Redwood Trust, Inc. on June 26, 2020, announced that George W. Madison will join its Board of Directors effective as of July 1, 2020, to fill the vacancy created by the Board’s decision to increase the size of the Board from eight directors to nine. Mr. Madison will serve on the Board’s Audit Committee and Governance and Nominating Committee. Mr. Madison retired in March 2020, after serving as a partner at Sidley Austin LLP for six years, where he focused on financial institutions regulation and corporate governance issues on behalf of domestic and foreign financial firms and technology companies. Between April 2009 and June 2012, Mr. Madison served as the 30th General Counsel and chief law officer of the US Department of the Treasury and as a senior policy advisor and senior counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner. Prior to April 2009, Mr. Madison served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of TIAA-CREF and Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Comerica Incorporated. Before working at TIAA and Comerica, Mr. Madison was a partner at Mayer Brown, LLP, and was the first African-American partner in the then 120-year history of the firm. Earlier in his career, Mr. Madison was associated with the law firm of Shearman & Sterling LLP in New York and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. Separately, on June 22, 2020, Garnet Kanouse, a Managing Director of the company, voluntarily terminated his employment with the company effective as of June 27, 2020.
Redwood Trust, Inc. is a specialty finance company focused on several distinct areas of housing credit. The Company's segments include Residential Consumer Mortgage Banking, Residential Investor Mortgage Banking, and Investment Portfolio. The Residential Consumer Mortgage Banking segment consists of a mortgage loan conduit that acquires residential loans from third-party originators for subsequent sale to whole loan buyers, securitization through its SEMT (Sequoia) private-label securitization program, or transfer into its investment portfolio. The Residential Investor Mortgage Banking segment consists of a platform that originates business purpose lending loans for subsequent securitization, sale, or transfer into its investment portfolio. The Investment Portfolio segment consists of organic investments sourced through the Company's mortgage banking operations. Additionally, through RWT Horizons, its venture investing initiative, the Company invests in early-stage companies.