Our Team
Andrew J. Russell
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
ARussell@stairwaycapital.com
Andrew founded Stairway and has served as its Chief Executive Officer throughout its 20 plus years. Andrew has spent his entire career in special situation, structured credit, private and public equity, investing up and down the credit stack throughout a myriad of industries. He started his career in banking, predominantly working on distressed related investments at ABN AMRO. He moved on to Bank Austria Creditanstalt before launching Stairway Capital’s inaugural Fund in late 2002.
Andrew has been married for 30 years and has four children. He is an ardent, practicing Catholic, and helped establish an annual not-for-profit Catholic sports camp (www.CampChrist.org). Started in 2013, the camp provides an opportunity for young athletes to learn more about Jesus and His divinity as Lord and Savior of all humanity. This is conveyed, in part, by current and former professional athletes who attend the camp to speak about their own faith in Christ, and how it supported their aspirations. Andrew is a fitness enthusiast, and more recently a private pilot. He comes from a large family and very much enjoys spending time with his children and extended family.
John Rijo
Principal & Chief Investment Officer
JRijo@stairwaycapital.com
John joined Stairway in June 2006 and serves as Chief Investment Officer. John’s responsibilities include sourcing new deals, due diligence and managing and monitoring portfolio investments. For much of his 20 plus year career, John has worked in roles to evaluate and improve enterprise operations and profitability.
Prior to joining Stairway, John was a consultant to RAS Management Advisors and performed various investment diligence, financial advisory, and operational restructuring services at numerous companies across a variety of industries, including assuming interim positions in senior management. While at RAS, John worked with Stairway on a number of consulting assignments. Previous to RAS, he worked for the Walt Disney Company in Corporate Finance and he earned a CPA with Coopers & LyBrand (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers).
John graduated from Boston College's Carroll School of Management with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Management Information Systems and received his Masters of Business Administration from the Anderson School at UCLA. John is a member of the Turnaround Management Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Association for Corporate Growth.
In his free time, John enjoys traveling with his family.
Chris Gerham
Director, Investments
CGerham@stairwaycapital.com
Chris joined Stairway in 2024 and serves as a Director in Stairway’s Investments group. Chris is responsible for leading and assisting in sourcing, underwriting, structuring, and monitoring portfolio investments.
Prior to joining Stairway, Chris held various positions at B. Riley Securities (NASDAQ: RILY) in their investment banking division. At B. Riley, Chris served as a generalist with a focus in their Real Estate, SPAC, Restructuring, and Mergers & Acquisitions practices where he advised, structured and raised capital for both publicly traded and privately owned companies.
Chris graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Villanova University School of Business with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Business Analytics.
Chris resides in Charleston, South Carolina, with his family.
Kenneth Griemsmann
Controller
KGriemsmann@stairwaycapital.com
Kenneth joined Stairway in September 2008 and currently serves as its Controller. Kenneth oversees the day-to-day operations of the Firm. His responsibilities extend to all arms of the business, including accounting, compliance, portfolio monitoring, and investor relations. Kenneth graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science from Adelphi University.
Away from work, Kenneth enjoys spending time with his family on Long Island and travelling to new destinations around the world. He is also passionate about his involvement with several philanthropic organizations.
Andrew Russell
Director, Investments
Andrew.Russell@stairwaycapital.com
Andrew joined Stairway in 2024 and serves as a Director in the Investments group, where he sources, underwrites, structures, and monitors portfolio investments across private credit, private equity, real assets, and real estate. Prior to Stairway, he held roles at SL Green Realty and WME in New York. He holds a B.A. in Economics with a concentration in financial markets from Colby College, where he was a two-time captain of the baseball team. He lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with his family.
Jack Russell
Analyst, Investments
Jrussell@stairwaycapital.com
Jack joined Stairway in 2025 and serves as an Analyst in Stairway’s Investments group, focused on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and adjacent frontier technologies. In this role, Jack supports early-stage sourcing, underwriting, structuring, market research, and portfolio investments. He also helps inform internal strategy by tracking key developments and trends across the AI ecosystem.
Prior to joining Stairway, Jack was an investment banking analyst at B. Riley Securities (NASDAQ: RILY). At B. Riley, Jack served as a generalist in their Capital Markets and Mergers & Acquisitions practices where he advised, structured and raised capital for both publicly traded and privately owned companies. He also co-founded MCEE, a crowdsourcing music startup.
Jack graduated Cum Laude from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Information Systems.
Jack lives in New York City.
For general inquires, please contact:
516.629.3478
info@stairwaycapital.com
