Our People
Arnold Whitman
Chairman
Over the past 25 years, Arnold Whitman has been actively involved with investing in seniors housing and healthcare. His career started in 1985 as Director of Acquisitions for MediPlex (publicly traded specialty healthcare company) and evolved into his role as Vice President of Meditrust (publicly- traded REIT) in 1986. In 1993, he left Meditrust to form Health Care Capital Finance (HCCF 93-96), a private debt provider, where he developed a successful securitization program for Senior Housing and Care. HCCF eventually merged into PRN Mortgage Capital (a partnership with SouthTrust Bank and ContiFinancial services) where he acted as President and oversaw over $2 billion of debt investments into seniors housing and care. In 2000, Mr. Whitman created Formation Capital as an advisory and equity investment firm for seniors housing and healthcare.
In addition, Mr. Whitman is a founder in Prime Care Properties and a founding member and current executive board member of Care Institute, a not-for-profit owner of seniors housing and care properties. He is Chairman Emeritus of the National Investment Center for the Senior Housing and Care Industry (NIC). He has served as a speaker for the following organizations: Australian Senior Housing Summit, Retirement Villages Association of New Zealand, NIC, American Senior Housing Association (ASHA), Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA), National Council on Senior Housing, American Health Care Association and LTC100. Mr. Whitman has written articles for many healthcare publications, including Contemporary Long Term Care, Assisted Living Today, Modern Healthcare and Real Estate Forum.
Steve Fishman
President and Co-Chairman
Steve Fishman has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, including 20 years as a CPA serving the health care and real estate industries. He has been involved in all aspects of the capital markets, private equity, debt structuring, asset management and more importantly has consistently demonstrated his ability to close highly complex transactions during difficult economic times involving many parties and substantial moving parts. He co-founded Formation Capital with Arnold Whitman on January 1, 1999.
From 1999 to 2006, Mr. Fishman was one of the driving forces in the acquisition and roll up of six long-term care portfolios totaling more than 17,000 beds. In 2006, these portfolios were sold to General Electric for a price in excess of $1.4 billion.
Since then, Mr. Fishman has been involved in the acquisition of a public company (Genesis HealthCare) and the purchase of three other long-term care portfolios. The four acquisitions valued in excess of $3 billion, are actively managed by Mr. Fishman and the Formation team.
In addition to the above, he has been involved in all aspects (acquisition, management, and sale) of a very successful health care services company, which is the industry leader in its field. He recently led a team that completed a sale which closed in December 2008 to two large private equity firms providing substantial returns to all of the principals and investors in the transaction. He is currently serving on the board of directors of the acquiring company.
Mr. Fishman graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Drexel University and passed the CPA examination in 1979 at the age of 23.
Brian Beckwith
Chief Executive Officer
Brian Beckwith has been active in healthcare mergers, acquisitions, investing and lending for the past 16 years in the United States and Europe. Most recently Mr. Beckwith led the lending and investing efforts for healthcare real estate and senior housing for GE Capital, where he also oversaw $7 billion in loans and investments. Prior to this role, from 2005 through 2008, he led the risk team and then the entire healthcare lending and investing operations for GE Capital in Europe. Based in London, he invested in healthcare real estate, provided senior debt to private equity sponsored healthcare services companies, and provided equipment leasing throughout Europe. Additionally, Mr. Beckwith led new deal underwriting and portfolio management for GE Capital’s domestic healthcare lending operations from 1998. Prior to joining GE Capital, he spent 6 years with an Atlanta based valuation consulting firm with a focus on healthcare and with Delta Air Lines’ Capital Markets group.
Mr. Beckwith serves, or has served, on the boards of the American Senior Housing Association (ASHA), the National Investment Center for the Senior Housing and Care Industry (NIC), and the Alumni Board of the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. He is an active speaker for ASHA, NIC and many other industry organizations.
Mr. Beckwith is a graduate of the University of Georgia (BBA) and Georgia State University (MBA).
Christina K. Firth
Senior Vice President,
Business & Regulatory Affairs
Christina Firth joined Formation Capital in 2005 as Vice President. She is responsible for investment analysis, underwriting, deal negotiation, structured finance transactions, litigation management, and corporate governance. Since joining Formation Capital, Ms. Firth has participated in transactions totaling in excess of $4 billion encompassing various asset types such as independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing/long-term care, institutional pharmacy, rehabilitation, hospice, mobile imaging and new market tax credits for senior housing purchases.
Prior to joining Formation Capital, Ms. Firth was Litigation Manager for Mariner Health Care Management Company, an Atlanta based company. While at Mariner, she participated in the successful merger of National Senior Care and Mariner Health Care, Inc., an acquisition totaling $1,055,000,000 in real estate assets and managed over 400 general liability/professional liability lawsuits nationally.
Ms. Firth holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, with a concentration in healthcare management and a Bachelor of Arts from Agnes Scott College. Ms. Firth is also a member of the Turnaround Management Association and is currently working towards her CTP certification.
Scott E. Brown
Senior Vice President,
Portfolio Management
Scott E. Brown joined Formation Capital in June 2007 as Vice President of Asset Management. In this position, Mr. Brown is responsible for investment portfolio performance and compliance.
Mr. Brown has more than 15 years of progressive experience in corporate finance, strategy development, operational turnarounds, and portfolio management. Most recently, Mr. Brown served as a corporate finance executive at DS Waters, a highly-leveraged, private-equity backed water delivery company. In this position, he built a centralized shared-services organization and consolidated finance operations for 7 acquisitions comprising nearly 150 branch locations. Before DS Waters, Mr. Brown reorganized the Massachusetts Office of Business Development under the Romney administration. As the Executive Director, he fostered economic development and real estate investment by administering state and local tax incentives, launching a tax-increment financing program, and commercializing surplus government property. Prior, as a corporate executive at CMGI, Inc., Mr. Brown managed an internet technology investment portfolio and served as strategic advisor to each portfolio company’s board of directors. Earlier in his career, as a consultant at Bain & Company, Mr. Brown developed growth strategies and financial plans for private-equity investors as well as Fortune 500 clients. Mr. Brown began his career at Procter & Gamble, where he managed manufacturing operations and new product launch initiatives.
Mr. Brown earned a mechanical engineering degree with high distinction from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Harvard.
David Russ
Senior Vice President,
Acquisitions
David Russ has been originating and underwriting leveraged finance and financial sponsor transactions for the past twelve years. Prior to joining Formation Capital in March 2010, Mr. Russ spent ten years in investment banking in New York focused on financing leveraged buyouts and acquisitions, leading or participating in more than 50 transactions totaling more than $30 billion. His investment banking responsibilities included deal origination, structuring and execution across a broad set of industries including healthcare, aerospace and defense, consumer products and technology. Mr. Russ served in the Leveraged Finance Groups of RBC Capital Markets for two years and Bear Stearns for eight years. Prior to his corporate finance career, Mr. Russ worked for four years in information technology consulting including Accenture and a start-up consulting firm which was successfully sold to a public company.Mr. Russ earned his B.A. with honors from Vanderbilt University, an MBA from Duke University and the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Trissie Copses Farr
Senior Vice President,
Formation Healthcare Group
Trissie Copses Farr began her 27 year healthcare career as a Physician Assistant in direct care clinical environments. She later became involved with four different Healthcare Corporations both in the Acute Care and Long Term Care markets. Her positions included experience in sales, management, marketing, strategic planning, outsourced ancillary services management, loss prevention, risk management, business development, and regulatory compliance. She has been consulting and working with Formation Capital, LLC since 2004 and currently serves as Vice President of Formation Healthcare Group.
Tim D. Monks, CPA
Senior Vice President, Finance
Tim Monks joined Formation Capital in September 2010 and is primarily responsible for financial reporting and corporate administration.
In previous executive finance positions for public and private companies, Mr. Monks worked in the healthcare, real estate, hospitality, technology, and financial services sectors, successfully leading diverse growth and turn-around companies. He has held Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance positions with three private-equity portfolio companies owned by HIG Capital, KRG Capital, and Brown Brothers Harriman and Company. More than a dozen business acquisitions and divestitures have closed under his financial leadership.
Mr. Monks is a Certified Public Accountant and holds Master of Accountancy and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degrees from the University of Tennessee. He began his professional career practicing international tax in the Atlanta office of Price Waterhouse.
Diane S. Bullens
Vice President,
Treasury & Administration
Diane Bullens brings experience to Formation Capital from both the real estate and healthcare industries. While living in Boca Raton, Florida she was involved in real estate sales and new project development. Prior to joining Formation Capital in 2001, she was employed at the Dartmouth Hitchcock / Cheshire Medical Center, a regional health care system in New Hampshire.
At Formation Capital, she is responsible for a broad scope of personnel management functions, including compensation and benefits administration, compliance issues relating to regulatory concerns of employment, employee relations and services for Formation Capital, Formation Healthcare Group and Formation Development Group. In addition, as assistant to the Controller, she is responsible for day-to-day accounting and financial reporting.
Ms. Bullens holds a Master of Business Administration from Franklin Pierce University and a Bachelor of Science from Westbrook College at the University of New England.
She attended the Executive Development Program at Johns Hopkins University sponsored by the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing and Care Industry.
Gregory Carr
Asset Manager
Gregory Carr joined Formation Capital in May 2006. His primary duties include document compliance, operations analysis, and investor reporting.
From 2001 to 2006, Gregory worked as a financial analyst for Colonial Properties Trust. While at Colonial, he prepared financial analyses on approximately $635 million of successful office building developments, acquisitions, and dispositions. In 1999 until mid-year 2001, he worked as an analyst at Tri-Mont Real Estate Advisors.
In 1999, Gregory received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a major in Real Estate from The University of Georgia. He is a proficient ARGUS software user, with over seven years experience.
Paul O'Sullivan, CFA
Asset Manager
Paul joined Formation Capital in January 2008. He is responsible for streamlining Formation’s financial reporting, modeling, underwriting, and analysis. Paul has eight years experience in financial reporting and, prior to joining Formation, he worked as the Senior Financial Analyst for Aelera Resources. At Aelera, Paul was responsible for financial modeling, budgeting, forecasting, and month end close processes. Prior to Aelera, Paul worked as the Senior Financial Analyst for Jameson Inns. At Jameson, Paul was responsible for the accounting and management of $250 million of mortgage debt, SEC reporting of debt, financial analysis, and debt covenants. Paul is highly proficient in Excel, Access, FRx, and is self taught in Visual Basic.
Paul holds a BA in Accounting from The University of Georgia and an MBA in Finance from Georgia State University. Paul is a Marine in the United States Marine Corps Reserve and is the recipient of the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal, National Defense Medal, and the Rifle Expert badge. Paul is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society of Atlanta.
Eric Hendrix, CPA
Controller
Eric Hendrix joined Formation Capital in April of 2010 as Controller for Tandem Health Care, LLC. He is responsible for managing the accounting team for Tandem and overseeing process controls, treasury and financial reporting, monitoring and reporting for debt compliance and managing income taxes and outside audit related matters. In addition he is responsible for overseeing operator reporting and compliance with master lease terms and debt covenants.Eric joined Formation from Tatum LLC where he was a principal in the consulting and controller practice in Atlanta. In addition he has previously held controller positions for privately held companies in the Atlanta area. He was also in public accounting for over eight years where he specialized in audit and corporate tax. Eric graduated from Samford University in Birmingham Alabama where he obtained a BA degree in Business Administration and Accounting.
Kelly Burns
Accounting Manager
Kelly joined Formation Capital in March 2009 as part of the accounting team brought in-house for Tandem Health Care, LLC. Her responsibilities include managing the day-to-day accounting processes related to the general ledger and treasury activity. She is directly involved in the monthly financial close process and financial reporting. Prior to joining Formation, Kelly held an Accounting Manager position with a privately-held company in the homebuilding industry for several years. Prior to that, Kelly worked at Earthlink, Inc. for six years where she successfully served several positions with increased responsibilities through promotions and advancements in their Accounting & Finance department.Kelly transferred to Atlanta in 2000 from California, where earlier, she had earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Accounting from California University, Chico. She is currently pursuing her studies to pass the exam for her CPA license.
Ciara Regan
Staff Accountant
Ciara joined Formation Capital in October 2010 as a member of the accounting team where she is responsible for the daily accounting and monthly close processes.
Prior to joining Formation Capital, Ciara held a staff accountant position at Regency Hospital Company which is part of a national network of specialized acute care hospitals. Before transferring to Atlanta in October 2008, Ciara was an accounting analyst at United States Steel Corporation for three years where she enjoyed increasing responsibilities in the financial reporting area. During her advancement in her career she has worked in a variety of industries that include healthcare, manufacturing, public relations and merchandising.
Ciara earned a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a Masters of Business Administration from Waynesburg University.
Jennifer Sikes
Financial Analyst
Jennifer Sikes joined Formation Capital in March 2011. She is a member of the Acquisitions Team where she performs financial analysis and modeling of portfolios to assist the team in investment decisions.
Prior to joining Formation Capital, Jennifer was an Annuity Specialist with Tarkenton Financial from 2007 through 2011. There she utilized annuities to help senior citizens achieve their retirement goals, and supported independent insurance agents in the annuity sales process. Before joining Tarkenton Financial, Jennifer spent three years in the mortgage industry with Accredited Home Lenders and Legacy Mortgage Associates where she processed, underwrote, and originated loans.
Jennifer holds a BA in Banking and Finance from The University of Georgia where she was a Presidential Scholar.
Katy E. Warren
Executive Assistant and Marketing Coordinator
Katy Warren joined Formation Capital in October 2005. She is the Executive Assistant to Arnold Whitman and Brian Beckwith. In addition to her assistant duties, Mrs. Warren is responsible for designing and coordinating all events and marketing projects for the company, as well as maintaining the website.
Before joining Formation Capital, Mrs. Warren served as the Executive Assistant and Marketing Coordinator for the Corporate Investigations division of Smith & Carson, a legal services firm headquartered in Atlanta. Mrs. Warren supported the CEO, EVP and a team of forensic accountants and investigators, while also being an integral component of the Marketing department. She designed several marketing pieces and collaborated with the Director of Marketing on the firm's national branding and marketing campaign. Mrs. Warren attended North Carolina State University.
Casey Bullens
Executive Assistant
Casey Bullens joined Formation Capital in January of 2009. She is the Executive Assistant to the Senior Management Team and provides support to the Alpharetta office. In addition to her assistant duties, Mrs. Bullens is responsible for Formation Capital’s Acquisition Pipeline and Corporate Governance.
Prior to joining Formation Capital, Mrs. Bullens worked in sales providing strategic marketing solutions to small businesses and a healthier way of life through ergonomic furniture including a wide verity of back care products. Mrs. Bullens has also served as the Executive Assistant to five different attorneys where she became great at multitasking, making her a great fit as the Executive Assistant to the Formation Capital Senior Management Team.
