Trusted strategic advisor and CEO coach with deep expertise in fostering open dialogue, building consensus, and guiding executive decision-making. Noted for strategic foresight, identifying emerging business opportunities, blending cross-industry experience, creative problem-solving, and incisive questions to unlock breakthrough solutions. Mentor leadership teams to align on vision while navigating complex challenges. An influential business partner and complex problem-solver with talent for cultivating high-trust cultures from the C-suite to the frontlines, driving alignment and breakthrough performance. Significant Board Experience across multiple industries and companies, from start-ups to large public companies.
CORE COMPETENCIES
■ Active Board Director ■ Executive Coaching ■ Strategic Leadership ■ Corporate Strategy
■ Executive Leadership ■ CEO Mentor and Advisor ■ Strategic Planning ■ Board Governance
■ Corporate Governance ■ Business Transformation ■ Audit Committee ■ Finance Committee
■ Cybersecurity Oversight ■ Enterprise Risk Assessment & Management ■ Capital Market Strategy
■ Cross-Functional Oversight ■ Crisis Management ■ Rpeat Entrepreneur
CORPORATE BOARD MEMBER & ADVISORY BOARDS
■ Current Board Member & Consultant - Lending USA (Private)
■ Former Board Member - Maxicare Health Plans (Public)
■ Former Board Member - Stars to Go (Public)
■ Former Board Member TFC Telecommunications (Public)
■ Former Board Member: Cable Advertising Systems (Public)
■ Former Advisory Boards
■ Advisory Board Member: Empower America
■ Advisory Board Member: Save Venice
■ Advisory Board Member: Zacchary Opera Auditions
■ Advisory Board Member | National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC)
■ Chairman of Advisory Board | Residential Utility Billing Society (RUBS)
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
■ Invested $10 million in seed money and raised an additional $50 million in seed money through Online Lending Partners to launch LendingUSA.
■ Coached the LendingUSA CEO as a Board Member and Consultant for 11 years, raising $220M+ in debt financing while scaling from seed to national lender issuing over $1.5 Billion in consumer loans.
■ Pioneered institutional marketplace lending during the Great Recession advocating consumer loan portfolios as an institutional asset class. Formed the first institutional fund to buy unsecured consumer loans.
■ Hired as an advisor to the CA State Assembly during the 2000 statewide energy crisis. ■ Instrumental negotiating a plan which achieved a 30% reduction in energy consumption which resolved California’s electricity shortage in 2000.
■ Negotiated a joint venture between ResCom and GE Capital. GE Capital committed $280 million in capital. committed $280M to launch GE Capital - ResCom. Retained to build the executive team. Secured partnerships with major telecom providers including six RBOCs and two long-distance carriers and negotiated FCC regulatory changes that enabled nationwide bundled telephone service that reduced capital costs by $100M+. Created the first residential flat rate bundled pricing for local & long-distance services
■ Founded and built National Water & Power. the largest residential utility billing service for the multi-family housing industry. Established a wholly-owned subsidiary, Open-C, which built an enterprise software system for major utility companies and achieved a 10x return with its sale to Accenture.
■ Rescued Fremont General, a California-based insurance company, by identifying a hidden asset. Arranged to lift-out Maxicare and took them public, raising $200 million for Fremont General and $200 million for Maxicare along with Solomon Brothers.
■ Enabled AT&T and other major companies to improve capital forecasting by developing the Net Terminal Budgeting formula, which resolved IRR limitations and guided future budgeting decisions.
■ Mentored C-level execs and next-gen principals at companies he founded or was a Board Member.
EDUCATION, LICENSES & CERTIFICATIONS
■ CFA Charter Holder | CFA Institute, CFA Society New York
■ Ph.D. Candidate in Finance | University of Minnesota, Graduate School of Management
■ Bachelor of Arts, Combined Major in Philosophy, History, and Political Science, University of Minnesota, Experimental College
ARTICLES & PUBLICATIONS
■ Purchasing Power – Taking Ownership of Mistakes
■ Barron’s – The Not-So-Fast Lane – A Balanced Newsletter Produces Fancy Returns
■ Forbes Magazine – Up and Comers – The Class of ‘83
■ Forbes Magazine – America’s Most Promising Companies
■ California Agent Magazine - Morbidity versus Mortality
■ Co-Author and Publisher of Port & Starboard – The Investment Strategist
■ Twin Cities Accounting Society - The Gaps in GAAP Accounting
■ Southwestern Journal of Finance - Net Terminal Value – A Capital Budgeting Methodology
CONTACT INFORMATION
E-mail: howard@haperfoster.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/howfree
FAMILY PHILOSOPHIES
"Do well while doing good"
"Traditional Values. Non-traditional Thinking"
These are not taglines but a way of life.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
HARPER | FOSTER •
FOUNDER, PRINCIPAL, CEO & CIO
■ Oversees capital deployment, manager selection, and direct investment decisions for our single-family office. Manage a diversified portfolio of traditional and alternative assets. while maintaining a conservative capital strategy focused on long-term capital preservation and liquidity management.
■ Guides next-generation family members on financial literacy, investment stewardship, and philanthropic initiatives.
■ Founded Online Lending Partners as an investment subsidiary which allocated $10M seed investment to co-found LendingUSA with $60M total capital from an additional UHNW family office for sustained success.
■ Raised $220M+ in additional capital for LendingUSA, scaling from seed to national lender.
■ Sourced innovative companies delivering predictable income-generating returns.
■ Navigated SEC receiver crisis by repurchasing $220M position for $51M, executing a major capital
restructuring while preserving all clients and credit facilities for LendingUSA.
■ Recognized as a primary advisor for C-Suite professionals on critical life/business decisions through ongoing one-on-one coaching.
■ Guest speaker at exclusive VC firm dinners and senior leadership events, providing relevant historical perspective on cross-generational investment perspectives to principals and portfolio companies.
■ Actively involved as a donor and Board Member on a number of philanthropic projects.
EMERALD DIRECT LENDING ADVISERS • CHIEF STRATEGIST
■ Pioneered institutional marketplace lending by founding Direct Lending Advisors in 2012 and structuring one of the first private credit funds investing in LendingClub and Prosper loans.
■ Partnered with LendingClub to create its first institutional forward flow program. Sold the firm to Emerald Asset Management, a multi-billion-dollar mutual fund and institutional RIA, served as Chief Strategist, building funds with some of the longest-running and best-performing track records in online consumer lending.
LIDO CAPITAL / THE VENICE GROUP • MANAGING PARTNER
■ Led a strategic consulting firm of 9 senior consultants with a total team of 60+, specializing in telecom, utilities, fiber buildouts, and data centers. Delivered high-impact consulting services to major clients, including managing Sierra Pacific Communications’ fiber assets, saving ~$200M in fiber contract liabilities.
■ Hired by the California State Assembly to mediate between the governor
and state senate during the electricity crisis, successfully negotiating/implementing a solution that resolved California's electricity shortage.
■ Other Clients included: AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, SBC, Fremont General, Broadband E2E, Los Angeles, Department of Water & Power, Abbey Healthcare & Abbey Pharmaceutical, American Farming Corporation, and FrigoLux.
NATIONAL WATER & POWER • Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO
■ Founded the largest outsourced utility billing provider for the multifamily market.
■ Raised $30 million in equity funding including strategic investments from major REITs.
■ Chaired the National Residential Utility Billing industry association and served on the NMHC.
■ Established a wholly-owned subsidiary, Open-C, which created and sold Billing/CIS enterprise systems to major utility companies and achieved a 10x return with its sale to Accenture.
GE Capital-ResCom (a subsidiary of Oakwood Worldwide) • Strategic Adviser and Consultant
■ Negotiated a 50/50 joint venture between GE Capital and ResCom where GE Capital committed $280M to launch GE Capital - ResCom.
■ Built the executive team
■ Secured partnerships with major telecom providers including six RBOCs and two long-distance carriers
■ Negotiated FCC regulatory changes that enabled nationwide bundled service that reduced capital costs by $100M+.
■ Created the first residential flat rate bundled pricing for local & long-distance services
EARLIER PROFESSIONAL CAREER
FINANCIAL CAREER
■ Started as a quality-of-earnings analyst at St. Paul’s mutual fund subsidiary. Promoted multiple times to senior portfolio manager.
■ Recruited by CMB Investment Advisors as a partner and senior portfolio manager.
■ Founded and managed September Investors, LLC, one of the first hedge funds on the West Coast in 1978.
■ Founded London Freedland, a FINRA-registered institutional broker/dealer and market maker in 1979.
■ Founded September Venture Associates in 1980 to invest in early-stage companies.