Axivest has an experienced management team that is driven to accomplish Axivest’s vision. The company, led by Ric Tomlinson, has an execution focused corporate culture which has been the main driver in their successful track record.
Mr. Tomlinson is Chairman and President of Axivest LLC, an international financial, information, data and management consulting services company with a focus on providing unique advisory services to top management executives and corporate boards, facilitating unparalleled financial, process management and implementation value creation. Mr. Tomlinson is also the President and Chief Executive officer of Univest Investments, Inc., an investment holding company functioning as a merchant bank which invests in operating companies and real estate, and Univest Holdings, LLC, an investment management and real estate development company.
It is Axivest’s philosophy to team up with specialized industry experts as we pursue private equity acquisitions and commercial real estate transactions. These experts bring specific operational expertise and knowledge to the particular field of interest that is being pursued. Prior to its sale in May 1997, Mr. Tomlinson was President and Chief Executive Officer of Univest Financial Group, Inc., which was formed in 1985 after acquiring EF Hutton Mortgage Corporation from the EF Hutton Group in which he was the CEO.
UFGI was a transaction-driven information management services firm specializing in mortgage finance with a concentration in the area of securitization of mortgage-backed securities. Univest developed sophisticated financial tools to facilitate technology advanced analytical due diligence and valuation methodologies and information management systems. Univest introduced due diligence and mark-to-market methodologies to the FSLIC and completed the first securitization transaction with FSLIC and Federal National Mortgage Corporation (Fannie Mae) by this government body.
The Resolution Trust Corporation was created in 1989 to liquidate assets from failed Savings and Loans and Univest’s solutions became the standard for mortgage due diligence and evaluation. As the RTC became aware of their need for inventory management, Univest was awarded the contract to create and manage the RTC’s Central Loan Database System. This system, which was accessible by over 500 users nationwide, managed in excess of a million and a half asset records totaling over $100 billion dollars. Univest has been featured as one of America’s top 500 fastest growing privately held companies by Inc. Magazine, with the publication recognizing Univest in two consecutive years as one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the U.S. for its revenue and profit performance in fiscal years 1991 and 1992.
Univest was recognized by Data General, its strategic partner in the RTC Database Management Contract with its Key Growth Award.The businesses of Univest had been incorporated into four separate companies. They are Univest, a financial information management services firm; Univest Financial Services, the due diligence and analytical g-roup; Univest Investments, Inc, a private equity firm and Univest Holdings, LLC, an operating entity where investments as principal are made in loan portfolios, operating companies and real estate. Univest sold its interest in Univest Financial Group and Univest Financial Services in 1995 and 1997 to focus their efforts on the activities of Univest Investments, Inc and Univest Holdings, LLC. Mr. Tomlinson has held senior management positions in companies of the savings and loan, private mortgage insurance, investment banking, and mortgage finance industries.
A frequent speaker at professional conferences, Mr. Tomlinson is responsible for originating the concepts behind Univest’s mortgage portfolio analysis system (MORPAS), the Univest propriety Mark to Market Model and related financial models. He has consulted with thrifts, commercial banks and the U.S. and India regulatory agencies in the areas of loan portfolio and asset/liability management, mergers and acquisitions, mark-to-market loan and asset valuations, yield and earnings improvement, distressed asset disposition, developing secondary market vehicles and strategic business planning. Mr. Tomlinson resides in Johns Creek, Georgia with his wife, Debra of 41 years. They have three children and six grandchildren.
Mr. Tomlinson has served on the Board of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, the Foundation Board of Trustees for Georgia Southern University, the Business Advisory Council of the College of Business at GSU. Mr. Tomlinson has received the Alumnus of the Year 1997-98 from the College of Business Administration at GSU, the John G. Tower Distinguished Alumni Award 2005 from Kappa Sigma Fraternity and the William A. Freeman Lecture Award 2009 from the Center for Entrepreneurial Learning and Leadership at GSU.
Dr. Samuel is an experienced quantitative business strategy expert and academic who has worked on diverse projects in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Jim has experience with various global financial corporations including Citibank and ABN AMRO. He is an established expert in big data analytics and possesses insightful expertise (financial modeling, optimization, data mining, machine learning, artificial intelligence strategies & best value models) across domains; he is a thought leader in information science and intelligent technologies domains. He demonstrates a powerful mix of solid financial expertise, thought leadership, strategic thinking and creative ideation. Domains of research and experience include capital markets, foreign market entry-expansion and strategic alliances, social media, operations optimization, innovation, information economics, information ecosystems and data science.
Dr. Samuel’s primary research covers information stimuli and behavioral analytics, machine learning, big data, evolving applications of artificial intelligence, information perception, strategic information modeling and human behavior in electronic markets. Jim’s current research focuses on strategic information modeling, analytics and human behavior in electronic markets. His research also extends to education and innovation, women in advanced technologies, bias in AI, ethics . Jim is an industry advisor on big data, analytics and information strategy initiatives. He holds M.Arch, M.B.A (International Finance) and Ph.D. (SCIS – City Univ. of NY / Baruch) degrees.
Dr. Samuel teaches business analytics courses (graduate and undergraduate) including datamining, machine learning, data visualization and related topics at the Cotsakos College of Business, William Paterson University. He advises corporations on Analytics, Quantitative Modeling, Information Insights and Big Data, intelligence strategies. Prof. Samuel’s vision is to make Applied Analytics learning valuable, fun, meaningful, relatively easy and quick.
