OUR FOUNDER
Hugh R. Lamle, Managing Member and Chief Investment Officer
Hugh has a long history of starting and building new investment businesses and strategies. The material below describes Hugh’s role in these projects/ businesses. The activities listed below are in addition to supervising the fixed income and cash management activities of M.D. Sass and affiliates, working with numerous clients and their consultants and as President of M.D. Sass, participating in the overall management of the firm and its affiliates. Hugh's activities include, but are not limited to:
- building more than 30 new business ventures
- reviewing almost 1,000 potential business plans
In all cases, Hugh Lamle’s principal role was:
- conceiving or analyzing the potential business opportunity
- recruiting senior professionals for the day-to-day operations
- structuring a joint venture
- negotiating the terms of the JV, including complex operating agreements
- financing the startup of the business
- investing personal funds and company funds in the strategy to prove or refine the investment thesis
- adjusting the investment strategy in light of experience and market developments
- helping to raise capital from investors for investment strategies that were deemed successful enough to provide opportunities for outside investors
- assisting in the development of marketing materials for each strategy
- reviewing initial investment opportunities for each strategy until Mr. Lamle became comfortable that the investment process and professionals were functioning properly
- assisting in the creation of additional investment strategies and products related to the companies’ underlying intellectual property and competitive advantages
- selling or shutting down investment business and negotiating termination or sales agreements for business deemed unsuccessful or unlikely to continue to be successful
- selling their interest in some businesses that were successful to our joint venture partners and our outside buyers (these transactions were generally complex and often took several months to complete)
In addition to the above, Mr. Lamle was involved in organizing a creditors committee that successfully sought to recoup value for our investors in six taxable municipal bonds issued and secured by Guaranteed Investment Contracts (GIC’s) issued by Executive Life Insurance Company, which filed for bankruptcy. The Commissioner of Insurance of the State of California sought to have these GIC’s deemed to not be insurance contracts and therefore subordinated to other insurance contacts which would have limited their recoveries. This was a very complex and time consuming, multi-year process which included trials at all three judicial levels in California and ultimately lead to a recovery for their investors.
OUR PROFESSIONALS
HUGH R. LAMLE
Mr. Lamle served as President of M.D. Sass Investors Services, Inc. until his retirement in December 2017. At M. D. Sass, where he had been a Partner since 1974, he headed its fixed income and alternative investment strategies activities. Among his many professional accomplishments:
- He currently serves as President and founder of M.D. Sass-Macquarie Financial Strategies Management, LLC (FinStrat), which invests in new investment management company start ups and buy outs.
- From 1995 to 2001, he was also President, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Chase & MD Sass Partners, a joint venture between The Chase Manhattan Bank and M.D. Sass Investors Services, Inc., that was formed to manage money market and short-term bond portfolios for Chase and Chase’s largest corporate clients. M.D. Sass sold its interest in this $20+ billion joint venture to J.P. Morgan Chase after the acquisition of J.P. Morgan by Chase.
- Mr. Lamle was formerly Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the FINEX (a regulated Commodities Exchange) and was on the Board of Governors at the New York Board of Trade (a regulated Commodities Exchange) until it was acquired in 2007 by the Intercontinental Commodities Exchange (ICE). He served on the Board of ICE Futures US until 2018.
- He was a co-founder of Real Estate Capital Partners (RECP) in 1989 and served as its Managing General Partner until 2005 when M.D. Sass sold its interest in this $5.5 billion real estate investor and developer. Mr. Lamle founded Tax Advantaged Bond Strategies, a national municipal bond management business, that was sold to Eaton Vance in 2008.
- He was a founder and President of three related distressed securities management companies - Re/Enterprise Asset Management, Resurgence Asset Management (focused on control investments in distressed companies) and Corporate Renaissance Group (a publicly traded BDC investing in distressed securities).
Through M.D. Sass-Macquarie, Mr. Lamle was active in the formation of many businesses including:
- AMERRA Capital Management LLC, which finances agricultural commodity producers in Mexico, Central and South America and recently Europe, to provide customized commodity finance solutions to producers, processors and distributors.
- Taurus Resources Fund LLC, which finances post exploration but early stage minerals mining companies around the globe.
- Waterfall Asset Management LLC, a specialty credit manager focused on high yield structured credit and real estate debt strategies, which was sold in 2013 to its management and an investment group.
- HighTower Financial Advisors, a national wealth management firm managing more than $45 billion.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
- Mr. Lamle has authored numerous articles for professional and academic publications and is a frequent lecturer at professional conferences and universities.
- He has served as an expert witness for and consultant to major law firms and corporations in securities valuation matters and structuring settlements in many important securities litigations. If interested in more details on how Mr. Lamle might be able to assist you in similar matters, please see the Financial Consulting section of this web site.
- He has 47 years of investment experience and an MBA (Finance and Investments) from Baruch College – City University of New York.
DR. LIVIA HELMER
Dr. Helmer's accomplishments include:
Diplomate American Board of Internal Medicine
September 1982
Diplomate American Board of Anesthesiology
April 1985
Committees:
Hospital Transfusion Committee
Chairperson
St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center
Quality Improvement Committee
Department of Anesthesiology
St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center
Clinical Practice Committee
Department of Anesthesiology
St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center
Publications:
Chapter 6: Laboratory Investigations
Livia Helmer and Joseph Schappert
Textbook of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology
Daniel M. Thys et al
McGraw-Hill Companies
98-119, 2001
The Hemodynamic Effects of Intravenous Cimetidine In Intensive Care Unit Patients: A Double-Blind Prospective Study
Thomas J. Iberti, M.D., Thomas A. Paluch, M.D., Livia Helmer, M.D.,
Victor A. Murgolo, R.N., Ernest Benjamin, M.D. Anesthesiology
64:87-89, 1986
Dr. Helmer's clinical practice always involved teaching and training of residents. That entailed researching and teaching the latest drugs and techniques to residents, initially in both the Intensive Care Unit and anesthesia in the operating room, and subsequently, in the operating room setting. She was also in charge of setting up and implementing the Thoracic Anesthesia rotation for all the residents and for medical students rotating with the Anesthesia Department. Her clinical duties also included teaching and supervising residents in non thoracic anesthesia settings as well.
Education:
Sept 1967 – June 1971
B.A. Mathematics
CUNY, Queens College
New York, N.Y
Phi Beta Kappa
July 1975 – June 1979
M.D.
NYU School of Medicine
New York, N.Y.
Alpha Omega Alpha
Internal Medicine Residency:
July 1979 - June 1980
Department of Medicine
SUNY, Upstate Medical Center
Syracuse, N.Y.
July 1980 - June 1982
Department of Medicine
Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center
New York, N.Y.
Anesthesiology Residency
July 1982 - June 1984
Department of Anesthesiology
Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center
New York, N.Y.
Academic and Hospital Appointments:
August 1991 – July 2014
St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center
Senior Anesthesiologist
Department of Anesthesiology
Assistant Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology
Columbia University
New York, N.Y
November 1986 – August 1991
Attending Anesthesiologist
Roosevelt Hospital
Assistant Professor
Columbia University
New York, N.Y.
July 1984 – October 1986
Attending Anesthesiologist
Mount Sinai Hospital
Attending Surgical ICU
Mount Sinai Hospital
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology
Mount Sinai School Of Medicine
New York, N.Y.
Professional Organizations:
American Society of Anesthesiology
New York State Society of Anesthesiology
International Research Society of Anesthesiology
Board Certification:
Diplomate American Board of Internal Medicine
September 1982
Diplomate American Board of Anesthesiology
April 1985
Former Chairperson - Hospital Transfusion Committee
St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center
Former Member - Quality Improvement Committee
Department of Anesthesiology
St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center
Former Member - Clinical Practice Committee
Department of Anesthesiology
St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center