The Fifth Street Team

Leonard M. Tannenbaum founded Fifth Street in 1998. He is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fifth Street Asset Management Inc.

Prior to launching Fifth Street, Mr. Tannenbaum gained extensive small company experience as an equity analyst for Merrill Lynch. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of Fifth Street Asset Management Inc., Mr. Tannenbaum currently serves on the Boards of Directors of several Greenlight Capital-affiliated entities, the Penn Wharton Public Policy Initiative, the U.S.-Cuba Business Council and the Norwalk Aquarium. He has previously served on the Boards of Directors of many other companies, including Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc., Assisted Living Concepts, Inc. and WesTower Communications, Inc.

Mr. Tannenbaum graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a B.S. in Economics. Subsequent to his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Tannenbaum received an M.B.A. in Finance from the Wharton School as part of the Submatriculation Program. He is also a holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Mr. Tannenbaum has received a number of awards and honors for his leadership and contributions to the industry, including the M&A Advisor Leadership Award in 2013, the YJP Leadership & Achievement Award in 2014 and EY Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist (New York region) both in 2013 and 2015. He was also named one of America’s 20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 and Under in 2012.

Close Bio

Bernard D. Berman is President and Chief Compliance Officer of Fifth Street Asset Management Inc. He is responsible for monitoring and maintaining Fifth Street Asset Management’s compliance programs.

Mr. Berman joined Fifth Street in November 2004. Prior to that, he was a corporate attorney from 1995–2004, during which time he negotiated and structured a variety of investment transactions.

Mr. Berman graduated from Boston College Law School. He received a B.S. in Finance from Lehigh University.

Close Bio

Steven M. Noreika is Chief Financial Officer of Fifth Street Management LLC. Mr. Noreika joined Fifth Street in September 2008.

Prior to joining Fifth Street, Mr. Noreika spent six years at Time Warner, Inc., where he was manager of internal reporting. Prior to Time Warner Inc., Mr. Noreika managed audit and tax engagements at Marcum and Kleigman, LLP (now Marcum LLP).

Mr. Noreika received his B.B.A. in Accounting from Pace University and is a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Noreika is also a holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Close Bio

Brian T. Walter is Managing Director, Head of Institutional Products at Fifth Street. He oversees all business management responsibilities relating to Fifth Street's institutional products.

Mr. Walter joined Fifth Street in August 2015 and has over 20 years of experience working in the leveraged finance markets. Before joining Fifth Street, he most recently served as a Managing Director at Stifel Financial, where he was Co-Head of Fixed Income Cleared Products and Head of Leveraged Finance Trading. Prior to that, Mr. Walter served as a Partner, Managing Director and Senior Trader in the Institutional Sales & Trading Group at Imperial Capital, LLC. He was previously a Managing Director with UBS, where he worked for nearly eight years as the Head of U.S. Credit Index Trading and prior to that, Head of U.S. High Yield Trading. He began his career at Lehman Brothers, where he ultimately became Vice President, High Yield Trading.

Mr. Walter received his B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Yale University and his M.B.A. with Beta Gamma Sigma honors from Columbia Business School, where he was a Heilbrunn Fellowship recipient.

Close Bio

Ross A. Biddle is Chief Information and Technology Officer at Fifth Street. Mr. Biddle joined the firm in 2013 and has over 23 years of experience in technology, focused on the design and implementation of IT infrastructure and the development and management of the teams needed to operate and support IT as a service.

Prior to joining Fifth Street, Mr. Biddle spent the previous 6 years at Connolly, Inc., a recovery audit firm working in both the retail and healthcare spaces. As Director, Information Technology, Mr. Biddle managed a team focused on researching, designing, and implementing the firm’s complex technology infrastructure, and worked closely with the business leaders to ensure the technology vision was closely aligned with the evolving needs of the business. Prior to Connolly, Ross provided IT expertise to a diverse group of companies including a nuclear engineering company, the largest sub-acute health care provider in the country, and a Connecticut based accounting firm.

Mr. Biddle received his Bachelor’s in English from the University of Connecticut where he was one of the founders of UCONN’s Residential Networking program.

Close Bio

Robyn E. Friedman is Executive Director, Head of Investor Relations at Fifth Street. Ms. Friedman joined the firm in March 2014.

Prior to joining Fifth Street, from July 2007 to February 2014, Ms. Friedman held various positions and was most recently a Vice President in the healthcare division at CIT Group. At CIT Group, she primarily worked on advisory mergers & acquisitions and leveraged finance transactions for middle market healthcare companies.

Ms. Friedman received her B.S. in Finance with a concentration in Marketing and Public Relations from Lehigh University (summa cum laude).

Close Bio