Meet the Team: Erica Axani
Erica Axani is an integral member of the Garrington Private Credit senior leadership team and serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer.
Her role encompasses firm-wide risk oversight, including underwriting standards, credit governance, and portfolio review. She is also a member of the firm’s Investment Committee and part of the executive team responsible for broader corporate decision-making
Background
Her early career began more than 30 years ago when she started working with a large public Canadian commercial finance firm. Working her way up from answering phones and clerical work, she began to learn about the industry from the inside, holding almost every position through the company, gaining all of the experience necessary for her to have a solid base of understanding about alternative lending. As this firm was, at the time, responsible for the back-office management and lending facilities to Garrington, she was able to have early experience with the Garrington portfolio, from the time of its inception, until she eventually managed the portfolio itself in 2010.
Senior roles she has held have been across underwriting, portfolio management, and risk leadership within the Canadian market. She has held decision-making responsibility across origination, structuring, portfolio management, and workout scenarios over the full credit lifecycle.
At Garrington, she is responsible for maintaining consistency in credit standards and ensuring risk governance remains aligned across the platform.
Risk oversight
Risk oversight at Garrington is embedded within the investment process.
Erica participates in underwriting review, Investment Committee deliberation, and portfolio-level assessment as exposures evolve. Risk is evaluated at entry and revisited as conditions, performance, or structure change.
As she has said:
“Risk decisions are made at the point of entry, but they are tested over time. The work is in maintaining discipline as conditions change, not just in getting comfortable on day one.”
This perspective informs how credit risk is assessed across varying structures while maintaining underwriting discipline.
Ongoing review
Ongoing monitoring, exception review, and reassessment form part of her role, with a focus on maintaining consistency in standards across the portfolio. Engagement occurs throughout the life of an investment, not solely at origination.
Perspective beyond the role
Erica has a long-standing passion for writing and completed a novel early in her career.
Outside of work, she enjoys, sourdough baking (long before it became a trend), and cake decorating. She’s also an avid reader and a devoted sports fan – strictly as a spectator.
