Company: BWFG
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001505732-25-000079
Chunk: 10

Company: Bankwell Financial Group, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 10
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 Bank. Mr. Gruseke was appointed to these positions and nominated as a director in February 2015. He joined the Company as Chief Strategic Officer in January 2015. He was a founding investor and director of Bankwell Financial Group’s predecessors, BNC Financial Group, Inc., and The Bank of New Canaan. He brings more than 25 years of capital markets, operations, sales and finance experience to his role at the Company. Most recently, he was a member of the Executive Committee at CRT Capital, a Stamford, Connecticut-based broker/dealer. He also served as Co-Chief Operating Officer and a member of the Board of Greenwich Capital Markets. Mr. Gruseke earned a B.A. from Williams College and an M.S. from the Stern School of Business at New York University. His familiarity with Bankwell’s market area and finance background are valuable to our Board of Directors.

Anahaita N. Kotval, Esq., Director. Ms. Kotval has been the Chief Executive Officer of Lifting Up Westchester, Inc., a nonprofit that provides community based services to Westchester County residents experiencing homelessness and hunger, since 2017. She began her career as a prosecutor for the Enforcement Division of the SEC and then spent 13 years at the Royal Bank of Scotland, ultimately serving as Managing Director and General Counsel of its investment bank in the Americas, RBS Greenwich Capital. She transitioned to the non-profit sector in 2011 as the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel at Inspirica, Inc., a Stamford, Connecticut based nonprofit focused on serving the homeless. She was a director of OneMain Holdings, Inc., a public consumer finance company, from 2012 to 2018, serving as Chair of its Compliance Committee, and on its Audit and Governance Committees. She is currently on the Board of the Pro Bono Partnership and Non-profit Westchester and the Advisory Board of the Tompkins Charitable Gift Fund, Inc. and has served on the boards of My Sister’s Place, the Westchester Community Foundation, the Fairfield County Community Foundation, the Women’s Bond Club of New York and the Legal and Compliance Division of the Securities Industry Financial Markets Association. Ms. Kotval received a B.S. magna cum laude in Applied Math and Economics from Brown University and a J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School. Her legal background and extensive risk management, compliance and governance experience in the financial services industry, as well as her community involvement make her a valuable member of our Board of