Board of Directors
Safehold Inc. is committed to upholding strong corporate governance policies and maintaining the highest level of ethical business practices.
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Jay Sugarman
Jay Sugarman
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Jay Sugarman is our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. He has served as a member of our Board since 1996, as our Chief Executive Officer since 1997, and as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Old SAFE from 2017 until consummation of the Merger. Prior to forming the Company, he managed private investment funds on behalf of the Burden family (a branch of the Vanderbilt family) and the Ziff family. Mr. Sugarman received an undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Princeton University, where he was nominated for valedictorian and received the Paul Volcker Award in Economics, and a M.B.A. with high distinction from Harvard Business School, graduating as a Baker Scholar and recipient of the Loeb Award in Finance and the Copeland Award and Gillette Prize in Marketing. Mr. Sugarman was nominated to serve on our Board based on his substantial business and executive leadership experience in building two public companies from inception as founder and Chief Executive Officer of both our Company and Old SAFE, as well as his financial, operational and real estate expertise. -
Jesse Hom
Jesse Hom
Director
Jesse Hom is a Managing Director and Global Head of Real Estate Credit and Capital Markets at GIC Private Limited, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund and one of our significant stockholders, where he has focused on both equity and credit investments since 2008. He served on Old SAFE’s Board from 2021 until consummation of the Merger. Additionally, Mr. Hom sits as a director on several private real estate company boards. He is a graduate of Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree and real estate finance concentration from the School of Hotel Administration. Mr. Hom was nominated to serve on our Board based on his significant investment experience and insights into the governance of real estate companies.
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Robin Josephs
Robin Josephs
Director
Robin Josephs age 63, has served as one of our Directors since 1998. Ms. Josephs served as our lead independent director from 2009 until consummation of the Merger, with duties that included presiding at all executive sessions of the independent directors and serving as principal liaison between the Chairman and the independent Directors. From 2005 to 2007, Ms. Josephs was a Managing Director of Starwood Capital Group L.P., a private equity firm specializing in real estate investments. Prior to that, Ms. Josephs was a senior executive with Goldman Sachs & Co. from 1986 to 1996 in various capacities. She served as a director of Old SAFE from 2017 until consummation of the Merger. She currently serves as a director, Chair of the Compensation Committee and a member of the Audit Committee of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE: MFA), which is primarily engaged in investing in residential mortgage-backed securities, as a Director and a member of the Audit, Compensation and Nominating Committees of SVF Investment Corp. 2 (NASDAQ: SVFB), and as a director and member of the Audit Committee of Starwood Real Estate Income Trust, Inc., a non-traded REIT. Ms. Josephs is a trustee of the University of Chicago Cancer Research Foundation. Ms. Josephs received a B.S. degree in Economics magna cum laude from the Wharton School (Phi Beta Kappa) and an M.B.A. degree from Columbia University. Ms. Josephs was nominated to serve on our Board due to her extensive experience as a director of public companies, her finance and accounting experience from her roles in investment banking and private equity, her capital markets experience and background in evaluating and managing real estate investments. -
Jay S. Nydick
Jay S. Nydick
Director
Jay S. Nydick is Co-Founder and Principal of Prospect Ridge Advisors LLC, a leading real estate investment manager, since 2019. He previously served as the Co-Head and Co-Chief Investment Officer of the Real Estate Investment Group at AB Global from 2009 until 2019.He served as a director of Old SAFE from 2017 until consummation of the Merger. Mr. Nydick was the president of the Company from November 2004 until September 2009. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Nydick spent 14 years as an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Nydick has significant experience in capital markets and commercial real estate. Mr. Nydick holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University where he graduated as a Presidential Scholar and an M.B.A. degree from Columbia University. Mr. Nydick was nominated to serve on our Board based on his significant experience in capital markets and commercial real estate. -
Barry Ridings
Barry Ridings
Director
Barry W. Ridings has served as one of our Directors since 2011. Mr. Ridings retired as a Senior Advisor at Lazard Frères & Co. LLC on December 31, 2022, having previously served as Vice Chairman of U.S. Investment Banking and in other executive positions at the firm for more than 20 years. He has over 35 years of experience in debt and equity offerings, mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructurings. Mr. Ridings serves as a director of Siem Offshore Inc., which operates a fleet of vessels that service offshore oil and gas and renewal energy markets, and of Republic Airways Holdings, a regional airline in the United States operating as American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express. Mr. Ridings is a member of the Advisory Council for the Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Business and a director of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York. Mr. Ridings has a B.A. in Religion from Colgate University and an M.B.A. in Finance from Cornell University. Mr. Ridings was nominated to serve on our Board due to his extensive experience in investment banking, restructuring, merger and acquisitions and capital markets.
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Stefan M. Selig
Stefan M. Selig
Lead Director
Stefan M. Selig is the founder and managing partner of BridgePark Advisors LLC, a strategic and financial advisory firm. Since consummation of the Merger, Mr. Selig serves as our lead independent director. He served as lead independent director of Old SAFE from 2017 until consummation of the Merger. Mr. Selig served as Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce from June 2014 to June 2016, and during this period headed the International Trade Administration, a global bureau of more than 2,200 trade and investment professionals. During this period, he also served as the Executive Director of the Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, sat on the board of directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, was a Commissioner for the Congressional Executive Commission on China and was the Executive Director of the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa. Prior to that, he held various senior level leadership positions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch beginning in 1999, including being the Executive Vice Chairman of Global Corporate & Investment Banking from 2009 to 2014, and prior to that, he was Vice Chairman of Global Investment Banking and Global Head of Mergers & Acquisitions. Prior to joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch, he held various senior investment banking positions at UBS Securities and Wasserstein Parella & Co., and began his investment banking career at The First Boston Corporation. Mr. Selig currently serves as a director and a member of the Audit Committee and Compensation Committees of Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG), as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Venator Materials PLC (NYSE: VNTR) and as a director of other private companies. Mr. Selig was nominated to serve on our Board based on his extensive investment banking, government and economic policy experience.
Committee Composition
| Director Name | Audit | Compensation | Investment | Nominating and Governance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jesse Hom Independent Director | member of Investment | chairperson of Nominating and Governance | ||
| Robin Josephs Independent Director | chairperson of Audit | member of Investment | member of Nominating and Governance | |
| Jay S. Nydick Independent Director | member of Compensation | chairperson of Investment | ||
| Barry Ridings Independent Director | member of Audit | chairperson of Compensation | member of Nominating and Governance | |
| Stefan M. Selig Lead DirectorIndependent Director | member of Audit | member of Compensation |