Board of Trustees

Gregory K. Silvers serves as chairman of our Board of Trustees. Mr. Silvers leads the board in oversight of the Company’s strategic planning and opportunities and identify key risks and mitigation approaches for the board’s review. Mr. Silvers was appointed as our Chief Executive Officer and President in February 2015. Prior to being appointed as our Chief Executive Officer and President, Mr. Silvers served as our Executive Vice President since February 2012 and as our Chief Operating Officer since 2006 and Chief Development Officer since 2001. Mr. Silvers previously served as our Vice President from 1998 until February 2012 and as our Secretary and General Counsel from 1998 until October 2012. From 1994 to 1998, he practiced with the law firm of Stinson Leonard Street LLP specializing in real estate law. Mr. Silvers received his J.D. in 1994 from the University of Kansas.

Peter C. Brown, is Chairman of Grassmere Partners, LLC, a private investment firm. Prior to founding Grassmere Partners, Mr. Brown served as Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of AMC Entertainment Inc., one of the world’s leading theatrical exhibition and entertainment companies, from July 1999 until his retirement in February 2009. He joined AMC in 1990 and served as AMC’s President from January 1997 to July 1999, and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 1991 to 1997. Mr, Brown served as the non-executive Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Company from 1997 to 2003. Mr. Brown currently serves on the board of directors and audit and risk evaluation committees of Century Link, Inc., a NYSE-listed and Fortune 500 provider of communications services, and he serves on the board of directors and audit and nominating committees of Cinedigm Corp., a NASDAQ-listed leading independent content distributor. Mr. Brown has previously served on the board of directors of National CineMedia, Inc., Midway Games, Inc., LabOne, Inc. and Protection One, Inc. Mr. Brown is a graduate of the University of Kansas.

Robin P. Sterneck, is President of Highland Birch Group, a private business consulting firm, and dedicates a portion of her time to Sterneck Capital Management, LLC. Prior to founding Highland Birch Group, Ms. Sterneck served in various capacities at Swiss Reinsurance (“Swiss Re”), a leading wholesale provider of reinsurance, insurance and other insurance-based forms of risk transfer, including serving as Managing Director, Head of Global Talent from January 2009 until her retirement in September 2009, and as Managing Director, Head of Commercial Insurance from 2006 until 2009. Ms. Sterneck joined Swiss Re upon its acquisition of GE Insurance Solutions in 2006. Prior to the acquisition, Ms. Sterneck served in a number of positions at GE Insurance Solutions beginning in 1999, including Head of the Commercial Insurance Division, a member of the Executive Leadership Team and a Global Marketing Leader. She also served as Senior Vice President of GE Capital from 1996 until 2006, and she previously held a number of positions with various subsidiaries of General Electric Co. (“GE”). Prior to joining GE in 1996, Ms. Sterneck spent 15 years in investment banking and public finance, including serving as Managing Director of Public Finance for Clayton Brown & Associates and as Senior Vice President for Shearson Lehman Brothers. Ms. Sterneck currently serves and has served on numerous non-profit and private company boards. She has also completed the National Association of Corporate Directors (“NACD”) Master Class program involving an in-depth review of topics and emerging issues, including leadership and process, performance metrics, future trends, disruptive forces and other topics relevant to the boardroom. She received a B.S. in Science from Trinity College of Vermont and an M.B.A. from Tulane University.

James B. Connor is Chairman and CEO of Duke Realty, the leading domestic-focused industrial property REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) in the United States. Mr. Connor previously served as Duke Realty’s Chief Operating Officer from 2013 to 2016. He has held several senior management positions since joining the company in 1998. Prior to joining Duke Realty, he was at Cushman & Wakefield from 1981 to 1998. Mr. Connor is a member of NAREIT’s Executive Board of Governors, the Real Estate Roundtable and the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR). He is also on the Advisory Board of the Marshall Bennett Institute for Advanced Real Estate Studies at Roosevelt University. Mr. Connor graduated from Western Illinois University.

Virginia E. Shanks is a Strategic Advisor for Penn National Gaming, Inc. and previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer for Pinnacle Entertainment, a casino entertainment company, prior to its merger with Penn National. For more than 25 years, Ms. Shanks held senior executive positions at the property, division and corporate levels of Caesars Entertainment, Inc. Throughout her tenure with Caesars, Ms. Shanks was responsible for maximizing the value of the company’s key strategic brands – Caesars, Harrah’s, and Horseshoe casinos. From 2008 to 2010, Ms. Shanks served as the Chief Marketing Officer for Multimedia Games, where she led product strategy, project management and investor relations. She received a B.S. from the University of Nevada.

Lisa G. Trimberger is a principal and co-owner of a private investment company, Mack Capital Investments LLC. Ms. Trimberger retired as an audit partner of Deloitte & Touche LLP in 2014 after 31 years with the firm. As a lead client service and audit partner, Ms. Trimberger audited and consulted with the management and boards of publicly traded companies, including real estate investment trusts, and worked on significant corporate transactions and control and risk-assessment matters. During her tenure at Deloitte & Touche LLP, Ms. Trimberger served as co-chair of the Nominating Committee of the Board of Directors and as a leader of the firm’s National Women’s Initiative for the development and retention of women professionals. She currently serves on the board, as chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE: OFC) that owns, manages, leases, develops and acquires office and data center shell properties. She also serves on the board, as chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Remuneration Committee of Luxfer Holdings PLC (NYSE: LXFR), a global industrial company in highly-engineered advanced materials. Ms. Trimberger is a member of the NACD and the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. She is an NACD Board Leadership Fellow and earned the CERT Certificate in Cybersecurity Oversight as developed by NACD, Ridge Global and Carnegie Mellon University’s CERT division. Ms. Trimberger has also completed the Women’s Director Development Executive Program at J.L. Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University. Ms. Trimberger holds a B.S. degree in Accounting from St. Cloud State University and is a certified public accountant.

Caixia Ziegler has been the Managing Director of Real Assets and Sustainable Investments at The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (the “MacArthur Foundation”) since 2022 and prior to 2022 as Managing Director of Real Assets since 2017. Prior to joining the MacArthur Foundation, she was Head of Real Estate at the Ford Foundation between 2014 and 2017. Between 2004 and 2014, she held investment management positions at the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust (“NRRIT”), including Director of Global Real Assets. Prior to joining NRRIT, she spent six years with United Technologies Corporation in various treasury, finance and investment positions. Ms. Ziegler holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Business from Xiamen University and an MBA from Wake Forest University.

From 2021 to 2023, John P. Case has been a Partner and Senior Advisor for the Ares Net Lease strategy on a part time basis.  Prior to joining Ares in 2021, Mr. Case was CEO, President and Director of Realty Income Corporation (NYSE: O) (an S&P 500 company).  Additionally, Mr. Case served on the Board of Directors of Duke Realty Corporation (NYSE: DRE) from 2018 to 2022 before it was acquired by Prologis, Inc. (NYSE: PLD).  Mr. Case also served as Chief Investment Officer and chaired the Investment Committee of Realty Income.  He has served on the Executive Board of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts as well as on The Real Estate Roundtable.  Prior to joining Realty Income, Mr. Case served for 19 years as a New York-based real estate investment banker. He began his investment banking career at Merrill Lynch, where he worked for 14 years, and was named a Managing Director in 2000.  Following his tenure at Merrill Lynch, Mr. Case was co-head of Americas Real Estate Investment Banking at UBS and later the co-head of Real Estate Investment Banking for RBC Capital Markets, where he also served on the firm’s Global Investment Banking Management Committee. During Mr. Case’s investment banking career, he was responsible for more than $100 billion in real estate capital markets and advisory transactions.  Mr. Case currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Washington and Lee University.  Mr. Case holds a B.A. from Washington and Lee University in Economics and an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

William P. (Liam) Brown has served as Group President, United States and Canada of Marriott International, Inc. (“Marriott”) since January 2021 and in that role is responsible for developing and managing Marriott’s portfolio in the region. Prior to this role, Mr. Brown was named President and Managing Director of Europe for Marriott in 2019, followed by Group President of Europe, Middle East & Africa for Marriott in 2020. Mr. Brown joined Marriott in 1989 and served as President for Franchising, Owner Services and Managed by Marriott Select Brands, North America from 2012 to 2018. Other key positions previously held by Mr. Brown with Marriott include Chief Operations Officer for the Americas for Select Service & Extended Stay Lodging and Owner & Franchise Services, as well as Senior Vice President and Executive Vice President of Development for Marriott’s Select Service & Extended Stay lodging products. Mr. Brown also serves on the Board of Directors of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Mr. Brown holds a Hotel Diploma Business Degree from the Dublin Institute of Technology, Trinity College and earned his Master of Business Administration from the Robert H. Smith School of Management at the University of Maryland.