Executive Officers

Richard J. Hendrix, 55
Chief Executive Officer & Director

From January 2020 to the present Mr. Hendrix has been an officer and director of Live Oak Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: LOAK), a blank check company which announced on October 5, 2020 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to consummate a business combination transaction with Meredian Holdings Group, Inc., a Georgia corporation d/b/a Danimer Scientific, a leading developer and manufacturer of biodegradable plastic materials, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020 or first quarter of 2021. He has significant experience in executive leadership, corporate strategy, M&A, capital markets, and corporate finance for public companies. Over the course of his career, Mr. Hendrix has worked extensively with issuers and investors focused on companies in the financial services, real estate, energy, industrial, and business and consumer services sectors. He has led dozens of initial equity offerings for founder-led and sponsor-backed companies primarily within the banking, insurance, and real estate sectors. Additionally, Mr. Hendrix has considerable experience advising chief executives, boards of directors, and large shareholders regarding strategy, capital structure, and capital access. Since March 2020, Mr. Hendrix has served as a board member of America’s Lift Chair Supplier, LLC, a medical equipment supplier. He has significant leadership experience in the financial industry, having served as Chief Executive Officer of FBR & Co., or FBR (formerly NASDAQ: FBRC), a capital markets firm, from 2009 to 2017, and Chairman from 2012 to 2017. Mr. Hendrix helped FBR grow into a leading bookrunner for initial common stock offerings for middle market U.S. companies. While at FBR Mr. Hendrix oversaw the growth of the company and oversaw numerous strategic transactions while in his role as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at FBR, ultimately executing a merger with B. Riley Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: RILY) in 2017. Following the merger, Mr. Hendrix served as director of B. Riley Financial until October 2017. Prior to his tenure as Chief Executive Officer of FBR, Mr. Hendrix served as Arlington Asset Investment Corp.’s (NYSE: AI) President and Chief Operating Officer from 2004 to 2007 and its Chief Investment Officer from 2003 to 2004. Previously, he was the President and Chief Operating Officer of FBR Asset Investment Corporation and concurrently headed the Real Estate and Diversified Industrials Investment Banking groups of FBR. Prior to FBR, Mr. Hendrix was a Managing Director in PNC Capital Markets’ investment banking group and headed PNC’s asset-backed securities business. Mr. Hendrix is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Live Oak Merchant Partners, a merchant bank providing capital and advisory services to middle market companies across several industries. Mr. Hendrix also currently serves as a Senior Advisor to Crestview Partners, a private equity firm, since 2017 and is currently the Chairman of Protect My Car, a portfolio company of Crestview Partners that provides extended auto warranty plans to consumers. Mr. Hendrix’s affiliation with Crestview Partners began with Crestview’s investment in FBR over a decade before. In the last five years, Mr. Hendrix has also been the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of RJH Management Co, a privately held investment management business. Mr. Hendrix received his B.S.in Finance from Miami University.

Andrea K. Tarbox, 70
Chief Financial Officer and Director

From January 2020 to the present Ms. Tarbox has been an officer and director of Live Oak Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: LOAK), a blank check company which announced on October 5, 2020 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to consummate a business combination transaction with Meredian Holdings Group, Inc., a Georgia corporation d/b/a Danimer Scientific, a leading developer and manufacturer of biodegradable plastic materials, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020 or first quarter of 2021. Ms. Tarbox served as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of KapStone Paper & Packaging, or Kapstone (formerly NYSE: KS), from 2007 until 2018. KapStone, a producer of unbleached kraft paper and corrugated packaging products, became public via a merger with Stone Arcade Acquisition Corporation, or Stone Arcade, in 2007. Ms. Tarbox joined KapStone during the business combination approval process in 2006. During her tenure as Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Tarbox negotiated major provisions in five key acquisitions and secured financings of nearly $3.0 billion. Ms. Tarbox played a significant role in KapStone’s sale to WestRock Company (NYSE: WRK). In 2014 and 2015, Institutional Investor named Ms. Tarbox to their All-America Executive team as one of America’s best Chief Financial Officers, and in 2012, Financial Executives International named Ms. Tarbox the Chicago Chief Financial Officer of the Year. Previously, Ms. Tarbox assumed positions of increasing responsibility at various companies, including Uniscribe Professional Services, Inc., a provider of paper- and technology-based document management solutions, Gartner Inc., a research and advisory company, British Petroleum, p.l.c., (NYSE:BP) and Fortune Brands, Inc., a holding company with diversified product lines. In these roles, Ms. Tarbox developed significant experience acquiring and integrating companies. Ms. Tarbox began her career at Ernst & Young LLP where she became a certified public accountant. Ms. Tarbox earned a B.A. degree in Psychology from Connecticut College and an M.B.A. from the University of Rhode Island.

Gary K. Wunderlich, Jr., 50
President

Mr. Wunderlich has been an officer, since its inception, of Live Oak Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: LOAK), a blank check company which announced on October 5, 2020 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to consummate a business combination transaction with Meredian Holdings Group, Inc., a Georgia corporation d/b/a Danimer Scientific, a leading developer and manufacturer of biodegradable plastic materials, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020 or first quarter of 2021. Mr. Wunderlich is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Live Oak Merchant Partners, a merchant bank providing capital and advisory services to middle market companies across a wide range of industries. Prior to co-founding Live Oak in 2017, Mr. Wunderlich was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wunderlich Securities, Inc., or WSI, a full-service investment banking and brokerage firm, from 1996 until its successful merger in 2017 with B. Riley Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: RILY). Following the merger, Mr. Wunderlich served as a Director of B. Riley from 2017 to July 2018 and remained Chief Executive Officer of WSI (rebranded B Riley Wealth) until November 2018. As Chief Executive Officer of WSI, Mr. Wunderlich was involved in all aspects of company growth from a virtual start-up into a full-service investment bank. In 2011, Mr. Wunderlich, along with WSI and WSI’s Chief Compliance Officer, consented, without admitting or denying the findings therein, to the entry of an SEC order finding that, from 2007 to 2009, as WSI was converting hundreds of its existing fee-based brokerage accounts to investment advisory accounts, in response to regulatory changes affecting certain broker-dealers that provided investment advice, WSI willfully violated the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, or the Advisers Act, and its rules by failing to have adequate written policies and procedures and a code of ethics, and Mr. Wunderlich, who was then WSI’s Chief Executive Officer, willfully aided and abetted and caused such violations. The order also found that WSI willfully violated the Advisers Act and its rules by overcharging advisory clients for commissions and other transactional fees totaling approximately $120,835 in approximately 6,338 separate transactions, which the SEC stated appeared to have occurred primarily due to back-office errors, and by engaging in principal trading without providing certain required disclosures to its clients. Mr. Wunderlich has also been consistently involved in securities industry organizations throughout his career. From 2016 to 2018 Mr. Wunderlich was a member of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s (“SIFMA”) National Board of Directors. He was also a founding board member of the American Securities Association from its inception in 2016 until 2018. Mr. Wunderlich also served in various capacities with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) including serving on the National Advisory Board, serving on the District 5 Committee as both a Member and Chairman, and serving as a Member of the National Membership Council. Since March 2020, Mr. Wunderlich has served as a board member of America’s Lift Chair Supplier, LLC, a medical equipment supplier. Since 2005, Mr. Wunderlich has been a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and participates in the Family Business, Family Office, Financial Services and Entrepreneurship and Innovation Networks. He was inducted into the Society of Entrepreneurs in 2014 and has served as a Director since 2016. He is also the Managing Member of Eighty Park Avenue Partners LLC, a family investment vehicle. Mr. Wunderlich received a B.A.in Economics from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from the University of Memphis.

Adam Fishman, 40
Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Fishman is currently a Managing Partner at Live Oak Merchant Partners, a merchant bank providing capital and advisory services to middle market companies across several industries. Mr. Fishman joined the firm from Jefferies LLC, where he was a Managing Director and Head of the Permanent Capital Group, Distribution. Mr. Fishman originated and executed blank check company transactions, including the initial public offering, assisting management in evaluating targets for merger consideration, and structuring and executing PIPE investments to support mergers. He was also responsible for originating and marketing Pre-IPO private placements for companies across all industries. Prior to joining Jefferies, Mr. Fishman was an Executive Vice President and Head of Institutional Brokerage at FBR & Co. FBR was a publicly traded middle market investment bank, specializing in capital raising and securities trading across seven industry groups. Mr. Fishman joined FBR in 2004, steadily expanding his role throughout a 13-year tenure. As a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, Mr. Fishman was a key contributor to the firm’s strategic vision and execution. Mr. Fishman also served on FBR’s Commitment Committee, where he was responsible for analyzing, structuring and selling all public and private investment offerings. Mr. Fishman began his career as an Associate Director in the New York office of CIBC World Markets. Mr. Fishman received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Brandeis University.

Board of Directors

John P. Amboian, 59
Chairman 

From May 2020 to the present Mr. Amboian has been a director of Live Oak Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: LOAK), a blank check company which announced on October 5, 2020 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to consummate a business combination transaction with Meredian Holdings Group, Inc., a Georgia corporation d/b/a Danimer Scientific, a leading developer and manufacturer of biodegradable plastic materials, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020 or first quarter of 2021. Mr. Amboian is a business leader with over 30 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, capital management, product development, branding, and distribution for both privately held and public companies, across multiple industries. He served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nuveen Investments, Inc., or Nuveen (formerly NYSE: JNC), from 2007 to 2016. He was President of Nuveen from 1999 through 2007 after joining as its Chief Financial Officer from 1995 to 1999. During his time in leadership positions at Nuveen, Mr. Amboian participated in over 20 M&A and capital markets transactions, in addition to playing a leading role in Nuveen’s sale to an investment group led by Madison Dearborn, in 2007 and Nuveen’s sale process to TIAA (Teacher’s Insurance and Annuity Association of New York) in 2014. Mr. Amboian served on the Nuveen Mutual Funds board from 2007 through 2016 in addition to serving on Nuveen Investments’ public board from 1996 through 2007. Prior to Nuveen, Mr. Amboian was the Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Strategy of the Miller Brewing Company. He began his career in Corporate and International Finance at Kraft Foods, Inc., where he ended his tenure as Treasurer. Since 2013, Mr. Amboian has served at Madison Dearborn Partners as an industry advisor and is an Independent Director of the general partnership of Adams Street Partners, a private-markets investment firm. Additionally, since 2017 Mr. Amboian has been a senior advisor to Estancia Capital and since 2018 chaired the board of North Square Investments, a boutique asset management firm. Since 2020 Mr. Amboian has been chairman of Evanston Capital, a hedge fund alternative investment manager, and is on the advisory board of Cresset Capital Management, a wealth management firm. He also advises several small businesses on organic and inorganic growth initiatives through JA Capital Advisors, LLC. He received both his Bachelor’s degree and his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Tor Braham, 63
Director

From May 2020 to the present Mr. Braham has been a director of Live Oak Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: LOAK), a blank check company which announced on October 5, 2020 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to consummate a business combination transaction with Meredian Holdings Group, Inc., a Georgia corporation d/b/a Danimer Scientific, a leading developer and manufacturer of biodegradable plastic materials, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020 or first quarter of 2021. Mr. Braham has spent 15 years working in M&A in at multiple investment banks and currently serves on multiple public company boards. He currently serves on the boards of Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAV), a company that provides network test, monitoring, and assurance services (elected 2015); Altaba Inc. (NASDAQ: AABA), an investment management company (elected 2016); A10 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATEN), a supplier of ADC networking and security equipment (elected 2018) and Micro Lambda Wireless, Inc., a private provider of microwave components and subsystems for the wireless, instrumentation and defense industries (elected 1987). Previously, he served as a Director of Yahoo! Inc., predecessor of Altaba Inc., from 2016 until 2017, as Independent Director of Sigma Designs, Inc. (OTCMKTS: SIGM), a SOC semiconductor company, from 2014 to 2016, and an Independent Director of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NATP), a data management company, from 2014 to 2016. Mr. Braham served as the Global Head of Technology M&A at Deutsche Bank Securities from 2004 to 2012. Prior to that, Mr. Braham was the Co-head of West Coast Technology M&A at Credit Suisse First Boston from 2000 to 2004 and the Global Head of Technology M&A at UBS Securities from 1997 to 2000. From 1989 to 1997, Mr. Braham was a partner at the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati where he specialized in technology mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and intellectual property law. Mr. Braham is also currently Of Counsel to the law firm of King, Holmes, Paterno and Soriano. Mr. Braham received his J.D. degree from New York University School of Law and his B.S. degree in English from Columbia University.

Jonathan Furer, 63
Director

From May 2020 to the present Mr. Furer has been a director of Live Oak Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: LOAK), a blank check company which announced on October 5, 2020 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to consummate a business combination transaction with Meredian Holdings Group, Inc., a Georgia corporation d/b/a Danimer Scientific, a leading developer and manufacturer of biodegradable plastic materials, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020 or first quarter of 2021. He has over 30 years of private equity, operating and capital markets experience and has served as chairman, advisor, investor and active board member to businesses across a wide range of industries, including: healthcare, financial services, manufacturing and consumer products. Mr. Furer co-founded Arcade Partners, an entrepreneurial-focused middle market private equity firm. Mr. Furer was Co-Founder and Director of Stone Arcade, a blank check company that completed its initial business combination with KapStone in 2007. Mr. Furer was a Co-Founder and Director of Stone Arcade, where he was primarily responsible for recruiting the executive team and, together with the management team, assisted in the identification and evaluation of business combination opportunities which led to the successful acquisition of the assets from International Paper (NYSE: IP) by KapStone. In 2007, Kapstone became public through the merger with Stone Arcade. This initial business combination represented one of the first corporate carve-out transactions completed by a blank check company. Mr. Furer joined the KapStone Board of Directors upon completion of the business combination and remained on the Board for 11 years until KapStone was acquired by WestRock Company (NYSE: WRK) in 2018. Mr. Furer was also the Chief Executive Officer and Director of Arcade Acquisition Corporation, a blank check company that announced a business combination in 2008 and subsequently liquidated in 2009 during the global financial crisis. Prior to KapStone, Mr. Furer was a Partner at Washington and Congress Advisors, a private equity firm. He oversaw a number of portfolio companies, including several with significant operational and financial challenges that required a “hands-on” approach to deal with lender, co-investor and employee issues. Mr. Furer was also a Co-Founder of Meridian Capital Partners, where he completed the “buy and build” of SWF Machinery, a West Coast based manufacturer of packaging machinery equipment that was sold to Dover Industries. He began his career as an analyst in the corporate finance department with Jesup & Lamont, a merchant bank. During his 10 years at Jesup, Mr. Furer rose from analyst to President and Chief Executive Officer, prior to his retirement from the firm. He graduated from the George Washington University with a B.B.A. in International Business.