Advisory Board

Mark E. Freitag
Mark E. Freitag is an Partner in the Atlanta office of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell’s corporate department with experience in a wide variety of corporate finance and transactional matters. Mr. Freitag’s practice has involved a wide range of corporate transactional activities, including the review, negotiation and implementation of corporate contracts, vendor management, corporate governance, litigation management, licensing and regulatory compliance, and representation of lenders and borrowers in commercial loans, real estate loans and credit-enhanced municipal bonds. Currently, his practice focuses on life settlements and premium finance transactions, including the representation of liquidity providers, domestic and foreign life settlement providers, premium finance lenders, life settlement brokers, life insurance producers, broker-dealers, institutional investors, and financing entities. Mr. Freitag has also had significant experience representing lenders and other creditors in corporate bankruptcies and workouts.

Cynthia M. Poveda
Cynthia Poveda is President of Life Settlement Insights (LSI) and President and Chief Compliance Officer of Arbor Court Capital, a FINRA member broker dealer. Operationally, Ms. Poveda maintains a focus on institutional account management, investor and provider relations, regulatory compliance and transaction-related activities. Prior to joining LSI, she managed institutional equity sales territories for both KeyBank Capital Markets and Citigroup. In addition, she established new sales markets for FTN Midwest Securities during its start-up phase and managed trust and charitable endowment portfolios for National City Bank. She holds life licenses, is a registered representative with FINRA holding a Series 7, 24 and 63, and received a BSBA from the University of Louisville and a MBA from Case Western Reserve University.

Craig L. Seitel
Craig Seitel is CEO and Managing Partner of Abacus Settlements, LLC, and brings more than fifteen years of experience in investment banking and asset securitization. Prior to joining Abacus, Craig served as the Managing Director for the New York office of Allison-Williams Company, an Investment Banking Firm. While there he was responsible for generating corporate finance projects relating to various aspects of institutional clients' capital requirements. Prior to that Craig worked for Oppenheimer Corp. as a Senior Vice President, helping capitalize various finance companies and designing related securitization programs. In this regard Craig developed extensive knowledge of various asset types including life insurance settlements, structured settlements, commercial leases, auto loans, consumer mortgages as well as a variety of other assets. Craig has also testified as an expert witness on behalf of the Securities and Exchange Commission in litigation involving esoteric private placement related disputes and inquiries.

Steven M. Shapiro
Mr. Shapiro is the founder of the Q Capital Strategies LLC. Previously, Mr. Shapiro was the President of MARK Partners LLC, a merchant banking boutique he founded in 2001. Mr. Shapiro has extensive experience in strategic consulting, investment banking advisory services, and private equity investing. Mr. Shapiro has held positions with several private equity and investment banking partnerships, including The Blackstone Group, LP and Centre Partners Management LLC. Mr. Shapiro holds a B.A. degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. in finance and entrepreneurial management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.