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About Us

Tremont Mortgage Trust is a real estate finance company focusing primarily on originating and investing in first mortgage loans secured by middle market and transitional commercial real estate (CRE).

We believe capital markets for CRE financing is undergoing a fundamental change presenting an opportunity for alternative lenders like TRMT. TRMT’s goal is to be a leading provider of debt capital secured by middle-market capital CRE.

In 2016, The RMR Group LLC acquired the historical Tremont business, which specialized in middle market CRE finance. In connection with the acquisition, a number of real estate professionals joined The RMR Group LLC. Tremont Mortgage Trust seeks to leverage the CRE debt expertise of the Tremont team with the national platform and real estate management experience of The RMR Group LLC.

Manager and Platform

TRMT is managed by Tremont Realty Advisors LLC, a registered investment adviser subsidiary of The RMR Group LLC, the operating subsidiary of The RMR Group Inc. (Nasdaq: RMR). RMR is an alternative asset management company that was founded in 1986 to manage real estate companies and related businesses. RMR primarily provides management services to four publicly traded equity real estate investment trusts, or REITs, and three real estate related operating businesses. In addition to managing TRMT, RMR manages Services Properties Trust, a REIT that owns hotels and net lease service and retail properties, Industrial Logistics Properties Trust, a REIT that owns industrial and logistics properties, Office Properties Income Trust, a REIT that owns buildings primarily leased to single tenants and those with high credit quality characteristics like government entities, and Senior Housing Properties Trust, a REIT that primarily owns healthcare, senior living and medical office buildings. RMR also provides management services to Five Star Senior Living Inc., a publicly traded operator of senior living communities, Sonesta International Hotels Corporation, a privately owned operator and franchisor of hotels and cruise ships, and TravelCenters of America Inc., a publicly traded operator and franchisor of travel centers along the U.S. Interstate Highway System and restaurants. RMR also advises the RMR Real Estate Income Fund, a publicly traded closed end fund that invests in publicly traded securities of real estate companies, through a wholly owned SEC registered investment advisory subsidiary, as well as manages the RMR Office Property Fund, a private, open end core plus fund focused on the acquisition, ownership and leasing of a diverse portfolio of multi-tenant office properties throughout the U.S. As of September 30, 2019, RMR had $32.8 billion of real estate assets under management and the combined RMR managed companies had approximately $12 billion of annual revenues, over 2,200 properties and nearly 50,000 employees. We believe that being managed by RMR is a competitive advantage for TRMT because of RMR’s depth of management and experience in the real estate industry. We also believe RMR provides management services to us at costs that are lower than we would have to pay for similar quality services.

TRMT, through its manager Tremont Realty Advisors LLC, is supported by the depth of The RMR Group LLC, which has:

$32.8 Billion
in total assets under management
approximately
600
real estate professionals
nationwide reach with more than
30 offices
across the U.S.
over
30 years
of cre experience

Senior Leadership

TRMT senior leadership average over 25 years of CRE credit and capital markets experience through multiple real estate cycles, including lending and loan restructuring experience.

Portrait

David M. Blackman, President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Blackman has been our Chief Executive Officer since our formation and President and a Managing Trustee since 2018. Mr. Blackman has been an Executive Vice President at The RMR Group LLC, or RMR LLC, since 2013 and was a Senior Vice President from 2009 to 2013. Mr. Blackman has also served as Director, President and Chief Executive Officer since 2018 and as an Executive Vice President of our Manager from 2016 through 2017. Mr. Blackman served as the Chief Executive Officer of Government Properties Income Trust during 2018, and was its Chief Operating Officer from 2011 to 2018 and Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer from 2009 until 2011. Mr. Blackman served as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Trustee of Select Income REIT during 2018, its President since 2011 and was its Chief Operating Officer from 2011 to 2018. Upon the merger of Government Properties Income Trust and Select Income REIT at the end of 2018, Mr. Blackman began serving as Managing Trustee, President and Chief Executive Officer of the merged company, Office Properties Income Trust. Prior to joining RMR LLC, Mr. Blackman was employed as a banker at Wachovia Corporation and its predecessors for 23 years, where he focused on real estate finance matters, including serving as a Managing Director in the real estate section of Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC from 2005 through 2009. Mr. Blackman’s experience includes asset level real estate lending, real estate loan syndications, REIT corporate banking and real estate investment banking.
Portrait

G. Douglas Lanois, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Mr. Lanois has been our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer since our formation. He will be responsible for supervising our investment closings and our day to day Portfolio management. Mr. Lanois has served as Senior Vice President of Tremont Realty Advisors LLC and The RMR Group LLC, or RMR LLC, since 2018 and was Vice President prior to that time since RMR LLC acquired substantially all of the Tremont business in 2016. Before joining RMR LLC, Mr. Lanois was Chief Financial Officer and Portfolio Manager of Tremont Realty Capital, LLC since 2004. Prior to Tremont Realty Capital, LLC, Mr. Lanois was Chief Financial Officer of CRES Development Company, Inc., a multidisciplinary real estate firm, from 2003 to 2004. Prior to CRES Development, Mr. Lanois was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Pembroke Real Estate, the real estate development and management division of FMR LLC, from 1998 to 2002. Prior to Pembroke, Mr. Lanois was Vice President and Controller at Beacon Properties Corporation, and he previously worked at AEW Capital Management and the accounting firm of Laventhol & Horwath.

Board of Trustees

Portrait

John L. Harrington, Independent Trustee

Mr. Harrington has been one of our Independent Trustees since shortly after our formation. He is Chair of the Board’s Compensation Committee. Mr. Harrington also serves on the Boards of Service Properties Trust, Senior Housing Properties Trust, Office Properties Income Trust and RMR Real Estate Income Fund. Mr. Harrington was the CEO of the Boston Red Sox Baseball Club until 2002, and is currently the Executive Director and Chairman of the Yawkey Foundation and a trustee of the JRY Trust. Mr. Harrington is a certified public accountant.
Portrait

Joseph L. Morea, Independent Trustee

Mr. Morea has been one of our Independent Trustees since shortly after our formation. He is Chair of the Board’s Audit Committee. Mr. Morea also serves on the Boards of Industrial Logistics Properties Trust, TravelCenters of America Inc. and RMR Real Estate Income Fund. Mr. Morea is a Trustee of THL Credit Senior Loan Fund (NYSE: TSLF) and Eagle Growth and Income Opportunities Fund (NYSE: EGIF) and an Independent Director on the Board of Garrison Capital Inc (Nasdaq: GARS). Mr. Morea was a Vice Chairman and Managing Director, serving as head of U.S. Equity Capital Markets, at RBC Capital Markets, an international investment bank, from 2003 until 2012. From 2008 to 2009, Mr. Morea also served as the head of U.S. Investment Banking for RBC Capital Markets. Previously, Mr. Morea was employed as an investment banker, including as a Managing Director and the co‐head of U.S. Equity Capital Markets at UBS, Inc., the Chief Operating Officer of the Investments Banking Division and head of U.S. Equity Capital Markets at PaineWebber, Inc. and a Managing Director of Equity Capital Markets at Smith Barney, Inc. Prior to working as an investment banker, Mr. Morea was employed as a certified public accountant.
Portrait

Jeffrey P. Somers, Independent Trustee

Mr. Somers has been one of our Independent Trustees since shortly after our formation. He is Chair of the Board’s Nominating and Governance Committee. Mr. Somers also serves on the Boards of Senior Housing Properties Trust, Office Properties Income Trust and RMR Real Estate Income Fund. Mr. Somers is of Counsel to the law firm of Morse, Barnes-Brown & Pendleton, PC of Waltham, MA.
Portrait

David M. Blackman, Managing Trustee

Mr. Blackman has been our Chief Executive Officer since our formation and President and a Managing Trustee since 2018. Mr. Blackman has been an Executive Vice President at The RMR Group LLC, or RMR LLC, since 2013 and was a Senior Vice President from 2009 to 2013. Mr. Blackman has also served as Director, President and Chief Executive Officer since 2018 and as an Executive Vice President of our Manager from 2016 through 2017. Mr. Blackman served as the Chief Executive Officer of Government Properties Income Trust during 2018, and was its Chief Operating Officer from 2011 to 2018 and Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer from 2009 until 2011. Mr. Blackman served as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Trustee of Select Income REIT during 2018, its President since 2011 and was its Chief Operating Officer from 2011 to 2018. Upon the merger of Government Properties Income Trust and Select Income REIT at the end of 2018, Mr. Blackman began serving as Managing Trustee, President and Chief Executive Officer of the merged company, Office Properties Income Trust. Prior to joining RMR LLC, Mr. Blackman was employed as a banker at Wachovia Corporation and its predecessors for 23 years, where he focused on real estate finance matters, including serving as a Managing Director in the real estate section of Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC from 2005 through 2009. Mr. Blackman’s experience includes asset level real estate lending, real estate loan syndications, REIT corporate banking and real estate investment banking.
Portrait

Adam D. Portnoy, Managing Trustee

Mr. Portnoy has been our Managing Trustee since 2018 and has served as Chair of the Board since 2019. Mr. Portnoy is President and Chief Executive Officer of The RMR Group Inc. (Nasdaq: RMR) and The RMR Group LLC. He is the Chair of the RMR Executive Operating Committee. Mr. Portnoy also serves on the Board of RMR and the Boards of several companies managed by RMR, including: Service Properties Trust (Nasdaq: SVC), Senior Housing Properties Trust (Nasdaq: SNH), Office Properties Income Trust (Nasdaq: OPI), Industrial Logistics Properties Trust (Nasdaq: ILPT), Tremont Mortgage Trust (Nasdaq: TRMT), Five Star Senior Living Inc. (Nasdaq: FVE), TravelCenters of America Inc. (Nasdaq: TA), RMR Real Estate Income Fund (NYSE American: RIF), Sonesta International Hotels Corporation (Private) and RMR Advisors LLC as well as Tremont Realty Advisors, both SEC registered investment advisors. Prior to joining RMR in 2003, Mr. Portnoy held various positions in the finance industry and public sector, including working as a banker at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and ABN AMRO, working in private equity at the International Finance Corporation (a member of The World Bank Group) and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, as well as serving as Chief Executive Officer of a telecommunications company. Mr. Portnoy currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Pioneer Institute, and as the Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Bulgaria to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and he is formerly a member of the Board of Trustees of Occidental College and the Board of Governors of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT). Mr. Portnoy graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy from Occidental College in 1993.