Professionals

Mr. Tannenbaum is Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Fifth Street Finance Corp. He is also the managing partner of our investment adviser, Fifth Street Management LLC, and is the head of its investment committee.

Since founding his first private investment firm in 1998, Mr. Tannenbaum has founded a number of private investment firms, including Fifth Street Capital LLC, and he has served as managing member of each firm. Prior to launching his first firm, Mr. Tannenbaum gained extensive small-company experience as an equity analyst for Merrill Lynch. In addition to serving on Fifth Street’s Board of Directors, Mr. Tannenbaum currently serves on the Board of Directors of several Greenlight Capital-affiliated entities and has previously served on the Boards of Directors of several other public 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 a holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is also a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization.

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Mr. Berman is the President of Fifth Street Finance Corp. and a member of the Company’s Board of Directors. He is also a partner of our investment adviser, Fifth Street Management LLC, and serves on its investment committee.

Mr. Berman is responsible for the operations of the Company. Prior to joining Fifth Street in 2004, Mr. Berman 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.

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Mr. Dimitrov is Partner and CIO of our investment adviser and serves on its investment committee. He joined Fifth Street in May 2005 and is responsible for evaluation of new investment opportunities, deal structuring, and portfolio monitoring, in addition to managing the Associate and Analyst team.

Mr. Dimitrov is the chairman of our investment adviser’s internal valuation committee. He has prior experience in financial analysis, valuation, and investment research, working with companies in the United States as well as Europe. Mr. Dimitrov graduated from the Carroll Graduate School of Management at Boston College with an M.S. in Finance and has a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Maine. He is also a holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

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Mr. Alva is a Partner of our investment adviser. He is responsible for developing private equity sponsor relationships and originating loans in the Western Region of the United States. He joined Fifth Street in January 2007.

Prior to joining Fifth Street, from March 1993 to January 2000, Mr. Alva worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Alva was also chief financial officer of ClickServices.com, Inc., from 2000 to 2002, and most recently, from 2003 to 2006, he was a senior investment banker at Trinity Capital LLC. Mr. Alva graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. from the Wharton School and a B.S.E. from the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

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Casey J. Zmijeski is Partner of our investment adviser. Mr. Zmijeski is responsible for developing private equity sponsor relationships and originating loans in the Eastern Region of the United States.

Mr. Zmijeski joined Fifth Street after spending nearly four years at Churchill Financial in New York, where he was responsible for originating and structuring debt financing opportunities for middle market private equity firms. Mr. Zmijeski held similar responsibilities with CapitalSource in New York from 2003 to 2006. From 1999 to 2003, Mr. Zmijeski worked at Heller Financial and GE Capital in their middle market leveraged finance groups. Prior to this time, Mr. Zmijeski spent over seven years with ING as a member of its Merchant Banking Group and Corporate Finance Advisory Group. Mr. Zmijeski graduated from Emory University with an M.B.A. in Finance and has an A.B. in Anthropology from Duke University.

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Mr. Khorana is a Partner of our investment adviser. He is responsible for developing private equity sponsor relationships and originating loans in the Midwest region of the United States.

Mr. Khorana joined Fifth Street after spending over three years at CIT Group in Chicago, where he was responsible for originating and structuring debt financing opportunities for middle market private equity firms. Mr. Khorana previously spent nearly seven years at JPMorgan Chase and its predecessor firms in both Chicago and New York, primarily in the Financial Sponsor Group, where he focused on debt, equity and advisory assignments for private equity firms and their portfolio companies. Mr. Khorana began his career at KPMG in its Chicago office.

Mr. Khorana received his B.S. in Accounting from Indiana University and his M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

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Mr. Browne is a Managing Director of our investment adviser. He joined Fifth Street in April 2011 with over 20 years of leveraged finance experience. He is responsible for developing private equity sponsor relationships and originating loans in the healthcare industry.

Before joining Fifth Street, Mr. Browne spent eight years as Managing Director at CapitalSource Inc. During this time, he sourced and executed on over $1 billion in committed financing, representing over 65 separate transactions within the healthcare industry.

Prior to CapitalSource Inc., Mr. Browne was a Senior Vice President at GE Capital, and its predecessor, Heller Financial, where he was a founding member of a highly successful, healthcare-focused, leveraged finance business. He was personally responsible for the origination, underwriting, and portfolio management of these loans. Other positions in Mr. Browne’s career have included Group Vice President at Sanwa Business Credit Corporation, Senior Loan Manager at GE Capital, and Assistant Vice President at Loyds Bank.

Mr. Browne graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science.

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Mr. Frank is the Chief Financial Officer of the Company. He is responsible for managing all aspects of its financial infrastructure and reporting.

Mr. Frank joined the Company in September 2011 after serving since 2008 as Chief Financial Officer of Chilton Investment Company, LLC a global multi-strategy investment manager. Prior to Chilton, Mr. Frank spent over 22 years at Morgan Stanley in a variety of capacities including Global Controller, Global Treasurer, Global Head of Institutional Operations and Chief Financial Officer of Morgan Stanley’s U.S. broker/dealer.

Mr. Frank graduated with a B.A. in Government from Dartmouth College and a M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from the University of Michigan. He has also been licensed as a CPA in New York, a Series 27 principal by the SEC, and a Certified Cash Manager.

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Mr. Noreika joined the Company in September 2008 as an Executive Director and Controller.

Prior to joining Fifth Street, from August 2002 to August 2008, Mr. Noreika was the manager of internal financial reporting at Time Warner, Inc. where he worked on all aspects of financial reporting, financial systems design and implementation.

Prior to that, from June 2000 to August 2002, he worked in a supervisory role for Marcum & Kliegman, LLP, where he was responsible for audit, review and tax engagements for clients in various industries, prominently financial services, real estate, new media and entertainment.

Mr. Noreika is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from Pace University. Mr. Noreika is a Level III CFA Candidate.

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Robert P. Rakowski is an Executive Director of our investment adviser. Mr. Rakowski joined Fifth Street in February 2010.

Prior to joining Fifth Street, Mr. Rakowski was a Director with the restructuring firm AlixPartners, where he was actively involved with the financial and operational restructurings of corporations across a variety of industries. Prior to AlixPartners, Mr. Rakowski was a Strategy Senior Manager with Accenture and provided a wide range of management consulting services that included cost reductions, sales and marketing improvements, and mergers & acquisitions. Mr. Rakowski began his career with Arthur Andersen Business Consulting and Deloitte & Touche.

Mr. Rakowski received his B.S. in Accounting from St. Michael’s College (summa cum laude) and his M.B.A. from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor. Mr. Rakowski is actively involved with the Turnaround Management Association.

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Ms. Thorne is head of investor relations for our investment adviser. She joined Fifth Street in January 2007, and is responsible for developing and maintaining investor relationships.

Ms. Thorne also oversees the administrative support for the firm. Prior to joining Fifth Street, she was an Administrative Assistant at Intrepid Capital Management, a hedge fund based in New York, NY. Ms. Thorne received her Master’s in Social Work from Adelphi University.

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Mr. Velgot joined Fifth Street in July 2010 as an Executive Director, Marketing & Brand Management of our investment adviser.

Mr. Velgot has dedicated the past 25 years of his career to marketing and brand strategy in the financial services area. More than 20 of those years were spent at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., now AllianceBernstein. Mr. Velgot built and oversaw one of the most respected communications capabilities on Wall Street, covering the full spectrum from concept to delivery of printed pieces, PowerPoint presentations to internal and external websites, event branding, interactive video, and full motion graphics.

As Managing Director of Client Communications, Mr. Velgot oversaw a team of 48 professionals including graphic and flash designers, video editors, website developers, and project managers, while personally negotiating and managing relationships with a variety of key internal executive personnel as well as outside advertising/research agencies and suppliers. In his strategy and communication initiatives, he partnered with a wide array of internal clients, including institutional, private wealth, retail, and corporate. He was the pivotal creative and driving force behind the worldwide rebranding of Alliance Capital and Sanford Bernstein. Before joining Sanford Bernstein, Jim worked with Kidder Peabody and Coopers & Lybrand.

Mr. Velgot received his B.F.A. in Communications Design from Pratt Institute.

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