Whitestone REIT announced that the Board of Trustees (?Board?) has appointed Amy S. Feng, an independent Trustee, as the Chair of Whitestone?s Board of Trustees, and Julia B. Buthman, also an independent Trustee, as Chair of the Board?s Nominating and Governance Committee. The Company is in the process of engaging a well-known national search firm to conduct a comprehensive search to identify two new independent board members to replace current trustees, David F. Taylor and Nandita V. Berry. Mr. Taylor and Ms. Berry plan to step down from their roles once their highly qualified successors are appointed or elected to the Board.

Amy Feng currently serves as Executive Vice President, Strategic Situations and Investor Relations of Edelman Smithfield and brings a wealth of experience from over 25 years of advising executives and Boards on strategic matters. Her clients have included some of the largest REITs: American Campus Communities, ClubCorp, Healthcare Trust of America, Iron Mountain, Monmouth Real Estate, Prologis and Public Storage. Ms. Feng has also previously served as the global head of investor relations at Shopify, Managing Director at Joele Frank, Brimmer Wilkinson Katcher, and as an Executive Vice President at Abernathy MacGregor.

She built her financial expertise during her years covering software, technology and e-commerce stocks as a Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at JMP Securities, and as a Senior Equity Research Analyst at Lehman Brothers. Ms. Feng earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in Chemistry from Cornell University, a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California-Berkeley, and an MBA from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. Julia Buthman is a seasoned investment professional with more than 35 years of experience in senior debt, subordinated debt and structured equity investments in both public and private companies.

Ms. Buthman is a former Managing Director of Prudential Private Capital (PPC), where she oversaw the Dallas Corporate Finance office covering multiple growth cities in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Ms. Buthman served on the boards of several of PPC?s portfolio companies, including leading the Audit and Compensation Committees. In addition, she served on PPC?s senior management team, providing valuable input into strategy, execution and human capital management.

Prior to PPC, Ms. Buthman served as a Managing Director at Bank of Montreal (BMO), where she was a member of the Special Assets group, responsible for managing multiple real estate investments and assets across various sectors including, retail, commercial, residential and office. Additionally, she was responsible for heading a new Chicago-based vertical focused on the retail industry. Throughout her tenure at both Prudential and BMO, Ms. Buthman advised clients within the real estate industry on capital management, strategy and M&A. Ms. Buthman earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Oklahoma State University and an MBA from The University of Houston Bauer School of Business.