He is the 1997 recipient of the NAREIT Leadership Award. Mr. Decker holds a J.D. from Antonin Scalia Law School, and a B.S. in Education from Kent State University. We believe Mr. Deckers expertise in the REIT industry, financial acumen and investment banking background are a significant value to our Board of Directors.
Committees: Audit, Compensation, Nominating & Corporate Governance (Chair)
JOHN A. GOOD
Mr. Good, age 62, has served as our Chief Executive Officer since October 2018. Mr. Good previously served as our President and Chief Operating Officer from June 2015 to October 2018. He has been a director since June 2015. Prior to joining us, Mr. Good was a partner and co-head of the REIT practice group of Morrison & Foerster LLP, a global law firm. From 1999 to 2013, Good was a partner, multi-term executive committee member and head of the REIT practice at Bass, Berry & Sims PLC and prior to that was a stockholder and chair of the securities and M&A practice group at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell and Berkowitz P.C. Since January 2018, Mr. Good has served on the board of directors, as chairman of the compensation committee and as a member of the nominating and corporate governance committee since November 2019, and has served on the audit committee, of Farmland Partners Inc., a publicly-traded farmland REIT. Mr. Good graduated from the University of Memphis with a BBA in accounting, cum laude, in 1980, attained his CPA designation and practiced with a large regional CPA firm until entering University of Memphis School of Law, where he received his J.D. with honors in 1987. He has been nationally ranked by Chambers USA as a leading lawyer to the REIT industry and has been active in NAREIT since 1994. We believe Mr. Goods expertise in the legal field and the REIT industry and his financial acumen are a significant value to our Board of Directors.
REBECCA OWEN
Ms. Owen, age 58, has served on the Companys Board of Directors since December 2018. Ms. Owen is the Chairman and founder of Battery Reef, LLC, a commercial real estate investment and management company. From 1995 until January 2019, she served in various roles at Clark Enterprises, Inc., a private investment firm, and its affiliated companies, including Senior Vice President of Clark Enterprises, Inc. from 1995 to 2019, President of CEI Realty, Inc., the real estate investment arm of Clark Enterprises, Inc. from 2015 to 2019, and Chief Legal Officer of Clark Enterprises, Inc. from 1995 to 2017. Since 2013, Ms. Owen has served as a member of the board of directors of Carr Properties, a private real estate investment trust. Since 2016, she has also served as a member of the Real Estate Investment Advisory Committee of ASB Capital Management, LLC, an institutional real estate investment firm. We believe Ms. Owens significant experience as both an executive and director in the real estate industry add significant value to our Board of Directors.
Committees: Audit, Compensation (Chair), Nominating & Corporate Governance
HOWARD A. SILVER
Howard A. Silver, age 65, has been a member of our Board of Directors since February 2015. Mr. Silver retired in 2007 as the chief executive officer and president of Equity Inns, Inc., a position he held since 1998. Equity Inns was a New York Stock Exchange-listed company and hotel REIT focused on the upscale, extended-stay, all suite and midscale limited-service segments of the hotel industry, until its sale to Whitehall Global Real Estate Funds in October 2007. Mr. Silver also served as the executive vice-president of finance, chief financial officer and chief operating officer of Equity Inns from 1994 to 2004. Prior to his tenure at Equity Inns, Mr. Silver spent 13 years in the auditing field with both Ernst & Young LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Mr. Silver currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Cole Office & Industrial REIT (CCIT III), an office and industrial REIT that is a publicly registered, non-traded REIT since July 2016, where he serves as the Audit Committee Chairman and a member on the Valuation, Compensation and Affiliate Transactions (VCAT) Committee. Mr. Silver also serves as a member of the board of directors of CIM Real Estate Finance Trust, Inc., a mortgage REIT that is a publicly registered, non-traded REIT, since October 2019, where he serves on the Audit and VCAT Committees. Mr. Silver served as a member of the board of directors of EDR, a publicly listed collegiate housing REIT from 2012 through the sale of the company in 2018, where he served as lead independent director. Mr. Silver served as a member of the board of directors of Landmark Apartment Trust of America, Inc., a multifamily real estate company that was a publicly registered, non-traded REIT until 2016. From its inception in 2004 through the sale of the company in 2012, Mr. Silver was a member of the board of directors of Great Wolf Resorts, Inc., (NASDAQ:WOLF), a publicly listed family entertainment resort company. He also served as a member of the board of directors of CapLease, Inc.,