Board of Directors
Michael G. Barnes has been a member of our Board of Directors since August 2010 following the sale of control of Care to Tiptree Financial Partners, L.P. and currently serves as our Chairman.
Mr. Barnes has served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Tiptree since its inception in 2007 and is a founding partner of Tricadia Holdings, L.P. and its affiliated companies (“Tricadia”), which are privately held and provide investment management services. Prior to the formation of Tricadia in 2003, Mr. Barnes spent two years as Head of Structured Credit Arbitrage within UBS Principal Finance LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of UBS Warburg, which conducts proprietary trading on behalf of the firm. Mr. Barnes joined UBS in 2000 as part of the merger between UBS and PaineWebber Inc. Prior to joining UBS, Mr. Barnes was a Managing Director and Global Head of the Structured Credit Products Group of PaineWebber. Prior to joining PaineWebber in 1999, he spent 12 years at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., the last five of which he was head of their Structured Transactions Group. Mr. Barnes received his A.B. from Columbia College. Mr. Barnes was selected by Tiptree to serve as a member of our Board of Directors because of his extensive experience in asset management, including the management of credit assets, real estate, and for his experience in developing emerging and transitional companies.
Geoffrey N. Kauffman has been a member of our Board of Directors since August 2010 following the sale of control of Care to Tiptree Financial Partners, L.P. and currently serves as our Vice Chairman.
Mr. Kauffman has served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Tiptree since its inception in 2007 and has been a Managing Director of Tricadia since 2005. Since joining Tricadia in 2005, Mr. Kauffman has been overseeing a variety of strategic acquisition opportunities and permanent capital projects, including the development of Tiptree. Prior to joining Tricadia, from 2002 to 2004, Mr. Kauffman was a partner with the Shidler Group in a similar capacity, with his primary focus being the development of a credit derivative products company (CDPC). Before joining the Shidler Group, from 1997 to 2001, Mr. Kauffman was involved in the launch of the CGA Group of companies, which originated financial guarantee contracts. From 1997 through 1999, he was the President, Chief Underwriting Officer and Principal Representative of CGA Bermuda, Ltd, the CGA Group’s Bermuda based insurance subsidiary. From 2000 to 2001, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of CGA Investment Management. Prior to joining CGA, Mr. Kauffman was at AMBAC and the MBIA / AMBAC International joint venture in 1995 and 1996, where he helped develop their international structured finance department. Prior to AMBAC, from 1989 to 1995, Mr. Kauffman was with FGIC’s ABS group and helped establish that business, focusing on CDOs, asset backed securities and multi-seller conduit programs. Prior to FGIC, Mr. Kauffman worked in the Investment Banking Division of Marine Midland Bank (now HSBC), where he focused on middle market mergers and acquisitions and structured finance. Mr. Kauffman holds a B.A. (Psychology) from Vassar College and an M.B.A. (Finance) from Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Kauffman was selected by Tiptree to serve as a member of our Board of Directors because of his significant and diverse experience in financial transactions, particularly credit transactions, and real estate, as well as his experience in developing emerging and transitional companies.
William A. Houlihan has been a member of our Board of Directors since August 2010 following the sale of control of Care to Tiptree Financial Partners, L.P. and currently serves as a member of our Audit Committee.
Mr. Houlihan has more than 30 years of business and financial experience. Since September 2009, he has served on the Board of Directors and as the financial expert on the audit committee of First Physicians Capital Group, Inc., a publicly-traded company that owns ambulatory surgical centers and small hospitals. Since November 2003, Mr. Houlihan has served on the Board of Directors of SNL Financial, a privately-held company that maintains database financial information on financial institutions, REITs, energy, media and other companies. During an eight-year period from 2001 through 2008, Mr. Houlihan was a private investor while he served as transitional Chief Financial Officer for several distressed companies: Sixth Gear, Inc. from October 2007 to November 2008, Sedgwick Claims Management Services from August 2006 until January 2007, Metris Companies from August 2004 to January 2006, and Hudson United Bancorp from January 2001 to November 2003. Mr. Houlihan also worked as an investment banker at UBS from June 2007 to September 2007, J.P. Morgan Securities from November 2003 to July 2004, KBW, Inc. from October 1996 to January 2001, Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc. from April 1991 to October 1996, and Goldman Sachs & Co. from June 1981 to April 1991. He also held several auditing and accounting positions from June 1977 through June 1981. Mr. Houlihan received a Bachelor of Science, Magna Cum Laude in Accounting in 1977 from Manhattan College, became licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in 1979, and received his Masters of Business Administration in Finance in 1983 from New York University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Houlihan was selected by Tiptree to serve as a member of our Board of Directors because of his diverse financial experience, including his service on the boards of directors of several small capitalization, high-growth companies, as chief financial officer of transitional public and privately-held companies and his extensive accounting background.
Jonathan Ilany has been a member of our Board of Directors since August 2010 following the sale of control of Care to Tiptree Financial Partners, L.P. and currently serves as a member of our Audit Committee.
Mr. Ilany has been chairman of the board of directors of Reliance First Capital, a privately owned mortgage company, since 2008. Since 2005, Mr. Ilany has been a private investor and passive partner at Mariner Investment Group. Mr. Ilany was a partner at Mariner Investment Group from 2000-2005, responsible for hiring and setting up new trading groups, overseeing risk management, and he was a senior member of the investment committee and management committee of the firm. From 1996-2000, Mr. Ilany was a private investor and also served as interim Chief Executive Officer of Angiosonics, a start-up medical device company, and as a director of various private companies. From 1982-1995, Mr. Ilany was an employee of Bear Stearns & Co. where he was a member of the Board of Directors. At Bear Stearns, Mr. Ilany initiated and supervised the Fixed Income Analytic and Structuring Group, started the whole loan trading group and the conduit group, and in 1990 began EMC, a specialty mortgage company designed to deal with all RTC liquidations. Mr. Ilany then further developed EMC as a servicing and acquisition platform for distressed mortgage product. He shared responsibility for the Financial Institution Group, all asset-backed securities, and he oversaw the Forex, Commodities and Energy Trading departments. From 1980-1982, Mr. Ilany worked at Merrill Lynch. From 1971-1975, Mr. Ilany served in the armored corps of the Israeli Defense Forces and he was honorably discharged holding the rank of First Lieutenant. Mr. Ilany was selected by Tiptree to serve as a member of our Board of Directors because of his extensive experience in overseeing risk management and serving on the investment committee and management committee of a major investment firm, serving on the board of directors of various companies and his experience with investing in real estate and real estate-related assets.
Flint D. Besecker has been a member of our Board of Directors since Care was formed in 2007.
Mr. Besecker is a veteran of both the commercial finance and healthcare industries and currently runs Firestone Asset Management, a healthcare middle market private equity business he founded in 2008. Firestone owns a variety of private equity investments focused on early stage life science drug development as well as specialty pharmaceutical companies. In addition, Mr. Besecker was formerly a director and chairman of the compensation committee of Allion Healthcare, a specialty pharmaceutical company serving patients throughout the U.S. Prior to founding Firestone Asset Management, Mr. Besecker served as the president and founder of CIT Healthcare LLC (our "Manager"), and also served as president of CIT Commercial Real Estate. Prior to joining CIT in 2004, Mr. Besecker held a variety of executive positions including managing director of GE Healthcare Financial Services, executive vice president and chief risk officer of Heller Healthcare Finance and president and co-founder of Healthcare Analysis Corporation. He also served as an officer of Healthcare Financial Partners prior to its acquisition by Heller. Mr. Besecker is treasurer and board member for the Center of Hospice and Palliative Care of Western NY. He received a BS in Accounting from Canisius College in 1988 and is a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Besecker was selected to serve as a member and chairman of our Board of Directors because of his significant achievements with, and intimate knowledge of, the Company and his extensive experience in healthcare and real estate.
J. Rainer Twiford has been a member of our Board of Directors since the consummation of our initial public offering in 2007 and serves as Chairman of the Company's Compensation, Nominating and Governance Committee as well as a member of the Audit Committee.
Mr. Twiford has been President of Brookline Partners, Inc, an investment advisory company, since 1999, and was a partner of Trammell Crow Company from 1987 until 1991. He is currently a Director of IPI, Inc., Smith of Georgia, and Tracon Pharmaceuticals and previously served on the board of a children's behavioral health company. Mr. Twiford received a BA and PhD from the University of Mississippi, an MA from the University of Akron, and a JD from the University of Virginia.
