Leadership
Drew McKnight
Chairman, Board of Directors
Drew McKnight is Chairman, Board of Directors, for Fortress Value Acquisition Corp. V.
Mr. McKnight is Co-Chief Executive Officer and a Managing Partner of Fortress Investment Group, based in Dallas. He serves on the Board of Directors, the Leadership Committee, and is a member of several investment committees.
Additionally, Mr. McKnight was a Director of Mosaic Acquisition Corp., and CEO of Fortress Value Acquisition Corp. (“FVAC”) I, FVAC II and FVAC III, and a Chairman of FVAC IV.
Prior to joining Fortress in February 2005, Mr. McKnight worked at Fir Tree Partners where he was responsible for analyzing and trading high yield and convertible bonds, bank debt, derivatives and equities for the value-based hedge fund. Prior to Fir Tree, Mr. McKnight worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in Leveraged Finance and the Distressed Bank Debt trading group. Mr. McKnight serves on the Board of Trustees for the American Enterprise Institute and Board of the Overseers at the Hoover Institution. He is a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’s Financial Sector Advisory Council; the Board of Advisors at UVA’s Center for Politics and SMU’s Cox School of Business Alternative Asset Management Center; and the UT Southwestern Medical Center President’s Advisory Board. In addition, Mr. McKnight is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. McKnight received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Drew Stroud
Co-Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Stroud is Co-Chief Executive Officer of Fortress Value Acquisition Corp. V.
Mr. Stroud has been a Managing Director at Fortress Investment Group since July 2025, and is a Co-Portfolio Manager in Fortress's Credit business. Prior to Fortress, he was a Partner at ValueAct Capital from 2016 to 2024. Earlier in his career, he served as an investment professional at Elliott Management and as a Vice President at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Stroud holds a B.A. from Duke University and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
Micah Kaplan
Co-Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Kaplan is Co-Chief Executive Officer of Fortress Value Acquisition Corp. V.
Mr. Kaplan is a Managing Director in the Corporate Debt and Securities Group at Fortress, where he is responsible for the sourcing, underwriting and execution of public and private debt and equity investments across a broad range of industries. Additionally, Mr. Kaplan served as the Chief Operating Officer of Fortress Value Acquisition Corp. (“FVAC”) I, FVAC II, FVAC III and FVAC IV. Prior to joining Fortress in July 2011, Mr. Kaplan was a research analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he analyzed and published research on high yield issuers. Mr. Kaplan received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
John Konawalik
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Konawalik is Chief Financial Officer of Fortress Value Acquisition Corp. V.
Mr. Konawalik has served as the Chief Accounting Officer of Fortress, as a public and private company, since 2010, leading the firm’s accounting, financial reporting, and treasury functions. Prior to joining Fortress, Mr. Konawalik served as the SVP Controller and Treasurer at McCann World Group, a global advertising firm. Prior to joining McCann Worldgroup, Mr. Konawalik served as a Senior Manager in the audit practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Konawalik received a B.S. in Accounting from Penn State University.
Independent Director
Tripp Jones
Director, Board of Directors
Tripp Jones is a Director on the Board of Directors for Fortress Value Acquisition Corp. V.
He is a Partner at Uncork Capital, where he invests in early‑stage and growth technology companies across consumer and enterprise sectors. Prior to joining Uncork Capital in 2021, Mr. Jones was a General Partner at August Capital, where he sourced and led investments in companies including BARK (NYSE: BARK), Sendbird, Hipcamp, Yumi, and Wattpad (acquired by Naver).
Mr. Jones has served as a board member or observer for numerous private and public companies, including BARK, Hipcamp, Sendbird, CommonBond, Sun Basket, ADARA, Paperless Post, Quandl, Rocketmiles, and Wattpad, among others.
Mr. Jones holds a B.A. in Psychology from Princeton University.