Financial Services >> CEO Interviews >> April 25, 2005
MICHAEL I. WIRTH is Chief Financial Officer of New York Mortgage Trust,
Inc. Prior to co-founding the company, Mr. Wirth served from 2002 to
2003 as Chief Financial Officer of Newcastle Investment Corp., a
publicly traded mortgage REIT. Mr. Wirth also served as a Senior Vice
President of Fortress Investment Group, the external advisor of
Newcastle, from 2002 to 2003. From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Wirth served as the
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the following three
publicly traded companies: Charter Municipal Mortgage Acceptance
Company, a residential finance company; American Mortgage Acceptance
Company, a mortgage REIT; and Aegis Realty Inc., a retail property REIT.
Mr. Wirth also served as a Senior Vice President of Related Capital
Company, which externally managed each of the foregoing companies from
2000 to 2002. From 1997 to 2000, Mr. Wirth served as a Vice President at
CGA Investment Management, a monoline insurer of structured debt and an
investor in real estate and asset-backed securities. From 1988 to 1997,
Mr. Wirth was a Senior Manager with the Real Estate Consulting Practice
of Deloitte & Touche, where he specialized in real estate capital
markets and the financial services industry. From 1986 to 1988, Mr.
Wirth was the Chief Financial Officer of Cochran Properties, Inc., a
commercial real estate development company based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Mr. Wirth was a Senior Accountant with Deloitte Haskins & Sells
specializing in real estate and banking from 1983 to 1986. He received a
BBA from Georgia State University and is a member of the American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants Profile
DAVID A. AKRE is co-Chief Executive Officer of New York Mortgage Trust,
Inc. Prior to co-founding the company, Mr. Akre served as Vice
President in Capital Markets at Thornburg Mortgage Corporation, a
publicly traded residential mortgage REIT, from 1997 to 2003. From 1995
to 1997, Mr. Akre was a whole loan trader at Principal Asset Markets, a
subsidiary of Principal Life, a boutique whole loan broker-dealer
located in New Jersey. From 1988 to 1995, Mr. Akre served in a variety
of positions, including Vice President, with GE Capital Mortgage
Corporation. These positions included responsibility for mortgage
pipeline hedging, bidding bulk fixed-rate loan pools, securitization of
specific mortgage portfolios for public pension funds, and brokering
loans between mortgage insurance clients. From 1985 to 1988, Mr. Akre
worked in institutional taxable fixed income sales for Security Pacific
Merchant Bank in New York, and prior to that, Mr. Akre worked in
mortgage origination for three mortgage banking companies in New York.
Mr. Akre received a BS in nautical science from the United States
Merchant Marine Academy. Profile
Mortgage Trust and a picture of things as they are now.
Mr. Akre: We did an IPO in June 2004 for $135 million. The company
