Officers & Directors | Sun Communities

Director since: 2017

Committee
NCG Chair, Audit

Directorship Experience
Sun Communities, Inc.

Qualifications, Attributes, Skills and Experience

Financial advisory and capital markets transaction experience as former Vice President of Citigroup's Real Estate and Lodging Investment Banking group
Former Equity Research Associate with Chilton Investment Company and High Yield Research Associate at Fidelity Management
MBA from Columbia Business School, awarded the prestigious Feldberg Fellowship and BA from Wellesley College

Director since: 2023

Directorship Experience

Serves on the Board of Directors of Equinox Holdings, Inc.
Chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee on the Board of the Real Estate Roundtable
Chairman of energyRe, a clean energy development company
Serves on the Board of multiple non-profit organizations, including Central Park Conservancy, the New York Partnership Fund, Robin Hood Foundation, Trinity School, Lincoln Center and The Mount Sinai Medical Center

Qualifications, Attributes, Skills and Experience

CEO of Related Companies, responsible for strategic direction, acquisitions, new development opportunities, and financing activities across all business platforms
Undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan
Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Named to Crain’s New York’s New Influentials list of 25 leaders reshaping New York

Director since: 2024

Experience
Sun Communities, Inc.

Qualifications, Attributes, Skills And Experience

Served as Global Head and CIO of Public Securities at Heitman Real Estate Investment Management
Served as Head of Real Estate Securities, Americas, and US Portfolio Manager for RREEF
Served in various REIT research and investment management roles at Morgan Stanley Dean Whitter
Undergraduate degree from University of Wisconsin - Whitewater
Master of Science in Finance, Investment, and Banking from the University of Wisconsin - Madison
Chartered Financial Analyst

Director since: 2014

Committees
Compensation Chair, Audit

Directorship Experience

Serves as Board Member, Compensation Committee member, and Chair of numerous private portfolio companies of Rockbridge Growth Equity, LLC
Member of the Compensation Committee of Intersection Holdings
Member of Audit Committee of Cranbrook Educational Community
Former Audit committee chair of a regional gaming company
Former Chairman of Active Aero Group/USA Jet Airlines Inc.

Qualifications, Attributes, Skills and Experience

Private equity and venture capital experience focusing on companies in the business services, financial services, sports, media and entertainment and consumer direct marketing industries
Former Chief Executive Officer of Active Aero Group/USA Jet Airlines Inc.
MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, BBA from the University of Michigan

Director since: 2015

Committees
MH Finance Chair, NCG, Compensation and Executive

Directorship Experience

Chairman of Verge.io, a software defined data center company
Former Director of TCF Financial Corporation, formerly a public traded bank holding company (Chairman of the NCG, ESG and Strategic Committees and a member of the Finance, Risk and Technology Committees)
Actively involved with closely-held companies in the real estate industry and the technology industry and Board Member of several non-profit organizations
Former Director of Origen Financial, Inc., formerly a publicly traded mortgage REIT that originated, securitized and serviced, and managed manufactured home loan portfolios

Qualifications, Attributes, Skills and Experience

Extensive real estate acquisition, finance and capital markets experience
Former CEO of Origen Financial, Inc.
Graduate of the University of Michigan Law School

Director since: 2024

Experience
Served on the Board of Directors of American Campus Communities Inc., the largest developer, owner and manager of student housing communities in the United States, until the sale of the company to Blackstone.

Qualifications, Attributes, Skills And Experience

CEO of GSI Capital Advisors, an investment manager with expertise in publicly traded real estate securities
Spent 27 years at Green Street Advisors, the last twelve of which as the firm's CEO, guiding its strategic direction and overseeing its client relationships and interactions
Undergraduate degree from the University of California - San Diego
Master of Business Administration in Finance and Real Estate at Columbia University

Director since: 1996

Committees
Executive, MH Finance

Directorship Experience

Attorney and Partner, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
Director of TCF Financial Corporation (Chairman of the Compensation Committee, member of the Credit Administration Committee and TCF Strategic Committee)
Director of several closely held companies in the real estate, steel, technology and banking industries
Director and officer of a number of closely held public and private nonprofit corporations, including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (executive committee member, treasurer and board member)
Jewish Federation & United Jewish Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit Financial and Best Business Practice Committees member

Qualifications, Attributes, Skills and Experience

Practices law in the areas of business planning, mergers and acquisitions, taxation, estate planning and real estate
MBA in finance and a post graduate LLM degree from New York University in taxation
Previously recognized as one of the nation's Top 100 Attorneys by Worth magazine and has been chosen over the last 10 years as one of the Super Lawyers
Former Adjunct Professor of Law at Wayne State University and the University of Detroit

Gary A. Shiffman is our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and has been a director and an executive officer since our inception in 1993. He is a member of our Executive Committee. He has been actively involved in the management, acquisition, construction, and development of manufactured housing communities and has developed an extensive network of industry relationships over the past thirty years. He has overseen the acquisition, rezoning, development, expansion, and marketing of numerous manufactured home communities, as well as recreational vehicle communities. Additionally, Mr. Shiffman, through his family-related interests, has had significant direct holdings in various real estate asset classes, which include office, multi-family, industrial, residential, and retail. Mr. Shiffman is an executive officer and a director of SHS and all of our other corporate subsidiaries.

Mr. Thelen has served as our Chief Operating Officer since December 2022. Previously he was our Executive Vice President of Operations and Sales. Mr. Thelen has led our manufactured home sales and leasing subsidiary, Sun Home Services, Inc., since joining the Company in January 2018. Mr. Thelen's responsibilities grew consistently over the years and included MH and RV property operations and marketing. Mr. Thelen has a wide-ranging network of industry relationships and currently serves on the board of CampSpot, the leading online marketplace for RV resorts and campgrounds and in which Sun owns a joint venture interest. Prior to Sun, Mr. Thelen held multiple positions with a national manufactured home builder, most recently as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Prior to that, he was with the management consulting firm Booz & Company.

Mr. Castro-Caratini has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since May 2022. He joined us in November 2016 as Senior Vice President, Finance and Capital Markets where he set operational, financial, corporate M&A, and public communication strategies in addition to managing Sun’s investor, research analyst, investment bank and lender relationships. Prior to joining Sun, Mr. Castro-Caratini was with Citigroup in the Real Estate & Lodging Investment Banking Group where he executed on a broad range of transactions for real estate and lodging clients focusing primarily on strategic advisory, including M&A and initial public offerings. Mr. Castro-Caratini received a B.A. from Washington University in Saint Louis, and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Mr. Weiss has served as our Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development since October 2021. Mr. Weiss is responsible for coordinating our corporate strategy, planning and business development and has a comprehensive background in real estate, lodging, finance and strategic advisory. Prior to joining Sun, he was a Managing Director in Citigroup’s Real Estate & Lodging Investment Banking Group where he provided strategic and financing advice to private and public real estate, lodging and private equity clients. Before joining Citigroup, Mr. Weiss worked at Nomura and Lehman Brothers where he executed capital markets and advisory transactions in the US, UK, Asia, Australia and Western Europe.

Mr. Underwood has served as Safe Harbor's Chief Executive Officer since January 2017. He was designated as an executive officer of the Company upon our acquisition of Safe Harbor in October 2020. From 2015 to 2017, he served as President of Safe Harbor. Mr. Underwood was previously the Chief Investment Officer of CNL Lifestyle Properties, a previously public REIT, where he was responsible for the acquisition and management of a large portfolio of lifestyle assets.

Mr. Farrugia has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer since June 2022 leading the implementation of some of Sun’s most strategic and transformational projects that will enhance Sun’s continued growth. Mr. Farrugia served as Sun’s Senior Vice President of Culture and Innovation since November 2019 and has been part of the Sun team since 2011. Prior to joining Sun, he held various roles in human resources, training, and mortgage banking at Quicken Loans. Mr. Farrugia received a Bachelors in Organizational Leadership and a Masters in Employment Law from Penn State University.