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OUR TEAM

our team

Greg Richter

 

Chief Executive Officer, Co-Head of Structured Credit & Asset Finance and Partner

Greg Richter is CEO of Medalist, Co-Head of Structured Credit and Asset Finance, Partner and Co-Portfolio Manager for the Funds managed by Medalist. Prior to forming Medalist, Mr. Richter co-founded and led the Structured Credit and Asset Finance business within Candlewood Investment Group, LP. Prior to Candlewood, Mr. Richter worked at Credit Suisse as a portfolio manager heading their structured credit effort.  Prior to that, Mr. Richter was Head of Credit Suisse’s Specialty Finance Group, based in New York. He was responsible for the combined Global Asset Finance Capital Markets and the Specialty Finance Banking Group. The Global Asset Finance Capital Markets division was responsible for all securitization activity in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Emerging and structured and originated a wide array of securitized products. During this period, Mr. Richter was also a member of Credit Suisse’s Fixed Income Operating Committee. Prior to this, in addition to running Credit Suisse’s ABS/CDO trading/syndicate effort, Mr. Richter also headed the Asset Backed Securities Home Equity (ABSHE) shelf which bought and packaged mortgage loans. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Mr. Richter spent 15 years at Prudential Securities in New York where most recently, he was Managing Director and served as the head of Trading and Syndicate for all structured products. Mr. Richter holds a B.A. in Economics from Colgate University.

Brian Herr

Chief Investment Officer, Co-Head of Structured Credit & Asset Finance and Partner

Brian Herr is CIO of Medalist, Co-Head of Structured Credit and Asset Finance, Partner and Co-Portfolio Manager for the Funds managed by Medalist. Prior to forming Medalist, Mr. Herr co-founded and led the Structured Credit and Asset Finance business within Candlewood Investment Group, LP. Prior to joining Candlewood, Mr. Herr worked at Credit Suisse as a portfolio manager within their structured credit effort.  Prior to that, Mr. Herr worked for two years in the structured products department of Brown Brothers Harriman and Co. as a Structured Products Sector Manager, where his primary responsibilities included trading and sector management for the ABS and RMBS sectors with approximately $2.5 billion in AUM. Prior to that, Mr. Herr, while at Brown Brothers Harriman and Co. served in a variety of positions within its institutional fixed income division. Mr. Herr holds a B.A. in Economics from Boston University.

Michael Ardisson

Chief Operating Officer, Head of Business Development & Partner

Michael Ardisson is COO, Head of Business Development, and a Partner for Medalist. Prior to forming Medalist, Mr. Ardisson was a Partner and Director of Business Development within Candlewood Investment Group. Prior to joining Candlewood in 2013, Mr. Ardisson led Strategy & Business Development for Credit Suisse Alternative Investments starting in 2008, responsible for managing business strategy globally, including oversight and execution for various growth initiatives, product development, M&A, JVs, and financial planning. Prior, Mr. Ardisson worked at Morgan Stanley as an investment banker in the Financial Institutions Group and in the Investment Management division focused on business strategy. Mr. Ardisson received a Bachelor’s Degree from Loyola University and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.

John Slonieski

Director of Private Credit

John Slonieski is the Director of Private Credit for Medalist. Previously, he was an Opportunity Fund Sector Manager within Candlewood Investment Group.  Mr. Slonieski joined the investment team from Credit Suisse where he worked for 15 years in the Asset Finance Group and was most recently heading up various parts of the consumer and commercial ABS effort.  At Credit Suisse, Mr. Slonieski was responsible for coverage and transaction execution for the firm’s asset backed origination clients where he provided strategic and capital raising advice across financing products.  Mr. Slonieski has experience in all asset-backed related financings and has worked extensively in the early and mid-stage specialty finance sector completing some of the first broadly marketed securitizations in the major online lending sectors.  Mr. Slonieski graduated in 1993 from Villanova University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting.

Jim Regan

Asset Management

James Regan is an Asset Management professional for Medalist. Prior he was a Consumer Loan Sector Manager within Candlewood Investment Group. Mr. Regan has over 20 years of Structured Finance experience primarily focused in trading and risk management.  Mr. Regan has had senior trading positions across his career primarily with ABN AMRO as a Managing Director where he built a successful trading platform and was a member of the Global Credit Trading Management Committee as well as Credit Suisse where he spent four years running the sub-prime trading effort which included all Residential ABS as well as other consumer and commercial securitized assets.  Mr. Regan started his career at Prudential Securities where he served in various roles including financial analysis and operations before moving to the RMBS and ABS trading desk.  Mr. Regan holds a B.S. in Finance from Providence College. 

David Lehman

Asset Management

David Lehman is an Asset Management professional for Medalist. Prior he was a Residential Whole Loan Sector Manager within Candlewood Investment Group. Mr. Lehman has over 14 years of Structured Finance experience primarily focused in trading and mortgage origination. Mr. Lehman has held mortgage trading positions across his career primarily with WaMu Capital Corp (Washington Mutual's broker dealer) and Morgan Stanley where he helped establish and run the day-to-day trading operations of their Loan-by-Loan conduit platforms.  Most recently, Mr. Lehman was a member of the underwriting team at Hudson Advisors, Lone Star Fund's asset manager, where he was responsible for pricing and acquiring non-performing whole loans and mortgage servicing rights across Lone Star's funds. Mr. Lehman holds a B.S. in Finance from Lehigh University.

Dan Kosinski

Director of ABS & CLOs

Daniel Kosinski is Director of ABS & CLOs for Medalist. Prior he was a Head of Structured Credit Research within Candlewood Investment Group. Prior to joining Candlewood, he was a Vice President at Credit Suisse, where his primary responsibilities included the wind-down of client portfolios with legacy ABS and MBS exposures and determining investment guidelines for the purchase of short-duration asset-backed securities. Prior to that, Mr. Kosinski worked at CIFG, a monoline insurance company, where he was responsible for monitoring insured exposures across the ABS and RMBS sectors. Mr. Kosinski holds a B.A. in Political Science from Emory University and an MPA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He is also a CFA Charterholder.

Brad Morgan

Commercial Real Estate Sector Manager

Brad Morgan is a Commercial Real Estate Sector Manager for Medalist. Prior he was a CMBS Sector Manager within Candlewood Investment Group, LP. Mr. Morgan spent 12 years at JP Morgan in the securitized products group. In his most recent role, Mr. Morgan was an Executive Director and Head of Secondary CMBS Trading for JP Morgan, where he managed a team of traders and analysts focused on secondary CMBS. Over his career, Mr. Morgan has been a primary market maker providing liquidity for secondary markets in CMBS, including flow and credit, as well as derivatives and CDS.  Mr. Morgan holds a BSBA in Finance and Management Information Systems from Villanova University.

Judy Sun

Residential Real Estate Sector Manager

Judy Sun is a Residential Real Estate Sector Manager for Medalist. Prior she was a RMBS Sector Manager within Candlewood Investment Group. Prior to Candlewood, Ms. Sun worked at Credit Suisse in a similar capacity.  Ms. Sun joined Credit Suisse in 2005.  Prior to that, she worked in the Funding and Investments Division of Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation for six years, providing relative value analysis and trading recommendations for the $500 billion Retained Portfolio. While there, she developed prepayment, default and cashflow models for mortgages and other fixed income securities. She was also part of a team creating risk metrics to effectively measure and hedge market and credit risks of portfolios of mortgage backed securities.  She holds an M.A. in Statistics from the University of Maryland and a B.A. in Mathematics from Randolph Macon Women's College.

Haynes Gallagher

Residential Real Estate Sector Manager

Haynes Gallagher is a Real Estate Sector Manager for Medalist. Haynes' focus includes legacy non-agency residential mortgage backed securities, GSE Credit Risk Transfer (CRT) programs, agency derivatives, single family rental, non-performing, re-performing and non-qualified mortgage loans.  Prior to Medalist he was a RMBS sector manager at Candlewood Investment group beginning in 2016. Haynes spent 10 years at Citigroup within Citi Global Markets. In his most recent role, Haynes was overseeing RMBS secondary trading. Haynes started his career on Citi’s whole-loan CMO structuring and trading desk. He graduated magna cum laude from Boston College with a degree in Finance and a minor in History.

Sam Robinson

Commercial Real Estate Sector Manager

Sam Robinson is a Commercial Real Estate Sector Manager for Medalist and previously worked as a CMBS Sector Manager within Candlewood Investment Group, LP. Mr. Robinson specializes in underwriting and credit analysis of CMBS investments as well as CRE debt and equity opportunities. Mr. Robinson is a graduate of Colgate University, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and is a CFA Charterholder.

Jake Giordano

Research Analyst

Jake Giordano is a Research Analyst for Medalist. Prior he was a Research Analyst within Candlewood Investment Group. Mr. Giordano is a Research Analyst for the Investment Manager focusing on esoteric ABS and asset finance. Mr. Giordano is a graduate of Colgate University, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics.

Gurdev Dillon

Chief Financial Officer & Chief Compliance Officer

Gurdev Dillon is the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) and Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) of Medalist.  Prior he retained the same role of CFO and CCO for Candlewood Investment Group. Mr. Dillon has over 19 years of accounting and operations experience in the financial industry.  Prior to joining Candlewood in 2010, Mr. Dillon was CFO of Archer Capital Management, L.P. (“Archer”), where he oversaw all accounting, tax, operations, compliance, legal, human resource and IT functions of a credit opportunities hedge fund specializing in distressed securities and direct lending since fund inception in 2006.  Prior to Archer, Mr. Dillon was Vice President and Trading Controller of Tribeca Management LLC, a multi-strategy hedge fund of Citigroup (“Tribeca”).  At Tribeca, Mr. Dillon co-managed the middle office that supported over 20 trading groups.  On board since the launch of the Tribeca’s new single-manager, multi-strategy initiative, Mr. Dillon was involved with developing procedures and policies, implementing new strategies, and overseeing daily trade support and month-end operations.  Prior to Tribeca, Mr. Dillon was Assistant Controller at MSD Capital, L.P. (“MSD”), a family office of Michael S. Dell.  Positions prior to MSD include Operations Manager at Eminence Capital, LLC, Senior Associate/Team Leader at Morgan Stanley Prime Brokerage Division, and Investment Accountant at Société Générale Asset Management Corporation.  Mr. Dillon graduated with a B.S. in Accounting from Binghamton University in 1996.

Greg Richter

 

Chief Executive Officer & Partner

Greg Richter is the Chief Executive Officer and a Partner of Medalist. Prior to forming Medalist and its predecessor firm Candlewood Investment Group, Mr. Richter worked at Credit Suisse as a portfolio manager heading their structured credit effort. Prior, Mr. Richter was the Global Head of Credit Suisse’s Specialty Finance Group and a member of Credit Suisse’s Fixed Income Operating Committee, where he was responsible for the combined Global Asset Finance Capital Markets and the Specialty Finance Banking Groups.  The Global Asset Finance Capital Markets division was responsible for loan origination and securitization activity in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Emerging Markets.  It structured and originated a wide array of securitized products.  Prior to this, in addition to running Credit Suisse’s ABS/CDO trading/syndicate effort, Mr. Richter also headed the Asset Backed Securities Home Equity (ABSHE) shelf which bought and packaged mortgage loans. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Mr. Richter spent 15 years at Prudential Securities in New York where most recently, he was Managing Director and served as the head of Trading and Syndicate for all structured products. Mr. Richter holds a B.A. in Economics from Colgate University.

Michael Ardisson

President, Chief Operating Officer & Partner

Michael Ardisson is President, Chief Operating Officer, and a Partner for Medalist. Prior to co-forming Medalist, Mr. Ardisson was a Partner and Director of Business Development within Candlewood Investment Group, LP. Prior, Mr. Ardisson led Strategy & Business Development for Credit Suisse Alternative Investments, responsible for managing business strategy globally, including oversight and execution for various growth initiatives, product development, M&A, JVs, and financial planning. Prior, Mr. Ardisson worked at Morgan Stanley as an investment banker in the Financial Institutions Group and in the Investment Management division focused on business strategy. Mr. Ardisson received a Bachelor’s Degree from Loyola University and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.

Jim Buccola

 

Head of Structured Credit & Partner

Jim Buccola is the Head of Structured Credit and a Partner for Medalist.  Previously, he was a Senior Managing Director and the Global Head of Fixed Income at Cantor Fitzgerald, helping to build a leading franchise across securitized credit trading and asset finance. At Cantor, Jim led all fixed income sales and trading globally, as well as headed the investment committee for parts of Cantor Fitzgerald Asset Management. Previously, he was the Head of Securitized Products Trading, Head of Residential Mortgage Trading, and Head of Non-Agency Mortgage Trading at Credit Suisse, leading one of the top structured credit and asset finance franchises on Wall Street.  Mr. Buccola holds a B.S. in Finance from Lehigh University.

John Slonieski

Director of Private Credit & Partner

John Slonieski is the Director of Private Credit and a Partner for Medalist. Previously, he was the Director of Private Credit for Candlewood Investment Group.  Mr. Slonieski joined the investment team from Credit Suisse with 20+ years of experience in asset backed origination and lending across multiple asset sectors.  At Credit Suisse, Mr. Slonieski led various parts of the commercial and consumer origination and lending effort within the Asset Finance Group.  Areas of expertise include structured capital solutions across commercial and consumer assets such as auto, equipment leasing, small business / factoring, infrastructure and other esoteric asset classes.  Mr. Slonieski also has significant experience with early and mid-stage specialty finance companies, including completing some of the first securitizations in the online consumer lending sector.  Mr. Slonieski holds a B.S. in Accounting from Villanova University.

Tom Mandel

Portfolio Manager for Liquid Alternatives

Tom Mandel is a Portfolio Manager for Liquid Alternatives at Medalist.  Previously, Tom co-founded Semper Capital in 1992 and was the Chief Investment Officer with primary responsibility over the administration and implementation of investment management activities.  He was the lead portfolio manager for Semper’s strategies and served on the Investment, Risk Management and Compliance Committees.  Prior to co-founding Semper, Tom served as a Principal and Fixed Income Portfolio Manager at 1838 Investment Advisors. He previously served as a Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Century Institutional Advisors. Tom began his career as a Portfolio Manager and Credit Manager at Chase Investors Management Corp. Tom earned an MBA and a BS from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School.

Mark Crawley

Private Credit Sector Manager

Mark Crawley is a Private Credit Sector Manager for Medalist. Mr. Crawley joins Medalist with over 25 years of structured finance experience across various asset classes. Previously, he was a Partner and Portfolio Manager at KLS Diversified Asset Management where he focused on specialty finance, ABS, and opportunistic credit. Prior to KLS he held senior portfolio management roles at Contrarian Capital Management and Waterfall Asset Management. Mr. Crawley holds a B.S. in Finance from the University of Vermont and is also a CFA Charterholder.

Judy Sun

Residential Real Estate Sector Manager

Judy Sun is a Residential Real Estate Sector Manager for Medalist. Prior she was a Residential Real Estate Sector Manager within Candlewood Investment Group, LP. Prior to Candlewood, Ms. Sun worked at Credit Suisse in a similar capacity. Ms. Sun joined Credit Suisse in 2005. Prior to that, she worked in the Funding and Investments Division of Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, providing relative value analysis and investment recommendations for their $500 billion portfolio. While there, she developed prepayment, default and cashflow models for mortgages and other fixed income securities. She was also part of a team creating risk metrics to effectively measure and hedge market and credit risks of portfolios of mortgage backed securities. She holds an M.A. in Statistics from the University of Maryland and a B.A. in Mathematics from Randolph Macon Women's College.

Dan Kosinski

ABS & CLO Sector Manager

Dan Kosinski is an ABS & CLO Sector Manager for Medalist. Prior, he was Head of Structured Credit Research within Candlewood Investment Group, LP. Prior to joining Candlewood, he was a Vice President at Credit Suisse, where his primary responsibilities included the coverage of client portfolios with legacy ABS and MBS exposures and determining investment guidelines for the purchase of short-duration asset-backed securities. Prior to that, Mr. Kosinski worked at CIFG, a monoline insurance company, where he was responsible for monitoring insured exposures across the ABS and RMBS sectors. Mr. Kosinski holds a B.A. in Political Science from Emory University and an MPA from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. He is also a CFA Charterholder.

Jim Regan

Private Credit Sector Manager

James Regan is a Private Credit Sector Manager for Medalist. Prior he was a Commercial Loan Sector Manager within Candlewood Investment Group, LP. Mr. Regan has over 20 years of Structured Finance experience across various asset classes.  Mr. Regan has had senior positions across his career primarily with ABN AMRO as a Managing Director and was a member of the Global Credit Management Committee as well as Credit Suisse where he spent four years running the sub-prime trading effort which included all Residential ABS as well as other consumer and commercial securitized assets. Mr. Regan started his career at Prudential Securities where he served in various roles including financial analysis and operations before moving to the RMBS and ABS trading desk. Mr. Regan holds a B.S. in Finance from Providence College.

William Goldsmith

Commercial Real Estate Sector Manager

William Goldsmith is a Commercial Real Estate Sector Manager for Medalist. Prior, he was the head of CMBS trading at Credit Suisse where he focused on various parts of the CRE markets including equity investments, bridge/mezzanine transitional lending, liquid commercial real estate indices, deep credit conduit and single asset/single borrower CUSIP trading as well as agency mortgage credit.  Prior to his 7 years at Credit Suisse, Mr. Goldsmith spent 5 years on the JP Morgan CMBS trading desk, after working on the securitization and capital markets side at Bear Stearns. Mr. Goldsmith holds a B.S.E. in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan and is a CFA Charterholder.

Jake Giordano

Private Credit Sector Manager

Jake Giordano is a Private Credit Sector Manager for Medalist. Prior he was a Research Analyst within Candlewood Investment Group. Mr. Giordano focuses on esoteric ABS and asset-based private credit transactions. Mr. Giordano is a graduate of Colgate University, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics. He is also a CFA Charterholder.

Robert Chiperfield

 

Private Credit Associate

Robert Chiperfield is a Private Credit Associate for Medalist focusing on esoteric ABS and asset-based lending transactions. Prior to joining Medalist, Mr. Chiperfield worked at LoanCore Capital where he focused on private credit loan origination and underwriting. Mr. Chiperfield is a graduate of the University of Michigan where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Master’s degree in Business Management from the Ross School of Business.

James Murnane

Private Credit Associate

James Murnane is a Private Credit Associate for Medalist focusing on esoteric ABS and asset-based private credit transactions. Mr. Murnane is a graduate of Colgate University, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematical Economics and Computer Science. He is also a CFA Charterholder.

James Callahan

Private Credit Analyst

James Callahan is a Private Credit Analyst focusing on esoteric ABS and asset-based lending transactions. Prior to joining Medalist, Mr. Callahan was an analyst at J.P. Morgan where he was on the Leveraged Finance team covering clients in the Technology, Media and Telecom space. Mr. Callahan is a graduate of Trinity College where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Ericka Iachello

Chief Financial Officer & Chief Compliance Officer

Ericka Iachello is the Chief Financial Officer ("CFO") and Chief Compliance Officer ("CCO") for Medalist. Prior, Ms. Iachello retained the same role of CFO and CCO for Candlewood Investment Group, LP. Ms. Iachello has over 13 years of accounting and operations experience in the financial industry. Prior to joining Candlewood, Ms. Iachello was an auditor in the financial services group of Ernst & Young, LLP. Ms. Iachello is a CPA and received her B.A. in Applied Economics and Management, magna cum laude, from Cornell University.

Peter Dowling

Director of Operations

Peter Dowling is the Director of Operations for Medalist. Prior he was the Director of Operations within Candlewood Investment Group, LP.  Mr. Dowling has led operations for the Candlewood and Medalist teams going back to Credit Suisse, where he was a Vice President within Credit Suisse’s Asset Management Division responsible for supporting its various alternative credit strategies.  Prior to joining CS, Mr. Dowling was a manager of hedge fund services at GlobeOp and an AVP in hedge fund operations at Deutsche Bank.  Mr. Dowling received a Bachelor’s Degree from Kean University.

Chris Proctor

Vice President of Operations

Chris Proctor is a Vice President of Operations for Medalist.  Mr. Proctor has overall responsibility for managing operations functions including custodian interface, trade settlements, reconciliations, GIPS performance maintenance, and running portfolio, risk management, and investment analytics for the liquid alternatives business.  Prior, he was Director of Operations for Semper Capital.  There, he served on the Risk Committee, Investment Committee, and Compliance Committee. Prior to joining Semper, Chris was an associate at Fidelity Investments, and earned a BS from the University of Florida

Connor Griffin

 

Operations Associate

Connor Griffin is an Operations Associate supporting both the Private Credit and Liquid Alternatives business for Medalist. Prior to joining Medalist, Mr. Griffin was an AVP in Operations for Exos Financial and an Operations Analyst for Morgan Stanley. Mr. Griffin received both his Bachelor’s Degree and MBA from Rutgers University.

Maria Carlin

 

Director of Investor Relations

Maria Carlin is the Director of Investor Relations for Medalist.  Prior, she was the Director of Investor Relations at Semper Capital where she also chaired the Diversity & Inclusion Committee.  She has overall responsibility for managing investor relations for the liquid alternatives business, including generating client reports, questionnaires and deliverables, responding to RFPs and prospect questionnaires, as well as responsibility for creation and distribution of marketing collateral for the firm.  Maria earned a BS from St. Peter’s University.

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