Charles M Fernandez

Charles M. Fernandez is a mergers and acquisitions executive with an extensive background in corporate restructuring. Since his graduation from Florida International University in Miami in 1985, he has served in leadership positions with several prominent broadcasting, pharmaceutical, health care, and mutual funds companies. In 2011, Charles M. Fernandez left Miami-based asset management powerhouse Fairholme Capital Management LLC, where he had co-managed the company's Fairholme Fund since 2008. Over the course of his career, Mr. Fernandez has overseen corporate accounting systems and regulatory agency compliance at several major companies and has prepared analytics on more than 100 mergers, acquisitions, and product development projects. Bruce Berkowitz, founder and co-manager of the Fairholme Fund, told a CNNMoney reporter in 2010 that the Fairholme Fund's $1.4 billion return on its investment in one of its focused purchases, General Growth Properties, would not have been possible without Charles M. Fernandez.

Before his successful tenure at the Fairholme Fund, Charles M. Fernandez held the position of President and Chief Executive Officer at Lakeview Health Systems in Miami, a private addiction rehabilitation facility worth $75 million. The restructuring skills he later brought to the Fairholme Fund served him well at Lakeview. Mr. Fernandez successfully put new financial and operational systems in place to bring the company in line with best practices at much larger public health care companies.

Charles M. Fernandez served pharmaceutical giant Ivax Corporation from 1997 to 2003 and focused on a global expansion that increased the company's enterprise value to $9 billion. In previous positions, he rescued troubled corporations across the United States from the brink of bankruptcy, expanded operations, saw asset values increase by at least 200 percent, and oversaw successful mergers. Mr. Fernandez's management and restructuring skills generated multi-billion dollar profits to Fairholme Fund's shareholders.