
Kathryn Stephany, JD
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
• Operational Due Diligence
• Governance
• Operational Controls
Prior to her current role as General Counsel, Kate Stephany worked as securities attorney at FactRight since 2013.
Kate focuses on the business/formation areas of a company. Though she was new to the industry when she started at FactRight, her previous experience in bankruptcy law and banking helped her excel, and after a year she was promoted to project lead.
After obtaining her undergraduate degree, Kate worked in the finance department of a large insurance company, and moved to the Twin Cities a few years later to attend law school. Prior to working at FactRight, Kate held several positions, including contract work in due diligence for an international financial services company, and practiced bankruptcy law.
Kate is an avid knitter, winning awards from the Minnesota State fair, and enjoys camping with her husband.
- Juris Doctorate, William Mitchell College of Law
- Bachelor of Science, Finance, University of Illinois
- Past co-vice chair of Legal and Regulatory Committee, ADISA
- Member of ADISA legal and Regulatory committee
- Member, State Bar of Minnesota
- MSU Women in Leadership Advisory Board – 2021
Recent Blogs from FactRight
- What a High Home Prices-to-Income Ratio Could Mean for Residential Real Estate Programsby steve.s@factright.com (Steve Sims) on January 26, 2023 at 7:18 pm
Over the past several years, FactRighthas seen a trend in increased demand for residential real estate investment programs (e.g., multifamily, build-to-rent, single family residences).While our offering-level reports provide a market overview at the MSA-level, I wanted to goa few levels higher to the national scale. This blog primarily looks at the relationship of single-family home prices and income in the United States to answer the following question:What are the implications for residentialreal estate programs if housing is overpriced relative to historic norms?
- Lapses in Due Diligence and the Collapse of FTX: How Could so Many Have Missed so Much?by Jeff.B@factright.com (Jeff Baumgartner) on December 13, 2022 at 9:16 pm
By now, you may be generally familiar with the recent collapse of FTX, and some of the reasons for its failures are obvious. But by examining FTX side-by-side with perhaps the most infamous investment fraud ever perpetrated, we can discover some keys as to why lapses in due diligence may never be a thing of the past. These two epic failures bear little factual resemblance to one another at first glance, but this post will look more closely at the more transcendent lessons they hold.
- All Preferred Shares Not Created Equal – Why FactRight Incorporates Scenario Analysis in our Analysis of Preferred Securitiesby kevin@factright.com (Kevin Kirkeby) on November 30, 2022 at 9:21 pm
It should come as no surprise that the old investment adage about getting what you pay for holds true for preferred stock, too. Despite often being pitched as a bond alternative, especially lately, there are multiple factors beyond dividend yield to consider. Among the features, an investor needs to understand are the liquidity provisions, dividend policy, and preferred shareholder rights. Sponsors tend to get irritable when FactRight stress tests their pro forma model or highlights weak investor protections, dismissing the concerns as implicating scenarios highly unlikely to ever occur. However, sometimes the unlikely or improbable does occur. This post will focus on a real scenario involving several preferred securities that underscores the need for due diligence in these areas.
- How to Assess Affiliated Transactions in Private Placement Programsby kemp@factright.com (Kemp H. Hanley) on October 19, 2022 at 5:37 pm
Affiliated transactions can be thorny. They raise conflicts of interest and create additional governance challenges and risks. The relative fiduciary duties (or lack thereof) that the manager owes to each side of the transaction complicates the picture. Investors are understandably apprehensive about the conflicts in such deals because there is a higher likelihood that value is being shifted to the affiliated party inappropriately.
- The 1031 Show Features FactRight's Brandon Raatikkaby brandon@factright.com (Brandon Raatikka) on September 28, 2022 at 5:00 pm
One of the most prominent products in the alternative investment space in recent years have been DSTs/1031 Exchanges, which has grown to become an annual $8 billion to $10 billion industry. However, with recent trends in rising interest rates and cap rate compression for many asset classes, due diligence on DST programs in the market has never been more important. With that in mind, FactRight’s chief operating officer (and resident DST expert) Brandon Raatikka joined Ridgegate Financial’s Wallace Smith on the 1031 Show to discuss the importance of 1031 due diligence. The podcast, which you can check out below, covers several topics that broker-dealers and RIAs should consider when evaluating the 1031 space, including the following: The benefits of a third-party due diligence report Trends in the 1031 space An overview of DSTs and key benefits of DST investments Key differences between TICs and DSTs, including the Seven Deadly Sins A primer on 721 UPREITs Areas of focus for evaluating a DST sponsor