Safeguard Executive Staff
Robert Klein
Founder and Chairman
robert.klein@safeguardproperties.com
Robert Klein is the founder and chairman of the board for Safeguard Properties. Under Robert's leadership as CEO, Safeguard grew from a handful of employees in 1990 to nearly 1,000 today, with an extensive network of contractors throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Robert has developed Safeguard around the doctrine of "Customer Service = Resolution" with the mission of creating a company focused on client satisfaction and strong business relationships. Robert assumed the role of chairman in May of 2010.
Since Safeguard's inception, Robert has developed and maintained a reputation as an innovator and is recognized as a leader and an advocate for the industry. Robert continually focuses his attention on initiatives affecting our clients, providing current and relevant industry information and offering creative solutions to meet their needs.
Robert serves as chair of the National Vacant Properties Registration Committee of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). He also represents not only Safeguard, but the industry as a whole, in national associations including MBA, USFN, CMBA and REOMAC. He has been a session leader and panelist at their yearly conferences, in addition to being the primary sponsor of the National Property Preservation Conference in Washington, D.C.
In 2009, Robert received the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Award. He won both in the northeast Ohio region in the category of professional services and asset management firms, and nationally in the servicing category.
Alan Jaffa
Chief Executive Officer
alan.jaffa@safeguardproperties.com
Alan Jaffa is the chief executive officer for Safeguard Properties, a role he assumed in May of 2010. Previously he served as chief operating officer.
Since joining Safeguard in 1995, Alan has learned the business from the ground up, working through virtually every department of the company. This hands-on experience has given him unique insights as a leader to innovate, improve and strengthen Safeguard's processes to assure that the company adheres to the highest standards of quality and customer service.
Alan has led Safeguard's initiatives to develop information technology tools to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery to clients. He takes a team approach to process improvement, involving staff at all levels of the organization to address issues, brainstorm solutions, and identify new and better ways to serve clients.
Under Alan's leadership, Safeguard has enjoyed extraordinary growth that has catapulted the company to its current position as the largest privately-held mortgage field services company in the nation. Safeguard has been recognized in Northeast Ohio by the Weatherhead 100 for 15 years.
In 2008, Alan was recognized by Crain's Cleveland Business in its annual "40-Under-40" profile of young leaders.
Gregory Robinson, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
gregory.robinson@safeguardproperties.com
Gregory Robinson is Safeguard's chief financial officer. He directs all financial management activities, including financial reporting, planning, budgeting, forecasting, cash management, lender relationships, internal control processes and oversight and analysis of financial results.
Greg is a key member of the leadership team; he applies his experience in finance, operations, IT and business development to help position Safeguard financially, operationally and competitively for growth.
In addition to his financial responsibilities, he oversees human resources and support services. Under his HR leadership, Safeguard has implemented recruitment strategies, employee relations, personnel policies, retention and benefits programs to support a doubling of Safeguard's work force since 2006.
Prior to joining Safeguard, Greg led successful consulting practices at CGI, Inc., NetGov, Inc. and ORION Consulting. In those capacities, he was responsible for developing and delivering business and technology solutions to clients in the government sector.
Greg is a graduate of Baldwin Wallace College and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Ohio. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants (OSCPA).
In 2010, Greg was recognized by Crain's Cleveland Business as CFO of the Year in the category of large private companies.
George Mehok
Chief Information Officer
george.mehok@safeguardproperties.com
George Mehok is Safeguard's Chief Information Officer. He is responsible for all information technology-related resources and assets. He plays an active role in identifying strategies, plans and opportunities to apply technology and related solutions to support Safeguard's growth and business evolution.
Prior to joining Safeguard, Mehok was chief information officer at Revol Wireless, a privately-held CDMA wireless communications provider in Ohio and Indiana. Mehok and the Revol Wireless IT team were two-time winners of the Northeast Ohio Software Association CIO and IT team of the year in 2008 and 2011.
Mehok also held positions at Verizon Wireless, Electronic Data Systems, Optus Communications, NASA's Kennedy Space Center, and completed projects for General Motors, VISA and Chevron.
Mehok holds an M.B.A. from The Ohio State University and a B.S. degree in political science from Eastern Michigan University. He is an advisory board member and volunteer teacher for Junior Achievement, serves on the executive board of the Center for eBusiness and Information Technology at the University of Akron and is a part-time lecturer for the University of Akron's Management of Information Systems graduate program. George's leadership, all operational departments of Safeguard have reviewed, updated and enhanced their business processes to maximize efficiency and improve quality control.
George Pilla
Vice President of Operations
george.pilla@safeguardproperties.com
George Pilla is vice president of operations at Safeguard. Under George's leadership, all operational departments of Safeguard have reviewed, updated and enhanced their business processes to maximize efficiency and improve quality control.
George has been instrumental in working with Safeguard's heads of finance and information technology to plan and implement the company's major IT initiative, a multi-year, multi-million dollar application to enhance the company's business processes, vendor Web and client Web to help Safeguard maintain its industry leadership and better serve clients.
Prior to joining Safeguard, George headed government consulting practices at CGI, Inc. and ORION Consulting. In both organizations, he was responsible for the start-up and development of new practice areas that delivered the highest profitability and rate of organic growth organization-wide. He also held financial management positions at a major accounting firm and multinational corporations.
He is a graduate of John Carroll University with a degree in business.
Michael Greenbaum
Vice President, REO
michael.greenbaum@safeguardproperties.com
Michael Greenbaum is Safeguard's vice president of REO. In this position, Mike is responsible for all aspects of Safeguard's REO service line – including order entry, client relations, regional coordination and operations to ensure that Safeguard meets or exceeds client service level agreements for timeliness and quality.
Mike built his business career in supply chain management, operations, finance and marketing. He has held senior management and executive positions with Erico, a manufacturing company in Solon, Ohio; Accel, Inc., a packaging company in Lewis Center, Ohio; and McMaster-Carr, an industrial supply company in Aurora, Ohio.
Before entering the business world, Mike served in the U.S. Army, Ordinance Branch, and specialized in supply chain management. He is a distinguished graduate of West Point (U.S. Military Academy) and majored in quantitative economics.
Scott Wilson
Vice President, Property Preservation
Scott.Wilson@safeguardproperties.com
Scott Wilson is Safeguard's vice president of property preservation. In this position, he is responsible for leading all aspects of Safeguard's property preservation service line (pre-foreclosure defaulted properties). He oversees all property preservation operational functions including client relations, regional coordination and work order processing to ensure that Safeguard not only meets but exceeds client service level agreements for timeliness and quality. He also focuses on identifying areas of opportunity to increase efficiencies and allow for future expansion and growth.
Prior to joining Safeguard, Wilson was instrumental in building successful consulting practices with both WBC Group and Integrated Data Solutions. Both practices specialized in performance and productivity management, IT solutions and enterprise business intelligence development.
Wilson is a distinguished graduate of The Ohio State University, with a focus on business.
Tod Burkert
Vice President, Business Development
tod.burkert@safeguardproperties.com
Tod Burkert oversees Safeguard's sales, marketing and community initiatives departments and related communications functions. He also is responsible for developing innovative growth strategies for Safeguard and developing and overseeing potential partnerships, mergers and acquisitions.
Prior to joining Safeguard, Tod held executive sales and marketing positions with Turning Technologies of Youngstown, Ohio; Cintas Corporation in Indianapolis, Indiana; and RUS OMNI of Columbus, Indiana, and has received numerous sales and marketing awards.
Tod is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served for 12 years as a Navy pilot, participating in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Kathy Cogan
AVP, Account Management
kathy.cogan@safeguardproperties.com
Kathy Cogan is the AVP of Account Management for Safeguard Properties. In this role, she works with new and existing REO clients on all aspects of their interaction with Safeguard, from on-boarding to performance metrics and special projects.
Kathy joined Safeguard Properties in 2003 as part of the inaugural Manager in Training program. Since that time, she has held several positions throughout the company, which have helped to develop her extensive industry knowledge base. In late 2009, Kathy moved into the role of Director, REO Client Account Management, and was promoted to her current position in September of 2011.
Kathy is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.
Russ Klein
AVP, Quality Assurance and Training
russ.klein@safeguardproperties.com
Russ Klein is the assistant vice president of quality assurance and training at Safeguard Properties. He is responsible for implementing comprehensive quality assurance and internal audit programs to identify and correct errors before they impact customers. He is also focused on further developing our internal training programs, thereby strengthening our staffing networks.
Russ joined Safeguard in 2010. His career has focused on redesigning business processes to increase efficiency and effectiveness. He has held leadership positions in operations, project management and technology with American Greetings, Diamond Management and Technology Consultants, and JPMorgan Chase (formerly First Chicago NBD Capital Markets).
Russ earned an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in Business Administration from Washington University.
Apryl St. John
General Counsel
apryl.seide@safeguardproperties.com
Apryl St. John is Safeguard's general counsel; she directs the company's internal and external legal functions. As a member of the executive management team, her responsibilities include handling litigation and claims on the company's behalf, reviewing and negotiating agreements, and providing strategic direction and leadership to the business. She also advises Safeguard's senior management on legal matters and manages the company's legal support staff.
She joins us from Applied Industrial Technologies, a Cleveland-based Fortune 1000 company, where she drafted, reviewed and negotiated contracts for the corporate office as well as all subsidiaries/divisions throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Prior to joining Applied, Apryl was in professional practice with Baker & Hostetler LLP as well as in private practice.
She earned her Juris Doctorate from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, magna cum laude, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Accounting) from John Carroll University. Bar admissions include Ohio and United States District Court (Northern District of Ohio).