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Professional Profile: Ryan Baker, From NYU to South America to USC to Working a Billion Dollar Receivership By * |
“I had worked at Smith Barney and was trained for the financial industry and ready to head to one of the Wall Street Banks to do private equity,” said Ryan. “There I was, sitting in the heart of New York, witnessing the bottom fall out and the spectacular collapse of the financial industry. The timing couldn’t have been worse. All the mid-town firms I was targeting now had lines of people out the door carrying banker’s boxes containing picture frames and their favorite office ferns.” Clearly it was time to pivot, and Ryan chose to return to his home base in Orange County, Calif. where he had graduated from St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano. “The California weather had been calling me for a while,” laughs Ryan, “I’d realized it’s better to have the option to go to the snow instead of the snow inevitably coming to you.” Once back in Southern California, the investment banking job market was still in shambles. “The writing on the wall was clear: I needed to make a major career change. Investment banking wasn’t going to come back for a while.” says Ryan. “My brother had been ruminating on this crazy idea of backpacking through South America. And, with no job prospects and some major life decisions to make, what better time to go?” Ryan and his brother started in Mexico and traveled South America for six months. Ryan and his brother surfed, cliff jumped and paraglided their way across Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia and perfected their Spanish language skills. In these younger years, Ryan had always been active and a bit of an adrenaline seeker. Ryan had also travelled extensively across Europe and southeast Asia. He also competed in five Olympic distance triathlons, ran a marathon and two half marathons, went bungee jumping (twice), and sky dived out of a perfectly functioning airplane. Now-a-days, Ryan prefers to play golf, ski, and change diapers. From his younger and more daring years, Ryan has transitioned to a new chapter in his life. In 2009, Ryan reconnected with a former high school classmate, Sarah. They fell in love, married, and now have two adorable and amazing daughters, ages one and three. To say the least, 2009 was a good year for Ryan. He started dating his wife and found his career in the receivership industry. When Ryan met Bob Mosier, president and CEO of Mosier & Co. Inc., the prestigious fiduciary and crisis management firm, he pestered Bob for three months,” says Ryan. “I would read Receivership News articles and email Bob telling him how interesting they were, in the hopes of breaking into this incredible industry.” Finally, Mosier gave him his big break. The assignment was the Private Equity Management Group – a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme exposed in Federal Court by the Securities and Exchange Commission that led to the appointment of Mosier as a Federal Equity Receiver. Ryan was tasked with tracing $1 billion worth of investments from nine investors over a 10-year period into 46 investment vehicles located in the British Virgin Islands. The overall investments included over 50 assets and 275 life insurance policies (with over $1 billion in face value) and a cash flow requirement of $1 million per week to keep the insurance premiums current. Most of the assets were jointly owned by multiple investors. This analysis provided the basis for the court-approved distribution plan to victims of the $336 million recovery. “Bob trusted me,” says Ryan. “He tossed me in the deep end and forced me to sink or swim.” Ryan also credits Mosier for encouraging him to attend USC to earn his MBA, which he did while working at Mosier & Co. Soon after, Ryan began taking on his own receivership assignments ranging from electric bike companies to night clubs to large commercial real estate. For 10 years, Mosier and Ryan worked together on all aspects of the receiverships industry, handling a comprehensive range of assignments. Last year, Ryan joined Douglas Wilson Companies (DWC) in San Diego. DWC’s business model of pivoting between real estate and receivership/fiduciary work brings new case exposure to Ryan’s work portfolio. Having been appointed on or served as lead agent on more than 100 Receiver, Provisional Director, Trustee and Partition Referee matters, Ryan was the perfect person to launch DWC’s new Los Angeles/Orange County office. His experience with regulatory receivership assignments from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, and state courts was a solid fit with DWC’s line of business. “Ryan is one of the industry’s high achievers, with extensive regulatory receivership experience involving financially challenged operating companies and complex real estate ventures,” said Douglas Wilson, DWC chairman and CEO. Some of Ryan’s current receivership assignments include the liquidation of the nation’s second largest hospitality furniture manufacturer, whose difficulties impacted not only 500 employees but some of the country’s biggest companies, inclusive of J.W. Marriott, Disneyland, and Starbucks. Another high-profile receivership assignment on Ryan’s docket is the Mohamed Hadid home in Bel Air, a 30,000 square feet, $28 million spec house that was built in violation of multiple building codes, resulting in endangerment to its neighbors. Ryan is a member of the National Association of Federal Equity Receivers and both the Los Angeles County and the Orange County Bankruptcy Forums. Ryan continues to serve on the board of the California Receivers Forum and helped found the Young Professionals Committee for both CRF and NAFER.. |