Thomas founded FirstREX in 2004. He heads the overall strategic direction of the firm. Thomas has over 20 years of experience in building large‐scale consumer finance businesses. Prior to founding FirstREX, Mr. Sponholtz was a director at Barclay's Global Investors, where he held various positions including Co‐head of Active Fixed Income, which managed a $28 billion mortgage portfolio. Earlier in his career Thomas worked at Alex Brown and Sons where he led the development of several "new-to-the-world" large-scale consumer finance products in partnership with European banks. Mr. Sponholtz holds an Academy Economist degree from Niels Brock's Academy of International Business in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Jim joined FirstREX in 2006. He leads the team responsible for the design and operation of the REX Agreement origination and administration platform. During his 20+ year career in the financial services industry, Mr. Riccitelli worked as a director at Nomura Securities' commercial real estate mortgage origination business, spent several years managing a Nomura fund which supported the growth of innovative financial services companies, and developed operations platforms at several mortgage and investment management firms. Mr. Riccitelli holds a BA and an MS in Computer Science from Iona College and an MBA in Finance from Columbia University where he graduated with Beta Gamma Sigma honors. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Elaine has over 30 years of experience in the residential real estate finance industry with emphasis on credit and property analysis and underwriting. She has held leadership positions at E*TRADE Financial, RBC Mortgage, E-Loan & PMI Mortgage Insurance. In these positions she has been responsible for the hiring, training and management of origination staff, management of award-winning sales and operations teams, and the development of operations processes, policies and procedures. She has played key roles in system development initiatives and been a contributing member of Product Development and Credit Policy committees.

Paul Holmes has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. Industry positions included CEO of Mellon Mortgage, President of iOwn.com, COO of Eureka Bank, EVP of BancBoston Mortgage and VP at Bank of America. Mr. Holmes has also acted as an executive-level consultant to IBM, CIBC, Greater Bay Bank, City National Bank, CMGMI, First Internet Bank of Indiana, nCommand, IMX, American Savings Bank of Hawaii, KPMG, Wells Fargo Bank, The World Bank, BancBoston Mortgage, The American Bankers Association and others. These positions and consulting engagements have provided Mr. Holmes a broad set of mortgage and commercial banking experiences. Mr. Holmes received an undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley with double majors in Math and Computer Sciences. He holds an MBA with a Finance specialty from San Jose State University.

Brent has over 20 years of management experience in finance and business planning. Since joining FirstREX in 2005, he has been responsible for all corporate finance, accounting, treasury, and human resources activities, as well as administration of the investment management platform. Prior to joining FirstREX, Mr. Welling was VP of Finance and Planning for QRS, Inc., a publicly traded software company. Brent also worked at Pacific Telesis Group (parent company to Pacific Bell and PacTel Wireless), where he held several executive positions including Executive Director of Finance for the company's broadband division and Director of Corporate Strategy and Development. Brent holds a BS in Engineering and an MBA from Cornell University.

Lisa earned her BA at Harvard University and her law degree at Harvard Law School. She began her legal career at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City, then practiced extensively in California as a transactional attorney in real estate and complex commercial law. She also holds a California real estate broker's license and has long term experience representing buyers and sellers in residential real estate transactions, as well as in residential real estate investment and development. She is a member of the State Bar of Massachusetts, the National Association of Realtors, the California Association of Realtors, and serves on the Ethics Committee of the Marin County Association of Realtors. She has three times received the Wiley W. Manuel Award from the State Bar of California for public service in recognition of her significant pro bono work in landlord-tenant law for Legal Aid of the North Bay.