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Richard
C. Sheridan

 

 

 

Rich Sheridan is SEAF’s newly elected President and CEO. Mr. Sheridan is currently President and CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of both SEAF and Baltic American Enterprise Fund (BalAEF). He has been associated with BalAEF since its inception in 1995 and was appointed President and elected to the Board in 1999.

BalAEF is an investment fund established pursuant to legislation enacted by the U.S. Congress to promote private sector development in the Baltic States. Originally capitalized with $50 million, the fund was chartered to make direct investments and provide technical assistance, establish a track record to catalyze private capital participation, and return funds through the divestiture of its holdings to the private sector when appropriate. As CEO, Mr. Sheridan established a growth and external capitalization strategy for BalAEF through the formation of its residential mortgage and commercial finance subsidiaries, the development of the senior management team, and fundraising for these businesses. He is presently engaged in finalizing the successful transition of both entities to new institutional ownership.

AmCredit originates residential mortgages underwritten to institutional standards, aggregates loan portfolios using warehouse financing, and sells loan pools in the Baltic and international capital markets through whole loan trading and securitization. Started as a greenfield program in 1997, AmCredit presently originates $160 million in annual loan volume and completed the first-ever residential mortgage securitization in Central & Eastern Europe in 2004. AmCredit was a pioneer in developing Baltic mortgage markets through the arrangement of $250 million in warehouse financing lines and the packaging, sale and retained servicing of over $400 million in mortgage pools to local banks. Supported by a proprietary technology platform, AmCredit’s team serves both wholesale and retail distribution channels and is well known for customer service and credit discipline. In June, 2007, Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. (AIB) entered into an agreement to acquire AmCredit as its entry to the Baltic markets. Mr. Sheridan will serve in an advisory capacity during the integration of AmCredit and its staff of 140 into AIB’s banking activities.

Hanseatic Capital (HC) provides equity-linked subordinated loans in the range of $1-2.5 million to growing businesses in the Baltics. HC was established as an evergreen operating subsidiary in 2002, capitalized by BalAEF and co-financed with participating subordinated debt from International Finance Corporation and senior debt from a regional bank. The investment team completed 14 transactions and exited 7 during BalAEF’s ownership, introducing the mezzanine financing model to the Baltic region and creating a strong earnings track record. In October, 2007, Hanseatic Capital was acquired by Arco Capital Corporation, an affiliate of a U.S. based emerging markets asset management firm.

Before joining BalAEF, Mr. Sheridan was Managing Partner of Cornell Capital Group, a finance and business planning consultancy he co-founded in 1989. He holds a B.A. from Boston College and an M.B.A. from Villanova University.

Mr. Sheridan’s broad experience in strategy, management and operations in early stage financial services companies will be an asset to the new Fund.

 

 
 

 

Hubertus van der Vaart

After serving as SEAF's legal counsel from its foundation in 1989 as the CARE Small Business Assistance Corporation (CARESBAC), Mr. van der Vaart joined SEAF on a full-time basis in 1994 as Director-General of CARESBAC-Polska, SEAF's first investment company, which grew during his tenure to a total capital under management of $15.9 million. While serving as Director-General of CARESBAC-Polska from August 1994 until May 1997, Mr. van der Vaart led the completion of 27 small business investments. Mr. van der Vaart then returned to Washington, DC and has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of SEAF ever since. Since his time there, SEAF has increased the capital under its management by more than five times, to a total of more than $280 million, has made more than 235 investments and achieved more than 125 exits. Mr. van der Vaart has spoken on SMEs and development to a number of conferences and universities, including those organized by IFC, World Bank, Harvard University, Wharton, the OECD, the Government of Norway, the Brooklyn Bridge Triple Bottom Line Investors' Conference, India Soft and SIDBI.

Prior to his full-time engagement by SEAF, from 1984 through 1994, Mr. van der Vaart was a Partner and Associate with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C, and Brussels Belgium, where he specialized in corporate law, primarily with respect to corporate financings and mergers and acquisitions for such companies as Hilton, Vortech, Waverly Publishing, General Dynamics, Investcorp, Fleetwood, Kellogg's, Honda Motors, Westinghouse and Monsanto. From 1983 through 1984, he was a management consultant with Bain & Company in London and Munich. Mr. van der Vaart has practiced law in Washington, Brussels, Paris, New York, and Frankfurt. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he also studied finance at Yale School of Management; a B.A. in Politics and Economics and a M. Phil. in Economics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar; and a B.A. from the University of North Carolina, where he was a Morehead Scholar. Mr. van der Vaart speaks English, Dutch, German and French.
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