Michael Minnick has been the Co-Chief Executive Officer of CIIG Capital Partners II, Inc. and a member of its board of directors since September 2021, and is a Co-Founder and has been a Managing Partner at IIG Holdings since 2014. Mr. Minnick has also served as a Director, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Opus Music Group Investments, LLC since December 2021. From 2019 until March 2021, he was Chief Investment Officer and director of CIIC. Prior to forming IIG Holdings, he was a Co-Founder and Senior Managing Director of Interlink Investment Group, from 2012 to 2014 Mr. Minnick has experience in more than $190 billion in transaction volume, including advisory and debt and equity capital executions at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) and The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (NYSE:RBS), or RBS. Mr. Minnick served in various capacities at RBS, from 2004 to 2011, culminating in his service as a Managing Director and Head of Corporate Finance in the Telecom, Media & Technology Group. From 2003 to 2004, Mr. Minnick was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Traffic Networks, a startup that developed mobile and online real-time traffic information for the New York Metropolitan markets. From 1996 to 2002, Mr. Minnick served in different positions within Investment Banking at JPMorgan Chase & Co. including the Telecom, Media & Technology Group and the Global Syndicated Finance Group. Prior to joining JPMorgan Chase & Co., Mr. Minnick was an Associate at The Bank of Nova Scotia in the Corporate Finance and Syndications division from 1994 to 1996. Mr. Minnick began his career at AT&T (NYSE:T) where he served in several analyst capacities from 1989 to 1992, including as a Financial Analyst in the Market Analysis & Forecasting Division for Business Communications Services within the Chief Financial Officer division. From 2012 to 2019, he served as a Director of Paystar Inc., a privately-held FinTech company. Mr. Minnick received a M.B.A. from Cornell University and a B.A. from The University of St. Thomas.

Rasheq Zarif, our lead strategic advisor, has 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship, strategy, product development and commercializing ecosystems. Mr. Zarif currently serves as a Managing Director in Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy and Analytics practice based in San Francisco and leads Deloitte’s Technology Practice for the Future of Mobility. At Deloitte, Mr. Zarif is responsible for further advancing the growth in shared and autonomous mobility ecosystems with the focus of being faster, safer, cheaper, cleaner, and with greater accessibility, inclusivity and equity.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Mr. Zarif held a variety of leadership roles at Mercedes-Benz. His most significant span was as head of Business Innovation and Lab1886 USA, an incubator for Mercedes-Benz based in Silicon Valley. In his role, he operationalized and scaled innovations in various digital services in the mobility and real estate sectors. This blend of experience included developing residential and commercial energy solutions as interim CEO of Mercedes-Benz Energy. Mr. Zarif also led the design and development of white-labeled concierge and mobility platforms for Master Planned Communities. Furthermore, Mr. Zarif advised on over $200 million of mobility and SaaS investments during his tenure in Silicon Valley from 2012 to 2018.

Mr. Zarif frequently presents at global tech industry events, including the Consumer Electronics Show and South by Southwest (SXSW). He has co-authored various whitepapers, ranging from micromobility in urban infrastructure to scenario planning post-COVID. Mr. Zarif earned his Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and his Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in economics from Columbia University.

Ms. Holladay is Chief Experience Officer of TIGER 21, an exclusive peer membership organization. From 2012 to 2020, Ms. Holladay served as Vice President and Global Brand Leader of Marriott International, a hospitality company, for the brands The Ritz-Carlton Hotel and The St. Regis Hotels & Resorts. Prior to joining Marriott, Ms. Holladay was National Manager of Experiential Marketing of Mercedes-Benz USA, an automotive company. Ms. Holladay also serves on the board of the Erwin Center for Brand Communications at Clemson University. Ms. Holladay has an M.A. from Georgetown University and a B.A. from Clemson University.

Richard Chera, our chief executive officer, has over 20 years of experience in leading large real estate transactions and retail development, branding assets and integrated technologies. He is a co-founder and serves as senior managing director of Crown Acquisitions Inc., or Crown, a New York-based holding company with extensive holdings in real estate and branding assets. At Crown, Mr. Chera has executed several marquee transactions, including the acquisition of 650 Madison Avenue from the Carlyle Group, the sale of the retail portion of 666 Fifth Avenue, the acquisition of the Olympic Tower at 641 Fifth Avenue and the adjacent Versace and Cartier mansions from an affiliate of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation.

Demonstrating relationships and strategic partnerships, Crown, co-led by Mr. Chera, has acquired an interest in the successful retail portion of the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. Mr. Chera and the team at Crown remain active in all aspects of executing the business plans on all of its acquisitions, ensuring to foster long-term and sustainable growth. Most recently, Crown has acquired a significant portfolio of assets on New Bond Street in London and interests in Vornado Realty’s New York retail portfolio.

In addition to his duties at Crown, Mr. Chera co-founded ReWyre®, a technology aggregator and intelligent city master planner based in New York City. By way of his holdings in Crown Star, a U.K.-based company, ReWyre® collaborates on projects in the U.S. and Canada with design and engineering firms based in Europe and Asia to design “smart” cities for the future.

Furthermore, Mr. Chera serves on the boards of various non-profit organizations that focus on public health, children’s and seniors’ services, as well as business growth opportunities for entrepreneurs. Mr. Chera attended New York University’s Stern School of Business and The Sanno Institute in Tokyo, Japan.

Mr. Siegel is the Chairman, Global Brokerage at CBRE, Inc. Prior to the merger with CBRE, Mr. Siegel was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Insignia/ESG. Before that, he became President and Chief Executive Officer of Cushman & Wakefield at the age of 37. Mr. Siegel has arranged multi-million-dollar transactions for some of the nation’s most prominent corporate clients over the years. More recently, Mr. Siegel closed major deals with the Headquarters of HBC (400,000 ft2), Headquarters of Apollo (300,000 ft2), Estee Lauder, Corp. Headquarters (300,000 ft2) and the Headquarters for L’Oreal (400,000 ft2). He sits on numerous nonprofit boards, such as Gift of Life and National Jewish Health. He has honorary doctorates from Baruch College, Yeshiva University, Monmouth University and St. Thomas Aquinas University.

Chris Rogers is a member of our Board of Directors. From 2019 until March 2021, he was a director of CIIG1. Mr. Rogers has over 30 years of operating and investing experience and has served in his current capacity as Partner at Lumia Capital LLC since 2013.

Mr. Rogers co-founded Nextel Communications in 1987, which later sold to Sprint Corporation (NYSE:S) in 2005. Mr. Rogers served as Senior Vice President at Nextel, implementing numerous strategies and campaigns. Mr. Rogers moved to Sprint in 2005 after Nextel was acquired, where he served as a Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Spectrum until 2012. He oversaw mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, equity investments and joint ventures in the role and was also responsible for management and oversight of wireless spectrum licenses and Sprint’s portfolio of emerging technology investments.

Mr. Rogers received his B.A. from Tufts University and his J.D. from the Catholic University of America.