ADVISORY BOARD
Lance T. Funston
CEO; CCA Industries
Lance T. Funston is a serial entrepreneur and over the last 30 years has founded or acquired 12 corporations valued at over $375 million. He is currently Chairman of TelAmerica Media, which he founded in 1993 and sold to Cross MediaWorks in 2008. TelAmerica is a media aggregator that represents over 90% of the cable television industry.
In 2000 Mr. Funston founded Creative Products, which is responsible for developing 8 Minute Abs™, and Instant Flower Garden™. Other notable transactions include Mid-Continent Bottlers, O’Day Sailboats, Kittenger Furniture, Brooklyn Seven-Up, and Larami Toys. Larami created the Super Soaker, which remains one of the top-selling toys of all times and has generated nearly $2 billion in sales to date.
While pursuing a full-time MBA, Mr. Funston founded Portfolio Management Systems, Inc in 1970. Portfolio Management developed investment management systems for major financial institutions including John Hancock, Fidelity Mutual, American General, Sun Life, Bank of America and others. In 1973 the firm raised a real estate fund that developed more than $300MM in residential and commercial properties in Texas over a 10-year period.
In 1967 Mr. Funston was appointed assistant to the director of the FDIC by President Lyndon Johnson; and, subsequently, as special assistant to a governor of the Federal Reserve Board.
Mr. Funston attended Harvard Business School and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Houston. While at U of H, he won four national debate titles and worked full time for the Jamaica Corporation, a holding company with extensive real estate and financial interests.
Mr. Funston currently serves on the Board of Ultimark Products, the Philadelphia Committee to End Homelessness and the World Affairs Council. Lance and his wife Christina founded the Save a Mind Foundation, which provides funding for schools to create mentoring and after-school programs.
Mr. Funston currently lives in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania and Villefranche Sur Mer, France, with his wife and two daughters.
Thomas A. Leonard
Chairman; Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel, LLP
Thomas A. Leonard is a partner with Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel, LLP, chairman of the firm’s Litigation Department and a member of the Management Committee. Founded in 1904, Obermayer is a Philadelphia-based full-service law firm with offices throughout Pennsylvania as well as in New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Denver, CO. At Obermayer, Mr. Leonard concentrates in the areas of antitrust,
construction litigation, mergers and acquisitions, commercial, regulatory issues, environmental matters and health care representation. He also has an extensive appellate practice, and has been with the firm since 1992.
Previously, Mr. Leonard was a Partner and Co-Chairman of the Litigation Department at Dilworth, Paxson, Kalish & Kauffman, and was a member of the firm’s Executive Committee during his 10-year tenure. From 1979 to 1983 he served as both Controller for the City of Philadelphia and Vice Chairman of the Philadelphia Gas Commission.
Mr. Leonard is currently Chairman of the Delaware Valley Real Estate Investment Fund and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Permalith Plastics. He also serves on the Board of Directors for U.S. Facilities, Pennsylvania Business Bank, The World Trade Center of Greater Philadelphia, The World Affairs Council, Independence Blue Cross, Hahnemann Hospital, CORA Services and the Irish American Partnership.
From 1993 to 1998, Mr. Leonard served on the Board of Directors for the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae). He is a past chairman of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and was on the Board of Governors of the Philadelphia Bar Association. He is a previous delegate to the House of Delegates and the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
Mr. Leonard is a member of the American, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Bar Associations, and has been repeatedly named as one of Pennsylvania’s “Super Lawyers”. He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, the U.S. District Courts of Pennsylvania, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Mr. Leonard received his BS from Drexel University and his JD from Temple University School of Law, where he served as the editor of the Temple Law Quarterly.
H. Cabot Lodge, III
Managing Director; W.P. Carey & Co., LLC
H. Cabot Lodge III is currently a Managing Director of W. P. Carey & Co. LLC, President of W. P. Carey’s UK subsidiary, W. P. Carey & Co. Ltd and Head of European Investments. WPC is an investment management company that provides long-term sale-leaseback and build-to-suit financing for companies worldwide.
Mr. Lodge was previously the Managing Partner of CL Properties, a firm which he founded in 2009. CLP is a real estate advisory and corporate net lease management company which focuses on providing income and safety by investing in and providing capital solutions for corporate real estate assets.
In 2006 Mr. Lodge co-founded ARC Global Partners, LLC. ARC is an international real estate merchant bank with an investment philosophy that values human capital and the advantage of superior information flow. Target markets worldwide include projects with arbitrage opportunities, asset classes which are under-served and geographic locations where ARC believes there will be significant growth in real property values.
Mr. Lodge served as Executive Vice President for iStar Financial, Inc. (NYSE: SFI) from 2000-2006, and was a member of the firm’s Board of Directors. iStar is a "one-stop" private banker to high-end U.S. and international commercial real estate owners, with a primary focus on balance-sheet lending. Mr. Lodge co-headed the company’s $3.5 billion credit tenant lease financing business, and during his tenure the group closed approximately $2.1 billion in new transactions.
From 1996 to 2000, Mr. Lodge led his own corporate net lease fund, American Corporate Real Estate (ACRE). ACRE was formed with capital from William E. Simon & Sons and other institutional investors, and was acquired by iStar in 2000.
Prior to forming ACRE, Mr. Lodge served in various capacities at W. P. Carey & Co. LLC for 13 years, including Managing Director, Co-Head of Asset Management and Co-Head of Acquisitions. At WPC Mr. Lodge was directly responsible for forming and managing nine public REITs, and managed the equity special account business for CalPERS. He returned to WPC in 2011 as a Managing Director.
Mr. Lodge has served on the Board of Directors for Rand Logistics, Inc. since 2006 and served on the Board of Meristar Hospitality Corporation, one of the largest hospitality REITS in the US, from its inception until the time of its sale in 2006. He graduated from Harvard College in 1978 and Harvard Business School in 1983.