William R. Nicholson
 
              
 
              
William R. Nicholson has over 35 years of commercial, mortgage and investment 
banking experience. Prior to joining Heritage Capital Group, 
(www.heritagerealtycapital.com) Mr. Nicholson spent 15 months with BSE 
Management, a private equity firm focused on acquiring failed banks. In this 
role he managed the due diligence and bank target processes. At Heritage Mr. 
Nicholson concentrates on M&A advisory assignments, commercial real estate, 
capital raising, debt placement and litigation support.
Since 2003, Mr. 
Nicholson has headed up his own firm, WRN Financial. The company focuses on 
litigation support to attorneys in real estate/banking disputes, strategic 
consulting regarding real estate finance and lending, and executive search for 
bankers.
After retiring from Bank of America at the end of 2002, 
Mr. Nicholson was a managing director for Chatsworth Securities. While at 
Chatsworth, he worked on project financings for homebuilder and apartment 
clients of the firm. He also was involved in acquisition, divestiture, and 
advisory assignments with private real estate companies.
With the 
acquisition of Barnett Banks by Bank of America, Mr. Nicholson joined Banc of 
America Securities as managing director. He oversaw the Real Estate Advisory 
Group - the firm's national investment banking practice serving private real 
estate companies and investors. Mr. Nicholson managed offices located in San 
Francisco, Charlotte, Dallas and Chicago from his Jacksonville location. His 
transactions included an equity raise/sale of assets for Stiles Corporation, 
advisory work on behalf of the St. Joe Corporation, and an M & A assignment 
related to the sale of Heritage Homes of Orlando to a publicly traded national 
homebuilder.
In January 1992, Mr. Nicholson joined Barnett Banks of 
Florida, Inc. from PNC Bank. He served as Director of Commercial Real Estate 
from the beginning of 1992 until Barnett was acquired in late summer of 1997. He 
was chairman of the bank's Community Development Corporation, Vice Chairman and 
Director of Main American Capital, a mortgage banking joint venture involving 
commercial real estate loan securitization and a member of the bank's seven 
member executive loan committee, which reviewed and approved all bank credits 
from $25 million to over $100 million. While at Barnett, Mr. Nicholson formed 
Barnett Realty Partners, a mortgage banking subsidiary, which represented 
Salomon Brothers and other institutional capital providers as Florida 
correspondents. Additionally, he managed the bank's real estate syndication 
activities, and worked with Barnett's larger real estate clients to provide 
innovative capital raising solutions. Representative Barnett Realty Partner 
transactions include a $300 million revolving credit facility for Olen 
Residential, originated jointly with Salomon Brothers, debt placement for Rooms 
To Go, and a $100 million multi-facility financing for Arvida/JMB Partners.
Mr. Nicholson spent ten years with PNC in Pittsburgh, managing the bank's 
national construction lending group and supporting the international division on 
select overseas real estate transactions. In addition to directing the U.S. 
sales force and loan administration, he led the bank's efforts in originating 
the closing of the largest multi-property real estate debt transaction in New 
Zealand in 1984; underwriting, syndicating and financing the Charles Hotel, 
retail and condominium complex in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and representing the 
bank in a $728 million financing for Olympia and York for the World Financial 
Center.
In 1973, Mr. Nicholson worked as an analyst and transaction 
originator for Barnett Mortgage Trust based in Jacksonville, Florida. In 1975, 
he joined Barnett Mortgage Company also located in Jacksonville, and headed up 
Barnett's state-wide residential loan origination effort. In 1979, Mr. Nicholson 
relocated to Western Pennsylvania to become the Director of lending for 
Greensburgh Savings & Loan. He was responsible for residential loan origination, 
commercial lending, loan servicing, a three-person appraisal department, the 
collection area, and three independent loan production officers. Mr. Nicholson 
left Greensburgh Savings in January of 1992 to join Pittsburgh National Bank.
Mr. Nicholson is a member of the board of directors of BFC Financial (NASDAQ 
- BFCF). He serves on the audit and the compensation committees, in addition to 
his general board responsibilities.
Mr. Nicholson graduated with a 
bachelor's degree in political science from Wesleyan University in Middletown, 
Connecticut and earned a master's degree in finance and real estate from the 
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Mr. Nicholson holds Series 
7, 24, 63, and 79 securities licenses as well as a Florida real estate brokers 
license. He is the Chief Compliance Officer for Heritage Capital Group.
Mr. Nicholson is the past president of the Council for Sustainable Florida, past 
chairman of the American Bankers Association Real Estate and Finance Committee, 
and head of the ABA's environmental task force. He is a Vietnam veteran and 
former captain in the U.S. Marine Corp.
Mr. Nicholson served as a member 
of the University of Florida's Real Estate Advisory Board from 1996 through 
2011. In October of 2010, he completed the USDA's Lender Liability training.
Loan Committee experience includes:
Loan Administration and Policy Experience: