Lancaster Pollard announced that Tom Green, CEO, and Brian Pollard, president, will transition day-to-day management of the firm and have announced a new leadership team. Nick Gesue, previously senior vice president and chief credit officer with Lancaster Pollard, has been named CEO and Kass Matt, most recently a managing director with the firm, has been named president of Lancaster Pollard Holdings Company, LLC. The changes are effective July 16, 2015. Green and Pollard will continue to serve on the board as chairman and vice chairman respectively.
As part of the leadership team changes, the firm also announced that Steve Kennedy, managing director and regional manager for the Great Lakes and South Central regions, and Ken Gould, managing director and regional manager for the Northeast, have both been promoted to senior managing director. In addition, Kennedy has been named senior governmental liaison while Gould will chair the firm’s strategic planning and development committee. Kennedy and Gould, as well as Gesue and Matt, all members of Lancaster Pollard’s executive committee, have been with the firm for over a decade. Several additional long-serving Lancaster Pollard employees will also take on enhanced leadership roles in the firm’s new management committees.
Lancaster Pollard was founded 27 years ago in Columbus, Ohio. The company has grown into a leading national firm with six offices, over 100 employees and a track record of over 1,400 closed transactions in excess of $11.1 billion that have helped health care, senior living and housing providers expand and improve their services. After nearly three decades of success, Pollard is proud of what the company has accomplished and excited for its future.
“The remarkable growth and success we have enjoyed is truly a testament to the talented people we have at Lancaster Pollard. It is the right time to better leverage the strengths of our team,” said Pollard.
Green, who started as CEO in 1997 and helped turn the firm into one of the nation’s top seniors housing lenders, sees the change as a natural progression of the firm’s evolution. “We are fortunate to have a deep bench of highly intelligent and proven professionals,” said Green. “We began this transition a couple years ago as we recognized the need to best harness our firm’s growing talent base. Although Brian and I will continue with a very active role in the company, I’m extremely confident in the abilities of our team to maintain and enhance Lancaster Pollard’s commitment to our clients and the industries we serve.”
Gesue and the rest of Lancaster Pollard’s leadership team will be busy overseeing the firm’s continued expansion as the company has experienced an annual growth rate of approximately 30% for the past 15 years and has recently expanded its services. Lancaster Pollard offers a full range of investment and mortgage banking, private equity, balance sheet financing, M&A and investment advisory services. Despite the expansion and staff growth, however, there are some things that will remain the same as the firm moves forward into the next generation.
“Tom and Brian have always demonstrated an unwavering commitment to delivering the best possible solutions and service to our clients. This has become the foundation of everything we do,” noted Gesue. “This will not change as we transition to the next chapter of Lancaster Pollard.”
