Frank Erhard

Dr. Frank Alexander Erhard is the founder and long-time chief executive of Rising STAR, a Swiss, bank-independent house for alternative investments. He established the business around 2000–2001 with the aim of designing hedge-fund and private-equity programs for wealthy families and institutional investors, and over time built it into one of the leading independent specialists for private equity and real estate in the German-speaking market. Rising STAR AG is headquartered in Bottighofen (Canton Thurgau), with Rising STAR Management GmbH registered in the Schindellegi/Zug area; Erhard himself is associated with Herrliberg on Lake Zurich.

Before Rising STAR, Erhard founded Alpha Financial Management AG, where he served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman. He is also listed as Managing Director of Star Private Equity Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG and Co-Managing Director of Star Private Equity II Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG — the German fund vehicles through which Rising STAR's retail private-equity programs are structured. His work centers on packaging institutional-grade managers into structured products accessible to German-speaking private and semi-institutional investors.

Erhard holds a doctorate (he is consistently referred to as "Dr.") and is an active academic voice in the alternatives field: he has been a guest lecturer at the European Business School (EBS) Oestrich-Winkel and helped conceive an intensive study module on hedge funds there. He is a frequent commentator in German-language financial media on portfolio construction, crisis investing and the case for alternatives.

Rising STAR's platform partners underline the institutional nature of the business — the firm has co-invested and worked alongside HQ Capital (New York), Alpha Associates (Zurich), Mercer Private Markets and Quilvest (the Paris-based family office), deploying more than USD 1 billion since its founding and, per media reports, managing a volume in the range of €700–750 million-plus across its structured products and funds.

• Alternatives as a core allocation: Erhard builds fund-of-funds programs that bundle "the world's most successful hedge-fund and private-equity managers" for German-speaking investors, giving them access to institutional managers they could not otherwise reach.
• Counter-cyclical, buy-the-crisis mindset: In interviews he argues that *"the largest fortunes were often built during times of crisis"* and that overcoming the psychological barrier to invest during downturns earns a premium.
• Against market timing: His signature line — *"Market timing always costs returns"* (*"Markttiming kostet immer Rendite"*) — reflects a conviction that emotional selling at lows destroys performance; he cites investors who exited in 2008 and missed the 2009 recovery.
• Diversification first: He calls diversification "the cheapest form of risk reduction," contrasting the disciplined endowment models (Harvard, Yale) with the conservative gold-and-cash concentration many investors default to after a crisis.
• Product lines: STAR Private Equity (funds I–IX) for global buyout/growth PE, and STAR Value (funds I–III) for global real estate and construction, typically as fund-of-funds with partners such as Quilvest.