board of Directors. Bluestein has served as interim CEO since March 2019.

Bluestein has held several leadership roles in his nine years with the company, including as Chief Investment Officer since 2014 and as Chief Credit Officer between 2010 and 2013.

“The board’s decision reflects our strong belief that Scott is the right person to lead Hercules in its next phase of growth. We are confident Scott and the Hercules team will continue to create value for all of our shareholders and stakeholders,” said Hercules Chairman Robert P. Badavas. “Scott possesses deep knowledge of our market, our existing debt and equity investment portfolio and he has played a vital role in both defining our underwriting strategies and bringing an ethos of discipline to the investment process, which is critical to our success. His steady leadership as interim CEO these past four months demonstrated his capacity to enhance Hercules’ position as the industry-leading partner of choice to innovative, high-growth venture-backed companies and their sponsors.”

Bluestein added, “I am excited and honored to accept the appointment of CEO and president and will work to ensure that Hercules remains the leading venture debt and growth capital franchise. The strength of our platform today is a testament to the considerable contributions of the entire Hercules team and their work with our portfolio companies and our many VC and sponsor partners. I would like to thank everyone for their tremendous support during our transition.”

Bluestein has nearly 20 years of financial services, direct investment and credit experience. Prior to joining Hercules in 2010, he served as founder and partner of Century Tree Capital Management, a fund established to make senior secured debt investments with warrants and equity co-investments in small and micro-cap public and private companies.

Badavas has been an independent director of Hercules for 13 years and lead independent director for the last two years. He was appointed chairman of the board in May 2019.

Founded in 2003, Hercules Capital is the largest specialty finance company focused on providing senior secured venture growth loans to high-growth, innovative venture capital-backed companies in a broad variety of technology, life sciences and sustainable and renewable technology industries. Since inception, Hercules has committed more than $8.9 billion to over 460 companies and is the lender of choice for entrepreneurs and venture capital firms seeking growth capital financing.