Jason Mehring
BlackRock TCP CapitalAbout Jason Mehring
Jason Mehring (born 1971) is President of BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. (TCPC) and BlackRock’s other BDCs, serving since 2024; he is a Managing Director in BlackRock’s US Private Capital Group (USPC), a voting member and past Chair of its investment committee, with ~30 years in middle-market private credit, including 19 years with the USPC/TCP team . He holds an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School and a BBA, summa cum laude, in Finance and Economics from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire . As context on investor outcomes during his tenure window, TCPC’s stock closed at $10.38 on Mar 27, 2024 and $8.01 on Mar 26, 2025, reflecting trading around a discount to NAV in late 2024/early 2025 .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| BlackRock US Private Capital (USPC) / TCP | Managing Director; USPC investment committee voting member; past Chair | 2005–present | Origination, underwriting, monitoring of middle-market private investments; capital raising across public/private funds |
| Banc of America Capital Investors (BACI) | Principal (became Principal in 2000) | 1994–2005 | Mezzanine and private equity investing in middle-market companies |
| Firstar Bank (predecessor to U.S. Bank) | Analyst/Associate | Pre-1994 | Early banking experience; foundational credit skills |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Various private companies (not named) | Board member | Not disclosed | Governance and oversight on private corporate boards |
Fixed Compensation
- TCPC’s officers do not receive compensation directly from the Company; compensation is paid by the Advisor (Tennenbaum Capital Partners LLC/BlackRock affiliate) or the Administrator, with possible reimbursement of attributable administrative costs by the Company .
- Governance & Compensation Committee oversees officer pay determination/recommendations, but detailed salary/bonus/equity award amounts for officers are not disclosed at TCPC given the external management model .
Performance Compensation
- Not disclosed by TCPC for executive officers; as an externally managed BDC, officer compensation (including any incentive structures, performance metrics, vesting schedules, and clawbacks) resides at the Advisor/Administrator and is not itemized in the Company’s proxy materials .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Metric | As of Dec 31, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Beneficial ownership (shares) | 19,914 |
| Shares outstanding reference | 85,077,297 (Record Date Mar 26, 2025) |
| Ownership as % of shares outstanding | ~0.023% (19,914 / 85,077,297) |
| Officer/director group ownership | All directors and executive officers as a group owned <1% |
- Hedging/Pledging: The Company’s codes of ethics do not expressly prohibit Directors or Senior Officers from engaging in hedging transactions in Company securities; no specific disclosure on pledging as collateral was provided .
- Stock ownership guidelines: Not disclosed for officers in the proxy .
Employment Terms
- Title and tenure: President of TCPC since 2024 (Officers who are not Directors; Year of birth 1971) .
- Employment agreements, severance, change-of-control, non-compete/non-solicit, garden leave, and clawbacks: Not disclosed at the Company level; officer employment and related arrangements are handled by the Advisor/Administrator and are not detailed in TCPC’s DEF 14A .
Investment Implications
- Alignment: Mehring holds 19,914 TCPC shares, an immaterial stake relative to total shares outstanding (~0.023%), which limits direct equity alignment but is typical for externally managed BDCs; stronger alignment is likely via Advisor-level incentives not disclosed by TCPC .
- Transparency: Key compensation levers (base, bonus targets, equity vesting/PSUs/RSUs, severance/CoC economics, clawbacks) are not reported by TCPC, constraining pay-for-performance assessment at the issuer level .
- Retention and execution: A 19-year tenure with the USPC/TCP platform and leadership on the investment committee suggests low near-term retention risk and deep domain expertise in origination/underwriting; monitoring insider Forms (3/4/5) may help gauge selling pressure, but TCPC’s proxy notes timely Section 16 compliance in 2024 aside from one administrative oversight (not related to Mehring) .
- Trading signals: Company policy does not expressly prohibit hedging by Senior Officers, which is a potential alignment red flag; lack of pledging disclosure reduces visibility on collateralization risk .
- Governance context: The Governance & Compensation Committee (independent directors; chaired by Andrea Petro) determines/recommends officer compensation, but officers are paid by the Advisor; monitoring Advisor-level disclosures (outside TCPC’s filings) may be necessary to fully evaluate incentives tied to credit performance, NAV stability, and distributions .