XA Investments Appoints Lauren Michalak as Managing Director and Head of Product Development & Strategy
CHICAGO, March 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- XA Investments LLC (XAI), a Chicago-based alternative investment management and consulting firm, announced that Lauren Michalak has joined the firm as a managing director and head of product development and strategy, leading efforts in those areas for the firm's proprietary closed-end funds. She will also serve the firm's interval fund consulting clients and research clients.
"Lauren has spent two decades operating at the intersection of product innovation, strategy, and enterprise execution. She has led every stage of the product development lifecycle across multiple fund structures, raised over $15 billion of new capital, and driven complex, cross-functional initiatives—bringing the discipline needed to turn ideas into market-ready offerings. We're excited for her to help shape the next phase of growth for our proprietary fund platform and our client-focused consulting efforts," said Kimberly Flynn, XAI's president.
Michalak joins XAI after spending 20 years at Nuveen, the investment management division of TIAA, in high-profile roles leading product development, business transformation and strategic initiatives. She served as an in-house strategy leader driving enterprise transformation, including investment team integration, operating model redesign, and product rationalization. Michalak spent more than a decade in Nuveen's Global Structured Products division, where she helped bring new investment vehicles to market and supported capital raising across multiple fund structures. She also served as head of strategy, North America, for the firm's Responsible Investing business line, which represented over $100 billion of assets under management. In that capacity, Michalak and her team designed and executed multi-year strategic plans that prioritized growth in sustainability-focused investment capabilities, product offerings and client outreach.
"XA Investments has a true partnership model—working with asset managers to develop custom product designs and supporting sponsors with structuring and go-to-market needs. I'm excited to join a firm where product development is both strategic and hands-on, and where we can collaborate with clients to bring differentiated evergreen fund solutions to private wealth," said Michalak.
Lauren earned a Master of Business Administration from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in economics and mathematics from Loyola University Chicago, graduating with highest honors. She also holds FINRA Series 79, 7, and 63 licenses.
About XA Investments
XA Investments LLC ("XAI") is a Chicago-based firm founded by XMS Capital Partners in 2016. XAI serves as the investment adviser for two listed closed-end funds and an interval closed-end fund, respectively the XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust (NYSE:XFLT), the XAI Madison Equity Premium Income Fund (NYSE:MCN), and the Octagon XAI CLO Income Fund (OCTIX). In addition to investment advisory services, the firm also provides investment fund structuring and consulting services focused on registered closed-end funds to meet institutional client needs. XAI offers custom product build and consulting services, including product development and market research, marketing and fund management. XAI believes that the investing public can benefit from new vehicles to access a broad range of alternative investment strategies and managers. For more information, please visit www.xainvestments.com.
About XMS Capital Partners
XMS Capital Partners, LLC, established in 2006, is a global, independent, financial services firm providing M&A, corporate advisory and asset management services to clients. It has offices in Chicago, Boston, Dallas and London. For more information, please visit www.xmscapital.com.
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