Officers and Directors
Jeff Ball is our President and a member of our Board of Directors. He is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of our business, as well as spearheading our capital raising efforts. Most recently, Jeff was the Global Head of Semiconductor Investment Banking at JPMorgan. At JPMorgan, Jeff's clients included some of the largest technology companies in the world, including Intel and Texas Instruments. Prior to JPMorgan, Jeff was a corporate securities attorney at Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich (now DLA Piper). Jeff received his JD and MBA from Santa Clara University. He received his BA in Economics and Theology from Georgetown University.
Tom Pappas is our Chief Financial Officer and a member of our Board of Directors. Tom is responsible for all accounting and legal aspects of our business. Tom has 20 years of experience in finance and accounting, including experience with middle- market and start-up companies in roles of risk management compliance, accounting, raising equity and debt funding, and transaction support. Tom was a partner with a CPA firm where he helped public clients design and test internal controls for compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley. Prior to that he worked as an independent consultant to multinational companies, emerging market companies and venture backed start-ups. Prior to that, Tom was an audit and assurance manager with Price Waterhouse in Texas and in the Russian Federation where he assisted international companies with debt financing, financial statement audits, initial public offerings and private placements. Tom holds a BS in accounting and a JD.
Ed Sumner is our Chief Operating Officer. Ed has oversight duties for much of the company's operations including property acquisitions, financing, collections and sales. Prior to joining the company, Ed spent 20 plus years as a mortgage banker. This time included a seven year stay with Countrywide Home Loans. His last position with Countrywide was as a Wholesale Regional Vice President. Most recently, Ed spent four years with First Magnus Financial as VP of the Southeast Division. He received an undergraduate degree in Finance from the University of Texas.
Lindsey Younts is our Vice President of Acquisitions and founder. He is responsible for our property acquisitions and business development. Prior to founding the company, he was the principal member of the Younts Group, LLC, a construction, real estate brokerage and development firm. Lindsey has over 25 years experience in different facets of real estate and construction. He holds a BS in management and an MBA. Lindsey currently holds general and mechanical contracting licenses, as well as a real estate broker's license.
Gun Ruder is a member of our Board of Directors. He is the President of Agassi Graf Development, a real estate and development company. Prior to Agassi Graf, he worked for MBNA as a project manager on key strategic initiatives focused on diversification across consumer and small business finance. Before MBNA, he was a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company in the private equity and financial services industries in New York City. Gun also lived for a number of years in Japan working for Nippon Steel. He holds an MBA from Stanford University, and a BS from Georgetown University.
Bill Timken is a member of our Board of Directors. He has been a private investor since his retirement in 1999. He spent a total of 42 years in the securities industry, the last 30 years as a founding partner and later Vice Chairman of Hambrecht & Quist. Bill is a 1957 graduate of Colby College and has served for 27 years on the Board of Trustees of Blair Academy in New Jersey, including 5 years as the school's Chairman. He serves as a director of publicly owned ReGen Biologics as well as serving on the advisory boards of several venture capital and venture lending organizations.
J.P. Whelan is a member of our Board of Directors. He is a Managing Director at Kern Whelan Capital LLC which manages a diverse set of private equity investments. Immediately prior to joining Kern Whelan Capital, J.P. oversaw finance and capital markets for Prosper Marketplace, the first online credit person-to-person auction marketplace. J.P. previously worked in the mergers and acquisitions group of JPMorgan. Prior to his career as an investment banker, J.P. advised technology companies as a specialist in M&A structuring and due diligence at PricewaterhouseCoopers. J.P. serves on the board of Shopatron, an e-commerce platform, and acts as a board observer for San Francisco Legal Copy. He previously served on the board of Backcountry, a retailer of outdoor gear, until its acquisition by Liberty Media. J.P. earned a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, and a BA and an MA from Stanford University.
