OUR SENIOR STAFF

MART BAKAL

Founder, Owner and Chairman of Crimson Capital Group.

Mart Bakal was a Faculty member at Harvard Business School and a Partner at Drexel Burnham Lambert. He has been active in finance, law and investments in US, Canada, Europe and Asia.

In 1991 he started Crimson Capital to participate in opportunities in emerging markets and led the privatization and restructuring of major enterprises and banks in the Czech Republic and Poland. Since then Crimson has been involved in transactions with an asset value of over $18 Billion. Today Bakal lives in Beijing where he focuses on investments in private equity and real estate. He has been a Director of numerous public and private companies and charitable organizations in Canada, United States, Europe, and China. physiology from Kalamazoo College in Michigan.

MICHAEL N. GOLD

Managing Director

Michael Gold is a seasoned investment and commercial banker and management consultant with over 39 years of experience, the last 24 years of which have been resident in the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the former Soviet Union. His specializations include increasing access to finance, competitiveness, privatization, foreign direct investment, trade, SME development, and legal and regulatory reform. As Managing Director of Crimson Capital, Mr. Gold oversees all of Crimson’s international development work, including a portfolio of 18 current projects and 5 master contracts on four continents.

Mr. Gold has developed and implemented programs in numerous countries including Uganda, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Armenia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Macedonia, Kosovo, Peru, El Salvador and Bolivia, and has pioneered the introduction and expansion of Purchase Order Finance (POF) in developing countries. His career highlights include managing the Macedonia Business Resource Center (MBRC) which helped hundreds of SMEs become more competitive and generated over $95 million in new trade and investment; establishing the Macedonia SME Commercial Finance Fund and the Crimson Finance Fund in Kosovo, both of which utilize POF to help SMEs dramatically increase sales, profits, employment and exports; advising the Czech government on privatization and enterprise restructuring, resulting in the successful privatization of over 200 major companies and over $6 billion in foreign direct investment; and helping the government of Macedonia secure a regional record price of 225 million EUR for the privatization of the national electricity distribution company, along with an investment commitment of 96 million EUR.

Mr. Gold has achieved over $7 billion USD in debt and equity financing, foreign direct investment, and export transactions in developing and emerging countries. He was worked closely with banks, central banks, investment funds and MFIs in the US and throughout the developing world. Mr. Gold holds an Executive Management degree from UCLA, and a B.A. in biochemistry and physiology from Kalamazoo College in Michigan.

ROBIN HOWELL

Director - Finance & Operations

Robin Howell is one of the founders of Crimson Capital and has overseen all financial and administrative matters for the company since 1991. She enjoys more than 28 years of professional expertise in financial analysis and management, human resource administration, and corporate governance. Ms. Howell has been instrumental in facilitating Crimson Capital’s global portfolio expansion.

Ms. Howell previously served as Director of Operations for Tigera Group (formerly Fortune Computer), a publicly traded company. Ms. Howell is active in a variety of civic and charitable organizations including the Alzheimer’s Association, the American Center for Law and Justice, and the National Rifle Association; and serves on the Board of Directors of Cumberland Academy of Georgia. Ms. Howell is also a member of the prestigious Business Executives for National Security (“BENS”). Ms. Howell holds a B.S. in Business and Accounting from University of South Carolina.