Executive Officers

James A. Graf, 59
Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Director

Mr. Graf also has served as an independent director of Catcha Investment Group since February 2021 and as Interim Chief Financial Officer of NKGen Biotech, Inc. since October 2023. Previously, Mr. Graf served as the Chief Executive Officer of Graf IV, a blank check company, from its inception in January 2021 through the completion of its initial business combination with NKGen in September 2023. Mr. Graf served as the Chief Executive Officer and director of Graf I, a blank check company, from June 2018 through the completion of its initial business combination with Velodyne in September 2020 and served as an independent director of Velodyne from September 2020 until February 2021. Mr. Graf also served as a non-independent director of Platinum Eagle from January 2018 through the completion of its business combination with Target Logistics Management, LLC and RL Signor Holdings, LLC in March 2019. Mr. Graf served as the Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Double Eagle from its inception in June 2015 through its business combination with Williams Scotsman (KNA WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp.) in November 2017. He served as Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary of Silver Eagle from its inception in April 2013 through Silver Eagle’s business combination with VDTH, and he served as Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary of Global Eagle from its inception in February 2011 to its business combination with Row 44 and AIA in January 2013. Subsequently, Mr. Graf served as Vice Chairman of Global Entertainment AG, the holding company for GEE’s publicly listed German subsidiary, AIA from 2013 to 2014 and Special Advisor to GEE in 2013. He served as a Special Advisor to VDTH from 2015 to 2016. From 2008 to 2011, Mr. Graf served as Managing Director of TC Capital Ltd., an investment bank in Singapore. From 2007 to 2008, Mr. Graf was engaged as a consultant to provide financial advisory services to Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. In 2001, Mr. Graf founded and became the Chief Executive Officer of Praedea Solutions, Inc., an enterprise software company with operations in the United States, Malaysia and Ukraine. The assets of Praedea Solutions, Inc. were sold in 2006 to Mergent Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xinhua Finance Ltd. and renamed Mergent Data Technology, Inc., where Mr. Graf continued to serve as Chief Executive Officer from 2006 to 2007. Praedea Solutions Inc. was renamed PSI Capital Inc. and currently serves as an investment holding company for Mr. Graf’s private investments, where Mr. Graf continues to serve as the Chief Executive Officer. Prior to founding Praedea, Mr. Graf was a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch in Singapore from 1998 to 2000 and a consultant to Merrill Lynch in 2001. From 1996 to 1998, Mr. Graf served as a director and then Managing Director and President of Deutsche Bank’s investment banking entity in Hong Kong, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (Hong Kong) Ltd. From 1993 to 1996, he was a Vice President at Smith Barney in Hong Kong and Los Angeles. From 1987 to 1993, Mr. Graf was an analyst and then associate at Morgan Stanley in New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Singapore. Mr. Graf received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Chicago in 1987. We believe that Mr. Graf’s extensive business background and SPAC experience qualifies him to serve on our board of directors.

Board of Directors

Louis Bélanger-Martin, 53
Director

Mr. Bélanger-Martin has over 30 years of management, financial and business development experience. Since 2020, he has been Chief Financial Officer of Smize & Dream, a fast-growing super-premium, all-natural ice cream business he founded together with Tyra Banks, with whom he also worked on the development of the ModelLand location-based entertainment concept in Santa Monica, CA. Since 1996, Mr. Bélanger-Martin has been Co-Founder and Partner of Group W Inc., a multi-industry private equity firm. Mr. Bélanger-Martin was Vice Chairman of the board of Global Eagle Entertainment from 2013 to 2016 after completing the merger of AIA, with Global Eagle Acquisition Corp. a special purpose acquisition company, in 2013. He served as AIA’s Chief Executive Officer from 2011 to 2013. From 1995 to 2010, Mr. Bélanger-Martin served as Chief Executive Officer of DTI Software, a provider of in-flight entertainment software and services, which he co-founded and which was sold to AIA in 2008. Mr. Bélanger-Martin has been a director of Sonifi Solutions, Inc. (formerly LodgeNet), a privately held interactive content and connectivity solutions provider, and Hybrid Paytech World Inc., a mobile credit, debit and ecouponing company that is publicly listed on The Canadian Securities Exchange. Other roles have included Strategic Advisor at the One Web constellation of low earth orbit satellites in 2019-2020 and board member of e2ip Technologies in 2016-2019. Mr. Bélanger-Martin is a certified management accountant and Canadian CPA. Mr. Bélanger-Martin received a BA in business administration from École des sciences de la gestion (ESG UQAM) in Montreal, a law certificate from University of Montreal in 1994, certification as a member of the Chartered Certified Accountants of Canada in 1996, and a Harvard Business School executive education program on effective corporate boards in 2013. We believe Mr. Bélanger-Martin is qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive experience as a Chief Executive Officer, as someone who sold his company into a SPAC and as a certified management accountant.

Kenneth Weinstein, 62
Director

Mr. Weinstein is currently the Japan Chair at the Hudson Institute. He joined Hudson in 1991, was appointed Chief Executive Officer in June 2005, was named president and Chief Executive Officer in March 2011 and maintained those positions through 2020. Under his leadership, Hudson grew significantly in size, prominence, visibility and impact, recruiting top-flight talent and advising officials around the globe. From 2017 until 2020, Dr. Weinstein chaired the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the oversight body for US Agency for Global Media, and was chair of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Middle East Broadcasting and the Open Technology Fund. He previously was a member of the National Humanities Council, the governing body of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dr. Weinstein served, from 2018 to 2023, on the Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations, which provides counsel on trade agreements to the United States Trade Representative. In March 2020, he was nominated to serve as US ambassador to Japan. His nomination was reported unanimously out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in September 2020. Dr. Weinstein has written widely for publications in the United States, Europe, and Asia, including the Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, and the Yomiuri Shimbun. In 2006, he was decorated with a knighthood in arts and letters by the government of France. He serves on the boards of nonprofit organizations in the United States and Europe. Dr. Weinstein earned his BA in General Studies in the Humanities from the University of Chicago, DEA in Soviet and Eastern European studies from Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, and PhD in Government from Harvard University. We believe Mr. Weinstein is well qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his vast company leadership background and experience as chair and board member of various organizations.

Fred S. Zeidman, 77
Director

Mr. Zeidman served as Chairman of Good Works II Acquisition Corp. from February 2021 through March 2023. He served as Chief Executive Officer and Co-Chairman of Good Works Acquisition Corp. from June 2020 until the merger with Cipher Mining in August 2021. Mr. Zeidman served as Chairman of Gordian Group LLC, a U.S. investment bank specializing in board level advice in complex financial matters from December 2014 through February 2021 and is currently Chairman of WoodRock & Co. Over the course of his distinguished 50-year career, Mr. Zeidman has served in a number of high-profile executive roles. He is also a director of Bluejay Diagnostics, Inc. (NASDAQ: BJDX), Camber Energy, Inc. (NYSE American: CEI) and Prosperity Bank in Houston. His leadership roles have included: Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Unibar Corporation, the largest domestic independent drilling fluids company, until its sale to Anchor Drilling Fluids in 1992, President and Chief Executive Officer of Crown Services (1992 until its sale to ARS in1994), President and Chief Executive Officer of Intersystems, President and Chief Executive Officer of Interpak Systems (March 2002 to December 2007), Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Seitel, Inc. (June 2002 until the sale of the company in February 2007), a Houston-based onshore seismic data provider where he was instrumental in the successful turnaround of the Company, Chief Bankruptcy Trustee of AremisSoft Corp. (1999-2002), Chief Restructuring Officer of TransMeridian Exploration Inc. (August 2009 until the sale in November 2009), a Director of the REMA subsidiary of NRG Energy, Lead Director of Straight Path Communications (July 2013 until its sale to Verizon Corp. in May 2017), and CFO of the Texas Heart Institute where he led a complex financial restructuring and assisted in the integration of St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital System and Baylor College of Medicine into Catholic Health Initiatives. Mr. Zeidman was appointed Chairman of the US Holocaust Memorial Council by President George W. Bush in 2002, and served until 2010, and he was reappointed to the Council by President Donald Trump in 2019. He was Chairman of the University of Texas Health Science System Houston. Mr. Zeidman was a Director of the Texas Heart Institute. He is on the board of the Development Corp of Israel (Israel Bonds) and served on the Board and Executive Committee of the National World War II Museum. Mr. Zeidman holds a Bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master’s in Business Administration from New York University. We believe that Mr. Zeidman is well qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive leadership, restructuring and corporate finance experience as well as his extensive relationships in the investing, investment banking and restructuring businesses.