Thomas W. Guard | Chief Corporate Development Officer, Carter Funds
Thomas W. Guard serves as the Chief Corporate Development Officer and is a member of the Investment Committee of our advisor.
Mr. Guard has 30 years of experience in accounting and financial reporting, corporate finance, capital markets, and capital planning.
Prior to joining Carter Funds, Mr. Guard was Senior Vice President, Finance, of Uniti Fiber LLC from September 2016 through November 2017 where he led the accounting, finance and contracts administration teams.
From September 2007 through August 2016, Mr. Guard was Chief Financial Officer with Tower Cloud, Inc. prior to its merger with Uniti Fiber. While at Tower Cloud, he was responsible for all aspects of the company’s financial areas including capital and financial planning, accounting operations, financial reporting, treasury and all administrative and human resources functions. Mr. Guard was a key executive responsible for growing, financing, managing and then successfully selling the company to Uniti Fiber.
Prior to joining Tower Cloud, from April 2002 through April 2007, Mr. Guard was Senior Vice President and Treasurer with Global Signal, Inc., a publicly traded REIT, owner and operator of approximately 11,000 wireless communication towers with a $3.9 billion market value. While at Global Signal, Mr. Guard led the treasury, corporate development and contracts administration departments and was actively involved in structuring and raising $3.5 billion of CMBS and bank debt and its $145 million IPO used to finance its real estate, including the $1.3 billion acquisition of 6,600 towers from Sprint.
Mr. Guard started his career with Price Waterhouse in St. Louis spending four years there, then spent five years in banking and consulting positions.
Mr. Guard is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the state of Missouri and obtained a Master of Business Administration from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida in 1992 and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Missouri in St. Louis, Missouri in 1986.