Founder & CIO

John Guarino

John is a veteran investment professional with over 24 years of experience. During his career, he has built and led experienced teams of professionals in all disciplines of trading, analytics, and structuring. In addition to being a successful portfolio manager, John has raised over $850 million across all private funds and managed accounts he advises or manages, including $350 million in accounts managed by Alternative Capital Investments. He has expertise in private deal transactions and has led negotiations across a multitude of complex structures.

John started his career at Spear, Leeds and Kellogg, where he was a proprietary trader and market maker, and then continued his career as a trader at Goldman Sachs. He has built a strong reputation for creatively structuring companies and investments to benefit stakeholders, drawing on rigorous research, thorough due diligence, and a keen ability to identify key investment metrics and assess and manage risk.

John founded Alternative Capital Investments in 2019. He leads the firm’s strategic business initiatives and is responsible for its portfolio manager development and risk management philosophies, in addition to actively sourcing and executing investment transactions and leading the management team. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Villanova University and an MBA in Finance and Management from Fordham University.

FOUNDER & MANAGING PARTNER

James Berkeley

James has over 30 years of experience on Wall Street, specializing in fixed income, credit derivatives, and structured finance. He has worked with institutional clients, including banks, hedge funds, private equity firms, and insurance companies, and has been an active investor in private markets for over 20 years.

James began his career at Merrill Lynch in mortgage- and asset-backed securities. During his 12 years in the Institutional Fixed Income Division, he led the Foreign Bank team and built the firm’s credit derivatives business. In 2002, he joined Salomon Brothers/Citibank to lead its Derivative and Structured Credit business. He ranked as the firm’s top global salesperson for three years, generating more than $1 billion in revenue. His expertise spans credit derivatives, collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), bespoke structured instruments, and consumer finance.

James joined Alternative Capital Investments in 2019 as a Founder and Managing Partner. He leads the firm’s business development and investor relations.