More than anything else, Stephen Simmons at H.I.G. Capital says he is looking for previously unavailable insights.
(Stephen Simmons, CFA, FRM, head of data and performance reporting, H.I.G. Capital, CIPM, CAIA, CFP, says that he is working on a project to revamp how his firm markets its direct lending strategy and how the firm tells the story of its strategy. The project means Simmons and his associates are taking deep dives into data governance, data quality, data source optimization, and report automation. The major deliverable of uncovering “new insight, analytics or reports that were previously unavailable”— rather than jumping on the latest IT bandwagon — constitutes his dream project. Simmons will be participating in the “Building A.I.-Ready Performance Teams,” and “Private Markets Performance: Implementation & Lifecycle Management” PMCR 2026 sessions.)
Professional Background/Expertise
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your role and what your day-to-day looks like at H.I.G. Capital?
A: I head our data governance, performance reporting, and investor reporting teams. My day-to-day involves a lot of meetings, whether those are routine staff check-ins, meetings with vendors, or project meetings.
Q: What’s a recent project or initiative your team has worked on that has made the biggest impact for your organization?
A: Currently in flight on a project to revamp how we market our direct lending strategy. In addition to improving how we tell the story of our strategy, we are investing considerable time into data governance, data quality, data source optimization, and report automation.
Q: What is your dream project?
A: Retirement! In all seriousness, I enjoy any project that enhances our capabilities. Automation projects are great, but providing new insight, analytics or reports that were previously unavailable is the most rewarding.
Session Insights
Q: What inspired you to participate in PMCR 2026 and speak on “Building A.I.-Ready Performance Teams,” and “Private Markets Performance: Implementation & Lifecycle Management?”
A: I spoke last year and really enjoyed the active Q&A at the end of the session. I also appreciated the overall level of the attendees, which allowed for very helpful interactions and idea sharing.
Q: What do you think makes “Building AI-Ready Performance Teams,” and “Private Markets Performance: Implementation & Lifecycle Management” especially relevant for today’s investment operations landscape?
A: As an emerging and disruptive technology, I believe adoption is a must for all employees, including performance teams.
On the private markets performance side of things, LPs are becoming increasingly active in the nature and scope of their requests. Many PE [private equity] and private credit firms are being forced to ‘upgrade’ their infrastructure to meet the increasing demands.
Industry Challenges & Trends
Q: What’s one of the biggest challenges your team or clients are facing right now? Can you fill us in on how you are approaching it?
A: Market concerns regarding defaults, credit issues, and use of PIK [payment in kind] are driving a lot of inquiries in direct lending. More broadly, increasing demand for data on company performance: EBITDA, [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization] EV [enterprise value], leverage, and so forth.
For now, we continue to work with our deal teams and data teams to gather the data in a timely and accurate fashion, but both timeliness and quality have been a challenge.
From speaking with the peers, this is a challenge shared by many firms.
Q: How do you foresee technology (A.I., blockchains, digital assets, automation, data analytics, etc.) reshaping your area of expertise over the next year or two? Are there any major shifts that you are preparing for?
A: The use of agents with various LLMs [large language models] and other automation such as RPA [robotic process automation], and Microsoft Power Automate to transform manual workflows.
Q: Which technology has impressed you? Which technology has disappointed you?
A: A.I. solutions on digitizing credit agreements, compliance certs and financial statements are at varying levels of automation. Several vendors are heading in impressive directions while legacy vendors seem to be lagging.
The PMCR Experience
Q: What are you most excited about learning at PMCR?
A: TBD, but if this year is like last year, I will come away with a number of insights and takeaways.
Q: What do you hope attendees walk away with after hearing your session?
A: That we also share similar challenges with automation, data collection, and increasing expectations from LPs.
Getting to Know You
Q: What’s one thing people might be surprised to learn about you?
A: I don’t really enjoy and rarely read non-fiction. When I read, I want to escape into fantasy or sci-fi.
Q: What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve ever received (or would share)?
A: Be patient. Some lessons cannot be learned in a book, school, or online. They are learned over time by experiencing business cycles, trends, personnel, firm changes, and so forth.