Farmland Partners Inc. Announces Changes to Board of Directors
DENVER, Nov. 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Farmland Partners Inc. (NYSE: FPI) (the "Company") today announced that, on November 20, 2015, its Board of Directors appointed Michael N. Christodolou as an independent director. Mr. Christodolou replaced Dean Jernigan, who tendered his resignation from the Company's Board of Directors on November 20, 2015 in order to focus on other business ventures, particularly Jernigan Capital, Inc., a newly public New York Stock Exchange listed company of which Mr. Jernigan is the chairman and chief executive officer.
Mr. Christodolou has over thirty years of investment and corporate governance experience with publicly traded companies. He is the manager of Inwood Capital Management LLC, which he founded in 2000. From 1988 to 1999 he was employed by Bass Brothers/Taylor & Company, an investment firm associated with the Bass family of Fort Worth, Texas. Since 1999 Mr. Christodolou has been a director and member of the audit, compensation and corporate governance & nominating ("CG&N") committees at Lindsay Corporation, an NYSE-listed manufacturer of agricultural irrigation equipment and infrastructure products. He served as chairman of the board at Lindsay Corporation from 2003 to January 2015 and also chaired its CG&N committee and the executive committees during that period. Previously he chaired its audit committee from 1999 until 2003. From 1998 to 2001 he served as a director of XTRA Corporation, an NYSE-listed lessor of transportation equipment. He served as chairman of XTRA Corporation's audit committee and a member of its compensation committee until XTRA was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. in September 2001. In 2011 he joined the board of Quest Capital Group LLC, a private company which managed and leased transportation equipment. He served as an independent director along with two operating partners and two private equity representatives until the company was acquired in June 2015. Mr. Christodolou received a B.S. in Economics and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
"We are very pleased to welcome Mike to our Board of Directors," said Paul Pittman, the Company's Chairman and CEO. "He brings significant experiences in investments, corporate governance and agriculture that will further strengthen our Board of Directors as we continue to expand our portfolio and work to further increase shareholder value."
"Additionally, we would like to thank Dean for all of his work since the inception of our company, as he served as Lead Independent Director during our early growth stages and remained a strong presence throughout his tenure," continued Mr. Pittman. "We wish Dean the best of luck in his other business ventures."
About Farmland Partners Inc.
Farmland Partners Inc. is an internally managed real estate company that owns and seeks to acquire high-quality North American farmland and makes loans to farmers secured by farm real estate. The Company owns or has under contact 253 farms with an aggregate of 104,742 acres (including 130 farms totaling 32,319 acres under contract) in Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The Company elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, commencing with the taxable year ended December 31, 2014.
SOURCE Farmland Partners Inc.
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