Leadership
Decisions are made by the people who underwrite them.
Baruk Capital Group was founded and is led by a principal who originates, underwrites, and structures every transaction in the fund.
Founder & Managing Partner
Joseph Kimbrough
I am the Founder and Managing Partner of Baruk Capital Group and Manager of a private credit fund focused on short duration lending to U.S. lower middle market businesses.
Our strategy centers on direct origination and collateral first underwriting. Every investment we make is evaluated based on collateral quality, cash flow coverage, covenant protections, and repayment structure before capital is deployed. Frequent repayment cycles give us ongoing visibility into borrower performance, which means risk is continuously reassessed rather than reviewed periodically.
Baruk Capital Group also operates a private capital markets platform that originates, evaluates, and structures private credit opportunities. Working across a broad range of financing transactions provides insight into borrower demand, underwriting trends, and capital formation throughout the lower middle market. That perspective informs our investment process and reinforces a disciplined approach to risk.
Before founding Baruk, I invested in real estate as both a limited partner and an operator. That experience shaped how I think about risk, liquidity, and capital allocation, and it reinforced the importance of visibility once capital has been deployed — a principle that continues to guide our approach today.
I am also a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. Four years of service reinforced the discipline, accountability, and decision making under pressure that continue to influence how I manage risk and capital.
Areas of Focus
- Credit origination and sponsor coverage
- Underwriting and risk assessment
- Loan structuring and documentation
- Portfolio construction and monitoring
Credit Advisors
External perspective sharpened by operating experience.
Credit Advisor
Manal Keen
Manal Keen is a transformational leader with nearly two decades of experience driving growth and innovation at the intersection of banking, lending, merchant services, and embedded finance.
She has advised major banks and fintech companies on strategies across private credit, asset-based lending, merchant cash advance, and embedded financial services, helping institutions modernize and unlock new market opportunities.
Beyond her executive leadership, Manal is a nationally recognized thought leader, host of PowerUp with Manal, a top-rated podcast focused on mindset mastery, entrepreneurship, and financial innovation. She is also a finance professor at the University of North Texas and a highly sought-after keynote speaker.
Manal's vision is to build resilient, growth-driven platforms that not only deliver financial performance but also define the next frontier of leadership in private markets and financial services.
Areas of Focus
- Private credit and asset-based lending
- Embedded finance strategy
- Credit risk analysis
- Business transformation
40 Years
Finance experience
Serves in an informal, non-discretionary advisory capacity and is not client facing.
Senior Advisor
Four decades of credit and balance sheet experience.
The Fund draws on informal input from a senior finance professional with roughly forty years of experience in risk and balance sheet analysis, operational implementation, and strategic planning. His role is advisory and non-discretionary — he holds no investment authority, is not a member of the Investment Committee, and does not make or approve investment decisions.
He provides informal perspective on credit review, portfolio risk, and capital relationships. By preference he is not a front-facing participant in the Fund and does not participate in investor solicitation. Additional detail on this and other advisory relationships is available in the Fund's Private Placement Memorandum and Form ADV upon request.
Areas of Focus
- Risk and balance sheet analysis
- Credit review and portfolio risk
- Operational implementation
- Institutional capital relationships
Governance
A structure built for institutional diligence.
Investment Committee
Every transaction is reviewed against the same underwriting standard before capital is committed. No exceptions are made for relationship, speed, or headline yield.
Advisory Network
The platform draws on relationships across borrowers, sponsors, family offices, banks, and institutional capital providers built over years of transaction work.
Service Partners
Fund administration, legal counsel, and audit are handled by independent third parties to preserve reporting integrity for limited partners.
Operating Principles
01
Accountability sits with the underwriter
The person who originates the transaction is the person accountable for its performance.
02
Capital preservation before yield
A credit is declined when the downside case is not clearly survivable, regardless of the coupon.
03
Alignment with limited partners
The platform is built for durable relationships with allocators, not for a single fundraise.
Direct Access
Speak with the Managing Partner.
Allocator conversations are handled directly, without an intermediary sales layer.