Executive Team

Phillip J. Kardis II is our Chief Executive Officer. Prior to becoming Chief Executive Officer in December 2022, Mr. Kardis served as the Company’s Chief Legal Officer and Secretary from September 2015 to December 2022. During his tenure as the Chief Legal Officer and Secretary, Mr. Kardis has been actively involved in leadership of the Company, its operations, and its strategic initiatives since its founding in 2007, and has played a key role in structuring the Company’s securitization, financing and investment transactions. Mr. Kardis has been immersed in all aspects of the Company’s strategic planning, policies and transactions, including serving on the Valuation Committee and Investment Committee. Mr. Kardis has recognized expertise in mortgage REITs and structured transactions. Prior to joining the Company in September 2015, Mr. Kardis was a partner with the law firm of K&L Gates LLP where he represented mortgage REITs and other companies and funds that acquire, originate, service and finance residential mortgage loans, mortgage servicing rights and mortgage-backed securities, including the Company. Prior to joining K&L Gates LLP in 2004, Mr. Kardis practiced corporate and securities law at several law firms. In addition, Mr. Kardis has held positions at the U.S. Department of Commerce, Rockwell International, the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget and Analytic Services, Inc. Mr. Kardis has two BA degrees from George Washington University, an MA from George Washington University, an MA from George Mason University, and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Subramaniam Viswanathan is our Chief Financial Officer. Prior to becoming our Chief Financial Officer in August 2021, Mr. Viswanathan most recently served as the Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer – Global Mortgages and Securitized Products and Global Rates and served other roles at Bank of America Merrill Lynch since 2007. Mr. Viswanathan previously served as the Senior Vice President, Business Area Controller – Cash and Synthetic CDOs, Securitization and Correlation Desks at Citigroup, Corporate and Investment Banking. Mr. Viswanathan earned his degree in economics from the University of Madras in Chennai, India and his MBA from University of Hartford.

Choudhary Yarlagadda is our President, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Chief Investment Officer. Mr. Yarlagadda serves as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer starting in August 2015, as the Company’s President starting in December 2020 and as the Company’s Co-Chief Investment Officer starting in December 2022. Prior to becoming Chief Operating Officer in August 2015, Mr. Yarlagadda was a Managing Director and Head of Structured Products for Annaly since January 2008. Prior to joining Annaly, Mr. Yarlagadda was a Director in Structured Credit Products at Credit Suisse and before that a Vice President in the Fixed Income Mortgage Group at Nomura Securities International, Inc. Mr. Yarlagadda has an MS from the Florida Institute of Technology and BS from the National Institute of Technology (India).

Dan Thakkar is our Co-Chief Investment Officer. Prior to becoming Co-Chief Investment Officer in December 2022, Mr. Thakkar served as the Company’s Chief Risk Officer starting in December 2020. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Thakkar headed the Fixed Income Trading Desk at Genworth Financial from 2012 to 2020, where he was responsible for overseeing Trading for IG Corporates, High-Yield, Municipals, Emerging Markets and Structured Product Sectors including RMBS, ABS, CMBS and CLOs. Prior to this job, Mr. Thakkar headed Trading for Genworth’s Structured Portfolio from 2008 to 2012 that included RMBS, CMBS and ABS. Prior to Genworth, Mr. Thakkar was with Hyperion Brookfield Asset Management for from 2005 to 2008, one of the original asset managers of residential mortgage-backed security funds, where he traded RMBS and managed a Mortgage REIT fund. Mr. Thakkar also spent nine years at MetLife, where he was an Agency and Non-Agency RMBS trader. Prior to that job, he traded Government and Agency Debt, and had stints at Portfolio and Risk Management units within MetLife. Mr. Thakkar has his BA in Accounting from the University of Delhi and MBA from University of Hartford. Mr. Thakkar received his CFA charter in 2001. Mr. Thakkar also completed the Global Leadership Program from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in 2019.

Kelley Kortman is our Chief Accounting Officer and Principal Accounting Officer. Prior to becoming our Chief Accounting Officer in August 2015, Mr. Kortman was a Director of Financial Reporting at Annaly since September of 2013. Prior to Annaly, from 2008 to 2013, Mr. Kortman was a Director in the Accounting Policy Group at MBIA Insurance Corporation and, from 2005 to 2008, a Senior Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Financial Services Group. Mr. Kortman began his career at Deloitte in 1997 where he held a Senior Role in their Audit Practice. Mr. Kortman earned both a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree in Accounting from the University of Utah.

Miyun Sung is our Chief Legal Officer and Secretary.  Prior to joining the Company in November 2023, Ms. Sung was SVP, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc., a NYSE-listed real estate investment trust (REIT) that owned and operated retail shopping centers.  She was with Urstadt Biddle Properties from May 2016 until August 2023 when the company merged with Regency Centers Corporation, a Nasdaq-listed REIT, in a stock-for-stock merger.  Earlier in her career, Ms. Sung’s roles included Vice President, Corporate Counsel & Secretary at Finjan Holdings Inc., a Nasdaq-listed cybersecurity company,  Counsel at Hogan Lovells LLP, a Washington D.C.-based law firm, and Senior Counsel at MicroStrategy, a Nasdaq-listed business intelligence software company.  Ms. Sung received a BA in Government from Cornell University in 1997 and a JD from Harvard Law School in 2000.