Kelly Menendez is a Managing Director in the Client and Product Solutions Group at Apollo, where she leads Product Management across several of the firm’s Private Markets strategies, including Private Equity, Hybrid Value, and Equity Secondaries. She also serves as Co-Lead of Apollo Women Empower in Europe, the firm’s women’s network dedicated to fostering inclusion and advancement.

Prior to joining Apollo in 2021, Kelly was a Managing Director at Värde Partners, where she established and co-led the Product Specialist function. In this role, she helped shape the firm’s fundraising strategy and investor engagement across a range of credit-oriented offerings, including global flagship and regional strategies in Asia-Pacific and Europe.

Earlier in her career, Kelly held roles at Alcentra, where she raised third-party institutional capital for sub-investment grade credit and direct lending funds, and at Goldman Sachs as an emerging markets equity sales trader. She began her career at Deutsche Bank as an equity trader in New York and later in London.

Kelly graduated cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science. She also serves on the Board of Governors for Salusbury Primary School in northwest London.