Stephen G. Kasnet
Chairman of the Board
Stephen G. Kasnet is an independent member and the Chair of our Board. He has served as a director of the Company since 2017. Mr. Kasnet has served as a director of Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE: TWO), a hybrid mortgage real estate investment trust, since 2009, where he currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors, chair of the audit committee and a member of the risk oversight committee. He served as a director of Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp. (NYSE: SBY), a real estate investment trust, from 2012 to 2017. Mr. Kasnet was also a director of Columbia Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBRX), a specialty pharmaceuticals company, now Juniper Pharmaceuticals, from August 2004 to June 2015, including as Chair of the Board from November 2004 to June 2015. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Kasnet was the Chair of Dartmouth Street Capital LLC, a private investment firm. From 2000 to 2006, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Harbor Global Company, Ltd., an asset management, natural resources and real estate investment company, and Chief Executive Officer of PIOglobal Investment Fund, a publicly owned, Russian-domiciled subsidiary of Harbor Global investing in corporations located in the Russian Federation. From 1995 to 1999, Mr. Kasnet was a director and member of the Executive Committee of The Bradley Real Estate Trust, a real estate investment trust. He was Chair of Warren Bank, a state commercial bank, and Warren Bancorp., the bank holding company for Warren Bank, from 1990 to 2003. Mr. Kasnet has also held senior management positions with other financial organizations, including Pioneer Group, Inc., First Winthrop Corporation and Winthrop Financial Associates, and Cabot, Cabot and Forbes. He served as Chair of the Board of Rubicon Ltd. (NZX: RBC), an international investor in forestry related industries, from 2004 to 2018, as a director of First Ipswich Bancorp, the holding company for The First National Bank of Ipswich, which is owned by Brookline Bancorp, Inc., from 2008 to 2020, and as a director of GoodBulk Ltd., a cargo company, from 2017 to 2019. He served as a director and Chair of Tenon Ltd., a wood products company, from 2016 to 2018; Republic Engineered Products, a steel producer, from 2002 to 2008; and FTD, Inc., a florist collective, from 2001 to 2005. He is also a trustee of the board of the Governor’s Academy, a private coed boarding high school in Byfield, Massachusetts. Mr. Kasnet received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
John (“Jack”) A. Taylor
Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
John (“Jack”) A. Taylor is our President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board. Mr. Taylor has been a director and executive officer of the Company since its inception in 2017. Mr. Taylor served as Global Head of Commercial Real Estate of Pine River Capital Management L.P. (which externally managed our Company until December 31, 2020) from 2014 through 2020. Prior to joining Pine River, Mr. Taylor served as a Managing Director and Head of Global Real Estate Finance for Prudential Real Estate Investors (now known as PGIM Real Estate Company), a commercial real estate investor, from 2009 to November 2014, where he was also a member of the Global Management Committee and chaired the Global Investment Committee for debt and equity. From 2003 to 2007, Mr. Taylor was a partner at Five Mile Capital Partners LLC, an alternative investment and asset management company. Prior to Five Mile Capital Partners, he was co-head of real estate investment banking for the Americas and Europe at UBS Group AG, a Swiss multinational investment bank and financial services company. He previously led the Real Estate Group at PaineWebber & Co., an investment bank and stock brokerage firm, and served on the firm’s Operating Committee. He was head trader and manager of the CMBS and Principal Commercial Mortgage business for Kidder, Peabody & Co., Inc., a securities firm. Mr. Taylor was a founding governor and is currently a member of the Commercial Mortgage Securities Association (now the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council) and a member of the President’s Council of the Real Estate Roundtable. He is also Chairman of the Innocence Project. Mr. Taylor received a J.D. from Yale Law School, a MSc. in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Illinois.
Tanuja M. Dehne
Independent Director
Tanuja M. Dehne is an independent member of our Board and has served as a director of the Company since 2017. Since 2019, Ms. Dehne has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. She has served as a director of Climate Real Impact Solutions II Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: CLIM.U), a climate-focused special-purpose acquisition company, since February 2021. Ms. Dehne also serves as the Co-Chair of the Gupta Governance Institute at Drexel University. From 2017 to 2020, Ms. Dehne served as a director of Advanced Disposal Services, Inc. (NYSE: ADSW), a solid waste collection company. From 2012 to 2017, she served as a director of Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp. (NYSE: SBY), a real estate investment trust. From 2014 to 2016, Ms. Dehne was the Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and Chief of Staff of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG), a power generation and retail electricity company. In this role, Ms. Dehne oversaw NRG’s Human Resources, Information Technology, Communications, Corporate Marketing and Sustainability Departments, including the company’s charitable giving program, mergers and acquisition integrations and big data analytics. Prior to these positions, she was the Senior Vice President, Human Resources of NRG starting in 2011, where she led NRG’s Human Resources department, which handled all human resources functions for more than 8,000 employees. From 2004 to 2011, Ms. Dehne served as the Corporate Secretary and Deputy/Assistant General Counsel of NRG, leading corporate governance and corporate transactions, including financing, mergers and acquisitions, public and private securities offerings, securities and stock exchange matters and reporting compliance. Prior to joining NRG, from 1998 to 2004, Ms. Dehne practiced corporate law as a member of the business department of Saul Ewing Arnstien & Lehr, LLP. She received a J.D. from Syracuse University, an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in political science and a B.A. from Lafayette College.
W. Reid Sanders
Independent Director
W. Reid Sanders is an independent member of our Board and has served as a director of the Company since 2017. Since 2004, Mr. Sanders has served as the President of Sanders Properties, Inc., a real estate company. He has served as a director of Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE: TWO), a hybrid mortgage real estate investment trust, since 2009, where he currently serves on the audit, compensation and risk oversight committees. Since 2010, Mr. Sanders has served as a director of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE: MAA), a real estate investment trust that owns and operates apartment complexes, where he is currently a member of the audit committee. Mr. Sanders has been a member of the board of Independent Bank, a bank holding company, since 2004, where he is currently a member of the executive, nominating and corporate governance and strategic planning committees. He has served on the investment committee at Cypress Realty, a commercial real estate company, since 2002, and, since 2000, has been on the advisory board of SSM Venture Partners III, L.P., a private venture capital firm. Mr. Sanders was the chair of the board of Two Rivers Capital Management, a financial planning and investments firm, from 2004 to 2007, and his former directorships include those at Harbor Global Company Ltd., an asset management, natural resources and real estate investment company, from 2001 to 2006, Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp. (NYSE: SBY), a real estate investment trust, from 2015 to 2017, PioGlobal Asset Management, a private investment management company, from 2001 to 2006, The Pioneer Group Inc., a global investment management firm, from 1999 to 2000, and TBA Entertainment Corporation, a strategic communications and entertainment marketing company, from 2000 to 2004. He was co-founder and Executive Vice President of Southeastern Asset Management, Inc., a global investment management firm, and former President of Longleaf Partners Mutual Funds, from 1975 to 2000. He served as an Investment Officer at First Tennessee Investment Management, the investment management division of First Horizon National Corporation, a bank holding company, from 1973 to 1975. Mr. Sanders is chairman of the Hugo Dixon Foundation and a trustee of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens Endowment Fund, and Dixon Gallery and Gardens. Mr. Sanders received a B.A. in economics from the University of Virginia.
Hope B. Woodhouse
Independent Director
Hope B. Woodhouse is an independent member of our Board and has served as a director of the Company since 2017. Ms. Woodhouse has served as a director of Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE: TWO), a hybrid mortgage real estate investment trust, since 2012, and is currently the chair of its risk oversight committee and a member of its audit committee. She has also served as a director of Atomyze, a private company in the tokenization and digital asset space since 2020. From 2005 to 2009, she served as Chief Operating Officer and as a member of the management committee for Bridgewater Associates, LP, an investment management firm. Between 2003 and 2005, Ms. Woodhouse was President and Chief Operating Officer of Auspex Group LP, an investment management firm, and was Chief Operating Officer and a member of the management committee of Soros Fund Management, LLC, an investment management firm, from 2000 to 2003. Prior to that, she held various executive leadership positions, including Treasurer of Funds at Tiger Management Corp., a hedge fund, from 1998 to 2000, and Managing Director of the Global Finance Department at Salomon Brothers Inc., an investment bank, from 1983 to 1998. She served as a director of Piper Jaffray Companies (NYSE: PJC), a multinational independent investment bank and financial services company, from 2011 to 2014, Seoul Securities Co. Ltd., a brokerage firm, from 2001 to 2003, and The Bond Market Association, an international trade association, from 1997 to 1998. Ms. Woodhouse also serves on the boards of the Children’s Services Advisory Committee of Indian River County and the John’s Island Community Service League, and is a trustee of the Tiger Foundation. Ms. Woodhouse received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and an A.B. in economics from Georgetown University.
