EJF Ventures

Neal Wilson is a founding member of EJF, where he serves as Co-Chief Executive Officer, Co-Chief Investment Officer of the firm's private markets products, and Chief Financial Officer. He is also CEO of EJF Investments Manager LLC and previously worked as a senior managing director at FBR, a securities attorney at Dechert LLP, and a Branch Chief in the SEC's Division of Enforcement. He holds a BA from Columbia University and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania.

Asheel Shah joined EJF in 2018 and serves on the Executive Committee, overseeing portfolio management for the firm's real estate funds, including acquisitions, financing, development, construction, and asset management. He previously served as President and Chief Investment Officer of the Multifamily Division at Kettler Inc., a real estate development firm in the Washington, DC area, and has over 25 years of experience in real estate. He holds a BS in Financial Management from St. Joseph's University and an MBA in Corporate Finance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jason Ruggiero joined EJF at its founding in 2005 and sits on the Executive Committee, serving as primary portfolio manager for the firm's equity-focused strategies and Co-Chief Investment Officer for its capital markets products. Before EJF, he was an equity trader in FBR's Alternative Asset Investment Group and later co-portfolio manager for FBR Ashton, L.P., and earlier worked as an auditor at Deloitte and Touche focused on financial services. He holds a BBA in accounting from James Madison University and an MBA in finance from the University of Maryland.

Jeff Hinkle, CFA, rejoined EJF in 2024, having previously worked there from 2008 to 2016 as portfolio manager of the firm's debt opportunities strategies and a member of its Executive Committee. Between those tenures he founded Shoals Capital Management, an alternative asset management firm investing across the capital structure in the financial and real estate sectors, where he was Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer. Earlier in his career he worked as a life insurance sector analyst at FBR and as an Associate Director at Navigant Consulting, and he holds an Economics degree from the College of William & Mary.

Omer Ijaz joined EJF in 2011 and oversees the firm's structured product strategy, focusing on specialty finance, insurance, and banking. He leads credit analysis and trust preferred CDO structuring for the Insurance and Bank Trust Preferred Securities team and handles structuring for bank subordinated debt CDOs, and has worked on numerous EJF-sponsored securitizations. Before EJF he held roles at Merrill Lynch, Citibank N.A., and Muslim Commercial Bank, and holds a BA in Business Economics from the College of Wooster.

Regina Richardson joined EJF in 2006 and serves as President and Senior Portfolio Manager for funds in the debt opportunities strategy, and is a member of the firm's Executive and Risk Committees. She originally joined as a trader focused on fixed income and derivatives before becoming Head of Trading across fixed income, equity, and other asset classes. Before EJF, she spent 15 years at FBR in roles including its Alternative Asset Investment group, institutional sales, and investment banking, and she holds a BS in Finance from West Virginia University.

Steve Stelmach joined EJF in 2015, where his roles have included analyzing housing and insurance investments, serving as Director of Research, building the firm's real estate practice, and managing investments in its tactical opportunities strategy. Before EJF, he spent 12 years as a senior analyst in FBR's financial services research group and previously worked on the U.S. bank research team at UBS Securities. He holds a BS in Finance from the University of Maryland, College Park, and has provided testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives on housing policy.

Aiden Blumenstein is a London-based Partner at EJF Ventures, part of EJF Capital LP, a financial services-focused asset manager with $5 billion in assets under management. He invests in Seed and Series A B2B fintech companies across Europe and the US, working with founders building technology for banks, wealth managers, and other financial institutions, including European businesses expanding into the US. Before entering venture capital, he worked in investment banking, most recently in Evercore's Technology group in London and New York.

Co-founder and Managing Partner of Tamarack Global. He started in Goldman Sachs's derivatives business, advised technology companies in a special situations group at JPMorgan, and managed a $1.5B equity long/short book at Coatue Management. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Williams College and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Lillie Belle Renner is Director of Investment Operations at Snowpoint, a role she took on after nearly eight years at Palantir Technologies. At Palantir she led partnerships for the R&D team and worked to grow the company's presence in the space sector, and earlier helped US Government customers implement Palantir's software for large-scale data problems. She holds a B.A. in International Relations from Sewanee: The University of the South.

John Murray joined EJF in 2024, working on the Portfolio Management and Business Development teams, and has 26 years of experience in structured product investment. He previously spent 22 years at Arlington Asset Investment Corporation as Senior Managing Director of Portfolio Management and Chief Portfolio Manager, where he sat on the Investment Committee and oversaw a portfolio of residential mortgage-backed securities and structured products. He earlier worked at Advest Group and Morgan Stanley, and holds a BS in Finance from Georgetown University.

Michael Cherepnin joined EJF Capital Ltd., EJF's London affiliate, in 2021, where he co-leads the EJF Ventures team and focuses on early-stage fintech investments. He previously served as a Vice President at Evercore in London and New York, advising fintech and software clients on M&A and capital markets, and began his career in 2011 in investment banking at Renaissance Capital and later Altius Capital. He holds a BSc in Economic Cybernetics from the National Technical University of Ukraine and an MBA from Cornell University.

David Gallagher joined EJF in 2025 as a Director of Business Development, focused on building relationships with institutional investors. He has over a decade of experience in financial services, including institutional equity sales, policy and regulatory research, and capital markets distribution, having previously been a Managing Director at Compass Point Research & Trading and Director and Head of Capital Markets at Capstone LLC, with earlier roles at FBR and T. Rowe Price. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of the South: Sewanee.

Derrick Preuss joined EJF in 2024 and has nearly twenty years of experience in financial services. He previously spent about 13 years as a Partner at Winston Partners, leading business development and supporting client service, and began his career at Merrill Lynch & Co. on the U.S. Prime Brokerage Sales team. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Virginia.

Jay Ghatalia joined EJF's London affiliate (EJF Capital Ltd.) in 2023 as Global Head of Fund Accounting, overseeing fund accounting and reporting across EJF strategies, and also serves as Finance Director for EJF Investments Manager LLC. He previously spent two and a half years at Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) managing finance and operations for private funds, and nine years in public accounting at PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG. He is a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Mumbai.

Jeff Saginor joined EJF in 2014 as Chief Technology Officer, overseeing infrastructure, networking, cybersecurity, vendor relationships, development, strategic technology planning, and help desk services. He previously spent over a decade in information technology, working as a consultant and virtual CIO for clients in New York and Washington, DC, and has written articles on technology and public policy. He holds a BS in Sociology with a minor in Communications from Clark University.

Kevin Heisley joined EJF in 2015, where he handles risk management, portfolio reporting, monthly portfolio valuation, and data integrity. He serves on EJF's Risk Committee and Valuation Committee. Before EJF, he was a senior Middle Office Associate in the Capital Markets division at Fannie Mae, and he holds a BBA in Finance from James Madison University.

Leena Vaez joined EJF in 2019 and heads the firm's investor relations, overseeing investor due diligence and acting as a liaison between investors, portfolio management, and operational teams. Before EJF, she spent six years at The Carlyle Group, most recently as an Analyst in its Equity Management group. She holds a BBA in Management from James Madison University.

Meghna Mirchandani is Deputy Chief Financial Officer at EJF, which she joined in 2018, where she manages the firm's accounting and finance functions and serves on EJF's Risk and Valuation Committees. She previously spent four years at E*TRADE Financial Corporation overseeing accounting processes including global consolidations, and earlier worked at Harlan Laboratories (now Inotiv) and began her career at Alerding & Co. (now Blue & Co.) in audit and tax. She holds a BS in Accounting & Finance from Indiana University-Bloomington and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive).

Omar Farooqui joined EJF in 2021 and serves on the firm's Valuation Committee, overseeing the company's valuation process. He has over a decade of experience in the financial industry across operations, risk management, and valuation, including prior roles as a Pricing and Valuation Senior at Freddie Mac's Capital Markets division and a middle-office management role in equity derivatives at Citigroup. He holds a BS in Finance from the University of Buffalo and an MBA in Finance from the University of Rochester.

Thomas Davison joined EJF in 2022 and oversees the firm's legal affairs. He previously worked as an associate attorney in the investment management law practice at Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. and served as in-house legal counsel for an asset management firm in Washington, D.C. He holds a BA from Columbia University, a JD from Stetson University College of Law, and an LLM in securities and financial regulation from Georgetown University Law Center, and is a member of the Florida Bar Association.

Shafaq Ahmed serves as Head of Operations at Founders, Inc. Their work spans operations and sales management, including operational processes, sales data analysis, and sales strategy development. Areas of expertise include training and development, project management, fleet and warehouse operations, hiring, forecasting, and customer success, supported by tools such as Oracle, NetSuite, Tableau, and various CRM and recruiting platforms.