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Directors
Board of Directors
Wesley R. Edens
Wesley R. Edens is a principal and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fortress Investment Group LLC. Mr. Edens has been Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors since August 2009 and a member of the Board of Directors of Fortress since November 2006. Mr. Edens has been a member of the Management Committee of Fortress since 1998. Mr. Edens is responsible for the Company's private equity and publicly traded alternative investment businesses.
Prior to co-founding Fortress in 1998, Mr. Edens was a partner and managing director of BlackRock Financial Management Inc., where he headed BlackRock Asset Investors, a private equity fund. In addition, Mr. Edens was formerly a partner and managing director of Lehman Brothers.
Mr. Edens is Chairman of the Board of Directors of each of Aircastle Limited, Brookdale Senior Living Inc., Eurocastle Investment Limited, GateHouse Media Inc., Newcastle Investment Corp. and RailAmerica Inc. and a director of Penn National Gaming Inc.
Mr. Edens was Chief Executive Officer of Global Signal Inc. from February 2004 to April 2006 and Chairman of the Board of Directors from October 2002 to January 2007. Mr. Edens previously served on the board of Crown Castle Investment Corp. (merged with Global Signal Inc.) from January 2007 to July 2007.
Mr. Edens received a B.S. in Finance from Oregon State University.
Robert I. Kauffman
Robert I. Kauffman has been a principal and a member of the management committee of Fortress Investment since co-founding the firm in 1998. Mr. Kauffman is primarily responsible for Fortress Investment's European investment operations. He also serves as Chairman of Italfondiario, Fortress Investment's Italian Real Estate and Loan Business. Prior to co-founding Fortress Investment, Mr. Kauffman was a managing director of the principal finance group of UBS from May 1997 to May 1998, and prior to that, was a principal of BlackRock Financial Management. Mr. Kauffman was with Lehman Brothers from 1986 to 1994 and served as executive director of Lehman Brothers International in London beginning in 1992. Mr. Kauffman received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Northeastern University.
Randal A. Nardone
Randal A. Nardone is a principal and has been a member of the Board of Directors of Fortress Investment Group LLC since November 2006. Mr. Nardone has been a member of the Management Committee of Fortress since 1998.
Prior to co-founding Fortress in 1998, Mr. Nardone was a managing director of UBS from May 1997 to May 1998. Before joining UBS in 1997, Mr. Nardone was a principal of BlackRock Financial Management, Inc. Prior to joining BlackRock, Mr. Nardone was a partner and a member of the executive committee at the law firm of Thacher Proffitt & Wood.
Mr. Nardone is a director of Alea Group Holdings (Bermuda) Ltd. and Eurocastle Investment Limited.
William Joseph Brennan
William Joseph Brennan has been member of the Board of Directors since August 2009.
Mr Brennan joined Fortress' London office in September 2008. Prior to that he spent fifteen years with Cendant Corp (and successor company Wyndham Worldwide). With an audit backgound, Mr Brennan began his career with Cendant by taking on the senior financial role for their vehicle management operations in Germany, based in Munich. After returning to the US, he continued as part of the Corporate Audit function, with responsiblity for Cendant's European operations. In 1999 he moved to Cendant's RCI LLC subsidiary, leading the finance function for the North American region. Moving to London in 2004, he assumed senior roles in both Finance and Operations. With the combination of Cendant Europe's Vacation Rental Group and RCI Europe (EME), he was appointed as Chief Transformation Officer for the newly created RCI Global Vacation Network (EME) responsible for the integration of the business entities. After the successful transformation, Mr. Brennan took over the position as CFO of RCI LLC for Europe, Middle East, South Africa and India.
He is graduate of the University of Maryland.
Yves Wagner, PhD
Yves Wagner, Ph.D., was appointed member of the Board in October 2006. He is an Associate of The Directors' Office, the leading practice of independent Directors in Luxembourg. He has both an academic and professional career. He is Doctor of Economic Science and started working as a university professor. After a strong career within the Fortis Group, he co-founded "The Directors' Office".
As an independent director today, he still teaches or holds chairs at different Universities and Business Schools, such as the University of Luxembourg, the Institut de Formation Bancaire, the Agence pour le Transfert de Technologies Financières and the Académie Bancaire Européenne.
He is an advisor in research to the Luxembourg School of Finance. Mr. Wagner is also the President of the Luxembourg Society of Financial Analysts.
Dieter H. Ristau
Dieter H. Ristau was appointed member of the Board in October 2006. Prior to joining our Group, Dieter H. Ristau was Chief Executive Officer of Allianz Global Investors Luxembourg S.A. and Chairman of the Board of Dresdner International Management Services Ltd., Ireland and Dresdner Fund Adminstration Ltd., Cayman Islands. Apart from being a Board Member of our Group, Mr. Ristau occupies several non-executive directorships in Investment Management Companies in Luxembourg, i.e. of Companies related to Feri Group (Bad Homburg).
Dr. Jürgen Allerkamp
Dr. Jürgen Allerkamp was appointed member of the Board in October 2006. Since February 1, 2010, Dr. Allerkamp has been Chairman of the Board of Deutsche Hypothekenbank AG, a subsidiary of NORD/LB. Prior to that position Dr. Allerkamp was a member of the management board of NORD/LB for 12 years, where he was mainly responsible for Treasury, Organization and IT. Before joinuing NORD/LB, Dr. Allerkamp was an attorney at WestLB and later worked for the Savings and Loan Bank of Dresden, where he was appointed to the management board in 1993. Dr. Allerkamp has degrees in legal and political science.
Senior Management of our subsidiaries
William Joseph Brennan
Chief Executive Officer
William Joseph Brennan joined the GAGFAH Group as COO in January 2009 and took over the responsibility as CEO in April 2009.
Mr Brennan joined Fortress' London office in September 2008. Prior to that he spent fifteen years with Cendant Corp (and successor company Wyndham Worldwide). With an audit background, Mr Brennan began his career with Cendant by taking on the senior financial role for their vehicle management operations in Germany, based in Munich. After returning to the US, he continued as part of the Corporate Audit function, with responsibility for Cendant's European operations. In 1999 he moved to Cendant's RCI LLC subsidiary, leading the finance function for the North American region. Moving to London in 2004, he assumed senior roles in both Finance and Operations. With the combination of Cendant Europe's Vacation Rental Group and RCI Europe (EME), he was appointed as Chief Transformation Officer for the newly created RCI Global Vacation Network (EME) responsible for the integration of the business entities. After the successful transformation, Mr. Brennan took over the position as CFO of RCI LLC for Europe, Middle East, South Africa and India. He is graduate of the University of Maryland.
Stephen Charlton
Chief Financial Officer
Stephen Charlton was appointed to the management of GAGFAH Group as Chief Financial Officer in January 2011. He joined Fortress Investment Group in August 2004 as Chief Financial Officer of Eurocastle Investment Ltd, one of the largest listed owners of German commercial real estate. Prior to joining Fortress Mr. Charlton worked for Gordian Knot Limited where he spent 10 years also as Chief Financial Officer. While he was at Gordian he was part of the management team responsible for creating, and then managing, Sigma Finance Corporation, a limited purpose finance company with total investment grade assets of US$33 billion. From 1989 to 1994 Mr. Charlton was finance director of Sterling Trust Plc, a USM quoted financial services group. Prior to joining Sterling Trust, Mr. Charlton held financial management control positions with DKB International (the securities arm of Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank), Irving Trust Co and James Capel & Co (HSBC). Mr. Charlton started his career in London with Price Waterhouse (1980 - 1985) where he qualified as a chartered accountant.
Nicolai Kuß
COO Chief Operating Officer
Nicolai Kuß (*1974) studied Business Administration at the European Business School (ebs) in Oestrich-Winkel, the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce in Clermont-Ferrand, France and at the James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA and graduated as a Diplom Kaufmann (Business Administration degree, similar to MBA).
Nicolai Kuß has been working in various positions in real estate business for the past 11 years. After working as senior consultant for Arthur Andersen and Ernst&Young Real Estate for four years, he has been responsible for asset and investment management of residential property investments in the Fortress Investment Group in Germany since 2004.
On 20th March 2009, he was appointed to the management of GAGFAH as Chief Operating Officer. Nicolai Kuß manages the operational business of GAGFAH.
Stefan de Greiff
CISO Chief Investment & Sales Officer
Stefan de Greiff studied economics at WHU University in Vallendar, the Ecole de Management in Lyon, France, and at the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, and graduated as Diplom-Kaufmann (business administration degree).
During the last nine years, Stefan de Greiff has held different positions in the real estate industry. After working as a consultant for Morgan Stanley and Leonardo & Co. he was a member of the private equity team of Fortress Investment Group in Germany and the USA.
Stefan de Greiff was appointed as CISO to the management board of GAGFAH on April 1, 2010.