London, United Kingdom - February 26, 2015, London, United Kingdom - Dolphin Capital Investors, an investor in the residential resort sector in emerging markets, announced the new structure of its board of directors.
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Laurence Geller will be Independent Non-executive Chairman; Robert Heller Independent Non-executive Director; and Graham Warner, Mark Townsend, and Justin Rimel Non-executive Directors.
Mr. Geller, Chairman of Geller Investment Co., will be joining the Board as Chairman. He he is an accomplished businessman and entrepreneur with extensive experience, having led multi-national corporations in the hospitality industry, most recently as President and Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Hotels & Resorts.
Prior to this, Mr. Geller was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Geller & Co., a gaming, tourism and lodging advisory company he founded in 1989. Here he specialised in domestic and international hotel, corporate and real estate development, financing, structuring, restructuring, and asset management.
Previously, Mr. Geller held positions including Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Hyatt Development Corporation, Senior Vice President of Holiday Inns, Inc. and Director of Grand Metropolitan Hotels in London. In 2011, he was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Mr. Heller is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Spectrum Gaming Capital. Prior to joining Spectrum, he was responsible for UBS Investment Bank's global gaming franchise. Previously, he was president of Heller Gaming & Leisure, during which time he led the development team, as President and Chief Financial Officer, for the Bahamar Resort.
Before that, Mr. Heller spent 23 years in investment banking, having established and managed teams as a Managing Director of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, and at Salomon Brothers.
Mr. Warner is a non-executive director at J O Hambro Capital Management Umbrella Fund plc, which continues to be a significant shareholder of the Company. He has nearly 40 years' experience in banking and financial services, most recently as finance director of J O Hambro Capital Management Group Limited, and extensive experience of statutory reporting and governance of publicly listed entities.
Prior to joining J O Hambro in 2000, Mr. Warner worked for Mercury Asset Management (subsequently Merrill Lynch Investment Managers), where he was responsible for Mercury's financial accounting and regulatory reporting. He has also worked for the National Bank of Kuwait Group and Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation in senior financial management roles. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Mr. Townsend is Executive Director and Fund Manager at Asset Value Investors, a significant shareholder of the Company. He has nearly 40 years of experience investing in listed property companies and directly into property markets in Europe.
Mr. Townsend has managed the French Property Trust and the European Asset Value Fund. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 1990.
Mr. Rimel is Managing Director of Third Point's Real Estate division. At Third Point. Prior to this, he was Development and Acquisitions Analyst, Associate, Vice President & First Vice President at CIM Group, Inc. He was responsible for opening the corporation's New York office, where he led investments between 2010 and 2014. ■