Executive Team

Phillip J. Kardis II is our President, Chief Executive Officer and one of our Class III Directors. Mr. Kardis serves as the Company’s President starting in March 2024, and as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer starting in December 2022.  He was appointed as one of our Class III Directors effective as of December 10, 2022. Prior to becoming President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director, Mr. Kardis served as the Company’s Chief Legal Officer and Secretary from September 2015 to December 2022. During his tenure as the Chief Legal Officer and Secretary, Mr. Kardis has been actively involved in leadership of the Company, its operations, and its strategic initiatives since its founding in 2007, and has played a key role in structuring the Company’s securitization, financing and investment transactions. Mr. Kardis has been immersed in all aspects of the Company’s strategic planning, policies and transactions, including serving on the Valuation Committee and Investment Committee. Mr. Kardis has recognized expertise in mortgage REITs and structured transactions. Prior to joining the Company in September 2015, Mr. Kardis was a partner with the law firm of K&L Gates LLP where he represented mortgage REITs and other companies and funds that acquire, originate, service and finance residential mortgage loans, mortgage servicing rights and mortgage-backed securities, including the Company. Prior to joining K&L Gates LLP in 2004, Mr. Kardis practiced corporate and securities law at several law firms. In addition, Mr. Kardis has held positions at the U.S. Department of Commerce, Rockwell International, the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget and Analytic Services, Inc. Mr. Kardis has two BA degrees from George Washington University, an MA from George Washington University, an MA from George Mason University, and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Subramaniam Viswanathan is our Chief Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer. Prior to becoming our Chief Financial Officer in August 2021, Mr. Viswanathan most recently served as the Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer – Global Mortgages and Securitized Products and Global Rates and served other roles at Bank of America Merrill Lynch since 2007. Mr. Viswanathan previously served as the Senior Vice President, Business Area Controller – Cash and Synthetic CDOs, Securitization and Correlation Desks at Citigroup, Corporate and Investment Banking. Mr. Viswanathan earned his degree in economics from the University of Madras in Chennai, India and his MBA from University of Hartford.

Jack Macdowell is our Chief Investment Officer.  Mr. Macdowell became the Company’s Chief Investment Officer upon the Company’s acquisition of The Palisades Group (“Palisades”) in December 2024. In 2012, Mr. Macdowell co-founded Palisades and served as the Managing Member and Chief Investment Officer, in which role he was responsible for leading Palisades’ investment activities, including research, asset allocation, and risk management functions. Prior to founding Palisades in 2012, Mr. Macdowell served as the Chief Investment Officer of Carrington Capital Management, where he oversaw the teams responsible for investment strategies, quantitative analysis, mortgage credit analytics, trading, and risk management. Prior to Carrington, Mr. Macdowell served as Senior Portfolio Manager at Old Hill Partners where he was responsible for the Firm’s investments in mortgage- and asset-backed securities. Mr. Macdowell held various investment banking titles in the Asset Securitization Group at both RBC Capital Markets and Credit Suisse First Boston, where his primary focus was on non-agency mortgage and manufactured housing-related securitizations. Mr. Macdowell was formerly on the Board of Trustees for Vertical Capital Income Fund (VCIF), a NYSE listed closed-end fund. He is also a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) charterholder, a member of the CFA Institute and formerly served on the Board of CFA Society Austin. Mr. Macdowell earned his BBA from The University of Texas at Austin, and he is a member of the Executive Council of the Texas McCombs Real Estate Center at the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin.

Dan Thakkar is our Chief Credit & Risk Officer. Prior to becoming Chief Credit & Risk Officer, Mr. Thakkar served as the Company’s Chief Investment Officer starting in March 2024, Co-Chief Investment Officer starting in December 2022, and Chief Risk Officer when he joined the Company in December 2020. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Thakkar headed the Fixed Income Trading Desk at Genworth Financial from 2012 to 2020, where he was responsible for overseeing Trading for IG Corporates, High-Yield, Municipals, Emerging Markets and Structured Product Sectors including RMBS, ABS, CMBS and CLOs. Prior to this job, Mr. Thakkar headed Trading for Genworth’s Structured Portfolio from 2008 to 2012 that included RMBS, CMBS and ABS. Prior to Genworth, Mr. Thakkar was with Hyperion Brookfield Asset Management for from 2005 to 2008, one of the original asset managers of residential mortgage-backed security funds, where he traded RMBS and managed a Mortgage REIT fund. Mr. Thakkar also spent nine years at MetLife, where he was an Agency and Non-Agency RMBS trader. Prior to that job, he traded Government and Agency Debt, and had stints at Portfolio and Risk Management units within MetLife. Mr. Thakkar has his BA in Accounting from the University of Delhi and MBA from University of Hartford. Mr. Thakkar received his CFA charter in 2001. Mr. Thakkar also completed the Global Leadership Program from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in 2019.

Miyun Sung is our Chief Legal Officer and Secretary.  Prior to joining the Company in November 2023, Ms. Sung was SVP, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc., a NYSE-listed real estate investment trust (REIT) that owned and operated retail shopping centers.  She was with Urstadt Biddle Properties from May 2016 until August 2023 when the company merged with Regency Centers Corporation, a Nasdaq-listed REIT, in a stock-for-stock merger.  Earlier in her career, Ms. Sung’s roles included Vice President, Corporate Counsel & Secretary at Finjan Holdings Inc., a Nasdaq-listed cybersecurity company,  Counsel at Hogan Lovells LLP, a Washington D.C.-based law firm, and Senior Counsel at MicroStrategy, a Nasdaq-listed business intelligence software company.  Ms. Sung received a BA in Government from Cornell University in 1997 and a JD from Harvard Law School in 2000.