Our Team
John C. Leo, Chairman
John Leo is an experienced business operator and Investment Banker who has provided financing and project development advisory services to a broad range of real estate projects, including but not limited to resort and business hotels, single family home developments, condominiums, rental apartments, and mixed-use projects incorporating retail, hotel and residential. In aggregate, the total value of real estate projects he and his team have worked on exceeds $3 billion. In addition, to financing and development expertise Mr. Leo and his team have expertise in project management, compliance and corporate oversight.
Mr. Leo has established and personally financed two FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) member investment banking firms, which are also registered with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), as well and a Registered Investment Advisor. He has organized, managed and supervised investment banking teams executing projects in multiple locations throughout the United States, as well as foreign transactions, overseeing offices in New York, California, Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore.
Mr. Leo is experienced and skilled in managing a broad range of real estate projects and investment banking transactions, M&A transactions, recruiting and managing personnel, general compliance issues, drafting and negotiating term sheets, offering documents, written supervisory procedures, and transaction execution. He has 30+ years of experience in financial industry, 25+ years specific to project financing. Mr. Leo has served as board member of four US listed companies and CFO for one US listed company. He is currently a board member of Vecta Inc., a holding company for a federally chartered saving and loan and a board member of Sunnyside Federal Savings and Loan Association. Mr. Leo currently maintains the following FINRA Registrations: SIE, Series 7, 24, 55, 63, 79, 99. He has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Rollins College.
Michael C. Tyson, CEO
Michael C. Tyson, originally from Brooklyn, New York, is a partner in the Orlando office of Wicker Smith. He focuses his practice on legal matters involving medical malpractice, premises liability, negligent security, trucking litigation, general civil litigation and appellate law. Prior to joining Wicker Smith, Mr. Tyson was a shareholder with an Orlando firm that provided legal services in the areas of corporate, tax, real estate, litigation, bankruptcy, estate planning and probate, and workers’ compensation.
Mr. Tyson graduated with Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Rollins College in 1985. He then went on to earn a Juris Doctor in 1990 from Florida State University. While in law school, he was a national competitor in the Florida State University Moot Court Team. He is a recipient of the Irving Kaufman Securities Law Best Brief Award. Admitted to practice in the state of Florida and the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in 1990, Mr. Tyson has earned the respect from his peers, achieving an AV rating by Martindale-Hubbell.
Active in the community, Mr. Tyson devotes much of his time to working with Orlando’s Homeless Advocacy Project, The Association to Preserve African American Society, History & Tradition, Inc and the Rollins College Athletic Council.
Mr. Tyson is also a Certified Circuit Civil Mediator.
Arthur J. Magee, CFA, CFO
Mr. Magee joined Primary Capital in 2009 and serves as Head of Investment Banking. In addition to his role in originating transactions across a range of industry sectors, Mr. Magee is responsible for all aspects of deal execution, including due diligence, marketing, structuring, negotiating and closing investment banking transactions. He also has expertise in conducting valuation analyses, where the firm issues fairness opinions on behalf of clients engaged in transactions such as SPAC (“Special Purpose Acquisition Company”) business combination transactions, M&A, reverse mergers, privatizations and shareholder disputes. In addition to his role at Primary Capital, Mr. Magee is an Investment Advisor for Primary Asset Management, LLC, an SEC-Registered Investment Advisory firm, where he primarily advises investment funds on real estate investments in residential, commercial and hospitality properties. Mr. Magee serves as Manager and Chief Compliance Officer of Primary Asset Management.
Prior to joining Primary Capital, Mr. Magee spent more than 15 years working with both boutique investment banking firms and major global banks. While at the boutique firms, he focused primarily on financing emerging growth companies and was directly involved in more than 30 IPO’s, resulting in gross proceeds of more than $650 million. In addition to traditional IPOs, he has worked on a variety of other transactions, including SPAC IPO’s, business combinations, private placements, M&A advisory and financial restructurings. His experience also includes working in the investment banking divisions at two of the world’s leading banks, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (now known as MUFG Bank, Ltd.) and BNP Paribas. While at these banks, Mr. Magee worked on a number of cross-border M&A, joint venture and licensing transactions, with a specific focus on their Asian and European clients.
Mr. Magee has earned and maintains the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and maintains the Series 7, 24, 63 and 79 FINRA registrations and is an SEC Registered Investment Adviser (RIA). He received an MBA from the University at Buffalo and a B.S. from Albright College.
