# Bill Ebinger ### Managing Partner Bill Ebinger founded ABF Global Search to build a boutique executive search practice dedicated to the alternative credit markets and is a [member of the Structured Finance Association](https://structuredfinance.org/about-us/members) — the leading US trade body for the structured-credit ecosystem. He has been recruiting senior professionals for more than 30 years, and leads every engagement personally. ## Practice Bill has engaged with more than 250 public and private credit clients and draws on a relationship network of 35,000 senior professionals built through three decades of his executive recruiting experience. The practice operates exclusively in alternative credit, with a primary focus on the private alternative markets where the firm has the deepest relationships and longest track record. ### What ABF Global Search Covers The practice covers the full alternative credit universe, organized around the strategies the firm recruits into most actively: - **Asset-Based Finance** — consumer ABS, equipment finance, specialty finance, esoteric ABF, data center and digital infrastructure structured finance, and private asset-based credit. The namesake of the firm and a core historical practice area. - **CLOs** — managers, structurers, credit analysts, CLO equity investors, warehouse lenders, and middle-market and private credit CLO specialists. - **Securitized Products** — ABS, RMBS (agency and non-agency), CMBS, CRE CLOs, and residential whole loans. - **Private Credit** — direct lending (upper-middle, core middle, and lower-middle-market), mezzanine, distressed private credit, opportunistic and special situations, and BDC investment teams. - **Real Estate Debt** — CRE senior lending, bridge and transitional lending, mezzanine and preferred equity, construction, CMBS and CRE CLOs, agency multifamily, and debt fund management. - **Fund Finance** — subscription and capital call facilities, NAV lending, GP financing, continuation fund financing, and collateralized fund obligation structuring. - **Venture Debt** — senior originators and portfolio managers at banks, specialty platforms, and venture-focused debt funds. - **Specialty Finance** — non-bank lenders, equipment leasing, royalty and catalog financing, trade finance, and insurance-linked credit platforms. - **Structured Credit and Structured Products** — cross-product trading, portfolio management, and research across the full tranched credit stack. - **Liquid Corporate Credit** — investment-grade, high yield, leveraged loans, distressed trading, and emerging market credit, covered where clients request a multi-product liquid credit practice alongside their private credit allocations. - **Alternative Credit** — multi-strategy platforms, insurance-backed credit solutions, family office direct credit programs, and platform-level leadership seats that span the full credit stack. The firm does not pursue searches in adjacent sectors. Equities, generalist banking, and private equity deal teams fall outside the practice by design. That narrow focus is what gives the firm the relationship depth to source senior professionals at scaled, respected platforms through direct conversation rather than database outreach. ## Placement Philosophy Over more than 250 public and private credit engagements, the firm has operated on a consistent set of principles: **Narrow focus.** Senior alternative credit professionals work in very specific seats with distinct economics. A direct lending portfolio manager is evaluated differently than a CLO portfolio manager. A CMBS trader is not a fund finance originator. The firm tests candidates against the actual language of the seat — underwriting discipline, sponsor relationships, structural fluency, workout experience, and the specific sub-vertical vocabulary that separates senior operators from adjacent credit professionals. **Named accountability.** Bill remains the lead on every engagement from the first client conversation through candidate identification, interview management, references, offer negotiation, and onboarding. Clients interact with him directly at every stage of the process, which delivers consistent senior-level judgment and continuity that larger firms often cannot match. **Process discipline.** Each search begins with a mapping conversation to understand the seat, the platform economics, the team context, and the client’s definition of success. Execution follows a consistent framework — market mapping against the relevant sub-vertical, direct outreach to senior candidates, structured screening, curated shortlist delivery, interview process management, reference work, and closing dynamics through signed offer and start date. Most individual-contributor searches run three to eight weeks from kickoff to close. Platform-head and multi-seat builds run longer and involve parallel tracks. ## Background Bill began his executive search career in the early 1990s, as the modern securitization and structured credit markets were taking shape. His practice grew alongside the alternative credit universe — from the early days of asset-backed securities, CLOs, and whole-loan trading through the expansion of direct lending, private credit, fund finance, and specialty finance into the multi-trillion-dollar markets they are today. Over more than three decades, the practice has evolved with the markets. The post-crisis retreat of banks from asset-intensive and middle-market lending created a generation of new private credit, ABF, and specialty finance platforms. Insurance companies moved decisively into private credit and structured credit allocations. Alternative asset managers built scaled multi-strategy credit platforms. Each structural shift in the capital markets created new senior seats, new hiring patterns, and new compensation economics — and the firm’s relationship network expanded with each wave. The firm maintains membership in the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC), the global professional body for retained executive search. ## Publications and Industry Presence ABF Global Search publishes hiring intelligence and market commentary regularly on its [Insights](https://abfglobalsearch.com/insights/) page, covering senior moves, fund launches, platform buildouts, team expansions, and the compensation patterns the firm observes across engagements. Coverage spans the private credit, asset-based finance, CLO, real estate debt, fund finance, and specialty finance markets. Bill posts shorter commentary on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/billebinger/) as market moves develop. The firm tracks the alternative credit markets daily. Bill reads _Private Debt Investor_, _Creditflux_, _Bloomberg_, and sector-specific research from the major alternative asset managers, insurance companies, and rating agencies as part of his research routine. He attends the major industry conferences — Private Debt Investor events, ABS East, SFVegas, the CRE Finance Council annual meetings, and sector-specific gatherings — where senior credit professionals assemble. Coverage of the trade press and conference circuit is not incidental; it is how senior hiring decisions track the capital flows and strategy shifts that are reshaping the industry in real time. ## Contact For a confidential conversation about team-building or a senior move in alternative credit: - **Email:** bill@abfglobalsearch.com - **Phone:** 917-719-6413 - **LinkedIn:** [Bill Ebinger](https://www.linkedin.com/in/billebinger/)