D. Kyle Cerminara

D. Kyle Cerminara
D. Cerminara with Warren Buffett in 2016
Born	27 July, 1977 Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA
🏳️ Nationality	American
🎓 Alma mater	MBA from Darden School at University of Virginia BS from University of Maryland
💼 Occupation	Entrepreneur, businessman, investor
📆 Years active	1999 - Present
👩 Spouse(s)	Sara Cerminara (2002 – Present)
👶 Children	2
🌐 Website	Kyle Cerminara

D. Kyle Cerminara, CFA (born July 27, 1977) is an American financial service and technology entrepreneur, businessman, public company director, and the founder and CEO of Fundamental Global®. Cerminara has over 20 years of experience as an institutional investor, asset manager, director, chief executive, founder, and operator of multiple financial services and technology businesses.

Kyle Cerminara founded Fundamental Global® in 2012 with billionaire and former Chairman/CEO of TD Ameritrade, Joseph H. Moglia. Fundamental Global® and affiliates are active investors that create, build and own businesses, many of which trade on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, and Toronto Stock Exchange. Fundamental Global's recent notable successes have included the $800 million merger of FG New America Acquisition Corp with OppFi Inc., the $3.1 billion announced merger of Aldel Financial with Hagerty Insurance, and GreenFirst Forest Products' $235 million acquisition of Rayonier's Lumber and Newsprint Assets.

Early Life and Education

D. Kyle Cerminara was born on July 27, 1977, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA, to American parents. Cerminara's parents moved to Hershey, Pennsylvania, in the early 1970s to raise a family and for his father to work for the Hershey Company. Cerminara's father, Frank Cerminara, worked for the Hershey Company his entire career rising to the rank of Chief Financial Officer in the 2000s.

Kyle Cerminara was a competitive tennis player in high school and moved to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, for his senior year of high school to train at the Van Der Meer Tennis Academy. Cerminara attended the University of Maryland and played tennis for the university. He was the co-captain of the University of Maryland tennis team in his senior year. He majored in Finance and Accounting and received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1999.

Cerminara met his wife at the University of Maryland. He was a member of the leadership honor society Omicron Delta Kappa. He was also an NCAA Academic All American, on the Atlantic Coast Conference Honor Roll, and a recipient of the University of Maryland President's Cup.

Cerminara received an MBA degree from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia while working full-time for T. Rowe Price and for Steve Cohen's Point72. He and his wife Sara were the first married couple to graduate with a degree from the MBA for Executives program and the traditional MBA program at Darden. He also completed a China Executive Residency at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing, China.

He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation after passing Level 1 in 2001, Level 2 in 2002, and Level 3 in 2003. He is a Member of the CFA Institute and the North Carolina CFA Society. Kyle Cerminara has been a Member of the Young President's Organization (YPO) since 2018.

Early Career

D. Kyle Cerminara began his career in investment banking at Legg Mason in Baltimore, Maryland, where he worked in the technology sector. In 2001, Cerminara joined T. Rowe Price as an equity analyst focused on financial services stocks. Cerminara had initial success recommending that T. Rowe Price sell its position in Allied Capital, a position that they had owned for many years. Cerminara met David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital in 2002, and their relationship is chronicled in the book Fooling Some of the People All of the Time.

Kyle Cerminara met his future business partner, Joseph H. Moglia, who at the time was CEO of Ameritrade. Ameritrade was a $700 million market cap company, and Moglia had just taken over as CEO in 2001. Moglia and Cerminara had an instant connection, and a lifetime bond was formed very early on. Over the years, Cerminara helped Moglia at very important points in his Ameritrade career as Ameritrade's largest outside shareholder. In 2012, Cerminara and Moglia partnered to form Fundamental Global®.

Cerminara became well known for his investments in online brokers, exchanges, and other financial services companies. In 2006, Institutional Investor Magazine named Cerminara Best of the Buyside for the Financials Sector alongside many of the best investors in other sectors.

Kyle Cerminara was promoted to co-manage the T. Rowe Price Institutional Large-Cap Growth Strategy with legendary Portfolio Manager Robert Sharps, who is now the President and Chief Investment Officer of T. Rowe Price and will become CEO effective January 1, 2022. Shortly after, Cerminara was recruited by celebrity hedge fund manager Steve Cohen of Point72 to manage a financial portfolio for the infamous hedge fund.

Cerminara and Cohen ran an activist campaign against TD Ameritrade with Barry Rosenstein at Jana Partners, urging TD Ameritrade to form a special committee of the Board to evaluate a combination with Charles Schwab and other major industry participants.

Later in the year, E*TRADE Financial suffered major financial losses in its mortgage portfolio, which served as a precursor to the global financial crisis. Kyle Cerminara hired an expert that specialized in Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) to assist in analyzing the balance sheets of nearly every major financial institution in the US, and Cerminara began meeting with politicians and regulators in Washington, DC, encouraging them to take a more proactive stance on the banks and GSEs to raise capital.

Kyle Cerminara sat next to Steve Cohen on the trading floor during the financial crisis. Ultimately, Cerminara ran a very successful short book in the financials sector, was instrumental in structuring TARP and TALF, and was able to recapitalize many US financial institutions during the global financial crisis. As a thank you, the administration invited Cerminara and a small group from Point72 for lunch at the White House.

D. Kyle Cerminara left Point72 to join Tiger Management's descendent Highside Capital as the Sector Head of Financials in 2009. Highside ultimately turned into a family office, and Cerminara returned to work for Steve Cohen at Point72 before starting Fundamental Global® with Joe Moglia.

NYSE, Nasdaq, and TSX Listed Companies

D. Kyle Cerminara is a member of the Board of directors of a number of companies focused on the reinsurance, investment management, technology, and communication sectors.

FG Financial Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: FGF)

Kyle Cerminara is the Chairman of the Board of FG Financial Group and was previously its CEO. FG Financial Group is a reinsurance and investment management holding company focused on opportunistic collateralized and loss capped reinsurance while allocating capital to SPAC and SPAC sponsor-related businesses. Cerminara created the strategy behind FG Financial Group with his partner Larry Swets, who now serves as the CEO of FG Financial Group.

Cerminara and Swets were instrumental in the sale of FG Financial Group's wholly-owned businesses and the formation of FG Reinsurance, Ltd. and the go-forward SPAC, investment management, and merchant banking platform.

Ballantyne Strong, Inc. (NYSE: BTN)

Kyle Cerminara is the Chairman of the Board of Ballantyne Strong and was previously its CEO. Ballantyne Strong is a holding company owning subsidiaries and investments engaged in several diverse business activities, including cinema products and services, digital signage, advertising, insurance, reinsurance, and investment management services. Assets include both wholly-owned businesses and partial investments in public and private companies.

Cerminara got involved in Ballantyne Strong via a 2015 proxy fight that resulted in Fundamental Global® nominating a majority of the Board of Directors. Cerminara joined the Board and was named Chairman shortly after. Later in 2015, the Board asked Cerminara to step in as CEO.

FG New America Acquisition Corp II

Kyle Cerminara is the President and a Director of FG New America Acquisition Corp II. FG New America Acquisition Corp II is a special purpose acquisition company formed to pursue an acquisition in the financial services and insurance industry with an enterprise value of approximately $500 million to $2 billion, with particular emphasis on businesses that are providing technology for traditional financial services ("FinTech"), insurance ("InsureTech"), or other sectors where disruptive and/or adaptive technology or other factors are driving changes in a new era in the American business landscape.

FG New America Acquisition Corp II follows Cerminara's first SPAC that acquired OppFi Inc. (NYSE: OPFI), a leading financial technology platform that powers banks to help everyday consumers gain access to credit.

Aldel Financial, Inc. (NYSE: ADF)

Cerminara is a Director of Aldel Financial (NYSE: ADF), a special purpose acquisition company co-sponsored by Fundamental Global, which has entered into a definitive business combination agreement with Hagerty, an automotive enthusiast brand offering a specialty automotive insurance platform.

GreenFirst Forest Products Inc. (TSXV: GFP) (formerly Itasca Capital Ltd.)

Cerminara is a Director and former Chairman of GreenFirst, a public company focused on investments in the forest products industry. Cerminara and his partners Larry Swets, Paul Rivett, and Rick Doman put together GreenFirst Forest Products' $235 million acquisition of Rayonier's Lumber and Newsprint Assets.

BK Technologies Corporation (NYSE American: BKTI)

Cerminara is a Director and the former Chairman of BK Technologies, a publicly-traded company focused on public safety communications equipment and services.

Limbach Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: LMB):

Cerminara previously served as a Director of Limbach, a publicly-traded company that provides building infrastructure services.

Iteris, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITI)

Cerminara previously served as a Director of Iteris, a publicly-traded, applied informatics company after an activist campaign.

Magnetek, Inc. (Nasdaq: MAG):

Cerminara previously served as a Director of Magnetek after an activist campaign and was directly involved in the company's sale process.

blueharbor bank (OTC: BLHK):

Cerminara previously served as a Director of blueharbor and helped the bank create blueharbor wealth advisors.

External Links

• Fundamental Global
• FG LinkedIn
• KC On Twitter
• KC - All In (YouTube)

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