Board of Directors

William M. Isaac (Chairman)

William M. Isaac headed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation during the banking crisis of the 1980s, serving under Presidents Carter and Reagan from 1978 through 1985. Mr. Isaac founded The Secura Group, a leading consulting firm, in 1986. Secura was acquired by FTI Consulting in 2011, where Mr. Isaac served as senior managing director through 2019 when Mr. Isaac partnered with Howard Milstein in the financial services business, serving on the boards of New York Private Bank & Trust and Emigrant Bank, as well as serving as non-executive Chairman of Sarasota Private Trust and Cleveland Private Trust. The Isaac-Milstein Group is their financial consulting arm.

Mr. Isaac is Member, Board of Directors of the Ringling College of Art & Design, Sarasota, Florida; Member, Board of Directors, Total System Services (TSYS); Former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fifth Third Bancorp; Chairman of the Isaac Family Property Companies; Life Member of the Board of Directors of The Ohio State University Foundation; Member of the Board of Directors of BankCap Investment Fund; and Member, of the Bretton Woods Committee.

Mr. Isaac received an honorary LLD from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, a JD, summa cum laude, from the College of Law at The Ohio State University and a BS in Business Administration and Economics from Miami University.

John R. Hart

Mr. Hart is President and CEO of Sarasota Private Trust Company and is Vice Chairman of New York Private Bank & Trust Company. He also serves as a Director of the Board of Cleveland Private Trust Company. Mr. Hart has over 40 years of experience in the banking sector, primarily in Investments and Private Wealth Management. He is responsible for the Private Banking Division and the Capital Markets Division of Emigrant Bank which oversees investments in private equity funds, hedge funds, common stocks, municipal and corporate bonds, and other fixed income instruments. Mr. Hart also oversees New York Private Finance which provides credit to finance strategic investments for private investors. Additionally, he oversees Aperture Media Partners, a specialty finance business in the film and television industry.

In civic and philanthropic activities, Mr. Hart is a Board Member of Opportunity International, a past Chairman of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, the Christian Heritage School and Hope Church. He is also currently a National Advisor to Rev. Tim Keller, an American theologian, author and pastor.

Mr. Hart holds an MBA in Finance from Saint Joseph’s University and a B.A. in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University.

James M. Hojnacki

James M. Hojnacki is President and CEO of Cleveland Private Trust Company where he also serves as a Director of the Board. He is responsible for relationship management and business development. Before assuming this role, Jim was Managing Director and COO. Jim has spent over 30 years in the Finance and Banking industry in and around the Northeast Ohio. Prior to joining Cleveland Private Trust Company, Mr. Hojnacki was Senior Vice President at Dollar Bank where he managed a team of private bankers, a portfolio manager and compliance and administrative staff. He began his career in public accounting with PricewaterhouseCoopers, a multinational audit, assurance and consulting firm.

Mr. Hojnacki has a number of civic and professional interests which include, Board Member and Treasurer of True North, Member of the Accountancy Board of Ohio, volunteer activities at the City Mission and Past President of the Cleveland State Business Alumni Association.

Jim graduated from Cleveland State University’s James Nance School of Business with a Bachelor of Arts degree and pursued graduate studies at Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management with a focus on Finance and Marketing.

George J. Dickson, Jr.

George J. Dickson, Jr. is Senior Executive Vice President, Co-head of Capital Markets and Chief Investment Officer for New York Private Bank and Trust and Emigrant Bank. Mr. Dickson has been an executive officer of Emigrant Bank since 1988. He is a founding member of the Bank’s Asset/Liability Committee, managing and advising nearly $5 billion of mortgage-backed securities, corporate bonds, preferred stocks, U.S. Government Securities, and municipal bonds. Mr. Dickson also advises separately managed accounts for New York Private Bank & Trust clients and reviews alternative investment allocations for suitability.

For more than 30 years, he has been integrally involved with all of the Bank’s Capital Markets initiatives, ranging from operating the wholesale money market desk to the highly successful U.S. Treasury, GNMA MBS, and municipal bond trading programs. He created and managed the NYPB&T Municipal Liquidity Fund (MF-1 LP), a special purpose hedge fund designed to capitalize on unique opportunities that arose during the financial crisis. Prior to joining Emigrant Bank, he was an Investment Strategist at Meritor (PSFS) Bank in Philadelphia.

Mr. Dickson holds a B.S. degree from Drexel University, with a dual major in Finance and Economics, and an M.S. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Eric Kaplan

Eric Kaplan has, since 2003, been a senior financial consultant with Bristol Consultants, LLC and with predecessor companies since 1985. Mr. Kaplan provides consulting services to high net worth investors and has particular expertise in real estate development and operation. Prior to joining Bristol’s predecessor companies, Mr. Kaplan worked for International Financial Group between 1983 and 1995 and later worked as a manager in the tax consulting services division of Arthur Young & Company (a predecessor of Ernst & Young) during 1980 through 1983. Mr. Kaplan is a CPA and is a member of the New York, Florida and New Jersey bars. He graduated with honors from Bernard M. Baruch College in 1978 where he received a B.B.A. He also graduated from New York Law School where he earned a J.D. in 1983 and later earned his LLM in tax in 2013.

Eric Kaplan serves on the board of the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation and the Boys and Girls Club of Sarasota. In addition he is Vice Chair of the Jewish Family & Children’s’ Service (“JFCS”) of the Suncoast which is based in Sarasota, Florida. Mr. Kaplan also serves on the Board of Directors as the representative of the Louis and Gloria Milstein Flanzer Trusts.