Reimagining Resorts

As the name implies, Lemonjuice invests in restructuring of distressed, misgoverned or mismanaged properties whose market value has declined significantly below the underlying value of real estate.

Was one of five management co-founders of the company that now employs 1,600 direct and 2,000 project employees. Development in the electric power industry in Southern Europe, MINA region, and the Caribbean. Managed a large operation in Ukraine.By all accounts, success of ContourGlobal greatly exceeded my expectation. We started by studying best practices. Today others study ContourGlobal for best practices. Through this, the incredible energy and drive exhibited by executive and non-executive employees made all this possible. ContourGlobal today is a large, well-established business that is still highly growth-oriented. Its value is a lot more than the sum of its parts. It’s a great place to work. However, it is no longer a start-up. As an entrepreneur at heart, I feel it is time for me to move-on to something new, where my interests and my skills are best placed. My company, Lemonjuice Capital Partners, will set out to do some neat things. As the name implies, it will “squeeze some lemons” by investing in restructuring and repositioning of mismanaged and misgoverned properties.

Several buy-side deals, including Sun Valley Winery in Crimea that was resold to a local investor, and Rencap Agro in Ukraine that was exited to a Russian/Argentinian group. Worked with AES Restructuring team to help AES emerge from post-Enron financial distress. Developed small real estate projects in Maryland.

Established the Kiev Operations. Acquired, developed and managed investments for NCH OPIC Fund, including about one million square feet of retail space. Responsible for about 40% of the capital invested by the Fund, which turned-out to be 2-d best performing OPIC fund ever. Held several board positions, including Ukrnafta (the national petroleum company).

Part of the team providing mortgage backed securities default risk assessment to GNMA. Contributed to the initial development of IPADS, a software still used for monitoring default risk. Presented several position analysis to GNMA, including one on REMICs. Contributed to group's publications. Later moved to Ukraine and setup the corporate finance function in C&L Ukraine.