Credit investment titan Oaktree Capital Management will promote Robert O’Leary and Armen Panossian to co-CEOs early next year as Jay Wintrob steps down from the top job in the first quarter of 2024.

O’Leary is currently a portfolio manager for the firm’s global opportunities strategy, while Panossian is the head of performing credit.

Before joining Oaktree in 2002, O’Leary worked at McKinsey & Co. as a consultant and at private equity firm Orion Partners.

Panossian, who also is a portfolio manager with Oaktree’s global private debt and global credit strategies, has been with Oaktree since 2007. He previously worked at Pequot Capital and Morgan Stanley.

As part of the transition, Todd Molz, Oaktree’s General Counsel and CAO, will be named COO and oversee day-to-day management. All three will join co-chairs Howard Marks and Bruce Karsh, and vice chairman John Frank on the executive committee.

“We’re delighted to elevate these three outstanding, long-tenured Oaktree professionals. With 54 years of combined experience at the firm, they exemplify the Oaktree culture, with its emphasis on risk control and taking the high road,” said Marks.

Wintrob joined the $172 billion asset manager in 2014 after serving as president and CEO of AIG Life and Retirement.

The leadership change comes at a time when Oaktree has been planning expansions, including raising $10 billion for a new fund that will help finance large private equity takeovers.