James E. Walker III has served as a member of our board of directors since November 2017 and serves as our lead independent director. Mr. Walker is a 30 year veteran in asset management and has held several leadership positions throughout his career. Since September 2023, Mr. Walker has served as President and Senior Managing Director of Black Diamond Capital Management (“Black Diamond”), a privately held investment management firm specializing in both performing and nonperforming debt that he co founded in 1996. Since 2018, Mr. Walker also has served as a Strategic Partner of Jadian Capital, a real estate private equity investment firm. From 2020 to 2021, Mr. Walker served as Chief Executive Officer and Partner at Palm Ventures, LLC (“Palm”), a private investment firm in Greenwich, Connecticut. At Palm, Mr. Walker led an investment in the health and wellness industry. From April 2008 until December 2016, Mr. Walker served as a Managing Partner of Fir Tree Partners (“Fir Tree”), a top 50 global alternative asset investment firm. Mr. Walker co-founded Fir Tree’s real estate opportunity funds and co-led the development of Fir Tree’s real estate effort. At Fir Tree, Mr. Walker was jointly responsible for overall firm management, identified new areas of investment opportunity and led numerous activist opportunities. He was also a member of Fir Tree’s real estate investment committee and Chairman of its risk committee. Prior to joining Fir Tree in 2008, Mr. Walker was a co-founder and Managing Partner of Black Diamond. Prior to joining Black Diamond, he was a senior member of Kidder, Peabody & Co.’s structured finance group where he managed a proprietary investment vehicle. Mr. Walker began his career in structured finance at Bear Stearns & Co. in the asset-backed securities group. Mr. Walker also serves as a board member for Emeco, an Australian mining equipment rental company. Mr. Walker is a former board member of Clarus Corporation (NASDAQ: CLAR), a global company focused on the outdoor and consumer enthusiast markets. He holds a B.S. in economics from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management.

Mr. Walker’s extensive experience in real estate-related investing and the management of alternative investment vehicles provides our board of directors with valuable insight into potential investments and capital markets transactions.