William L Rogers

Mr. Rogers is the founder of TexWest, LLC – his principal investment vehicle. Mr. Rogers is one of the founders of U.S. Farming Realty Trust [ “ USFRT” ] (www.internationalfarming.com) -- currently three limited partnerships (totaling $1 billion equity) investing in an unleveraged, diversified portfolio of U.S. farmland. Bill grew up on a small family farm in North Carolina, and USFRT’s general partner and its affiliates have been successfully entrenched in a number of agri-business operations since 1871. Bill is the Chairman of American Timberlands Company ("ATC"). ATC has purchased 40,000 acres of timberland and conservation land in the Southeastern U.S. Mr. Rogers was also a founder of The Halifax Group – a small-cap leveraged buyout group founded by himself; his partners of twenty years, David Bonderman (Chairman of the Texas Pacific Group – www.tpg.com) and Tom Barrack (Chairman of Colony Capital- www.colonycapital.com); and David Dupree (a former Carlyle partner). While at Halifax, Halifax [www.thehalifaxgroup.com] invested in eighteen corporate transactions, estimated by Mr. Rogers to total over $3 billion in enterprise value. Mr. Rogers served as Chairman of The Halifax Group from its inception in 1999 to January 1,2010. Mr. Rogers, together with his partners Keith Tucker and Tom Delatour, was an initial investor in Century Bridge to focus on "build to sell, middle income, residential real estate" in growing Tier II Chinese cities. Century Bridge has now invested in seven realty projects totaling $1.2 billion in cities like Xian, Dalian, etc. Mr. Rogers is an avid traveler to New Mexico, has a home is Santa Fe, and is a founder of RSF Land & Cattle, based in New Mexico, which has a number of real estate holdings. Mr. Rogers is also a principal of Colony Capital and is one of the founding partners of Colony. Since its inception in 1991, Colony has invested over $60 billion in real estate related assets and has 14 offices in 12 countries. Prior to Colony, Mr. Rogers invested his personal capital in a number of successful real estate restructuring and leveraged corporate acquisitions. From 1983 to 1988 Mr. Rogers was, along with David Bonderman and Tom Barrack, the initial “investment team” for the Robert M. Bass Group. Prior to 1983, Mr. Rogers served as an owner and director of DCI, a specialty food processing company, which he recapitalized and merged with an entity controlled by Richard Rainwater and Bass Brothers Enterprises of Fort Worth, Texas. Mr. Rogers is a former partner of KPMG Peat Marwick and served as a coordinator of the original White House Conference on Small Business while on loan in 1979 from Peat Marwick to the White House. He was invited to serve as controller for the President’s re-election campaign. Mr. Rogers received a B.S. from the University of North Carolina in 1969, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate; and he received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business in 1972, where he was a Vehon Scholar. He is a member and former Chairman of the Kenan Flagler Business School Board of Visitors at the University of North Carolina and assisted in the oversight of its Foundation’s investments. He is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University, and is a former trustee of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Mr. Rogers lives in Dallas, Texas. He is a member of the University Club (New York), the Carolina Country Club (Raleigh), Shady Oaks Country Club (Fort Worth), Bent Tree Country Club (Dallas),the Coral Casino Beach Club (Santa Barbara) and the Montecito Country Club (Santa Barbara). His hobbies include time on the golf course , shooting, and contemporary art.