Michael G. Barnes has been a member of our Board of Directors since August 2010, and he currently serves as the Chairman of our Board of Directors. On January 1, 2026, he was also appointed as our Chief Executive Officer. In 2007 Mr. Barnes founded Tiptree Financial Partners, L.P. ( TFP ) and served as Chief Executive Officer until 2012 and Chairman until its merger with Tiptree in 2018. In addition, Mr. Barnes is a founding partner and principal of Tiptree Advisors Holdings, L.P., formerly known as Corvid Peak Holdings, L.P., and its affiliated companies. Prior to the formation of Tiptree Advisors in 2003, Mr. Barnes spent two years as Head of Structured Credit Arbitrage within UBS Principal Finance LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of UBS Warburg LLC ( UBS ) that conducted proprietary trading on behalf of the firm. Mr. Barnes joined UBS in 2000 as part of the merger between UBS and PaineWebber Inc. Prior to joining UBS, Mr. Barnes was a Managing Director and Global Head of the Structured Credit Products Group of PaineWebber. Prior to joining PaineWebber in 1999, he spent 12 years at Bear Stearns, the last five of which he was head of their Structured Transactions Group. Mr. Barnes was the Chairman of the Board of Philadelphia Financial Group, Inc., a private placement life insurance, annuity and administration company, from June 2010 until June 2015 and Care Investment Trust Inc., a senior living real estate company, from August 2010 until February 2018. Mr. Barnes received his A.B. from Columbia College. Mr. Barnes was selected and qualified to serve as a member of our Board of Directors because of his extensive senior level experience in the investment management industry and his extensive knowledge of our business and industries.