Our senior leadership has been active in the litigation finance industry since 1998.
Charles Agee
Westfleet is led by Charles Agee, a seasoned litigation finance executive with deep expertise in the financial, legal, and operational aspects of the litigation finance industry. He maintains an extensive industry network and has a comprehensive knowledge of the industry’s competitive landscape.
For fifteen years prior to founding Westfleet, he was a capital provider in the litigation finance industry and has personally overseen the origination, investment diligence, and structuring of financing transactions in over a thousand complex litigation matters.
Mr. Agee began his career by co-founding one of the first litigation finance companies in 1998. Partnering with a leading hedge fund, he oversaw the construction of litigation finance portfolios in a variety of complex legal claims. He also was responsible for ensuring compliance of financing activities with legal ethics and other regulatory issues relevant to litigation finance and managed engagements with leading experts on these subjects in virtually every U.S. state.
In late 2013, Mr. Agee recognized an opportunity to bring greater transparency and efficiency to the litigation financing market and to deliver value to a broader audience. He founded Westfleet Advisors with a core focus of helping lawyers and their clients navigate the litigation financing market more efficiently and with greater peace of mind.
Charles Agee is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate in Economics from Rhodes College.
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Gretchen Lowe
Ms. Lowe is an expert in the accounting, taxation, structuring, and investment diligence of litigation financing transactions. For ten years prior to joining Westfleet, she operated in the litigation finance industry as a capital provider, working closely with Mr. Agee in connection with his portfolio management responsibilities.
Ms. Lowe also has significant experience managing relationships with outside litigation counsel, accounting firms, creditors, and other capital providers in connection with litigation financing transactions and is highly proficient in streamlining the litigation financing process.
Prior to her work in the litigation finance field, Ms. Lowe distinguished herself in Ernst & Young’s tax practice.
She previously managed an internationally syndicated credit facility for Fujikura International and also was a credit analyst for SunTrust Bank.
Gretchen Lowe holds a BA and Masters in Accountancy from Belmont University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
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Wendie Childress
Ms. Childress is an experienced commercial trial lawyer and litigation funder with an extensive network across the U.S. legal and funding market. She brings to bear her significant litigation and funding experience to work directly with clients and counsel in evaluating opportunities for litigation finance transactions and advising and shepherding them through all stages of the process to ensure the best possible experience and terms for our clients.
Ms. Childress joined Westfleet in 2023 after years of working with funding pioneers at Validity Finance and well over a decade of practicing commercial litigation at powerhouse boutique Yetter Coleman, one of the nation’s premier boutique trial law firms. In her private practice, Ms. Childress had a winning track record representing both plaintiffs and defendants in commercial disputes across a variety of industries, including energy, financial services, healthcare, and IT. She graduated with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin, where she went on to earn her JD in 2000. Wendie then served for two years as General Counsel to the Texas Senate Committee on Business and Commerce. She has been named to the Lawdragon “Global 100 Leaders in Litigation Finance” list and a “Houston Top Lawyer” in Business & Commercial Litigation by H Texas Magazine. Ms. Childress is a member of the State Bar of Texas, Texas Bar Foundation, Houston Bar Association, and Women of Litigation Finance Steering Committee.
Lucian T. Pera
Senior Ethics Advisor
Mr. Pera is a partner in Adams & Reese’s Memphis office and specializes in commercial litigation, legal ethics, and media law. He has advised lawyers and financiers in connection with litigation financing activities for more than a decade. Mr. Pera is also very active in the American Bar Association, having helped craft the ABA’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct and currently serving as ABA Treasurer (2011-2014). Lucian Pera has also served as President of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, the national organization of lawyers who work in the legal ethics arena.
Robert G. Krupka
Advisory Board Member
Mr. Krupka has been described as “one of the top trial lawyers in the country”. He recently retired from Kirkland & Ellis as their most senior patent litigator and is now a partner with Krupka Law Group PC, advising innovators and companies on complex business and IP issues. He has tried more than 75 cases to judgment and has obtained verdicts and settlements in excess of $4 billion, including one of the largest patent settlements in history ($1.35 billion).
Pamela Banner Krupka
Advisory Board Member
Ms. Krupka is a partner with Krupka Law Group, PC in Los Angeles and, with over 30 years of engineering and legal experience, advises clients in connection with a variety of intellectual property issues. She has managed preparation and prosecution of global patent portfolios for Fortune 100 companies and is active in various professional activities. She recently served as Chair of the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law. Previously, Ms. Krupka was a partner in Banner & Witcoff’s D.C. office and an engineer with Texas Instruments, Inc.
The Honorable (Ret.) Ben Tennille
Advisory Board Member
Judge Tennille recently retired as Chief Judge of the North Carolina Business Court and has vast experience with complex commercial litigation. Judge Tennille currently maintains an ADR practice in Winston-Salem and recently served a term on P.R.I.M.E. Finance’s Managing Board. Judge Tennille recently co-founded H.O.P.E (Help Our People Eat), which uses the resources of the interfaith community to prepare and transport nutritious meals on Sundays to children in neighborhoods with the highest food insecurity. Previously, Judge Tennille was Associate GC for Burlington Industries, Inc., responsible for managing the company’s litigation, nationally and internationally.