Board of Directors
Class I
Daniel A. Strauss
Daniel Strauss, age 39, joined our Board in 2023. He is the Company’s Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Strauss has served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer since December 2019. Previously, Mr. Strauss served as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer from March 2017 through December 2019. Mr. Strauss was a Portfolio Manager at Clinton from 2010 until 2019. Mr. Strauss has over fifteen years of experience in corporate finance as a portfolio manager and investment analyst in private and public equity. At Clinton, Mr. Strauss was responsible for evaluating and executing private equity transactions across a range of industries. Post-investment, Mr. Strauss was responsible for the ongoing management and oversight of Clinton’s portfolio investments. From 2008 to 2010, he worked for Angelo, Gordon & Co., as a member of the firm’s private equity and special situations area. Mr. Strauss was previously with Houlihan Lokey, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions from 2006 to 2008. Mr. Strauss currently serves as a director of Southwood Financial, a private student loan purchaser, in which Tacora is the lead investor. Mr. Strauss has served on the boards of directors of Pacific Mercantile Bancorp (NASDAQ: PMBC) from August 2011 until December 2015 and Community Financial Shares, Inc. (OTC: CFIS) from December 2012 until its sale to Wintrust Financial Corporation in July 2015. Mr. Strauss received a Bachelor of Science in Finance and International Business from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Mr. Strauss brings to our Board his significant finance experience.
Class II
Alex Spiro (Chairman)
Alex Spiro is our Chairman and principal executive officer. Mr. Spiro joined our Board on August 26, 2015. On January 25, 2021, the Board appointed Alex Spiro to serve as its Chairman and as the Company’s principal executive officer, effective on the same day. Mr. Spiro has been a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP since October 2017. Prior to that, Mr. Spiro had been an attorney at Brafman and Associates in New York City since July 2013. In that position, Mr. Spiro has handled an array of complex litigation and investigations. Prior to his joining Brafman and Associates, from September 2008 to July 2013, Mr. Spiro worked as a Manhattan prosecutor. Mr. Spiro formerly was the director of an autism children’s program at McLean Hospital, Harvard’s psychiatric hospital. Mr. Spiro is a graduate of the Harvard Law School where he remains on the adjunct faculty. He has lectured and written on a variety of subjects related to psychology and the law. Mr. Spiro brings significant analytical and overall business leadership skills to our board.
Class III
Robert G. Torricelli
Robert G. Torricelli, age 72, joined our Board in 2017. Mr. Torricelli served in the U.S. House of Representatives from the Ninth District of New Jersey from 1982 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 1996, where he served until 2003. During his tenure in the Senate, Mr. Torricelli was a member of the Senate Finance, Governmental Affairs, Foreign Relations, Judiciary and Rules Committees and also served as Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Upon retiring from the Senate, Mr. Torricelli established a national and international business strategy firm, Rosemont Associates LLC, and created a real estate development business, Woodrose Properties LLC. Mr. Torricelli brings extensive leadership and strategic business experience to our board.
Keri Findley
Keri Findley, age 41, joined our Board in 2023. Ms. Findley is the CEO of Tacora. Ms. Findley was Partner at Third Point LLC from 2016 to 2017, a hedge fund founded and run by Daniel Loeb, from 2009 to 2017, having joined the firm to start and build its structured credit business. Prior to joining Third Point LLC, Ms. Findley was an analyst with EOS Partners, an alternative investment firm, and before that, with D.B. Zwirn & Co., a special situations investment firm spun off from Highbridge Capital Management (now part of JPMorgan Chase). Ms. Findley serves as an advisor to Firework Ventures and 8VC, a venture capital firm founded by Joe Lonsdale and on the boards of directors of Shogun, Karus, and Architect. She previously served on the board of Clearbanc and LIT. Ms. Findley earned a Bachelor of Science in Operations Research from Columbia University. Ms. Findley brings to our Board her rich experience in capital markets.
Claire Councill
Claire Councill, age 29, joined our Board in 2023. Ms. Councill is a Managing Director on Tacora’s investment team. Previously, Ms. Councill was an investor at SuRo Capital (Nasdaq: SSSS) from 2019 to 2022. Prior to that, Ms. Councill worked in strategic finance at 1stdibs, a VC-backed luxury e-commerce marketplace, where she helped the company execute M&A and raise Series D financing. She began her career in leveraged finance investment banking at Goldman Sachs in New York. Ms. Councill graduated with a Master of Science in Finance and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from the University of Virginia, where she was a Jefferson Scholar. Ms. Councill brings to our board her rich investment experience.
