Monday, July 12, 2010

Is This News?
I heard this news about WP Carey replacing its CEO last week.  Here is an excerpt from WP Carey's press release discussing the interim replacement:

Investment firm W. P. Carey & Co. LLC (NYSE: WPC) announced today that board member Trevor P. Bond has been appointed interim Chief Executive Officer effective July 6, 2010. He will remain as a board member but will resign as a member of the Compensation and Audit Committees of the Board.

Mr. Bond has served as an independent director of the company since April 2007 and served as director of several of the company's CPA® REIT programs from 2005 to 2007. He has over 25 years of management experience in several sectors, including finance, development, investment and asset management across a range of property types, as well as direct experience in Asia. Mr. Bond has been the managing member of Maidstone Investment Co., LLC since 2002, a private investment vehicle investing in real estate limited partnerships. Previously he served in several management capacities for Credit Suisse First Boston from 1992 to 2002, where he was co-founder of CSFB's Real Estate Equity Group, which managed approximately $3 billion of real estate assets. Prior to CSFB, he served as an associate to the real estate and finance departments of Tishman Realty & Construction Co. and Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York. Mr. Bond received an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Mr. Bond will serve as interim CEO until a permanent successor is named. Mr. Bond's appointment follows the resignation of Gordon F. DuGan, also effective July 6, 2010. Mr. DuGan said that his resignation is based on a disagreement with respect to the degree of authority and control of the Chairman and a disagreement with the Chairman on the strategic direction of the company.

Wm. Polk Carey, Chairman of W. P. Carey & Co., said, "Trevor brings to this role extensive management experience and a strong commitment to our investors and tenants. I thank him for stepping into this interim position. I wish all the best to Gordon DuGan, who has served W. P. Carey with skill and intelligence for many years. Though Gordon and I have not been strategically aligned in the recent years, I remain an admirer of his abundant investment management and general business talent."

I am sure there is more to this story, but it appears that if your name is on the company, you get to make the decisions.

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