Alan Fishman is the chairman of Ladder Capital Finance and Beech Street Capital, commercial real estate finance firms. Prior to forming these firms, he was the chief executive officer of Washington Mutual Bank for a short period of time during 2008. In 2006, he was president of Sovereign Bank. Sovereign purchased Independence Community Bank in 2006. He assumed the leadership of Independence Community Bank when he was elected president and chief executive officer in March 2001. Mr. Fishman has been an active leader in many not-for-profit activities in Brooklyn, New York. He serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, chairman of the Brooklyn Community Foundation and chairman of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. He is co-chairman of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. Mr. Fishman serves on the Boards of several private companies and other not-for-profit and civic organizations. Alan Fishman holds a bachelor's degree from Brown University and a master's degree in economics from Columbia University.