Mel Lazar

Mr. Lazar has served as one of the directors since his appointment in 1998. He was the founder of Lazar Levine & Felix LLP, certified public accountants, was its managing partner from 1969 until 2002 and continued as a member of the firm, now known as Baker Tilly, LLC, until his retirement in 2014. Mr. Lazar specializes in business valuations and merger and acquisition activities.

As the managing partner of a certified public accounting firm for over 30 years, a member of the board of directors of a New York Stock Exchange REIT company and the chairman of its audit committee, and a former member of the audit committee of a large biotechnology company, Mr. Lazar has extensive accounting and financial expertise in a variety of businesses, which lead the Board of Directors to conclude that Mr. Lazar should serve as a director of the Company and as Chair of the Audit Committee.

Mr. Lazar received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the City College of New York in 1960 and completed the Principles of Business Valuations of the American Society of Appraisers. He received his accreditation in Business Valuation from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in 1988.