OUR TEAM

Our Team

Partners

Ken is a Partner and the Founder of Arlington Partners®. Mr. Polk attended David Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee where he received his degree in accounting and finance. Mr. Polk began his career as a tax consultant with Deloitte. Mr. Polk is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Financial Planner® and also serves as Chief Compliance Officer for Arlington Partners®.

Rhett C. Bennett, CFA

Rhett is a Partner of Arlington Partners®. He graduated from Brown University with a double major in Business Economics and History. Rhett also completed additional economic coursework at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. He began his career as an investment analyst for an institutional investment consultant. Rhett has earned his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Greg P. Logan, CPA

Greg is Partner of Arlington Associates. He earned a degree in accounting and business administration from Birmingham-Southern College. Mr. Logan began his career in 1984 with Arthur Young & Company (now Ernst & Young), in the tax department of their Birmingham office. He also spent several years in the tax department of Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers). Prior to joining Arlington, he worked the past 11 years as a tax partner with Sellers, Richardson, Watson, Haley & Logan LLP.

Senior Management

William A. Levant, III, CFA

Bill is the Chief Investment Officer of Arlington Partners®. Mr. Levant received his undergraduate degree in Finance from the University of Colorado and his MBA from Indiana University, Kelley School of Business. He has over seventeen years of traditional and alternative investment management experience including the prior five years as Chief Investment Officer for McDonald Investment Company, a single family office. Bill's prior experience includes over six years in NY with Hanson PLC in its Mergers & Acquisitions Group where he managed over two-dozen transactions in excess of $2 billion. Prior to Hanson, Mr. Levant was employed for over four years as a Corporate Finance professional for Price Waterhouse in Los Angeles. Bill is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), a member of the Investment Committee for the United Way of Central Alabama and a member of the Investment Committee for McDonald Investments.

Ann Damon Haas

Ann is a Relationship Manager for Arlington Partners®. Ms. Haas holds her undergraduate degree in accounting from The University of Alabama and her MBA from Harvard University. Prior to joining Arlington, she worked 13 years as Vice President and Investment Counselor at T. Leavell & Associates, Inc. and seven years as Investment Officer at Brasfield & Gorrie, LLC.

Mark J. Brown

Mark is a Portfolio Manager and Head of Public Investments for Arlington Partners®. Mr. Brown is a graduate of Florida State University where he received his degree in Finance. Mr. Brown has over twenty-five years of Investment Management experience including the last nine years with Synovus Financial as President of their Investment Advisory group managing seven billion dollars for Family Offices, Endowments and Charitable Institutions.

Emily Vanlandingham

Emily is the Chief Operating Officer for Arlington Partners®. Ms. Vanlandingham holds her undergraduate degrees in Management Science, Mathematics and Psychology from Southern Methodist University where she graduated Summa Cum Laude and her MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Emily's prior experience includes four years with The Boston Consulting Group where she was most recently head of internal operations for the firm's Atlanta and Miami offices. She also served five years as a Director and Manager at CarMax, Inc.

Peter E. Barber, JD, CFP®

Peter is the Director of Financial Services for Arlington Partners®. Mr. Barber received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering, MBA and Law degrees from the University of Alabama. He focuses on comprehensive financial planning for families and businesses, using sophisticated estate planning and corporate succession planning strategies. Peter also has significant private company merger and acquisition experience and extensive experience advising real estate investors in structuring investment sales opportunities for maximum liability protection and income tax efficiency. His prior experience includes several years as a Senior Wealth Planning Strategist and Senior Vice President for the Wachovia Financial Planning Group Mid-South Practice. Prior to joining Wachovia, Peter practiced law for twelve years, specializing in corporate law, business succession planning and estate planning.

Ann Whorton, CPA

Ann is a Certified Public Accountant for Arlington Associates. She received her accounting degree from Birmingham-Southern College. Mrs. Whorton has worked in public accounting for the past 18 years. The last 10 years were spent as a tax manager with Sellers, Richardson, Watson, Haley & Logan LLP.

Billy Valekis

Billy is a tax accountant with Arlington Associates. He graduated from Auburn University with a management degree with an emphasis in finance. He began his career at JC Bradford Company in Nashville, TN and later moved to Deutsche Bank working in securities compliance. He later obtained his accounting degree from Tennessee State University and took a position in the tax department of Kruse and Associates CPA firm. He spent three years working in the tax department of Sellers, Richardson, Watson, Haley & Logan LLP. And most recently held the position of Chief Financial and Operating Officer of a local conglomerate of residential construction, development and investment companies.

Advisory Board

James E. Hughes, Jr.

Jay is a retired counselor of law in New York City. He is the author of the book Family Wealth: Keeping It in the Family, as well as numerous articles on family governance and wealth preservation. Jay was the founder of the New York City firm Hughes and Whitaker, where he focused on the representation of private clients throughout the world. He frequently facilitates multi-generational family meetings with an emphasis on mission statements and governance issues. He is the fifth generation of his family to be called to the legal profession. Jay was educated at the Far Brook School and later graduated from the Pingry School, Princeton University and the Columbia University School of Law. He now resides in Aspen, Colorado.

Peter A. Evans

Peter is presently a Speaker, Consultant, and Financial Advisor on various issues concerning Building Business Success and Family Unity. He is also CO-founder and Executive Producer of independent films. Peter was the President of Laird Norton Company LLC from 2000-2004 and prior to that the Director. Laird Norton is a 150-year-old seventh-generation family enterprise with holdings in the retail lumber, financial services and hospitality industries-consolidated sales exceed $2.5 billion.

Peter was primarily responsible for the stewardship of the family's long-standing values and traditions and the family's intellectual, human, and social assets. Peter created a successful charter boat company, Evans Maritime Company, in 1994 and is the President as well.

Peter is a Trustee of the Explorer West Middle School, Chairman of the Facilities Committee, and Chapter Board member for the Pacific Northwest Young President's Organization (YPO). Peter holds a Master of Science and Business Management from Antioch University and a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Anthropology from Western Washington University. He also completed the Family Business Governance Program from the Kellogg School of Management.

Investment Research

Allan R. White, III ("Rick")

Rick White is President and Chief Investment Officer of Minot Capital LLC, a Boulder based investment firm providing global advisory services to institutional and family clients. From 1998 to 2002 Mr. White was a Partner and Managing Director at Neuberger Berman, a New York based investment advisor with over $55 billion in assets. Mr. White managed multi-billion dollar portfolios of US Equities while at Neuberger Bernman. Prior to joining Neuberger Berman Mr. White was a Managing Director and co-founder of Salomon Brothers Asset Management in New York. At Salomon Brothers Asset Management Mr. White was part of a three member executive committee that built and led a $29 billion global multi-product asset management firm from 1989 to 1998. In addition, as Portfolio Manager, he directly managed assets totaling $2.5 billion. Prior to his tenure at Salomon Brothers, he worked at First Boston Asset Management from 1986 to 1989. His responsibilities included managing institutional portfolios of mortgage backed securities, convertible bonds and equities.

Mr. White has lectured around the globe on investment matters and has appeared widely in the media. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Barrons, CNN, CNBC and numerous other television and radio networks. He currently serves as member of the Board of Managers of Haverford College, a director of the Bermuda based Hemera Foundation and a member of the Investment Policy Committee of the University of Colorado Foundation. Mr. White is also Vice Chairman and a founding board member of Washington, D.C. based Landmine Survivors Network (LSN).

Mr. White received a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from Haverford College in Haverford, PA in 1981 and became a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) in 1989. He is a member of the New York Society of Securities Analysts. He lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife and three children.

Kevin Risen

Kevin is a Member of Minot Capital LLC and has over 25 years experience managing multi-billion dollar assets for institutions around the globe. From 2003 to 2007 Mr. Risen was Managing Director at Tremblant Capital Group, one of the premier alternative investment firms in New York City, where he assembled and managed a research team for long/short equity investments in various sectors, both global and domestic. Prior to joining Tremblant Mr. Risen was a Partner at Neuberger Berman, a New York based investment advisor with over $55 billion in assets, where he spent over 10 years playing a major role in recruiting both analysts and portfolio managers to the firm. At Neuberger Berman, Mr. Risen co-managed the firms flagship value-oriented mutual fund, the Neuberger Berman Guardian Fund. Prior to his tenure at Neuberger Berman, he was a Senior Vice President and Equity Research Analyst with Kemper Financial Services from 1990 to 1992 with primary responsibilities in the financial services, selected media and consumer goods industries. Prior to Kemper Financial he worked at Banc One Asset Management from 1987 to 1990 where he was an Equity Research Analyst responsible for the financial services, telecom, electric utility, gaming and industrial cyclical industries. In 1983 Mr. Risen began his career as an Equity Research Analyst with First Kentucky Trust Company where he was responsible for emerging growth companies.

Mr. Risen received a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Finance from the University of Louisville in Louisville, KY in 1983. He resides in New York City, New York.