SPOTLIGHT: NYU Stern Executive MBA Alumnus Eric Starr ‘92

Author: Jason Worobow

I recently spoke to NYU Stern Executive MBA alumnus, Eric Starr ’92 who was able to provide insight into his career and how he has maintained a high level of success in both his personal and professional life. Eric is currently the SVP of Program Operations & Risk at Accord Financial, a financial services company that helps finance companies in transition reinventing, rebuilding, or shifting into growth mode. Prior to his time at Accord, Eric was a partner at CapX Partners, a specialty finance company that focuses on private equity and venture-backed portfolio companies looking for debt financing. It was acquired by Accord in 2017. Eric is also working on an exciting side-project which he refers to as his ‘Night Job’.

Eric’s ‘Night-Job’ is co-developing a Web3 company called UltraPass Identity Corp. The company is designed to connect individuals to applications via a single sign-on portal. Eric said his north star metric for the project is to allow people to vote via their smart devices.

Eric spoke very fondly about his time at NYU and reflected particularly positively on a Trading Class with Professor Heinz Riehl. He noted the relationships developed at Stern have led to both lifelong friendships and business partners. His biggest piece of advice to current students was to never stop learning and remain a lifelong student.

“Anyone can become an expert on anything. Bite off more than you can chew and chew it. Develop the left side and right side of your brain both creatively and analytically.”

He also stated to never underestimate the power of kindness and to try and be driven by things other than money. Eric pressed that income and wealth are side-effects of accomplishment. Above all else, he preached to be open-minded to opportunities as they come.

Eric acknowledged in our extremely fast-growing world today, change management has been his biggest challenge throughout his career.

“Change management is a discipline. Bringing people along is difficult and is a large part of my job and any business leader’s role. People get used to routines and it’s hard to change habits and momentum. ”

Eric was also willing to admit his career has not always been easy…

“My career has not been easy at times. The hardest part is doing things that are new and different because they are not always well received. Sometimes it’s investors that look at you sideways and say ‘nothing is broken why are you trying to fix it’.”

He noted that people of all ages should be courageous and rise above internal pressure to not go against the grain. Eric affirmed the one constant in business is, and always has been, change.

“I am always looking for the next thing and am passionate about learning and always trying to figure out where the market is heading next. ”

In Eric’s free time he loves to travel and visit his children Noah and Leah in both Texas and California respectively. He is particularly fond of reading fantasy and sci-fi novels. He considers himself an avid Lord of The Rings and Star Wars fan.

About the Writer
Jason Worobow
Part-time MBA ‘24

If you have questions, recommendations, or alumni we should spotlight please reach out to jsw9259@stern.nyu.edu.