Brian Streko

Funds, Chief Financial Officer

Brian Streko is the Chief Financial Officer of Amherst Capital’s funds. In this role, Brian is responsible for the funds’ financial accounting and reporting, and the coordination of audit, tax, compliance, structuring and investor reporting.

Prior to joining Amherst Capital, Brian served as the Chief Financial Officer for Chapman Consulting and Table 95 Hospitality, a large family office and restaurant asset manager, where he had oversight of the financial accounting, reporting, taxes, investor relations, Commercial Real Estate asset management and estate planning divisions for approximately 200 unique entities. Prior to this, Brian was a Principal at Investcorp International for eight years, where he worked as the Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operating Officer of the Real Estate group. Prior to Investcorp International, Brian was a Vice President/Director of Financial Accounting and Reporting at Capmark Investments, LP, overseeing both equity and debt funds with total AUM of approximately $10 billion. Brian initially began his career as an Auditor at Arthur Andersen.

Brian holds a BS in Accountancy from Villanova University and holds the CPA designation.

Banu Roso

Chief Operating Officer

Banu Roso is a Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer at Amherst Capital and is a member of the Executive Committee. In this role, Banu works closely with the CEO and other senior leaders in day-to-day management of the business, including financial / strategic planning and oversight of operations and business administration.

Prior to joining Amherst Capital, Banu spent 16 years at UBS, where she held leadership roles in sales management for UBS Asset Management Distribution in the Americas, generated new business through cross-divisional collaboration as part of UBS Business Development Group, and provided M&A advisory and financing services to consumer products clients in UBS Investment Bank. Banu started her career in management consulting as an Analyst at the Brattle Group and subsequently as a Consultant at Boston Consulting Group.

Banu holds an MBA in Finance from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School, MA in International Management from the Lauder Institute with a concentration in European Studies and German Language, and BA in Economics and German Studies from Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts.

David Skoien

Head of Asset Management

David Skoien is a Director and Head of Asset Management for the Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Lending business at Amherst Capital Management.  In this role, Dave is responsible for developing the CRE lending policies and procedures, overseeing the management of the CRE loan portfolio and on-going reporting of portfolio performance.

Prior to joining Amherst Capital, Dave was a SVP, Portfolio Manager from 2014 – 2015 responsible for overseeing the CRE, Multifamily, Construction, and Lender Finance real estate portfolios at CapitalSource, a division of Pacific Western Bank.  The portfolios included loans with aggregate commitments of ~$3.0B and various employment responsibilities required management of a ten employee department, maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements and corporate policies and procedures, and strategizing and implementing the resolution of non-performing loans and REO assets through various disposition and recovery strategies.   Dave joined CapitalSource in 2005, and throughout his tenure managed senior and mezzanine CRE, construction, multifamily, lender finance, captive auto, resort, and healthcare real estate loans in the CRE, Lender Finance, and Healthcare RE portfolio management departments.  

Dave has a BA in Economics from Duke University and over 10 years of CRE lending experience.

Brad Donaldson

Head of Underwriting and Transaction Management

Brad Donaldson is a Director and Head of Underwriting and Transaction Management for the Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Lending Business at Amherst Capital Management.  In this role, Brad is responsible for overseeing the underwriting of all new originations and managing the closing and diligence process.

Prior to joining Amherst Capital, Brad was a SVP, Originations at CapitalSource, a Division of Pacific Western Bank.  In this role he was responsible for underwriting and managing the closing process for $1.8 billion of middle market real estate bridge loans.  Brad joined CapitalSource in 2002 in the Commercial Real Estate Portfolio Management group and he was responsible for managing this group from 2006 – 2013.

 Prior to joining CapitalSource, Brad was part of the treasury and accounting group at Mills Corporation, a regional mall REIT.  Brad began his career with local accounting firms focused on serving real estate developers. 

Brad holds an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, and a BS in accounting from Radford University.   

Alex Kahn

Analyst

Alex Kahn is an analyst dedicated to the U.S. single family equity strategy at Amherst Capital Management.

Prior to joining Amherst Capital, Alex spent three years at HavenBrook Homes, most recently as an asset manager responsible for the firm’s portfolio of U.S. single family rental homes. Prior to this he served as a transition manager at Convergex, an agency-focused global brokerage and trading related services provider.

Alex holds a BS in finance and consulting and venture management from Emory University

Abbe Franchot Borok

Head of Originations, Commercial Real Estate Lending

Abbe Franchot Borok is a Managing Director and Head of Originations for the Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Lending business at Amherst Capital Management.  In this role, Abbe is responsible for the origination of mortgage debt on all types of commercial real estate assets.  

Prior to joining Amherst Capital, Abbe was a senior member of the CRE Lending team at CapitalSource, the national lending division of Pacific Western Bank. Abbe has broad experience in sourcing and underwriting commercial real estate debt, with a focus on interim senior loans backing transitional or value add business plans. Prior to CapitalSource, Abbe held various positions in marketing and brand management. 

Abbe holds an MBA in finance from Columbia University and a BA in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania and is a member of several real estate organizations including ULI, CREFC, Bisnow, PEWIN and ICSC.

Christopher Kelly

Head of Commercial Real Estate Lending

Christopher T. Kelly is a Managing Director and Head of Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Lending at Amherst Capital Management.  In this role, Chris is responsible for all facets of Amherst Capital’s CRE middle-market lending business, targeting senior mortgage investments in all types of commercial and for-rent residential real estate assets.

A 28-year commercial real estate professional, Chris has extensive experience in real estate debt, mezzanine and equity markets. Prior to joining Amherst Capital, Chris was a Managing Director and Head of Real Estate at CapitalSource, a division of Pacific Western Bank, responsible for all facets of the national real estate lending business. Previously, he was a Managing Director and founding member of Natixis (formerly known as CDC Mortgage Capital), responsible for the origination of senior and mezzanine loans. Prior to this, Chris was with Lehman Brothers where he originated interim and permanent debt for the Fixed Income Group.

Chris spent more than eight years at Heller Financial in the real estate division, where he was involved in the origination of a wide array of senior and mezzanine debt for all types of commercial real estate. Additional roles during his tenure at Heller included the origination of equity investments in single family and multi-family developments, and construction asset management for several high profile New York City commercial and mixed-use developments.

Chris frequently speaks at industry conferences and events, including: Urban Land Institute, CREFC, University of Wisconsin-Madison, New York University, IMN, WREAA, CBRE Institutional Investors, AmeriCatalyst and Massey Knakal.

Chris is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a member of various real estate organizations including CREFC, ULI, ICSC and WREAA. He is a former board member for the Wisconsin Real Estate Alumni Association.

Scott Barnum

Head of Marketing and Client Engagement

Scott Barnum is Managing Director and Head of Marketing and Client Engagement at Amherst Capital Management. In the role, Scott coordinates asset gathering, marketing, and client service. With the firm since inception, Scott was instrumental in launching the business and led the effort to staff and operationalize the overall platform. Scott is a member of the Executive Committee and the Commercial Real Estate Credit Committee.

Prior to this, Scott was a Managing Director in the Business Strategy and Development group at BNY Mellon Investment Management where he was focused on growth strategies, including the launch of Amherst Capital. In this role, Scott worked closely with Amherst Holdings to develop the business plan and successfully establish Amherst Capital in 2014. Scott has over 23 years of experience in financial services, strategy and consulting roles and previously held positions at Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Oliver Wyman.

Scott holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a BBA in Finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Karen Gemmett

Head of Mortgage Backed Securities & Lead Portfolio Manager

Karen Gemmett is the Head  of Mortgage Backed Securities and Lead Portfolio Manager at Amherst Capital Management. In this role, she is responsible for leading the broader investment team and driving strategy. She specializes in residential mortgage backed securities research and analysis.

Karen has more than 18 years of investment experience and joined Amherst Capital from Standish Mellon Asset Management Company, LLC, where she spent 11 years. Most recently Karen served as a Structured Finance and Mortgage Strategist at Standish, responsible for security selection of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). Prior to Standish, Karen worked at Columbia Management Group where she was responsible for RMBS research.

Karen has a BS from Penn State University and holds the CFA® designation.

Marcus Wignell

Head of Product Development

Marcus Wignell is the Head of Product Development at Amherst Capital Management and has 15 years of private equity, real estate and infrastructure experience. Marcus is a member of the Executive Committee.

Marcus joined Amherst Capital from Deutsche Bank where he spent 8 years in a variety of roles within RREEF, most recently as Global Head of Product Development. In this role, Marcus initiated and led the development of RREEF’s strategy to access U.S. Defined Contribution capital and created the internal business and product structure, portfolio team, asset allocation, hiring of distribution resources and was involved in sales and marketing. In 2011 RREEF was awarded an aiCIO Innovation Award for this initiative.¹

Prior to Deutsche Bank, Marcus worked at Morgan Stanley and Clifford Chance in London where he was focused on derivative and structured product transactions including the securitization of real estate portfolios. 

Marcus graduated from the University of Melbourne and was awarded his law degree from La Trobe University. Marcus no longer practices as an Attorney but has been admitted to practice Law in England and Wales, is a Barrister and Solicitor in Victoria, Australia and is an Attorney of the New York Supreme Court. He is a member of the Standards Committee of the Defined Contribution Real Estate Council (DCREC).

_{1. Source: aiCIO Announces 2011 Industry Innovation Awards Across 5 Asset Management-Related Categories (press release issued September 2011). RREEF was recognized as the aiCIO Global Industry Innovation Awards for the real estate asset management category in 2011.}

Dave Breuner

Senior Institutional Portfolio Manager

David Breuner is a Managing Director and Senior Institutional Portfolio Manager at Amherst Capital Management. Prior to joining, Dave served as Co-Head of Americas Sales at FIRSTavenue, where he was responsible for leading all distribution efforts in the Western United States and Northwest Canada.

Prior to this, Dave was a Managing Director in the Private Capital Solutions Group at Madison Williams. Previously, was with Deutsche Bank/RREEF in San Francisco, Cohen Esrey Real Estate and BT Commercial Real Estate.

David holds a BA from the University of California at Berkeley, and thereafter spent 7 years in the United States Navy flying the F-14 Tomcat.

Jim Shallcross

Senior Institutional Portfolio Manager

Jim Shallcross is a Managing Director and Senior Institutional Portfolio Manager at Amherst Capital Management. In this role, Jim is focused on developing asset gathering efforts across all of Amherst Capital’s investment strategies.

Prior to joining, Jim was a Senior Portfolio Manager at Metacapital Management, responsible for building and executing credit-sensitive strategies. Jim also spent 20 years as Director of Portfolio Management and founder at Declaration Management & Research in McLean, VA.

Jim holds an MBA from The Stern School of Business at New York University and a BSBA from the University of Denver.