Brandon Baer

Founder and Chief Investment Officer

Brandon Baer is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Contingency Capital.

Brandon was formerly a Partner and Managing Director in the credit funds business at Fortress Investment Group where he was also the Co-Founder and Co-Head of the Legal Assets group until November 2019. While at Fortress, Brandon focused on complex, private illiquid investments including litigation-related assets, distressed debt, and special situations.

Prior to Fortress, Brandon was a Senior Vice President at D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P., as a member of the corporate credit-related strategies unit. Brandon began his career in private practice as an Associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.

Brandon received a JD, cum laude, from Harvard University and a BA, summa cum laude, from Princeton University.

Jeff Cohen

Partner and Managing Director

Jeff Cohen is a Partner and Managing Director of Contingency Capital, which he joined at its inception in 2021.

Prior to joining Contingency Capital, Jeff was formerly a Partner and Managing Director at Southpaw Asset Management, a distressed credit opportunity investment firm, which he joined at its inception in 2005. Prior to working at Southpaw, Jeff was a Vice President and Analyst in the distressed securities fund at Ramius Capital Group LLC.

Jeff began his professional career as a bankruptcy and restructuring attorney in private practice and served as a Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable Bruce I. Fox in the United States Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Jeff received a BA in Political Science from Columbia University and a JD from Temple University Beasley School of Law.

Leanne Wilson

Managing Director

Leanne Wilson is a Managing Director at Contingency Capital.

Leanne was formerly an Analyst on the litigation finance desk at Sculptor Capital (formerly known as Och-Ziff).

Prior to working at Sculptor Capital, Leanne was Counsel at Grais & Ellsworth LLP, where she represented investment funds, the Federal Home Loan Banks, and the FDIC in litigation related to residential mortgage-backed securities and other structured products.

Leanne began her legal career at Mayer Brown LLP in the appellate litigation group.

Leanne has a JD from Columbia University School of Law, an MBA from McMaster University (Ontario, Canada), and a BSc from Queen’s University at Kingston (Ontario, Canada).

Ian Millican

Investment Analyst

Ian Millican is an Investment Analyst at Contingency Capital.

Ian was formerly Counsel at Robins Kaplan LLP, where he specialized in mass tort, products liability, business litigation, and complex civil litigation.

Prior to working at Robins Kaplan, Ian was an Associate at the Lanier Law Firm and Lynch Daskal Emery LLP.

Ian began his legal career clerking for the late Hon. Carol E. Higbee of New Jersey Superior Court, Atlantic County.

Ian has a JD from Fordham University School of Law and a BA from Cornell University.

Maryanne Paul

General Counsel

Maryanne Paul is the General Counsel of Contingency Capital, having joined TFG Asset Management as Senior Counsel in 2018.

Prior to joining TFG Asset Management, Maryanne was a Senior Associate at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York in the mergers and acquisitions and alternative investment management groups.

Maryanne began her legal career as an Associate at Minter Ellison in Sydney, Australia, advising clients on a broad range of corporate transactions.

Maryanne has a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from Columbia University School of Law and a BA/LL.B. degree from Macquarie University, Sydney.

Kacey Wolmer

Chief Operating Officer

Kacey Wolmer is Chief Operating Officer at Contingency Capital.

Kacey was formerly Senior Vice President and Counsel at FirstKey Mortgage, LLC, a wholly owned portfolio company of funds and accounts managed by Cerberus Capital Management.

Prior to FirstKey, Kacey was an Associate at both Hunton & Williams LLP (now Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP) and Thacher Proffitt & Wood in their respective structured finance and securitization practice groups, and an Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in the private funds group. Kacey was also previously an Associate & Counsel at Fortress Investment Group.

Kacey received a JD from University of Michigan Law School and a BA from Emory University.

Terence Lean

Head of Loan Operations

Terence Lean is the Head of Loan Operations at Contingency Capital.

Terence was formerly a Vice President at Morgan Stanley where he was most recently the transformation lead responsible for product strategy and strategic initiatives. Prior to that he managed the lending operations function in North America and Asia Pacific.

Terence has a BS in Engineering from the University of Michigan

Jillian Cain

Senior Operations Analyst

Jillian Cain is a Senior Operations Analyst at Contingency Capital. Jillian was formerly Assistant Vice President at FirstKey Mortgage, LLC, a wholly-owned portfolio company of funds and accounts managed by Cerberus Capital Management.

Jillian began her professional career working at a boutique law firm specializing in representing financial institutions.

Jillian has a BA from Binghamton University.

Alex Tinkham

Operations Analyst

Alex Tinkham is an Operations Analyst at Contingency Capital.

Prior to this role, Alex served as an Associate Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) within the firm’s Deals practice, working on the Private Equity Value Creation and Deals Talent teams.

Alex received a BA from Cornell University.

Christie Demos

Executive Assistant to the Founder & CIO

Christie Demos is the Executive Assistant to the Founder and CIO at Contingency Capital.  She was formerly the Head of Administrative Operations at Coltrane Asset Management and an Executive Assistant to the CEO at Geller and Company, a Private Wealth Manager.  She spent the first half of her career at Third Point LLC as the Executive Assistant to the CEO.

Christie has a BA from Central Connecticut State University where she was also a D1 athlete.