People

Mr. Friedman co-founded EJF Capital LLC (“EJF”), a global institutional alternative asset management firm that has been at the forefront of regulatory, event-driven investing in financials and real estate.  Over the course of his 40+ year career in capital markets and asset management, Mr. Friedman has structured and built numerous innovative investment strategies that have focused on some of the most powerful trends in the financial sector driven by regulatory change. Prior to forming EJF, Mr. Friedman was a founder and the former Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. (“FBR”).  At FBR, Mr. Friedman assisted in designing property and mortgage REIT vehicles.  Throughout the 1990s, Mr. Friedman was active in building out FBR’s alternative asset management platform.  He was instrumental in the creation of hedge, private equity and venture capital funds at FBR, and maintains an extensive network of contacts within the CDO, hedge fund and private equity fund communities. Mr. Friedman received his BA in Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his JD from Georgetown University.

Mr. Wilson is a founding member of EJF and serves as its Co-Chief Executive Officer and as a Co-Chief Investment Officer of EJF’s private markets products.  In addition to serving as the Co-Chief Executive Officer for EJF, Mr. Wilson currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of EJF Investments Manager LLC, the external manager to a closed-end fund listed on the London Stock Exchange.  Mr. Wilson also serves as a member of EJF’s Risk Committee, Valuation Committee and ESG Committee.  Prior to forming EJF, Mr. Wilson served as a senior managing director for both the Alternative Asset Investments and Private Wealth Management groups at FBR.  Prior to joining FBR, he was a senior securities attorney at Dechert LLP and a Branch Chief in the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C.  He served on the Boards of Trustees of Sidwell Friends School (Washington, D.C.) and Hood College for five and nine years, respectively.  He chaired the endowment investment committee at Hood during his entire tenure on the Board and served on the endowment investment committee of Sidwell Friends for over 10 years.  He also served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools Employee Pension for nine years until 2013 and in 2014 received a Distinguished Service Award from Montgomery County for his contributions.  Mr. Wilson served as Co-Chair and Honorary Chair, in 2014 and 2020 respectively, of the Bridges Gala for the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities' Bridges from School to Work Program.  He received his BA from Columbia University and his JD from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Stage joined EJF’s London affiliate (EJF Capital Ltd.) in 2013, and is a member of the Executive Committee.  Mr. Stage is responsible for identifying investment opportunities in the European fixed income, equity and private markets with a focus on the banking sector.  Mr. Stage was previously Head of Credit Research at F&C Asset Management (“F&C”) where he also analyzed the banking sector.  Prior to joining F&C in 2008, Mr. Stage was Head of Credit at Gordian Knot Limited, an investment management company, which he joined in 1998 as a bank analyst.  In addition to serving as a Senior Managing Director for EJF Capital, Ltd., Mr. Stage also serves as Co-Chief Investment Officer of EJF Investments Manager LLC.  Mr. Stage holds a BA in Economics from the University of Manchester.

Ms. Richardson joined EJF in 2006 and is a member of the Executive Committee, EJF’s Risk Committee and ESG Committee.  Ms. Richardson serves as President of the firm and Senior Portfolio Manager of funds within the debt opportunities strategy.  Ms. Richardson joined EJF as a trader focusing primarily on fixed income and derivative trading.  She was later named Head of Trading, overseeing fixed income, equity, and other asset classes.  Prior to joining EJF, she spent 15 years at FBR, most recently serving in the Alternative Asset Investment group.   Previously, Ms. Richardson was a Vice President in FBR’s institutional sales group covering high yield accounts and an analyst in the Financial Institutions Investment Banking group.  Ms. Richardson holds a BS in Finance from West Virginia University.

Mr. Ruggiero joined EJF at its founding in 2005 and is a member of the Executive Committee. Mr. Ruggiero serves as the primary portfolio manager for EJF’s equity focused strategies as well as the Co-Chief Investment Officer for EJF’s capital markets products. Mr. Ruggiero also serves as a member of EJF’s Risk Committee and ESG Committee. Mr. Ruggiero currently serves on the Board of Directors of Arlington Food Assistance Center and formerly served on the Board of Directors of FB Corporation in St. Louis, MO and TIG Bancorp in Denver, CO. He also formerly served as a member of the JMU College of Education Executive Advisory Council. Prior to joining EJF, Mr. Ruggiero was an equity trader in FBR’s Alternative Asset Investment Group, where he assisted Mr. Friedman in the day-to-day operations of FBR Ashton, L.P., a long/short hedge fund. In 2004, Mr. Ruggiero assumed co-portfolio manager responsibilities for FBR Ashton, L.P. Before joining FBR, Mr. Ruggiero was an auditor for Deloitte and Touche in Washington, DC, where he focused on the financial services industry. He holds a BBA in accounting from James Madison University and an MBA in finance from the University of Maryland.

Mr. Cherepnin joined EJF’s London affiliate (EJF Capital Ltd.) in 2021 and is responsible for identifying investment opportunities in the financial technology sector.  He was previously a Vice President at Evercore, having worked in both their London and New York offices, where he advised financial technology and software clients on M&A and capital markets transactions.  Prior to joining Evercore in 2016, Mr. Cherepnin worked as an Investment Banker at Altius Capital and Renaissance Capital, covering the Central and Eastern Europe regions.  He holds a BSc. in Economic Cybernetics from the National Technical University of Ukraine and an MBA from Cornell University.

Mr. Ijaz joined EJF in 2011 and oversees the structured product strategy. Mr. Ijaz specializes in the specialty finance, insurance, and banking sectors, and currently leads the credit analysis and trust preferred CDO structuring for the Insurance and Bank Trust Preferred Securities (“TruPS”) team as well as the structuring for bank subordinated debt CDOs. Mr. Ijaz has spearheaded twelve EJF sponsored securitizations, totaling approximately $3.8 billion. Mr. Ijaz also manages the investments of legacy TruPS CDOs and some corporate debt. Mr. Ijaz came to EJF from Merrill Lynch, where he was employed as a summer research analyst in the Global Private Client Division. Prior to his time at Merrill Lynch, he worked for Citibank N.A. and Muslim Commercial Bank. Mr. Ijaz earned a BA in Business Economics from the College of Wooster.

Portfolio Analyst

Mr. Pulickal joined EJF’s London affiliate (EJF Capital Ltd.) in 2022 as an analyst covering credit and equity investments across European banks, insurance, and specialty finance. Prior to joining EJF, Mr. Pulickal spent 3 years as a credit analyst focusing on European banks and non-bank financial high yield at Jupiter Asset Management Limited. He holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Bath and an MSc in Finance from University College London.

Mr. Ahmed joined EJF’s London affiliate (EJF Capital Ltd.) in 2021. Mr. Ahmed has spent 19 years in the financial services industry, having spent just over 8 years as the partner responsible for investor relations and business development at Ironshield Capital Management LLP, a London based European credit event driven hedge fund. Mr. Ahmed started his career at Morgan Stanley where he spent just over 10 years within Morgan Stanley’s European Prime Brokerage business, across various roles including both hedge fund relationship management and capital introductions. Mr. Ahmed earned his Bachelor of Laws (Hons) at The University of Edinburgh.

Ms. Cusumano transitioned to EJF’s London affiliate (EJF Capital Ltd.) in 2021 after serving in EJF’s Arlington headquarters for six years, where she supported investor relations efforts.  In her role, she serves as a liaison between the firm’s European investors, portfolio management and operational teams. Prior to joining EJF, Ms. Cusumano held positions at Capital One Multifamily Finance and Z Capital Partners, LLC. Ms. Cusumano holds a BA (Hons) in Middle East Studies with Arabic from the University of Exeter.

Manager of Accounting and Operations

Mr. Ghatalia joined EJF’s London affiliate (EJF Capital Ltd.) in 2023 and is responsible for operations and financial functions. In addition to serving as Director of Accounting and Operations for EJF Capital Ltd., Mr. Ghatalia serves as the Finance Director for EJF Investments Ltd. Prior to joining EJF, he spent 2 and a half years at Intermediate Capital Group PLC (‘ICG’), managing finance and operations for private funds in their Strategic Equity and LP Secondaries strategies. Prior to ICG, he spent 9 years in public accounting firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG managing assurance and advisory engagements for clients across financial services and latterly focusing on both listed and private alternate investment funds. Mr. Ghatalia is a Chartered Accountant (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Mumbai.