Executive Chairman
Robert Rackind is our Executive Chairman.
Mr. Rackind is a global real estate investment, management, and development professional with over 30 years of top-down investment and finance experience, combined with bottom-up development and asset management expertise. He has managed and invested over €50 billion across various jurisdictions, including the UK, France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, the Nordics, Asia-Pacific, and North America.
His expertise spans a wide range of asset classes, such as office, logistics, industrial, residential, care homes, student accommodation, build-to-rent, and hotels. Mr. Rackind recently served in Zurich as the Global Head of Real Estate at Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) from June 2022 to November 2023, managing approximately CHF 43 billion in assets under management (AUM). His responsibilities included investments through direct, indirect, close-ended, open-ended, co-investment, joint ventures, and listed vehicles. Notably, Mr. Rackind identified and helped close the $830 million acquisition of the Diplomat Hotel and Convention Centre in Hollywood Beach, Florida.
Prior to his tenure at CSAM, Mr. Rackind founded and grew the EQT AB Real Estate platform to €11.5 billion AUM from January 2015 to December 2021. This growth was achieved through a mix of organic close-ended pan-European funds and inorganic corporate M&A, including the $1.8 billion acquisition of Exeter Property Group, a leading North American logistics real estate investment management platform.
Mr. Rackind’s career also includes senior roles at Wainbridge from December 2009 to December 2014 as founding partner, Cambridge Place Investment Management from April 2006 to August 2009, Meyer Bergman from November 2004 to March 2006, Hines from June 1999 to November 2004, HRO from July 1998 to June 1999, Baltic Plc from August 1996 to July 1998, and Weatherall Green & Smith from January 1994 to July 1996. He holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Valuation & Estate Management from the University of the West of England, Bristol.
Adam Gishen
Adam Gishen is our Chief Executive Officer and a director.
Mr. Gishen previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of Freedom Acquisition I Corp. from December 2020 to July 2023, prior to its business combination with Complete Solaria, Inc., a leading solar technology, services and installation company, and has since served as a director of Complete Solaria, Inc.
Mr. Gishen has over 20 years of experience in financial services. Mr. Gishen served in several senior roles at Credit Suisse from 2015 to 2020, including Head of Investor Relations, Corporate Communications, Marketing and Branding from 2019 to 2020 and Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications from 2017 to 2019.
Prior to 2015, Mr. Gishen was a Partner at Ondra Partners, a financial advisory firm, and prior to that, a Managing Director at Nomura in London and Lehman Brothers from 1999 to 2008 where he specialized in Equity Capital Markets. He graduated from University of Leeds.
Richard Nespola, Jr.
Mr. Nespola has over 24 years of experience as an operator and private investor and previously served as Senior Advisor of Freedom Acquisition I Corp. from 2021 to 2023. He is Co-Founder of Working Lab Capital, BFY Capital and Victura Capital, which are diversified private investment platforms focused on venture, specialty private credit and real estate respectively.
Previously, Mr. Nespola was a member of the leadership team of Liquidity Services (Nasdaq: LQDT); as Director, he led Global Sales, FP&A, and Channel Revenue Optimization functions and was part of the Corporate Development team focused on acquisitions.
Prior to LQDT, Mr. Nespola worked at Freddie Mac, leading structured transactions for the Security Sales & Trading Group. Mr. Nespola is also a Partner in Quimby Ventures where he oversees alternative fund investments.
Mr. Nespola has his MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and holds his BA from Washington University in St Louis.
Min Lee is our Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Lee has approximately 20 years of financial experience and previously served as Senior Advisor of Freedom Acquisition I Corp. from 2021 to 2023. In 2019, Mr. Lee co-founded BFY Capital, a specialty private credit investment platform focused on consumer brands in the natural and organic food, beverage, beauty and pet industries.
Prior to BFY, from 2016 to 2018, Mr. Lee was the CFO of Patch of Land, a Series A funded real estate marketplace lending and fintech start-up, where he led all capital markets, fundraising, finance, accounting and investor relations activities for the company.
From 2008 to 2016, Mr. Lee was a director in Credit Suisse’s Investment Banking division in Los Angeles, where he advised gaming, lodging & leisure, financial sponsors and media entertainment clients. He has executed over 25 M&A, equity and leveraged finance transactions, totaling over $15 billion in transaction value.
Prior to 2006, Mr. Lee worked at The Walt Disney Company as a Senior Analyst in the Corporate Treasury group for five years where he oversaw pension fund allocations for a $1 billion alternatives portfolio and managed the company’s foreign exchange risks. Mr. Lee holds an MBA from the New York University Stern School of Business and a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Mr. Wagman is a member of the investment team of our sponsor, and he was previously a member of the investment team of Freedom Acquisition I Corp. prior to its business combination with Complete Solaria, Inc.
Mr. Wagman previously was a member of the J. Safra Group’s Private Equity investment team and at SOSV, a global venture capital firm that provides pre-seed, seed, venture and growth stage funding.
Mr. Wagman holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Birmingham and a Master of Science in Finance and Private Equity from the London School of Economics and Political Science.