Octagon Credit Investors Appoints John Zilko as Head of Investor Solutions and Head of Business Development

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Octagon Credit Investors, LLC ("Octagon"), a leading asset manager specializing in below-investment grade corporate credit and direct lending strategies, today announced that John Zilko has joined the firm as Head of Investor Solutions and Head of Business Development. He will lead the firm’s Investor Solutions Group, reporting to Chief Operating Officer Douglas McDermott, who previously oversaw the group and will now focus exclusively on his COO responsibilities. Mr. Zilko will also head Octagon’s Business Development function, partnering with Managing Director Patrick Glavey, who joined Octagon in May from First Eagle Investments, and Senior Managing Director John Dudzik, to identify and cultivate new business opportunities across Octagon’s broadly syndicated loan, direct lending, structured credit, and multi-asset credit platforms.

Mr. Zilko has more than 15 years of experience in business development, client coverage, and product development. He joins Octagon from Antares Capital, where he served as Managing Director and Head of Americas Investor Coverage, overseeing the team responsible for institutional sales and client management across the United States, Canada, and Latin America. Previously, Mr. Zilko was a Managing Director and Head of U.S. Institutional & RIA Sales at PineBridge Investments. Earlier in his career, he held client-facing roles at PIMCO and Lord Abbett.

“John has a proven track record of building and leading institutional client businesses at some of the most respected firms in our industry. His deep credit market expertise, strategic perspective, and collaborative approach make him an exceptional addition to Octagon,” said Gretchen Lam, CEO of Octagon. “As we continue to expand our business, John will play an important role in identifying new areas of demand, growing our client base, and advancing our commercial strategy.”

“It is a rare opportunity to join a firm of Octagon’s caliber,” said Mr. Zilko. “Octagon has built an enduring franchise over more than three decades, grounded in disciplined investing and longstanding client relationships. The breadth of the firm’s credit capabilities creates significant potential to serve both existing and new investors in new ways. I look forward to working with Gretchen and the broader team to deepen Octagon’s engagement with institutional investors and help translate the firm’s investment expertise into new avenues for growth.”

Mr. Zilko holds a B.A. in Finance from the University of South Florida and is a CFA charterholder.

About Octagon Credit Investors

Founded in 1994, Octagon Credit Investors manages $31 billion of assets across CLOs, broadly syndicated loans, structured credit, multi-asset credit, and direct lending strategies. Octagon’s disciplined, time-tested investment process relies on fundamental credit analysis and active portfolio management to generate attractive risk-adjusted performance for its clients.

Octagon is majority-owned by Conning¹, a leading global investment management firm with a long history of serving insurance companies and other institutional investors. Octagon and Conning are part of Generali Investments², a platform of asset management firms operating in more than 20 countries, offering distinctive strategies in public and private markets and expert insights to help investors achieve long-term performance. Generali Investments is the asset management arm of the Generali Group, one of the world's largest insurance and asset management players.

For more information, please visit www.octagoncredit.com.

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^1 Conning, Inc., Goodwin Capital Advisers, Inc., Conning Investment Products, Inc., Conning Asset Management Limited, Conning Asia Pacific Limited, Octagon Credit Investors, LLC, Global Evolution Holding ApS and its subsidiaries, MGG Investment Group LP and certain of its affiliates, and Pearlmark Real Estate, L.L.C. and its subsidiaries are all direct or indirect subsidiaries of Conning Holdings Limited (collectively, “Conning”) which is one of the family of companies whose controlling shareholder is Generali Investments Holding S.p.A. (“GIH”), a company headquartered in Italy. Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. is the ultimate controlling parent of all GIH subsidiaries.

^2 With €736.1 billion in assets under management (as of December 31, 2025), Generali Investments is the holding company that brings together several asset management companies on one platform, offering a portfolio of specialized expertise across various countries. Generali Investments is part of the Generali Group, founded in 1831 in Trieste, Italy. For further information, visit generali-investments.com.