Cleveland Plain Dealer “Awards stacking up for Safeguard owner”

Cleveland Plain Dealer profiled?recent honors bestowed on?Safeguard Properties founder and CEO Robert Klein including being named the national winner of the Ernst & Young LLP Entrepreneur Of The Year 2009 Award in the Servicing category.

Awards stacking up for Safeguard owner

Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH) – Saturday, November 21, 2009
Author: Amanda Garrett, Plain Dealer Reporter

Robert Klein – a caretaker of foreclosed homes who never considered himself a boss, just a guy trying to make a living – has been named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in its national servicing category.

Funny man Jay Leno hosted that awards ceremony a week ago in swank Palm Springs, Calif. But Klein – who owns Safeguard Properties – couldn’t make it.

The Valley View self-starter already had plans to accept another award in equally plush Key Largo, Fla., this one from the U.S. Foreclosure Network (also called America’s Mortgage Banking Attorneys).

It’s been a year of accolades and big profits for Klein, who launched Safeguard in 1990 as a two-person operation. Now it’s the largest privately held mortgage field services company in the United States.

Safeguard – which has nearly 800 employees and thousands of contractors – inspects about 1 million defaulted properties each month and puts in about 250,000 work orders on vacant properties across the country, doing everything from mowing lawns to replacing windows.

Klein, 56, revealed no bravado when asked about the 2009 awards, which also included the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Northeast Ohio region and a humanitarian award from the Five Star Default Servicing Conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

Rather, he thanked his staff.

“They work very hard. They’re the ones who deserve it,” Klein said.

Klein is a self-made man who started his career at 16 with a loan from his father to buy a taxicab in New York City. Later, after selling the cab license for more than 10 times what he’d paid, he moved to Cleveland and took over a relative’s produce business at Cleveland’s Northern Ohio Food Terminal.

Safeguard Properties was born in 1990 after Klein learned that a local company that serviced vacant homes was going out of business.

His company now generates about $500 million in annual revenue, bolstered in part by the foreclosure crisis and recession.

Not all of Klein’s awards are for his business savvy. Some organizations have honored Klein for supporting initiatives in Cleveland to help ease the impact of the foreclosure crisis on the local community.

He’s given nearly $200,000 to the Cuyahoga County Foreclosure Prevention Program, which has helped thousands of owners avoid losing their homes.

When asked what all the rewards mean for Safeguard Properties’ future, Klein chuckled and said his response would be the same one he gives friends who ask.

“When I had the reward, I went to the local bank and said, ‘Hey, I got this award, what’s it worth?’ ” Klein said. “They said about $15.”??

To view the online article, please click here. ?About Safeguard
Safeguard Properties is the largest privately held field services company in the country. Located in Cleveland, Ohio and founded in 1990 by Robert Klein, Safeguard has grown from a regional preservation company with a few employees and a handful of contractors performing services in the Midwest, to a national company with over 700 employees. Safeguard is supported by a nationwide network of subcontractors able to perform any requested superintendence, preservation, and maintenance functions, as well as numerous ancillary services in the U.S., the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

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CEO

Alan Jaffa

Alan Jaffa is the Chief Executive Officer for Safeguard Properties, steering the company as the mortgage field services industry leader. He also serves on the board of advisors for SCG Partners, a middle-market private equity fund focused on diversifying and expanding Safeguard Properties’ business model into complimentary markets.

Alan joined Safeguard in 1995, learning the business from the ground up. He was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2002, and was named CEO in May 2010. His 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.

Under Alan’s leadership, Safeguard has grown significantly with strategies that have included new and expanded services, technology investments that deliver higher quality and greater efficiency to clients, and strategic acquisitions. 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.

In 2008, Alan was recognized by Crain’s Cleveland Business in its annual “40-Under-40” profile of young leaders. He also was named a NEO Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Award finalist in 2013.

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Esq., General Counsel and EVP

Linda Erkkila

Linda Erkkila is the General Counsel and Executive Vice President for Safeguard Properties, with oversight of legal, human resources, training, and compliance. Linda’s broad scope of oversight covers regulatory issues that impact Safeguard’s operations, risk mitigation, strategic planning, human resources and training initiatives, compliance, insurance, litigation and claims management, and counsel related to mergers, acquisition and joint ventures.

Linda assures that Safeguard’s strategic initiatives align with its resources, leverage opportunities across the company, and contemplate compliance mandates. She has practiced law for 25 years and her experience, both as outside and in-house counsel, covers a wide range of corporate matters, including regulatory disclosure, corporate governance compliance, risk assessment, compensation and benefits, litigation management, and mergers and acquisitions.

Linda earned her JD at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. She holds a degree in economics from Miami University and an MBA. Linda was previously named as both a “Woman of Influence” by HousingWire and as a “Leading Lady” by MReport.

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COO

Michael Greenbaum

Michael Greenbaum is the Chief Operating Officer of Safeguard Properties, where he has played a pivotal role since joining the company in July 2010. Initially brought on as Vice President of REO, Mike’s exceptional leadership and strategic vision quickly propelled him to Vice President of Operations in 2013, and ultimately to COO in 2015. Over his 14-year tenure at Safeguard, Mike has been instrumental in driving change and fostering innovation within the Property Preservation sector, consistently delivering excellence and becoming a trusted partner to clients and investors.

A distinguished graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Mike earned a degree in Quantitative Economics. Following his graduation, he served in the U.S. Army’s Ordnance Branch, where he specialized in supply chain management. Before his tenure at Safeguard, Mike honed his expertise by managing global supply chains for 13 years, leveraging his military and civilian experience to lead with precision and efficacy.

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CFO

Joe Iafigliola

Joe Iafigliola is the Chief Financial Officer for Safeguard Properties. Joe is responsible for the Control, Quality Assurance, Business Development, Marketing, Accounting, and Information Security departments. At the core of his responsibilities is the drive to ensure that Safeguard’s focus remains rooted in Customer Service = Resolution. Through his executive leadership role, he actively supports SGPNOW.com, an on-demand service geared towards real estate and property management professionals as well as individual home owners in need of inspection and property preservation services. Joe is also an integral force behind Compliance Connections, a branch of Safeguard Properties that allows code enforcement professionals to report violations at properties that can then be addressed by the Safeguard vendor network. Compliance Connections also researches and shares vacant property ordinance information with Safeguard clients.

Joe has an MBA from The Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA), and holds a bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University’s Honors Accounting program.

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Business Development

Carrie Tackett

Business Development Safeguard Properties