Patrick Dalton is a founder and the Chief Executive Officer. He is an accomplished investment management executive with over 30 years of investment experience in private credit markets and has held leadership positions at leading financial and asset-based lending institutions.
Prior to Newcrest Finance Trust, Mr. Dalton served as an Independent Senior Advisor to a number of private credit firms that were going through transitions and/or ownership changes. In this capacity, Mr. Dalton was Interim Chief Executive Officer of Callidus Capital Corporation, Senior Advisor to the Board of Alcentra Capital Corporation, and Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Fifth Street Finance Corporation and Fifth Street Senior Floating Rate Corporation. From 2012 to 2016, Mr. Dalton was Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Gordon Brothers Finance Company (GBFC).
Prior to his tenure at GBFC, Mr. Dalton was a Senior Partner of Apollo Global Management (AGM) and President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Investment Officer at Apollo Investment Corporation (AINV) from 2004 to 2012. As a leader of Apollo Investment Management, his contributions were instrumental to the firm’s development and growth, with over $8.6 billion of investments across 165 portfolio companies since the firm’s inception in 2004 through 2011, including approximately $5 billion during Mr. Dalton’s tenure as CIO. In addition to managing AINV, Mr. Dalton co-founded Apollo’s CLO platform, managed one of Apollo’s first credit opportunity funds and held a key role in Apollo’s founding of Apollo’s European credit platform in 2006.
Mr. Dalton holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a B.Sc in Finance from Boston College. Mr. Dalton was the founding sponsor for the Private Equity Mentorship Program at Columbia Business School.
John Ho is a founder and the Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Ho is a finance executive with over 15 years of public company experience in progressive roles with a focus on corporate finance, financial reporting and internal controls.
Prior to Newcrest Finance Trust, Mr. Ho was the Chief Financial Officer of an asset-based lender and specialty finance company where he held progressively higher roles from 2014 to 2019. Prior to that, Mr. Ho was the Director of Finance for a large publicly listed operating subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management from 2011 to 2014. Mr. Ho also had progressively increasing senior finance roles at Barrick Gold Corporation, the world’s largest gold mining company, from 2008 to 2011. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Ho worked in the assurance and advisory practice at Ernst & Young LLP where he received the Outstanding Leadership Award for his role in the successful implementation of the firm’s new assurance methodology in the Americas area.
Mr. Ho is a CPA-CA in Ontario and holds a M.Acc. and B.Math from the University of Waterloo, where he was an Academic All-Canadian varsity athlete in 2003 and 2004.
Eric Klein is a Senior Advisor. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant, Chartered Business Valuator and member of the Institute of Corporate Directors. Mr. Klein has over 35 years of both professional and corporate management experience. Mr. Klein focuses on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, financings and strategic advisory as well as joint ventures for primarily mid-sized Canadian corporations. His experience as both a corporate executive and an advisor lead to unique and holistic results. As a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors, he serves on both public and private company boards.
Currently, Mr. Klein is the President of Klein Advisory Services Inc. Prior to that he held the position of Executive Vice President, Corporate Development of Dundee Corporation from 2016 to 2018. From 1992 to 2016, Mr. Klein served as the lead partner of Klein Farber Corporate Finance Inc., a financial services advisory firm that is a member of the Farber Financial Group. Over the years, he has served as an advisor, executive and independent board member to various public and private corporations, quasi-government organizations, private individuals and family groups.
Mr. Klein holds a graduate diploma in Public Accounting and a B.Comm. degree from McGill University in Montreal.
Matthew Lyness has 32 years of banking and capital markets experience, having begun his corporate finance career in 1984 as an analyst with Chase Manhattan Bank. As an Assistant Vice President with National Bank of Canada, in 1987 Matthew established that firm's U.S. loan syndication group. He became Vice President for MNC Credit Corp. – Maryland National Bank where he initiated a Syndications program and was responsible for underwriting and distributing highly leveraged transactions, primarily in the middle market. He subsequently joined Barclays Capital as a Director for the Syndications Group and was promoted to Head of Leverage Finance in 1995 and implemented a client coverage strategy for Financial Sponsors. Matthew joined J.P. Morgan Securities in 1997 as a Managing Director in Leveraged Finance, structuring loans and high-yield bond solutions for Financial Sponsors and various corporate clients. Matthew joined GE Capital Markets in 2008 as a Senior Managing Director, leading the teams that cover Financial Sponsors and TMT. He held the same position at Antares Capital post the spin-off from GE Capital in August 2015. Matthew joined Houlihan Lokey in September 2017 to establish a Leveraged Buyout financing capability. Matthew and his wife Kathy live in Bedford, NY, and have three sons: Sean, James and David. Mr. Lyness serves on the Board of Directors of the United Way of Westchester and Putnam County. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Hebron Academy in Maine. Matthew graduated from Boston College with a BA in Economics and English.
Nick has spent 20 years building a skill set in all areas of asset-based lending, including collateral analysis, audit/field examination diligence, underwriting and new business originations, and extensive experience in portfolio/relationship management. Nick was most recently at Scotiabank Asset Finance where he was Director of Business Development and prior to that was Director & Portfolio Manager who led a team of Senior Relationship Managers overlooking the nationwide ABL portfolio. Nick has held progressively senior positions, supporting a wide array of complex transactions across various industries at Wells Fargo (previously Wachovia Bank), CIBC (previously CIT Business Credit) and Bank of Montreal. Nick is dedicated to building strong beneficial relationships with mid-market companies and is devoted to providing sound creative financing structures with a strong dedication to the execution process.
Nick holds an Honours Bachelor of Mathematics (Business Administration/Risk Management Option) from the University of Waterloo.
Kevin Freer is a Vice President, Underwriting and Portfolio Management. Mr. Freer is a finance executive with over 30 years of progressive lending experience at both Canadian-based and foreign financial institutions operating in Canada.
Prior to Newcrest Finance Trust, Mr. Freer worked with a U.S. finance company and, subsequently, a U.S. bank as they grew their footprint in Canada. Previously, Mr. Freer worked for one of the big five Canadian banks, where he helped establish one of the first asset-based lending groups among the Canadian domiciled banks. In 1997, he briefly left banking to head up the finance group of one of his portfolio clients, a mid-market North American manufacturer, and helped lead them through an aggressive acquisition phase of growth. Mr. Freer began his career at one of the big five Canadian banks before leaving to join the largest foreign bank operating in Canada, where he was instrumental in starting up the internal credit adjudication group for eastern Canada.
Over the span of his career, Mr. Freer has also been engaged as an external consultant to private lenders, businesses and other organizations on matters of credit, governance, debt and equity financing, and turnaround strategies.
Andrew Isaac is an Associate Vice President, Underwriting and Portfolio Management. Prior to Newcrest Finance Trust, Mr. Isaac managed the commercial loan portfolios for two public companies under an award-winning Canadian real estate management and development firm, mitigating and managing borrowing risks while leading all reporting, compliance and control requirements. Mr. Isaac also served as internal underwriting advisor on loan origination efforts towards land procurement, site development, and residential and commercial construction, and long-term financings.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Isaac was a Senior Commercial Loan Underwriter at Infrastructure Ontario. He also served as Manager, Corporate Financing at BDC.
Mr. Isaac holds an MBA from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario and a BA in Economics from Lawrence University in Wisconsin, where he was awarded All-Conference and MVP Honours for three consecutive seasons as starting goaltender for the varsity hockey team.
Ian Kornack is the Corporate Controller, overseeing the finance, reporting and accounting functions. Prior to that, Mr. Kornack was the firm’s Director of Finance. Prior to Newcrest Finance Trust, Mr. Kornack was the Manager of Financial Reporting at an asset-based lending and specialty finance company, managing the reporting processes for the parent company and overseeing its operating subsidiaries. Previously, Mr. Kornack worked as a Senior Accountant for KPMG’s Financial Institutions Audit practice.
Mr. Kornack is CPA-CA in Ontario and holds a B.Comm. degree from the University of Guelph in Ontario and a degree in Accounting from Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario.
Amar Mudili is the Accounting Manager. Prior to Newcrest Finance Trust, Mr. Mudili was an Accounting Manager at an asset-based lending and specialty finance company for over 10 years and Chief Accountant at a supply chain logistic company for five years.
Mr. Mudili is an active member of the Canadian Institute of Management and holds CIM, P.Mgr and C.Mgr designations. He holds an MBA and a degree in Computer Science from Acharya Nagarjuna University in India.
Nicole Dadd is a Financial Analyst at Newcrest Finance Trust, assisting with all aspects of the finance and accounting functions. Prior to Newcrest Finance Trust, Ms. Dadd was a Senior Staff Accountant at a public accounting firm where she performed and led audits, reviews, notice to reader engagements in various industries and also managed clients’ corporate tax filings.
Ms. Dadd is a CPA in Ontario and holds an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration degree (with Distinction) from the University of Guelph and a Business Administration diploma with a specialization in Accounting from the Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning.
Sabrina Bishop is a Collateral Analyst and Relationship Manager focused on loan administration and ongoing portfolio analysis, monitoring and due diligence. Prior to Newcrest Finance Trust, Ms. Bishop held the same position at an asset-based lending and finance company that provided financing to distressed mid-market companies. Previously, Ms. Bishop held positions with Alignvest Private Debt, Wachovia Capital Finance and National Bank of Canada.
Ms. Bishop holds a B.Sc. degree from the University of Toronto.
Tiffany King is Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer.
Ms. King holds a diploma in Social Services from Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology in Ontario and completed a post-graduate program specializing in child and youth work at Humber College in Ontario.
Paytra Marlatt is the Collateral Analyst and Relationship Manager. Prior to Newcrest Finance Trust, Ms. Marlatt served as the Human Resources Administrative Assistant at TekTrain Incorporated.
Ms. Marlatt holds a BA in Geography from the University of Toronto and a Human Resource Management certificate from Durham College in Ontario.
Paul Kern is an Associate Vice President in the Underwriting and Portfolio Management Group at Newcrest Finance Trust, focusing on due diligence, valuations and portfolio management.
Prior to Newcrest Finance Trust, Paul was a Financial Analyst at an asset-based lending and specialty finance company and has held progressive roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Audit & Assurance practice. At PwC, Paul performed audits, reviews and specified procedures for clients in the technology, real estate, government and consumer goods industries ranging from $10 million to $12 billion in revenue.
Paul is a CPA-CA in Ontario and holds an Honours Business Administration degree (with Distinction) from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario.
Prior to joining Newcrest Finance Trust, Ms. Lanway spent 21 years at Accord Financial, Inc., where she most recently served as Senior Vice President, Business Development, leading the company’s U.S. Asset Based Finance business development team. From 1992 to 2000, Ms. Lanway worked in the factoring industry as an independent broker. Ms. Lanway is the current Florida chapter president of the Turnaround Management Association. She was educated in Indonesia and Singapore before receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska.
Prior to joining Newcrest Finance Trust, Mr. Lalonde was a Senior Account Manager at TD Commercial Banking, where he was responsible for growing the bank’s portfolio of mid-market lending relationships. Previously, he was a Commercial Banking Analyst for Meridian, where he underwrote new lending transactions and monitored existing credit files. Mr. Lalonde attended Queen’s University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Economics and a Master of Economics degree with a focus on credit risk and financial markets.