LEADERSHIP
David H. Lesser
Chairman & CEO
Mr. Lesser is Power REIT’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Lesser, whose career began in investment banking, has over 30 years of experience in real estate investment and finance. Mr. Lesser is currently, and has been for the past 25 years, president of Hudson Bay Partners, LP, an investment firm focused on real estate, real estate-related situations and alternative energy. Since October 2013, Mr. Lesser has served as Chairman and CEO of Millennium Acquisition Investment Company – formerly known as Millennium India Acquisition Company (ticker: MILC). Mr. Lesser has previously held leadership roles with public real-estate investment trusts (REITs), having served as a Senior Vice President of Crescent Real Estate Equities and as a Director of Keystone Property Trust. Mr. Lesser’s investment firm, Hudson Bay Partners, LP, sponsored the merger of two real estate companies into a small capitalization REIT (American Real Estate Investments) to ultimately form Keystone Property Trust which was listed on the American Stock Exchange (ticker: KTR). Prior to Crescent, Mr. Lesser was a Director in Merrill Lynch’s real-estate investment banking group. Mr. Lesser holds an M.B.A. from Cornell University and a B.S. in Applied Management and Economics from Cornell University.
Virgil E. Wenger, CPA
Trustee
Mr. Wenger, is currently, and has been for the past eight years, an independent consultant who primarily works with new start up ventures needing accounting services and financial planning assistance to determine investment and working capital needs. He also serves as chief financial officer for two private companies: Shareholder Intelligence Services, a provider of information to publicly traded client companies of shareholder ownership, broker activity, and related analytics; and Econergy Corporation, a manufacturer and marketer of proprietary air conditioning systems. Mr. Wenger was previously a partner at Ernst & Young LLP. He is a graduate of the University of Kansas, with a B.S. in Business Administration and of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program. Mr. Wenger is the Chairman of our Audit Committee and is a member of the Special Committee - Related Party Transactions. Mr. Wenger is considered to be an independent trustee in accordance with the NYSE Company Guide.
William S. Susman
Trustee
Mr. Susman has 20 years of investment banking experience, including significant experience in the transportation and railroad industry. As the former head of Merrill Lynch’s Transportation and Consumer Group, Mr. Susman advised numerous railroad clients, including Burlington Northern, CSX, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern Railways, TMM and Union Pacific. Mr. Susman is currently founder and CEO of a boutique investment advisory firm, Threadstone Advisors. Prior to founding Threadstone Advisors, he was President of Financo where he worked from 2004-2011. Financo is an investment bank focused on retail and consumer goods. Mr. Susman began his investment banking career at Salomon Brothers within their transportation group. Mr. Susman sits on the boards of two private companies: Major Brands and Jonathan Adler Enterprises. Mr. Susman is a graduate of the University of Michigan, with a B.S. in Business Administration and earned a Masters from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern. Mr. Susman is the Chairman of our Compensation Committee, Nominating Committee, and Special Committee - Related Party Transactions. Mr. Susman is considered to be an independent trustee in accordance with the NYSE Company Guide.
Patrick R. Haynes III
Trustee
Mr. Haynes is currently a real estate investment professional focused on commercial real estate acquisitions and development opportunities. Mr. Haynes was previously employed by the Rockefeller Group Investment Management Corp. (“RGIM”), where he was responsible for financial analysis, RGI’s corporate acquisitions, and institutional fundraising. Mr. Haynes began his career at Lehman Brothers in 2007 in the Real Estate Private Equity Group where he performed financial analysis, market research and due diligence for over $2.0 billion in potential real estate acquisitions across all asset classes nationally. Mr. Haynes also worked on the successful management buyout of Lehman’s equity funds’ advisory business, responsible for the management of approximately $18 billion in real estate assets globally. Mr. Haynes received a BA in U.S. History from Brown University. Mr. Haynes is a member of the Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, and the Special Committee - Related Party Transactions and is considered to be an independent trustee in accordance with the NYSE Company Guide.
Dionisio D'Aguilar
Trustee
Mr. D’Aguilar has more than 30 years of accounting, finance, and government experience. From March 1993 through May 2017 and from September 2021 to present, Mr. D’Aguilar served as the President and CEO of Superwash Limited, which is the largest chain of self-service laundries in the Bahamas. From May 2017 through September 2021, Mr. D’Aguilar, having been elected to the Bahamian Parliament, served in the Cabinet of The Government of The Bahamas as the Minister of Tourism and Aviation. Mr. D’Aguilar also served as President of The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce from 2007 – 2009 and the Honorary Consul for the Kingdom of The Netherlands in The Bahamas from June 2009 to May 2017. Mr. D’Aguilar has significant board experience having served as Chairman of the Board of AML Foods Limited from 2009 – 2017, Chairman of the Board of Insurance Company of the Bahamas from 2008 – 2017, Director of J.S. Johnson Insurance Agents & Brokers from 2008 – 2017, Director of Millennium Investment & Acquisition Company from 2013 – 2017, and Director of Bahamar from 2011 – 2015. Mr. D’Aguilar qualified as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the State of New York during his time at KPMG US. Mr. D’Aguilar holds both a Bachelor of Science (Hotel Administration) and a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Cornell University. Mr. D'Aguilar is a member of the Nominating Committee, Audit Committee, and the Special Committee - Related Party Transactions and is considered to be an independent trustee in accordance with the NYSE Company Guide.
Susan Hollander
Chief Accounting Officer
Susan Hollander serves as Chief Accounting Officer of Power REIT. Ms. Hollander is responsible for strategic accounting, compliance and financial functions including SEC and statutory filings. Ms. Hollander has been working with our CEO, David Lesser, since 2017 in various capacities across several entities and is increasingly focusing her efforts on Power REIT. Prior to that, Ms. Hollander was Controller at Boston Provident, LP, a long-short, multi asset hedge fund specializing in the financial services industry for over 22 years where she focused primarily on financial reporting, trading operations, fund accounting and performance reporting. Ms. Hollander has more than 30 years of accounting, finance and tax experience, primarily within the financial services/REIT industry. In addition, Ms. Hollander has public company reporting expertise. Ms. Hollander graduated from Binghamton University, State University of New York with a Bachelor of Science in Economics.