Mike Blitzer has been our Chairman and CEO since March 2023, having previously served as co-CEO and director of IPAX from February 2021 to February 2023. Mike is the founder and co-CEO of Kingstown Capital Management, which he founded in 2006 and grew to a multi-billion asset manager with some of the world’s largest endowments and foundations as clients. Over 17 years, Kingstown has invested in public and private equities, SPACs, PIPEs, and derivatives. At Kingstown, Mike oversaw and participated in nearly all the firm’s investment decisions including countless public and private investments in disruptive growth industries. Mike brings an in-depth understanding of public markets and has invested in a variety of corporate transactions such as spin-offs, rights offerings, public offerings, privatizations, and mergers & acquisitions. He currently sits on the board of directors and audit committee of LUNR. He was also a public company director of Signature Group Holdings after its exit from bankruptcy in 2011, where he also sat on the audit committee, and was on the board of directors of the European mutual fund TREND AD. Mike began his Wall Street career at J.P. Morgan Securities in 1999 advising companies globally in private debt and equity capital raises followed by work at the investment fund Gotham Asset Management, which was founded by the author and investor Joel Greenblatt. Mike taught courses in Investing at Columbia Business School for five years in the 2010s. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a B.S. from Cornell University where he received the Cornell Tradition Fellowship. Mike currently sits on the Executive Advisory Board of the Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing at Columbia Business School and is a trustee of Greens Farms Academy in Westport, CT where he is also Treasurer and Chair of the Investment Committee.

Nick Shekerdemian is a member of our board of directors. Nick has previously served as a director of IPAX from February 2021 to February 2023. Nick is the Founding Partner of The Venture Collective, a venture capital firm founded in October 2019 focused on solving the world’s largest problems. The Venture Collective is backed by a series of exited founders, hedge fund managers and Fortune 500 executives and has invested in the likes of Axiom Space, Infogrid, Builder.ai, LifeBiosciences and HelixNano. Nick was previously Founder and CEO, from January 2016 to January 2019, and Chairman from January 2019 to August 2022, of a venture backed business called Headstart (sold to Silverback United, Inc. in August 2022). At Headstart, he received backing from investors including Peter Thiel, Y Combinator, FoundersX Ventures, Hack VC, Plug and Play, and the founders of Zynga and Unity. Nick is an advisor to the United Nations on education through the United National Technology Innovation Lab (UNTIL). Personally, Nick is an active angel investor with 50+ investments spanning consumer, enterprise software and biotech.

Paula Sutter is a member of our board of directors. Paula previously served as Executive Chairwoman on IPAX from February 2021 to February 2023. Paula began her career over 25 years ago at the Donna Karan Company serving in a variety of roles. She currently serves on the board of ThredUp Inc. (“ThredUp”), a high-growth re-commerce platform backed by Goldman Sachs and Park West.

Paula served as Global President of Diane von Furstenberg (“DvF”) from 1999 to 2013. She joined DvF with the task of relaunching and rebuilding the brand. Paula led DvF’s transformative growth and developed a vast range of accessories and home furnishings, spearheading the company’s evolution into a true lifestyle omnichannel brand. During her tenure, she built the business from its commercial launch to an iconic international brand, expanding its global footprint of freestanding DvF stores, launching DvF.com as well as establishing a substantial presence in department stores worldwide.

From 2014 to 2017, Paula was Operating Partner at TSG Consumer Partners and CEO of TSG Fashion (collectively, “TSG”). As group CEO, Paula provided hands-on strategic planning as well as operational and management strategy to her portfolio, which included Revolve Group, Inc. (NYSE: RVLV) (“Revolve”), Forward by Elyse Walker, Alexis Bittar, Backcountry, and Paige Denim. During her tenure at TSG, Paula was deeply involved in the management and sales processes for Paige Denim and Alexis Bittar. Paula was also instrumental in driving topline growth and margin expansion at Revolve which resulted in a successful initial public offering of the business in 2019. Additionally, Paula helped source and diligence new investment opportunities in the broader apparel and retail space.

After leaving TSG Consumer Partners, Paula founded Paula Sutter LLC, a brand advisory consulting firm focused on strategic planning, top line growth initiatives and product development and expansion. Beginning in 2018, she worked closely with several private PE- and VC-backed companies, including Alexander Wang, Mackage and MeUndies Inc. in both advisory and board of director roles, as well as advising investment firms including Lee Equity Interluxe and Permira. Paula is also a Series A investor in Allbirds, Inc.

Elliot Richmond is a member of our board of directors. Elliot has been the CFO and a director of Ahren Acquisition Corp. since April 2021. Elliot has had a successful 20-year career in investment banking, during which he was honored by Financial News’ “40 Under 40 Rising Stars in Investment Banking”. He was previously a Partner and Managing Director at Moelis & Company (from 2012 to 2019). Prior to joining Moelis & Company in 2011, Elliot was Director of UK Investment Banking, and Head of UK ECM, at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Throughout his career, Elliot has advised on over $75 billion worth of domestic and cross-border mergers & acquisitions and equity offerings. Notable transactions where he has taken a leadership role include WS Atkins $3.2 billion sale to SNC-Lavalin, ICI’s $16 billion sale to Akzo Nobel, WPP’s $2 billion hostile acquisition of TNS, and Dubai World’s $3.5 billion acquisition of Economic Zones FZE and LSE delisting. Alongside his investment banking career, Elliot is also an experienced early-stage investor, having partaken in over 100 private pre-seed through Series C equity investments across a variety of sectors in the UK and the US. He holds a B.Sc. in Economics from University College London and has also partaken in the Wharton School’s Merrill Lynch Investment Banking Institute.

Sam Sayegh is a member of our board of directors. Sam is the co-founder of UNCAP Investment Management, an alternative investment firm focused on the digital assets and blockchain space founded in 2021. He is also a shareholder in the management companies of other alternative asset managers. Previously, Sam served from 2018 to 2021 as the CFO and Head of the Defense and Intelligence business unit at SPARK Neuro, a Peter Thiel-backed neuroscience software company that has raised over $33 million. Before that, Sam ran his own consulting business called Palm Advisory services from 2014-2017. Earlier in his career, Sam worked on the consumer and education teams at LLR Partners, a private equity firm that has raised over $5 billion since inception. He began his career in investment banking in the industrials group at RBS. Sam attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 2011 with a B.S. from the Wharton School and a B.A. from the College of Arts & Sciences.

Erica Dorfman is a member of our board of directors. Erica currently serves as of Brex’s Head of Global Financial Products and is responsible for the development of financial products spanning cards, payments, cash movement, reimbursements, credit limits, billing, and pricing. She was previously the President of Brex Cash from 2019-2022 and led Brex’s application for a bank charter. Erica previously served as CFO and COO of Tally Technologies from 2018-2019 where she secured a $50 million Series C financing for the Company anchored by Andreessen Horowitz. Prior to Tally Technologies, Erica served as Vice President of Capital Markets at SoFi from 2016-2018, overseeing over $10 billion of transactions across asset sales, bank and asset manager warehouses, and 15+ securitizations across student loans, consumer unsecured loans, and mortgage. Erica served as a private equity associate at BDT Capital Partners from 2013-2016, and she began her career in investment banking at J.P. Morgan covering industrials companies from 2011-2013. Erica is an Angel Investor with investments personally across fintech and B2B software. She received Forbes 30 Under 30 recognition in 2019.

Peter Ondishin has been our CFO since April 2023, and he was previously an employee of IPAX. Peter has been the CFO of Kingstown Capital Management since August 2020, and he was previously the Controller of Kingstown from April 2019 to August 2020. Beginning in June 2023, Peter will be the CFO of The Venture Collective. Peter was the Assistant Controller for Atlantic Investment Management from January 2016 to March 2019. Before that, Peter worked as an accountant for Fir Tree Partners from January 2014 to January 2016. Peter began his career in assurance at PwC. Peter holds a B.A. and an MBA from Rutgers University, and he is also Certified Public Accountant.