PHOENIX—American Realty Capital Properties has begun a new quarter by constituting a new board. The net lease REIT has named Berkadia's Hugh Frater as non-executive chairman and appointed Julie G. Richardson as an independent director. Both appointments are effective immediately.

Frater is currently chairman at Berkadia, a 50/50 joint venture of Berkshire Hathaway and Leucadia National Corp. He formerly was CEO at the commercial real estate advisory and finance firm, and this past January was formally succeeded as CEO by Justin Wheeler. Previously, Frater was EVP at PNC Financial Services, where he led the real estate division, and was a founding partner and managing director at BlackRock Inc., where he also led the real estate practice.

“Hugh is a seasoned real estate leader, manager and operations specialist with a distinguished career in investment management and financial services, and has served in leadership roles with major financial organizations,” says board member Thomas A. Andruskevich, who led the search for a new CEO and directors on behalf of the board. “The board is confident that he and Glenn Rufrano, our new CEO, are the right leadership team to deliver value and stability for our shareholders moving forward.”

Richardson was most recently a senior advisor to Providence Equity Partners, a global asset management firm with over $40 billion in assets. Between 2003 to 2012, she was a partner and managing director at Providence and oversaw its New York office.

The board appointments follow ARCP's hiring last month of Rufrano as CEO, an appointment which took effect Wednesday, and make good on the REIT's commitment to name a new chairman and reconfigure its board in the near term. Most recently chairman and CEO of O'Connor Capital Partners, Rufrano also has a seat on the ARCP board. William Stanley, who had served as interim CEO and interim non-executive chairman, resumes his position as independent director on the board.

As ARCP previously announced, board members Leslie Michelson and former Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell have stepped down from the board, while Andruskevich, formerly interim lead independent director, and Bruce D. Frank continue in their positions as independent directors. The search is continuing for a seventh board member to join the present complement of six directors.