Thomas Krämer has worked in consultancy and finance since 1993. His goal was always to combine all relevant sectors of the financial market to achieve the maximum benefit for his clients. Guided by an almost British sense of fair play, he consistently aims to achieve the best possible results on a case-by-case basis. He is not satisfied with simply finding a solution, but always aims to find the best solution. He is gifted with the ability to express his ideas and concepts in a clear, understandable manner.
He has been a member of the Board of Directors of Timberland Capital Management GmbH (“Timberland Capital”) since 1996, which became a licensed financial service provider in Germany in 1998 whose services are passported to several other European countries. Timberland Capital has also acquired a license for Asset and Fund Management for individual investors, UCITS and AIFs.
Mr. Krämer set up [Timberland Capital’s] first retail investment fund in 1999 and was responsible for the day-by-day management of the fund’s portfolio. In 2003, Mr. Dirk Köster assisted Mr. Krämer in this role.
Mr Krämer has been a member of the board of directors of the German distribution agent of the Fund since 1999, and has been a business partner to several distributors. In 2006, he was appointed deputy chairman (stellvertretender Verwaltungsrat) of the board of directors (Verwaltungsrat) of a Luxembourg based investment fund and in 2009 he was appointed deputy chairman of the board of directors of a number of German investment funds. Mr Krämer is a member of the Board of Directors of Timberland Investment GmbH as a full scope AIFM for a closed ended AIF, which includes individual portfolio management, investment advice, reception and transmission of orders and the safekeeping and management of shares or units in domestic investment funds, EU investment funds and/or foreign AIF for others and the marketing of units or shares in investment funds to third parties.
Mr Krämer is also a board member and investment committee member of Timberland Fund Management Ltd., a Maltese MFSA-licensed full-scope AIFM, and a board member and a member of the investment advisory committee of Timberland Invest Ltd., as an investment advisory company. Both Maltese financial service providers are passported to nearly all EU-/EEA Member States.
Timberland Securities Investment plc has access to Timberland companies that perform and have access to large parts of the investment chain for setup, administration, portfolio management and distribution to and of different legal structures like securitization, AIFs under AIFMD, investment structures (Vermögensanlagen) which are not subject to AIFMD and UCITS, even cross-border. Other Timberland entities include, for instance, Timberland Securities plc (Malta), Timberland Securities S.A. and Timberland Investment S.A. (Luxembourg) as well as Timberland Securities SPC and Timberland Securities II SPC, all of which are securitisation companies.
Mr. Krämer’s reputation and Timberland entities’ track record with respect to, amongst others, services to retail, professional and institutional investors and public offerings, speak for themselves with close to no customer complaints over circa the last 20 years, whilst operating in several European jurisdictions. This shows Mr. Krämer’s level of commitment to the quality of financial services provided.
Mr Köster has worked in individual portfolio management, fund management and investment advisory services for Timberland Capital Management GmbH since 2003. In 1999, Mr Köster also worked for other licensed Timberland entities such as Timberland Service GmbH, Germany, which is a licensed financial services provider in Germany (para 34 lit. f of the German Trade, Commerce and Industry Regulation Act (Gewerbeordnung, GewO)) whose services include the distribution of financial products, including the Fund, to retail, professional and institutional investors as well as other financial services providers. In this regard, Mr Köster works on a day-to-day basis with the register and transfer agents of the said products.
Mr. Köster’s experience in the financial industry dates back to the 1980s where he worked with several US Brokers.
Mr Köster served as chairman (Verwaltungsratsvorsitzender) of the board of directors (Verwaltungsrat) of Luxembourg based investment funds (UCITS) since 2006.
In addition to the above, Mr Köster has also, since 1999, set up (together with Mr Krämer) several investment structures and AIFs in Germany. His work included several functions ranging from assisting the setting up of the said structures to the day-to-day running thereof.
Mr Köster is a board member of Timberland Fund Management Ltd. and Timberland Invest Ltd.
Mr Paris is a business consultant who mainly works on projects to deliver improvements in service delivery performance and project management. His ideas on project leadership and management are published in a book written by Gordon D. Webster, published by Gower Press in English and by the Spanish Institute for Quality in Spanish. His management work includes several years helping organizations like Chase Manhattan Bank, American Express, Metropolitan Life, NASA, and General Electric in the USA. He is currently based in Europe, consulting with large organizations such as Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Schindler Elevators & Escalators, Citibank, BBVA, Department of the Treasury (Southern Australia), Genpact and UST Global.
He graduated in mechanical engineering from the University of Manchester, in England. He later went on to complete his M.Sc at the same university, for which he wrote a thesis on the cooling and controlling of nuclear reactors using liquid sodium as a coolant. His mathematical modelling work on nuclear reactors forms the basis of a number of businesses, financial and risk assessment models that he developed for various clients.
He worked as a systems analyst in England from 1968 to 1970, and moved to USA in 1970 where he worked with several financial institutions as a management consultant from 1970 to 1978 developing systems to help investment analysts and portfolio managers.
In 1978, he started a management training & consulting business in New York delivering services to Fortune 500 companies.
From 1990 to 1996, he was managing director of Air Malta, the Maltese national airline, performing a major reorganization and implementing major automation projects.
Since 1996, he has worked with major companies in the field of operations management, project management and service management. He also worked with hedge fund managers on forecasting models and risk management models.
He currently co-manages a USD30 million family office fund.
He is a director on the board of various fund management and administration companies based in Malta, and also acts as MLRO and risk officer.
