DEF 14A of Cantor Fitzgerald Income Trust, Inc.
Filed Oct 4, 20240001193125-24-233114
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
General
General Our Board presently consists of five members. At the annual meeting, stockholders will vote on the election of Messrs. Howard W. Lutnick, Paul M. Pion, Arthur F. Backal, John M. Matteson and Dean Palin, for a term ending at the 2025 annual meeting of stockholders and until their successors are duly elected and qualify. The director nominees listed below are leaders in business and real estate and financial communities because of their intellectual acumen and analytic skills, strategic vision and their records of outstanding accomplishments over a period of decades. Each has been chosen to stand for re-election in part because of his ability and willingness to understand our unique challenges, and evaluate and implement our strategies. Set forth below is each director nominee’s name and age as of the date of this proxy statement and biographical information. Each of our director nominees currently serves on our Board and was initially appointed to our Board in February 2017, with the exception of Mr. Pion, who has served as one of our directors since April, 2024.
Current Directors Who are Nominees for Re-election
Current Directors Who are Nominees for Re-election
Current Directors Who are Nominees for Re-election
| Name | Age | | Howard W. Lutnick | 63 | | Paul M. Pion | 57 | | Arthur F. Backal | 62 | | John M. Matteson | 60 | | Dean Palin | 55 |
Current Directors Who are Nominees for Re-election
Howard W. Lutnick. Mr. Lutnick has served as our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since February 2017. Mr. Lutnick also has served as the Chief Executive Officer of our advisor since February 2017. He joined Cantor Fitzgerald in 1983 and was named President and Chief Executive Officer in 1991 and Chairman in 1996. Mr. Lutnick is also the Chairman of Newmark Group, Inc., one of the world’s leading commercial real estate advisory firms. Mr. Lutnick is also the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BGC Group, Inc., a leading global brokerage and technology company servicing the financial markets. Mr. Lutnick is a member of the boards of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the Partnership for New York City, and Weill Cornell Medicine. Mr. Lutnick received the Department of the Navy’s Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest honor granted by the Navy to non-military personnel. He is a graduate of Haverford College and holds a degree in economics. Consideration for Recommendation: Our Board believes that Mr. Lutnick’s finance and extensive real estate experience supports his nomination and election to our Board. Paul M. Pion. Mr. Pion has served as our director, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of the Advisor from April 2023 as well as from January 2020 to January 2021. From January 2020 to January 2021, Mr. Pion served as a director and as the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Rodin Income Trust, Inc. and as the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Rodin Income Advisors, LLC. He has served as Chief Administrative Officer and Senior Managing Director of Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. since August 2011. Additionally, from January 17, 2012, until January 26, 2021, Mr. Pion served as Chief Executive Officer of Tower Bridge International Services LP, responsible for the back-office functions under a shared-services model for all Cantor UK-based businesses. Prior to joining Cantor, Mr. Pion served for approximately 14 years with the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche, most recently as an Audit and Assurance partner focusing on financial services clients. At Deloitte & Touche, he also led the New York office’s China Practice. Mr. Pion holds Series 7 and 27 licenses and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York. He received a B.S. in Accounting from the State University of New York at Albany. Consideration for Recommendation: Our Board believes that Mr. Pion’s extensive experience in the financial services industry supports his nomination and election to our Board. Arthur F. Backal. Mr. Backal has been one of our independent directors since February 2017. Mr. Backal founded and has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Backal Hospitality Group, LLC, a premier New York-based hospitality and event services company, since December 2007. Mr. Backal also founded and has served as the President of State of the Art Enterprises, Inc., a premier New York-based full- service event planning company, since November 2002. Prior to founding Backal Hospitality Group and State of the Art Enterprises, Mr. Backal focused on the New York hospitality industry, holding various positions with a number of hotels in New York City, including the Plaza, the Pierre, the Helmsley Palace and the St. Regis. Mr. Backal served as a director of Rodin Income Trust, Inc. from March 2021 until its dissolution in December 2022. Mr. Backal holds a Bachelor of Arts in Hospitality Business from Michigan State University. Consideration for Recommendation: Our Board believes that Mr. Backal’s extensive experience in business management supports his nomination and election to our Board. John M. Matteson. Mr. Matteson has been one of our independent directors since February 2017. Mr. Matteson is the Founder of The Matteson Companies, or TMC, a Boston-based real estate investment and development company, which he founded in June 2014. At TMC, Mr. Matteson has been responsible, in partnership with GFI Partners, a Boston-based real estate advisor, for acquiring investments, ranging from projects such as net leased warehouse and warehouse development to office and residential development, totaling over $1.2 billion in gross asset value. Prior to forming TMC, Mr. Matteson spent eleven years from September 2004 to June 2014 as the Regional Director of the Archon Group, a Goldman Sachs Company, managing Goldman Sachs’ Boston real estate division, where he was responsible for investing over $2 billion of the firm’s equity nationally, focusing on Boston, New York City and Chicago. Mr. Matteson is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Madison where he received a Bachelor of Science in Economics. Consideration for Recommendation: Our Board believes that Mr. Matteson’s extensive real estate investment experience supports his nomination and election to our Board. Dean Palin. Mr. Palin has been one of our independent directors and our audit committee financial expert since February 2017. Mr. Palin has served as a Principal of Palin Enterprises, a national real estate organization that oversees a major portfolio of residential, commercial and industrial properties located across the country from New York to California, since 1990. Mr. Palin’s work with Palin Enterprises focuses on the development, including new construction and rehabilitation, and management and leasing of residential, commercial and industrial complexes. During the past 10 years, Mr. Palin has expanded Palin Enterprises’ residential development portfolio with new developments in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Beach, New York. Palin Enterprises owns and operates over five million square feet of industrial space. In addition, over the past 20 years, Mr. Palin has partnered with, operated and invested in many New York City restaurants. Mr. Palin holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from the Boston University School of Management. Consideration for Recommendation: Our Board believes that Mr. Palin’s extensive experience in real estate and business management supports his nomination and election to our Board.
DIRECTOR COMPENSATION
DIRECTOR COMPENSATION
Director Compensation for 2023
Director Compensation for 2023 The following table sets forth the compensation paid by us to our directors for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023:
Director Compensation for 2023
| Name | Fees Earned or Paid in Cash | Total | | Arthur F. Backal | $28,000 | $28,000 | | John M. Matteson | 28,000 | 28,000 | | Dean Palin | 33,000 | 33,000 |