Bio

Joe Alala, III is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Capitala Group, one of the largest asset management firms providing equity capital and debt capital exclusively to lower middle market businesses. Mr. Alala founded Capitala Group as CapitalSouth Partners in 1998 at the age of 28, the youngest founder of an SBIC debenture fund in history. Mr. Alala has directed the growth of Capitala Group by being actively involved in the origination, structuring and monitoring of investments made by Capitala Group’s investment vehicles and managed accounts. In his active role on the investment committees of each fund, Mr. Alala reviews and approves all investments, punctuating his 20 years of experience in the mezzanine lending, leveraged finance, distressed debt and private equity businesses. Mr. Alala is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Capitala Finance Corp., a publicly traded business development company (Nasdaq:CPTA) and is a board member of several Capitala Group portfolio companies. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Friends of Princeton Track and Field Group, as well as the Board of Visitors for Wake Forest University School of Law and the Wake Forest Charlotte Executive Board of Advisors. Mr. Alala has been a member of the Young President’s Organization since 2000. Mr. Alala holds an A.B. in economics, with a minor in politics, from Princeton University. He earned his J.D. and M.B.A. from Wake Forest University.