Merged into Cipher Mining Inc., ticker now CIFR
GWAC

Completed

Cipher Mining Inc.

CIFR
First $9.95
Merger $11.75
18%
Merger +6mo $3.20
68%
Merger +1yr $1.40
86%
Recent $4.29
57%

GOOD WORKS ACQUISITION CORP.

Raised
$150M
CIK
1819989
SPAC Ticker
GWAC
Merger
Cipher Mining Inc.
Merged Ticker
CIFR
Focus
Opportunity Based on Coronavirus Impact
External link: SEC Filings

SPAC Team

Leadership

Fred Zeidman, Co-Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Fred S. Zeidman has served as our Chief Executive Officer and been a member of our board of directors since June 2020. Mr. Zeidman has served as Chairman of Gordian Group LLC, a U.S. investment bank specializing in board level advice in complex financial matters since December 2014. Over the course of his distinguished 50-year career, Mr. Zeidman has been involved in numerous high-profile workouts, restructurings and reorganizations. He served as lead Director of Straight Path Communications, Inc., Director of REMA and Prosperity Bank in Houston and was formerly Restructuring Officer of TransMeridian Exploration Inc. and Chief Bankruptcy Trustee of AremisSoft Corp. He was also Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of Seitel, Inc., a Houston-based onshore seismic data provider where he was instrumental in the successful turnaround of the Company and also held the post of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Unibar Corporation, the largest domestic independent drilling fluids company, until its sale to Anchor Drilling Fluids in 1992. Mr. Zeidman was appointed Chairman of the US Holocaust Memorial Council by President George W. Bush in 2002, and served until 2010, and is Chairman Emeritus. He was Chairman of the University of Texas Health Science System Houston and is Chairman Emeritus. Mr. Zeidman was a Director of the Texas Heart Institute. He is on the board of the Development Corp of Israel (Israel Bonds) and served on the Board and Executive Committee of the National World War II Museum. Mr. Zeidman holds a Bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master’s in Business Administration from New York University. We believe that Mr. Zeidman is well qualified to serve on our board of directors due to both his extensive leadership, restructuring and corporate finance experience as well has his extensive relationships in the investing, investment banking and restructuring businesses.

Douglas Wurth, Co-Chairman and Director

Douglas Wurth will serve on our board of directors following the closing of this offering. Mr. Wurth led both the Wealth and Alternative Asset Division of the Asset Management businesses during his nearly 20 years at J.P Morgan from 1997 to 2016. He was Chief Executive Officer of Alternative Investments for J.P. Morgan Asset Management, where he managed businesses with over $120 billion in alternative assets. Prior to that role, Mr. Wurth was the Chief Executive Officer of J.P. Morgan’s International Private Bank, where he led the expansion of the franchise in Asia, Latin America and Europe while based in New York, Hong Kong, and London. Earlier, Mr. Wurth served as global head of J.P. Morgan Private Bank’s Alternative Investments Group in London and New York, which sourced, structured and monitored funds, separate accounts, and directs. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Mr. Wurth practiced law at the New York firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom from 1992 to 1995, and served as General Counsel to former U.S. Senator Robert Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign. Mr. Wurth earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. We believe that Mr. Wurth is well qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his overall leadership experience, his experience in the private equity and alternative investments industry and his legal experience.

Cary Grossman, President and Director

Cary Grossman has served as our President and been a member of our board of directors since June 2020. Mr. Grossman is a veteran finance professional with a combination of executive management, investment banking and public accounting experience. His extensive experience includes interim management and restructuring of distressed businesses, public and private placements of debt and equity, mergers & acquisitions, initial public offerings, building and leading management teams, oversight of company financial functions, investor relations, and corporate governance.

In 2010, Mr. Grossman co-founded Shoreline Capital Advisors, an investment banking firm focused on financial advisory services and middle market corporate finance transactions. Recent engagements have included: a term debt financing for one of the largest cannabis companies in the U.S., a leveraged recapitalization for a large managed care physician practice, serving as Chief Restructuring Officer for oilfield service company bankruptcies, and arranging $250 million of private debt and equity as well as advising on related acquisitions. Prior to Shoreline, from 1991 – 2002, Mr. Grossman co-founded and was CEO of another investment banking firm, McFarland, Grossman & Company. Earlier in his career, he practiced public accounting for 15 years. Mr. Grossman has also held a number of executive positions, including; President of XFit, Inc. from 2019 to 2020, Chief Financial Officer for Blaze Metals, LLC from 2007 to 2010; Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Gentium, S.P.A. from 2004 to 2006; Chief Executive Officer of ERP Environmental Services, Inc. and Chief Financial Officer of U.S. Liquids, Inc. from 2001 to 2003. He also co-founded Pentacon, Inc. (NYSE: JIT) and served as a board member and Executive Chairman from 1998 – 2002, and as a director of Metalico (NYSE: MEA) 2014 – 2015 and INX Inc (NASDAQ: INXI) 2004 – 2011. Mr. Grossman is a Certified Public Accountant and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas. We believe that Mr. Grossman is well qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive corporate finance and management experience, his prior experience with SPACs and his overall public company experience.

David Pauker, Director

David Pauker will serve on our board of directors following the closing of this offering. Mr. Pauker is an independent director and C-suite executive with more than 25 years of experience advising public and private companies and their investors as financial advisor and interim manager.

Mr. Pauker was formerly the Executive Managing Director of Goldin Associates, a leading U.S. financial and restructuring advisory firm from 1990 to 2015. He headed the firm’s national practice and was senior advisor to companies and investors in financial services, energy and natural resources, consumer products, chemicals & industrial products, manufacturing, media & telecom, professional services, real estate, retail and other industries. He assisted clients to identify core competencies, develop strategic plans and negotiate and structure numerous financial and restructuring transactions.

Mr. Pauker has served as an interim C-suite executive for numerous public and private companies including Young Broadcasting, Refco, Vlasic Foods/Swanson Frozen Foods, Grand Court Lifestyles, PSINet Consulting, ISM Advisors, Pharmacy Fund and Essar Steel Minnesota. Mr. Pauker has successfully negotiated the sale of many operating businesses and frequently improved financial performance through review of revenue drivers, COGS and SG&A and optimization of working capital.

Mr. Pauker is currently non-executive Chairman of the Government Development Bank Debt Recovery Authority of Puerto Rico and a member of the board of Steinhoff International Holdings, NV. Mr. Pauker was appointed to the board of Lehman Brothers pursuant to its bankruptcy plan and served briefly as its Chairman from 2015 to 2016. He was formerly on the boards of Terraform Power and Interstate Bakeries. He is also a director of Social Accountability International.

Mr. Pauker earned a J.D. from Columbia Law School and a B.S. from Cornell University (Industrial and Labor Relations). Mr. Pauker is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. We believe that Mr. Pauker is well qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive experience as a restructuring professional and his extensive relationships with investors in distressed businesses.

John J. Lendrum, III, Director

John J. Lendrum will serve on our board of directors following the closing of this offering. Since 2015, Mr. Lendrum has been the Non-Executive Chairman of Nuevo Midstream Dos, LLC which is actively pursuing midstream projects in the primary energy basins of the United States. From 2012 to 2014, he was the former President, CEO and member of the Board of Directors of Nuevo Midstream Company (“Nuevo”). Nuevo owned and operated gas gathering, processing and treating assets in the Delaware and Permian Basins of West Texas and New Mexico. This entity was sold to an affiliate of Anadarko Petroleum Company in 2014. Both Nuevo entities were formed and capitalized with EncapFlatrock Midstream partners.

Mr. Lendrum serves on the Board of Blue Rock Energy Partners. In 2018, he participated along with several other family offices, in the acquisition of Blue Rock from the private equity unit of TudorPickeringHolt. Blue Rock and its predecessors have been involved in providing acquisition and development capital to the independent energy industry for over 25 years.

He is the former Chairman of the Board, from 2013 to 2015, and President, from 2003 to 2013, of Torch Energy Advisors Incorporated (“Torch”), a Houston-based company which specialized in the exploitation and development of oil and gas properties, mid-stream oil and gas assets and clean energy renewable energy projects. Previously, from 1987 to 1993 Mr. Lendrum served as EVP and Chief Financial Officer of Torch and served in senior financial and business development roles with the Torch managed public companies of Nuevo Energy Company, Energy Assets International and Bellwether Exploration. Prior to joining the Torch companies in 1986, Mr. Lendrum served as EVP and Chief Financial Officer of a private oil and gas production company in Midland Texas.

From 2006 to 2011, Mr. Lendrum was the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Resaca Exploitation, Inc., which was listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in 2008. He was also a Director of BPZ Energy, Inc. (“BPZ”) and Chairman of the Audit Committee. BPZ focused on the exploration and development of oil and gas and power generation projects in South America, with principal activities offshore Peru. BPZ was listed on the NYSE.

Mr. Lendrum began his career with the international public accounting firm of KPMG Peat Marwick where he worked from 1975 to 1982. He earned a B.B.A. in Finance and completed his graduate studies in Accounting Theory at The University of Texas at Austin. We believe that Mr. Lendrum is well qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive experience in a number of industries, his extensive leadership and public company governance experience and his extensive networks in the private equity and investment banking industries.

Paul Fratamico, Director

Paul Fratamico will serve on our board of directors following the closing of this offering. He has over 20 years of experience in financial markets and distressed investments and is currently a Managing Director at I-Bankers Securities, Inc. since 2015.

Starting his Wall Street career in 1999 at JP Morgan, Mr. Fratamico was part of a Special Situations investment group that managed a long-short propriety trading fund on behalf of the bank. In 2006, Mr. Fratamico joined $15 billion multi-strategy hedge fund MD Sass where he played a leadership role and helped manage the fund’s special situations and distressed investment strategy, Resurgence Asset Management.

While there, the Hedge Fund Research Institute ranked Resurgence Asset Management as the number one fund in the United States in its category.

For the past several years, Mr. Fratamico has served as a trusted financial advisor on finance and investment transactions involving leading figures from the worlds of business, entertainment, and politics. In addition, Mr. Fratamico has served as a speaker and subject matter expert on corporate finance and financial restructuring topics. Mr. Fratamico has given professional seminars at leading Wall Street banks such as Citibank, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, international banks including Bank of China, Société Général, and Rabobank, as well as leading universities such as the University of Chicago, Columbia University, and Johns Hopkins University.

Earlier in his career from 1995 to 1997, Mr. Fratamico worked at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DC, a multilateral development bank founded in 1959 to accelerate the economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Mr. Fratamico holds a Bachelor’s degree from Villanova University and a Master’s in Business Administration from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. We believe that Mr. Fratamico is well qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive experience and relationships in distressed investing and restructuring.

Tahira Rehmatullah, Director

Tahira Rehmatullah will serve on our board of directors following the closing of this offering. She has served as President of T3 Ventures Advisory since August 2016 and Partner at Highlands Venture Partners since June 2020. She is an investor, entrepreneur and advisor to numerous businesses and has expertise in brand development, investment strategy, and operational growth. An established thought leader, Ms. Rehmatullah is a frequent speaker at conferences and events around the world and has been featured in press outlets such as Forbes, Business Insider, Fortune, and Rolling Stone.

Previously, Ms. Rehmatullah was Managing Director at Hypur Ventures, a venture capital fund, from June 2017 to August 2019, CFO of MTech Acquisition Corp., a SPAC, from January 2018 to June 2019, General Manager of Marley Natural, an iconic cannabis lifestyle brand, from November 2014 to May 2016, and an Investment Manager at Privateer Holdings, a private equity fund from July 2014 to May 2016. Prior to that, from September 2011 to June 2012, Ms. Rehmatullah was a Portfolio Manager at City First Enterprises managing CFE’s community development investment portfolio, and an associate at Perry Capital from March 2007 to July 2011 where she led research initiatives for the asset-backed securities team. Her career began in Ernst & Young’s Financial Services Advisory practice from October 2005 to March 2007.

Ms. Rehmatullah earned her MBA from the Yale School of Management, where she was a Yale Entrepreneurial Institute Venture Creation Advisor. She holds a B.S. in Finance and Life Sciences from The Ohio State University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and was a Presidential Scholar. She resides in New York City. We believe that Ms. Rehmatullah is well qualified to serve on our board of directors because of her diverse private equity investing experience, her extensive prior experience with special purpose acquisition companies and her marketing and branding experience.