Ms. Spark is an experienced finance professional with broad expertise in mortgage finance and financial reporting for publicly traded companies, including mortgage REITs. Ms. Spark served as the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer for CYS Investments, Inc., a publicly traded mortgage REIT that invested predominantly in Agency mortgage-backed securities, from 2009 through 2016. Prior to the internalization of CYS s management in 2011, Ms. Spark also served as the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of CYS s external manager, Sharpridge Capital Management, LP. She had served as a director and Audit Committee chair of CYS from its initial capitalization in 2006 until shortly after its initial public offering. Prior to CYS, Ms. Spark was the Chief Financial Officer of MVC Capital, Inc., a business development company, from 2003 until 2005. Ms. Spark s career has included managing Spark Consulting, a privately owned strategic advisory and business consulting firm, and executive positions with financial services firms in the United States and the United Kingdom. She also served as an independent director and a member of the Audit and Risk Committees of Reverse Mortgage Investment Trust, a private finance company operating in the reverse mortgage industry, from 2015 to 2020. Ms. Spark is a Chartered Accountant and previously worked as an auditor with KPMG in the United Kingdom. She holds a BS from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. Ms. Spark is an audit committee financial expert (as defined in Item 407 of Regulation S-K under the Securities Act). Director Qualifications: Ms. Spark s public company accounting, finance, and risk management expertise in the mortgage REIT sector, including her role as a senior executive officer at a publicly traded residential mortgage REIT, strengthens our Board s collective qualifications, skills, experience, and viewpoints.