Management Team « HCI Group, Inc.
Paresh Patel is a founder of HCI Group, Inc. and currently serves as chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer. Mr. Patel has been a director of the company since its inception and has served as the chairman of the board since May 2007. He has been chief executive officer since 2011. He currently serves also as chairman of the board of directors and president of our principal operating subsidiary, Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Inc. He served as president of Homeowners Choice from 2011 to 2012 and reassumed that position in June 2015 upon the retirement of then president, Scott Wallace. Mr. Patel has broad experience in finance and technology. Mr. Patel is a founder of NorthStar Bank in Tampa, Florida and from 2006 to 2010 served on the board of directors of its parent company, NorthStar Holding Company. From 2011 to 2015, he served as chairman of the board of First Home Bancorp, Inc., a bank holding company in Seminole, Florida. From 2014 to 2017, he served as chairman of the board of directors of Oxbridge Re Holdings Limited, a publicly held Cayman Islands reinsurance holding company with shares trading on the NASDAQ Stock Market. From 1998 to 2000, he was director of customer care and billing for Global Crossing. In that position, Mr. Patel defined business processes and systems, hired and trained department staff and led the integration of the customer care and billing systems with the systems of companies acquired by Global Crossing. As an independent software and systems consultant from 1991 to 1998, Mr. Patel worked with large international telephone companies. Mr. Patel holds a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Cambridge in United Kingdom. Mr. Patel currently serves as a director for Cambridge in America which advances the mission of the University of Cambridge and its thirty-one member Colleges.
Mark Harmsworth has served as the chief financial officer of our company since May 2017. He joined the company in December 2016 as senior vice president of finance. Prior to that, Mr. Harmsworth was president of JMH Consultancy Group, where he served as consulting chief strategy officer for Stewart Information Services, a New York Stock Exchange listed global real estate services company. Mr. Harmsworth has served in a range of executive leadership positions throughout his career, including chief financial officer of First American Title Insurance Company, a global specialty insurance company, senior executive vice president of First Canadian Title Insurance Company and executive vice president of RE/MAX Ontario-Atlantic Canada Inc., a regional sub-franchisor of RE/MAX real estate brokerage services in eastern Canada, the eastern United States and Europe. Mr. Harmsworth holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.
Andrew Graham has served as General Counsel to the company since 2008. From 1999 to 2007, he served in various positions, including General Counsel, for Trinsic Inc. (previously named Z-Tel Technologies, Inc.), a publicly-held provider of communications services. Since 2011, he has served on the Internal Audit Committee of Hillsborough County, Florida. From 2007 to 2011, he served on the Board of Trustees of Hillsborough Community College. Mr. Graham holds a Bachelor of Science, major in Accounting, from Florida State University. He earned his Juris Doctor, as well as a Master of Laws (L.L.M.) in Taxation, from the University of Florida College of Law.
Karin Coleman has served as the executive vice president of our company since December 2017. She joined the company in 2009 as vice president of corporate services. Mrs. Coleman oversees human resources, regulatory and legislative affairs, vendor management, and community relations. Prior to joining the company, Mrs. Coleman served nine years as vice president of Take Stock in Children, Miami, Florida, the state's largest public-private partnership providing college access and assistance to at-risk children, overseeing legislative and strategic partnerships. Previously, she served in various roles at Florida Progress Corporation, St. Petersburg, Florida — a Fortune 500 utility holding company — for more than 13 years. Mrs. Coleman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies from the University of South Florida and has earned her senior professional in human resources certification (SPHR).
Anthony Saravanos has been a director of the company since May 2007, and currently serves as President of our real estate division Greenleaf Capital. From 2005 to 2013, Mr. Saravanos was vice president of The Boardwalk Company, a full-service real estate company located in Palm Harbor, Florida. Since 2001, he has been managing partner of several commercial property entities with a combined total of 13 properties in Florida and New York. A licensed real estate broker, Mr. Saravanos is a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM). In 2011, he was named #1 Top Producer for 2010 by the Florida Gulfcoast Commercial Association of Realtors in the General Brokerage Category. From 1997 to 2001, he served as district manager, marketing and sales, for DaimlerChrysler Motors Corporation, Malvern, Pennsylvania. Mr. Saravanos graduated from Ursinus College, Collegeville, Pennsylvania, with a double major in Economics and Spanish. He earned a master's degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in marketing from Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania. At Villanova he was inducted into the Beta Gama Sigma Honor Society. Mr. Saravanos also attended Quanaouac Institute, Cuernavaca, Mexico, for intensive Spanish studies and a cultural immersion program. Mr. Saravanos was elected in 2013 as Vice President, Greek Children's Fund at All Children's Hospital Foundation.