Financial Services >> CEO Interviews >> September 22, 2014

Interview with the Executive Chairman, President and CEO: Farmland Partners Inc. (FPI)

Pittman, Paul
Paul Pittman has served as the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Farmland Partners Inc. since its initial public offering in April 2014. Since 2008, Mr. Pittman also has been the president of American Agriculture Corporation and Pittman Hough Farms LLC. From 2007–2008, Mr. Pittman served as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Executive Vice President of Jazz Technologies, Inc., a semiconductor foundry. From 2004-2006, he was Partner and Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at ThinkEquity Partners LLC. From 2000-2003, he was President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of HomeSphere, Inc., an enterprise software company, and TheJobsite.com, which merged into HomeSphere. From 1997-2000, Mr. Pittman was Head of Emerging Markets M&A at Merrill Lynch in London, where he was responsible for origination and execution of all M&A business in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, the former Soviet Union, and Africa. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S. degree in Agriculture, received a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University, and a J.D. with Honors from the University of Chicago Law School. Profile
TWST: Given that Farmland Partners is a relatively new company, I think a good place to start would be to tell our readers about how the company came to fruition.

Mr. Pittman: I had