Phil Cotton is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nicklaus Companies, the leaders in golf course design services and delivering experiences, branded products and services around the world under the iconic Jack Nicklaus and Golden Bear brands. Phil is charged with managing all of the Companies major lines of business and expanding the brand worldwide.

Phil is a senior executive in the sports & entertainment industry with over 20 years’ experience working for some of the world’s top athletes, brands and agencies most recently as CEO & Founder of Elevate Sports Ltd, an integrated agency.

His extensive business experience also includes being the Head of EMEA and Asia Golf Division for global sports marketing agency, 4sports & marketing based in Switzerland, Senior Vice President, Ernie Els Group based in the UK and US, Account Director for the SAP Global Sponsorship program at experiential agency, The Works London and European Sales & Marketing Manager for Parallel Media Group based in London.

John Reese the past Chief Executive Officer of the Nicklaus Companies has taken over a vice chairman role with the company is a member of the Board of Directors. He is responsible for helping to guide the company into the future while taking an advisory position to the Nicklaus Companies executives.

Before coming to Nicklaus Companies, John was a Partner and President of Fisher Reese & Associates, a group that developed and managed large real estate assets through the U.S.. Prior, John served as Director of Planning and Director of Marketing at the IBM Corporate Headquarters.

John is a graduate of the University of Virginia, McIntire School of Commerce and received an MBA from the University of Massachusetts.

Barry Friedberg is Co-Chairman of the Board of NYPB&T. He has served as a member of the Board since 2004.

Before to joining the Board of Emigrant Bank, Mr. Friedberg was Executive Vice President and member of the Executive Committee at Merrill Lynch for more than 10 years. From 1985 through 1993, Mr. Friedberg was head of the Global Investment Banking Division of Merrill Lynch. In 1985, when Mr. Friedberg assumed these responsibilities, Merrill Lynch was ranked 6th or lower in the debt, equity, and M&A league tables. By the end of Mr. Friedberg’s period of leadership, Merrill Lynch was #1 in the league tables for all of these products. Mr. Friedberg’s responsibilities also included oversight of the investment activities of Merrill Lynch which included approximately $1 billion of private equity investments and approximately $1.5 billion of leveraged financing for middle market companies. He also, in 1985, initiated:

(i) the first private placement effort at a Wall Street firm to place limited partnership interests on behalf of financial sponsor clients
(ii) the first effort by a Wall Street firm to provide as a principal a bridge loan to support an unsolicited buyout when Comcast bid for Storer Broadcasting.

Before to joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Friedberg was head of the Merger & Acquisition Group of AG Becker, which Merrill Lynch acquired in 1984.

Mr. Friedberg is Chairman Emeritus and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the New York City Ballet and is a member of its Investment Committee. He is also a member of the Board of Directors, Executives Committee, and Investment Committee of Scan Harbor and The Glaucoma Foundation.

Mr. Friedberg is a graduate of Princeton University (BA, 1962) and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Anthony Gerard is Special Advisor to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of New York Private Bank & Trust and Milstein Properties. He is a former Chairman of the Board of Directors of SupplyPro, Inc., a Director of the Nicklaus Companies and Zola Brazilian Superfruits, and a Director and Member of the Investment Committee of Azimuth Investment Management, LLC, which manages a diversified portfolio of hedge funds. He is the Managing Member of Gerard Partners, LLC, an advisory and investment firm, and is a Director and the Secretary of the Wellness Foundation of East Hampton.