Board of Directors

Mr. Minnich has over 25 years of experience in insurance, a private investment company, technology, risk-management, and investing. He was named Executive Chairman of Midwest on April 30, 2019 and Co-Chief Executive Officer on November 16, 2020. Mr. Minnich was named President and a member of the Board of American Life in June 2018. Mr. Minnich is a Founder and has been Co-Chief Executive of Vespoint Capital LLC, along with Mr. Salem, since 2018. Since July 2010, he has been managing member of Rendezvous Capital LLC, a New York firm advising insurers on capital and investments. From February 2013 to May 2017, he was Chief Investment Officer of A-Cap, an insurance holding and investment company. Mr. Minnich graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1994 and an MBA in 1995 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mr. Salem has over 16 years of experience in insurance distribution, insurance investing, and technology. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Midwest on April 30, 2019 and Co-Chief Executive Officer on November 16, 2020. He has served as Chairman of American Life since June 2018. Mr. Salem is a Founder and has been Co-Chief Executive Officer of Vespoint Capital LLC since 2018. In addition, he has served as managing member of AMS Advisors LLC since January 2011. From July 2013 to August 2017, he was Co-Founder, Managing Principal and Co-Head of Advisory Capital at Vanbridge LLC, an investment management firm. Mr. Salem graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Brown University in 2003 and obtained a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2005.

Mr. Hompe was the Managing Partner and co-founder of J.P. Charter Oak Advisors LLC, a private investment firm focused on the financial services industry from 2012 to 2019. Mr. Hompe has worked in the financial services sector for more than 35 years. He has held numerous board positions with insurance companies during his career. From 2003 through 2012, Mr. Hompe worked in investment banking and asset management (KBW Asset Management from 2011 through 2012 as a Managing Director and Keefe Bruyette & Woods, Inc. from 2003 to 2011 as Co-Head of Insurance and Asset Management Investment Banking). Mr. Hompe served as an observer on the Board of Directors of International Planning Group, Ltd., an international life insurance broker, and Preparis Inc., a provider of business continuity services. From 2010 to 2012, he was an independent director of Island Capital, a Bermuda investment company. He also was a director and a member of the executive committee of Island Capital’s predecessor company, EIC Corporation Ltd., a Bermuda-domiciled insurance holding company, and Exporters Insurance Company, a New York-based trade credit insurer from 2005 to 2010. He was an outside director of North American Insurance Leaders, Inc. (Nasdaq: NAIL), a special purpose acquisition corporation focused on the insurance distribution sector in 2007. He also served as a director of FIHC, a Barbados-domiciled insurance holding company, and Facility Insurance Company, a Texas workers compensation company from 2001 to 2003. Mr. Hompe was a Board Member of American Life from 2015 through June 2018. Mr. Hompe received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics (cum laude) from Princeton in 1983, with distinction in American Studies.

Mr. Leung has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry as an Investment and Capital Markets Banker in New York, London and Hong Kong. Since 2016, he has served as the Managing Principal of Columbus Circle Capital, LLC in New York and the Executive Managing Director of Investment Banking and Capital Markets at American Capital Partners, LLC, also in New York. From 2012 to 2015, he served as Managing Director, Investment Banking and Capital Markets at RCS Capital Corporation, New York. From 2002 to 2012, he was Managing Director, Capital Raising, at Sandler O’ Neill & Partners, L.P., New York. Mr. Leung received his BS in Economics from The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania and his MBA degree from The Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.

Mr. Theeler is a partner in the Morgan Theeler law firm of Mitchell, South Dakota where he has been employed since 1971. He has a bachelor’s degree in accounting (1968) and a law degree (1971) from the University of South Dakota. In law school he was Editor in Chief of the South Dakota Law Review. He was the first Chairman of the South Dakota Lottery Commission, serving from 1986 to 1992. He is a member of American Bar Association, the State Bar of South Dakota, the Association of Defense Trial Attorneys, the South Dakota Defense Lawyers Association and an associate in the American Board of Trial Advocates. He was a founding board member of Great Plains Financial Corp. and Great Plains Life Assurance, he is also a board member of American Life.

Mr. Goel is a Certified Financial Analyst and serves as a Managing Director on the investment team and leads the capital markets activity for Brightwood Capital Advisors, LLC in New York. He joined Brightwood in 2013. Prior to joining Brightwood, Mr. Goel was a Managing Director in Macquarie Capital USA’s credit trading division from 2009-2013, where he was responsible for a portfolio of distressed and high-yield corporate credits. Mr. Goel received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Chicago in 2003 and earned his Certified Financial Analyst Charter in 2006.

Mr. Bratton is the Founder, President, Chief Investment Officer and majority owner of Crestline Investors, Inc., the general partner of Crestline Management, L.P., an institutional alternative investment management firm. Mr. Bratton is also sole director of Bratton Capital, Inc., which is the general partner of Bratton Capital Management L.P. Mr. Bratton has been an investment professional specializing in alternative asset strategies since 1983 and has managed assets on behalf of the Bass family of Fort Worth, Texas, since 1988. Mr. Bratton has served on the Board of Directors of Bounty Minerals Corporation, a private company, since 2014, and the Board of Visitors of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business since 2013. Mr. Bratton has served on the Board of Directors of Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: AQST) since January 2004. Mr. Bratton received a B.S. from North Carolina State University in 1981 and an M.B.A. with Honors from Duke University in 1984.