Executive Team
FRT’s leadership is comprised of respected, experienced professionals that have garnered success at some of the world’s most prominent financial services, software, and investment firms.
ROB ADLER
Chief Executive Officer
Rob is an experienced, hands-on, entrepreneurial leader with a track record of success. Over twenty years he has co-founded four technology companies, and remains an active advisor, investor, and mentor for several Boston-area growth companies. As Chief Executive Officer of FRT, Rob oversees an industry-leading team with proven expertise at recovering assets for eligible investors in securities class action settlements. Previously, Rob co-founded CCBN and served as its President from the company’s inception in 1997 until its sale to Thomson Financial in 2004. CCBN was a pioneer in enabling direct communications between public companies and the investment community over the Internet. The company’s popular StreetEvents product offered a calendar of events for professional investors and became a staple on the desktop of the investment community. CCBN brought many Web-based and compliance-related innovations to market, including live webcasting and full-text, real-time transcription of thousands of corporate earnings calls every quarter. Rob graduated with a BA from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard University, where he was a Baker Scholar.
JEFFREY B KIRSTEIN
Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Kirstein is the Chief Operating Officer at Financial Recovery Technologies (FRT) responsible for overseeing the class action claim lifecycle operations – from identifying relevant cases to reconciling all claim checks received. Previously, he was the Director of Operations for Flagg Street Capital LLC, a long/short opportunistic value hedge fund. At Flagg Street, he had substantial daily involvement with prime brokers, fund administrators and legal counsel. He was responsible for the preparation and presentation of data directly to portfolio managers and annual reporting (both client and tax). Prior to Flagg Street, Mr. Kirstein was a financial consultant for the wealth management group Sage Financial and an equities trader for Heartland Securities. He received a BS in Economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, with concentrations in Accounting and Finance.
MICHAEL COTTER
Chief Revenue Officer
As Chief Revenue Officer for Financial Recovery Technologies, Michael Cotter is responsible for global sales, marketing, customer success and business development. With over 25 years of experience, Mike joins FRT after leading the Corporate Solutions at Nasdaq, Inc. where he was responsible for managing all aspects of the Corporate Solutions business, including strategy, product development, sales, service and operations. Prior to Nasdaq Inc., Mike held senior leadership positions at Thomson Reuters, CCBN Inc., FreeMarkets, Inc., IBM and Lotus Development Corporation. Mike has a degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Massachusetts and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.
CHARLIE PENDLETON
SVP of Product Marketing
As Senior Vice President of Product Marketing at Financial Recovery Technologies, Charlie is responsible for FRT’s Product Marketing and Product Management functions across FRT’s product and service offerings. With over 25 years of experience in the high tech/software space, Charlie joins FRT having lead Marketing at Epsilon, where he oversaw all phases of marketing execution including product marketing, analyst relations, corporate communications, marketing operations, demand generation, events, and partner marketing. Prior to Epsilon, Charlie lead marketing and product teams at Copyright Clearance, Xerox/ScanSoft and multiple Boston-based startups, focusing on e-commerce and SaaS-based solutions. Charlie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Connecticut College and an MBA from Babson College.
BRIAN MORAN
SVP of Finance & Compliance
As Senior Vice President of Finance & Compliance at Financial Recovery Technologies, Brian’s responsibilities encompass all finance, accounting, planning and compliance functions across the business. Prior to joining FRT, Brian spent over four years at Drax Biomass Inc., a renewable energy start-up that manufactures and sells wood pellets for displacement of coal-powered electricity generation. Brian built and held many senior roles in DBI’s finance function and also led Corporate Development & Strategy, helping to grow the business from a 10-person start-up into the 2nd largest N. American industrial wood pellet producer, with 1.5 million tons of annual production, four industrial facilities and over 200 employees. Brian also spent over six years in Bain Capital’s Private Equity Finance group and three years as an external auditor with KPMG. He holds both a Bachelor of Science degree in Business (Finance and Accounting concentrations) and a Master of Science degree in Accounting from Boston College. Brian is a MA-licensed CPA and a CFA Charterholder.
JEAN-LUC MARION
Vice President of Engineering
As Vice President of Engineering, Jean-Luc is responsible for all aspect of IT and product development at FRT. Jean-Luc brings over 20 years of experience in various technical roles, primarily in financial services. Prior to FRT, he led the development and DevOps teams at Smarsh, building a cloud-based, large scale compliance and eDiscovery solution. Prior to Smarsh, Jean-Luc held various senior technical leadership positions at Thomson Reuters and CCBN. Jean-Luc has an MS in Engineering from the École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Université Paris XI.
KATHY MUMMA
Vice President of Human Resources, and Employment Counsel
Kathy Mumma is the Vice President of Human Resources at Financial Recovery Technologies. Prior to joining FRT, she spent more than a decade in private legal practice, counseling clients on employee relations issues, advising clients with respect to the development of sound employment policies and practices, and representing clients in employment-related litigation before courts and administrative agencies. In addition to her employment practice, Kathy also has experience defending securities class actions and responding to SEC investigations. Prior to her legal career, Kathy provided technology implementation services to higher education clients, then subsequently ran the talent acquisition function at a technology consulting firm. Kathy received her AB in Psychology from Harvard College and her JD from Harvard Law School. She is currently the Clerk of Grace Episcopal Church in Medford and serves as chair of the Oversight Committee for GraceWorks Childcare.
Directors & Advisors
HOWARD L. WOLK
Chairman
Howard Wolk is the Co-President of The Cross Country Group (CCG), a privately held organization consisting of several independent operating companies and a family office. He began his career at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where he participated in a number of corporate finance, merger and acquisition and joint venture transactions. He joined the White House as Associate Counsel for the transition team during the Clinton Administration, vetting candidates for positions in the Departments of Treasury and Justice and also serving on the Vice President’s commission for reinventing government. Mr. Wolk received B.A. and B.S.Ec. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, a J.D. degree from Columbia Law School and an M.P.A. degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he was also a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government. He is a current or past member of boards at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, uAspire, the Columbia Law School Board of Visitors and several other non-profit organizations.
THOMAS O. JONES
Senior Advisor
Thomas Jones is a senior member of the advisory board for Financial Recovery Technologies (FRT) and works actively with FRT on a wide range of strategic and business issues. He was a co-founder of Epsilon, the nation’s leading database marketing company, and served as its CEO until it was acquired by American Express. A graduate of MIT and Harvard, he has taught on the full-time faculty of both the Harvard Business School and MIT’s Sloan School. Mr. Jones is featured in a number of HBS Publishing products, including the Harvard Business Review. He is a recognized expert in the area of customer loyalty and personalized marketing and speaks widely on issues relating to organizational innovation and transformation.
DAVID LAMERE
Senior Advisor
David Lamere has over 30 years’ experience leading the strategic efforts for wealth management firms. Currently, David is a board member for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Babson College. Most recently, Mr. Lamere was hired to create and build the Private Wealth Management business for Fidelity Investments and served as President of the group focused on providing a full range of investment management, asset allocation, product, trust and other administrative capabilities to high-net-worth clients. Previously, Mr. Lamere served as Chief Executive Officer at BNY Mellon Wealth Management and was a member of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation’s Executive Committee which identified the company’s strategies and policies. David oversaw the day-to-day operations of the division and was also responsible for the company’s on-going wealth management strategy. In addition, he led the integration of the Mellon and BNY legacy private wealth businesses and merging their respective mutual fund families into one. Earlier in his career, David served as Vice Chairman of Mellon Financial and President of Mellon’s Private Wealth Management group where he led Mellon’s private client services. He was responsible for coordinating all of Mellon’s nationally recognized investment, wealth management and private banking services. Mr. Lamere holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Babson College.
JAMES P. PALERMO
Senior Advisor
Jim Palermo is a Founding Partner at Breton Capital Management, LLC, a special situation private equity investment management firm. Jim began his career as a Financial Analyst and Accountant for the General Motors Corp. and later held Sales Management positions at Dancorp, Inc. He joined Mellon Financial Corporation in 1986, eventually becoming the Chief Executive Officer of the Asset Servicing group, continuing that role when Mellon Financial Corp. became Bank of New York Mellon in 2007. In 2010, Jim became the CEO of Global Client Management at BNY Mellon, responsible for the growth and enterprise-wide strategic partnership development of 900 complex global clients. In the past, Jim has served as the Vice Chairman of BNY Mellon and a member of its Executive Committee, as well as Chairman of BNY Mellon New England. Jim was also a Board of Directors Member for CIBC Mellon, Eagle Investments, ABN AMRO Mellon and the Americas Society. Mr. Palermo also served on the Board of Directors and as the Chairman of the Compensation Committee for the YMCA of Greater Boston.
F. MEADE REYNOLDS
Senior Advisor
F. Meade Reynolds is the Managing Director and Global Head of Fund Services for Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Meade is responsible for fund accounting, fund administration, alternative investments, and global custody client service for BBH’s clients worldwide. Mr. Reynolds began his career at BBH in 1994 as a Section Head of the Corporate Actions Department. In 1997, Mr. Reynolds moved to Luxembourg and became Head of the Global Custody and Fund Accounting Client Service Group of BBH Luxembourg. Mr. Reynolds returned to BBH Boston in 1999 where he served as Relationship Manager in Investor Services prior to joining the Client Service Group. Mr. Reynolds has held previous positions at The Boston Company and Mellon Trust in their Global Custody Divisions.