Velocity Financial VEL

Christopher D. Farrar has served as our Chief Executive Officer and as a member of our Board of Directors since 2004. Mr. Farrar brings extensive operating experience and management skills to our Board of Directors. Mr. Farrar has an extensive background in finance, lending, raising capital and business operations - having co-founded us in June 2004. Prior to co-founding Velocity, Mr. Farrar formed and served as Chief Credit Officer for Worth Funding, a mortgage banking firm. Prior to that time, Mr. Farrar served as Senior Vice President of United States Production at Weyerhaeuser Mortgage Company and as a Vice President for Namco Capital Group, Inc., originating commercial real estate loans. Mr. Farrar is currently a director of Agoura Aquatic Foundation, a non-profit providing opportunities for youth to participate in aquatic sports and adults and disabled to engage in aquatic training. Mr. Farrar received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Pepperdine University and is a licensed (inactive) California Real Estate Broker.

Mark R. Szczepaniak, 68, has served as our Chief Financial Officer since May 2017. Mr. Szczepaniak has more than 35 years of industry experience in the real estate/financial services industry and has held various senior positions with both publicly and privately-held finance companies. Mr. Szczepaniak served as Managing Director of Finance, SOX, & Tax at PennyMac Financial Services Inc. from 2013 until joining us in 2017. From 2009 to 2012, Mr. Szczepaniak served as Chief Financial Officer of Prospect Mortgage. From 2004 to 2007, Mr. Szczepaniak served as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle and from 1996 to 2004 he served as Senior Vice President and Corporate Controller at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. Mr. Szczepaniak is a Certified Public Accountant, licensed in the state of California, and a Chartered Global Management Accountant. Mr. Szczepaniak received his Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accounting from St. Joseph's College.

Jeffrey T. Taylor, 58, has served as our Executive Vice President, Capital Markets since 2004. Mr. Taylor has more than 30 years of experience in the secondary mortgage market. Mr. Taylor co-founded the Company in June 2004. Prior to that time, Mr. Taylor worked for two different opportunity funds that purchased Resolution Trust Corporation and FDIC loan portfolios and as Vice President of Operations for 2dmkt.com, an internet start-up that created a platform for trading commercial real estate loan portfolios. Mr. Taylor also served as a Vice President with BayView Financial Trading Group L.P. where he managed the Northern California, Oregon and Washington markets for the commercial lending group and at Countrywide Securities Corporation where he served as a Transaction Manager. Mr. Taylor received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Santa Cruz in Economics and History and a Master of Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California.

John P. Pitstick has served as a member of our Board of Directors since January 2020. Mr. Pitstick has experience in accounting, taxes, capital markets, financial operations, internal controls and SEC reporting/compliance matters. Mr. Pitstick brings over 30 years of combined experience as a financial executive of publicly traded and privately held companies along with experience at a major accounting firm to our Board of Directors. Mr. Pitstick currently serves as CFO of Gameverse Interactive, Inc. From 2015 through 2024, Mr. Pitstick held financial executive roles at privately held companies including medical device manufacturer Caldera Medical, Inc., biotechnology developer Dyve Biosciences, Inc. and software solutions provider Seven Lakes Enterprises, Inc. Mr. Pitstick served as Executive Vice President from 2005 to 2007 and then as Chief Financial Officer from 2007 to 2015 of publicly traded Conversant, Inc. From 1995 to 2004, Mr. Pitstick worked for Ernst & Young LLP serving a broad range of clients in the technology, biotech and financial services industries, ultimately as a Senior Manager. Mr. Pitstick is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) and received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of San Francisco.

Joy L. Schaefer has served as a member of our Board of Directors since January 2020 and was elected as Lead Independent Director of our Board in February 2022. Ms. Schaefer brings to our Board of Directors a broad range of experience in a variety of asset classes including auto finance, residential mortgages, multi-family mortgages and home equity lending. Since August 2005, Ms. Schaefer has served as President of Golden Eagle Advisors, LLC, a consulting firm focused on organizational development and growth through strategic, operational and financial improvements. From 2005 until August 2018, Ms. Schaefer served as an operating partner of Snow Phipps. From 2002 until 2005, Ms. Schaefer served as President of JL Schaefer Consulting, a strategic, financial and operational consulting practice, advising privately held and family-owned businesses. In 2002, Ms. Schaefer served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Ameriquest Mortgage, a privately held mortgage banking company. From 1990 until 2002, Ms. Schaefer served in various senior management positions within the Westcorp family of companies, including as President and Chief Operating Officer of Westcorp, Inc., a publicly traded financial services holding company, Vice Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, President and Chief Operating Officer of WFS Financial, Inc., a publicly traded national automobile finance company and Chief Operating Officer, Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Western Financial Bank, Inc. Earlier in her career, Ms. Schaefer was an audit manager for Ernst & Young. Ms. Schaefer currently serves on the board of directors of American Assets Trust, Inc. (NYSE: AAT). Ms. Schaefer received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Illinois Wesleyan University.

Dorika M. Beckett has served as a member of our Board of Directors since July 2020. Ms. Beckett brings to our board executive, entrepreneurial, investment, private equity, operational and philanthropic experience. For over a decade, Ms. Beckett has been Chief Executive Officer of both LW Staffing, a franchise of healthcare professional staffing company ATC Healthcare Services, and Livewell Home Care Inc., an elder care focused service provider with operations in California and North Carolina. Previously, Ms. Beckett served as partner of a private equity firm, director of operations and management consultant in various industries. She is also Chair of the Imani Baraka Foundation, a family non-profit foundation. Ms. Beckett received a Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) in Economics from Harvard College and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.

John A. Pless has served as a member of our Board of Directors since 2007. Mr. Pless brings broad finance and corporate governance experience to our Board of Directors. Mr. Pless is a Co-Managing Partner of TruArc Partners, LP, a successor business to Snow Phipps. Mr. Pless joined Snow Phipps at the inception of the firm in 2005 and became a Partner in 2012. Prior to his tenure with Snow Phipps, Mr. Pless worked as a Vice President at Guggenheim Merchant Banking and served as Associate Director in the Financial Institutions Group at UBS Investment Bank, the investment banking arm of UBS AG, where he worked on a wide range of mergers and acquisitions and capital raising transactions for banks and specialty finance companies. Mr. Pless currently serves on the boards of BlackHawk Industrial Distribution, Inc., Cascade Environmental LLC, EnviroFinance Group, LLC, HCTec, Inc., New Directions Aromatics Inc., DMI Solutions, Meyer Laboratory Inc. and Aptyx. He is also a board member of Little Wings Foundation, a family foundation financially assisting other non-profits working on issues like education, children's health, international outreach and terminal diseases. Mr. Pless received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Middlebury College.

Alan H. Mantel has served as a member of our Board of Directors since 2007 and as Chair of our Board of Directors since 2020. With over 35 years on Wall Street, Mr. Mantel has experience across a wide array of investment banking disciplines, including corporate finance, financial advisory, mergers and acquisitions and structured finance. Mr. Mantel brings to our Board of Directors extensive experience in the financial services sector, including leveraged and structured finance, and background with and knowledge of accounting principles. Mr. Mantel is a Co-Managing Partner of TruArc Partners, L.P. a successor business to Snow Phipps (one of our largest shareholders). Mr. Mantel was a Partner of Snow Phipps from 2005 to April 2021. Before joining Snow Phipps, Mr. Mantel was a Partner at Guggenheim Merchant Banking. Mr. Mantel served as a Managing Director in the Leveraged Finance department at Credit Suisse from 2000 to 2004 and served as a Managing Director at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc. prior to its merger with Credit Suisse. Mr. Mantel was a Senior Accountant and Certified Public Accountant (inactive) at Ernst & Young LLP from 1985 to 1988. Mr. Mantel currently serves on the boards of Aptyx, ECRM, LLC, EnviroFinance Group, LLC, HCTec, Inc. and Lamark Media, LLC. Mr. Mantel received a Bachelor of Science in accounting from the State University of New York at Albany and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Chicago.

Michael W. Chiao has served as a member of our Board of Directors since April 2021. Mr. Chiao brings to our board extensive investment experience, including direct experience in structured products. Mr. Chiao is an executive vice president and portfolio manager in the Newport Beach office of Pacific Investment Management Company LLC (PIMCO), focusing primarily on residential loan investments. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2017, he worked at Fortress Investment Group, focused on non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities and various structured products. Previously, Mr. Chiao spent three years at PIMCO as a portfolio management associate, and he began his career as an analyst in the whole loan trading and securitization group at Countrywide Capital Markets. He has 18 years of investment experience and holds an undergraduate degree from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Omar M. Maasarani has served as a member of our Board of Directors since 2023. Mr. Maasarani brings to our Board of Directors extensive experience in the financial services sector. Mr. Maasarani is a portfolio manager at PIMCO focused on originating, executing, and managing private equity and structured equity investments as part of the firm's alternatives investing complex. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2018, Mr. Maasarani spent nearly a decade with Morgan Stanley, most recently as a vice president with the firm's private equity investing team. At Morgan Stanley, he executed and managed over a dozen investments across the technology, business services, and consumer sectors. Earlier in his career, Mr. Maasarani worked in the financial services investment banking advisory group at Morgan Stanley and in asset management at Goldman Sachs. He has 20 years of investment and financial services experience and holds a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University.

Roland T. Kelly, 56, has served as our Chief Legal Officer since March 2021 and as our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary since July 2020. Mr. Kelly is a corporate, regulatory, governance and capital markets professional with a legal and finance career spanning more than 25 years. Prior to joining us, Mr. Kelly was a Managing Director and Associate General Counsel for Jefferies Financial Group Inc., an NYSE-listed, Fortune 500 company focused on investment and merchant banking. Mr. Kelly previously worked for the law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and worked as a regulator with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He is also currently a director and audit committee chair for the Children's Law Center of California, a non-profit organization and the largest children's legal services organization in the nation. Mr. Kelly earned his Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine University School of Law and his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration/Finance from the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. Mr. Kelly is licensed to practice law in California, New York and Washington D.C.

Our Board of Directors also appointed Fiona Tam, as our new Chief Accounting Officer. Ms. Tam has served as our Chief Financial Reporting & Policy Officer since August 2017. Ms. Tam has extensive experience with accounting, audit and internal controls, previously serving as Director of SOX for PennyMac from 2014 to 2017 and as Senior Audit Manager for KPMG.