- After less than three and a half years in the position
- Dan Neville taking over
- Tannenbaum will remain as Executive Chairman and Chief Investment Officer at AFC Gamma
- Tannenbaum said 98 words
(exechange) — West Palm Beach, Florida, October 30, 2023 — Leonard Tannenbaum, chief executive of AFC Gamma, leaves his position. As announced by AFC Gamma Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Monday, October 30, 2023, Leonard M. Tannenbaum leaves his post as chief executive officer at the commercial real estate finance company, after less than three and a half years in the role, effective November 13, 2023.
Generally speaking, it raises questions when a CEO leaves his post at short notice.
Leonard Tannenbaum’s duties as CEO will be taken over by Daniel (Dan) Neville, most recently Chief Financial Officer at Ascend Wellness Holdings, Inc.
The fact that Leonard Tannenbaum’s successor is brought in from outside suggests that the board may seek to stimulate change with fresh ideas and new initiatives.
No reason given
In the announcement, AFC Gamma did not explicitly explain the reason for the move.
Tannenbaum will remain as Executive Chairman and Chief Investment Officer at AFC Gamma
AFC Gamma stated: “Leonard Tannenbaum … will transition from his role as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer to Executive Chairman and Chief Investment Officer, effective as of November 13, 2023.”
“Resign”
AFC Gamma said: “On October 26, 2023, Leonard M. Tannenbaum notified AFC Gamma, Inc. (the “Company”) of his decision to resign as Chief Executive Officer of the Company, effective November 13, 2023.”
Share price decline since October 2021
The announcement follows a decline in AFC Gamma Inc.’s share price of 51% since October 2021.
In the position of CEO since 2020
Leonard Tannenbaum became CEO of the Company in 2020.
Tannenbaum has served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and as Chairman and a director since July 2020.
Tannenbaum is responsible for the Company’s overall management and, in his capacity as a principal of the Manager, leads the Investment Committee, which is responsible for overseeing investment processes including origination, credit underwriting, risk analysis and loan approvals.
Tannenbaum has extensive leadership experience, including his experience as the founder of Fifth Street Asset Management, Inc., a credit asset manager with a nationwide platform (“FSAM”), and its Chief Executive Officer from its inception in 1998 until October 2017 when substantially all of its assets were sold to Oaktree Capital Management (“Oaktree”).
Prior to such sale to Oaktree, FSAM had a core focus on disciplined credit investing across multiple economic cycles, and issued billions of dollars in public equity, private capital and public debt securities. FSAM made flexible investments across capital structures to growing middle market companies, primarily in conjunction with private equity sponsors.
It managed approximately $5 billion of assets across multiple private investment vehicles and two publicly-traded business development companies.
Subsequent to the sale to Oaktree in 2017, Tannenbaum founded the Tannenbaum family office and certain related entities, which are the Company’s affiliates, that are focused on allocating capital across various strategies including credit, equities and real estate.
Tannenbaum graduated from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a B.S. in economics.
Subsequent to his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania, he received an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School as part of the submatriculation program.
He is also a holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of The Wharton Graduate Executive Board.
98 words by Leonard Tannenbaum
In announcing his departure, Leonard Tannenbaum said 98 words.
“Commitment to lending to the cannabis industry”
Leonard Tannenbaum stated: “We are delighted to have someone with Dan’s expertise in the cannabis industry take on the CEO role at AFC Gamma. Dan is a proven leader, who brings deep operational expertise, a strong strategic mindset and proven leadership abilities. I believe that as a lender, it has become increasingly important to have in-house operating expertise to contribute to the underwriting and portfolio management of cannabis credits. The appointment of Dan as CEO reaffirms AFC Gamma’s commitment to lending to the cannabis industry and expanding as the industry grows and continues to need debt capital to finance its expansion.”
Push-out Score for Leonard Tannenbaum’s move determined
The Push-out Score indicates on a scale of 0 to 10 how likely it is that Leonard Tannenbaum was pushed out or felt pressure to leave his position.
exechange reached out to AFC Gamma and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 45.2023 ($).