Team

A company of experienced specialists in real estate, finance and management uncovering opportunities in distressed real estate and assets backed by real estate and commodity interests.

These opportunities include bank REO, foreclosures and short sales, forced liquidations, workouts, recapitalizations and restructurings, impaired mortgages and non-performing loans.

Mark D. Lester

CEO AND FOUNDING PRINCIPAL​
Mark graduated from the University of Santa Clara in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce. Immediately following graduation, Mark went to work with regional developer in Northern California where he participated in construction, management and development of apartment and retail real estate projects. Beginning in 1988, Mark worked for Norris Beggs and Simpson, a west coast real estate lending and real estate leasing company specializing in office and industrial product.
 

Beginning in 1992, Mark committed his full time to a real estate company specializing in acquisitions of apartments in Texas where he helped the company grow by leading the identification and acquisition of property management companies to a point of 7,000 apartment units and 10,000,000 square feet of leased commercial space.

In 1998, Mark co-founded LANDCO with a group of private investors for acquisition of land assets. LANDCO redirected its focus to income producing property in 2002 with an emphasis on multi-family units.  In 2005 Mark acquired the interest of the other partners and acquired a portfolio of 3,500 apartment units in Arizona and Texas.

Mark currently operates a private equity real estate fund where he participates on the investment committee along with the firm’s principals, participates in evaluating CMBS, whole loan, and direct real estate investment opportunities.

Mark is married to Suzanne Tobin Lester.  They have two children, Tobin, 19 attends SMU and Annie 16, attends Notre Dame in Belmont.  Mark is an avid fly fishing enthusiast, lover of golf, and enjoys sports activities in general.

Tami Nishi

Director of Operations

Ms. Nishi joined LANDCO in 2006 with 17 years of experience as an accounting and project manager in the real estate investment and development industry. She is currently serving as Director of Operations for LANDCO. Tami’s extensive real estate experience includes accounting, finance, acquisition, law, project management and property management. Ms. Nishi began her career in real estate and construction in 1989 with an insurance repair contractor in San Diego, CA where she acquired a vast knowledge of job costing, plan reading, Owner and Subcontractor negotiations and contract administration. In 1994, she moved to a large insulation and drywall contractor specializing in large tracts/phases of single and multi-family production building. She managed the accounting, purchasing and administrative staff and was vital in the development a commercial steel stud framing division. Mrs. Nishi has spent the six years prior to her tenure at LANDCO working for various clients, owning her own consulting business and performing multitudes of duties specifically relating to multifamily development and operations, land acquisition and entitlement. She has been involved with the development and operation of over 7500 housing units in five states.

Bill Knudson

Research Analyst

Bill Knudson has spent decades working with major financial institutions such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and JPMorgan Chase. Bill’s professional expertise includes generating periodic NCREIF performance reports, implementing annual budget processes, identifying, and structuring targeted property and portfolio acquisitions, and performing market research and analysis.  The long span of his career has given Bill deep firsthand experience covering every market cycle. 


Bill holds a BA degree in Economics and Accounting, from the University of California at Berkeley (1977) and an MS degree in Finance from Carnegie Mellon University (1980).

As an avid researcher and analyst, Bill keeps his hand on the pulse of the market, as chronicled in his weekly posts titled “The Knudson File.”

David Rosenbaum

A real estate professional since 1976, Mr. Rosenbaum has held executive positions in several growth-oriented companies in the San Francisco Bay Area, among them Plaza Pacific Equities, Diablo Lakes Development Corp., Intrust, Senior Equity Resources, and Lynch Investments. His responsibilities have encompassed property management, asset management, acquisitions and sales, construction and development, finance, corporate administration and planning. He has particular expertise in the multi-family housing market, with special concentration in finance, valuation, asset management and marketing.

During the course of his career, Mr. Rosenbaum has acquired, sold, financed and/or managed nearly 12,000 apartment units, over 500,000 square feet of retail space, and more than 500,000 square feet of commercial space. In addition, he has been instrumental in developing and building residential condos, garden office buildings, single family homes, and 860 acres for residential subdivision. Four times in his career, Mr. Rosenbaum has helped implement 10-fold growth in the companies he has joined. Today, he is a LANDCO Principal – designing and executing real estate investment opportunities with the company. Mr. Rosenbaum received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana in 1972 (English Literature) and a Master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1976.

Michael C. Dugan

Principal, Construction / Asset Management

A licensed general contractor with over 25 years of experience in complex construction management, Mr. Dugan plays a key role in LANDCO’s construction operations, whereby value is added to existing properties. From 1999 through 2005, Mr. Dugan was Divisional Controller for U.S. Home/Lennar Corporation in Tucson, delivering over 1,700 homes and revenue of $300MM.

Mr. Dugan graduated from the University of Florida in 1970 and obtained a MBA from the University of Wisconsin in 1974. Returning to Florida, he began a career in commercial banking before joining the construction industry with Taylor Woodrow, Ltd.

Moving to Tucson, Arizona, in 1978, Mr. Dugan joined Codd Construction, an established commercial general contractor. He became Vice President and part owner of in charge of accounting, estimating and administrative departments. His duties included negotiating contracts for property acquisition and for subcontracted construction. While acting as Controller for the company, he was also Project Manager on the Municipal Complex for South Tucson, the remodeling of La Cholla High School, and a Luby’s Cafeteria. Holding both a commercial and residential general contractor’s license, he has personally remodeled 9 homes for resale. He also serves as an officer on three different Homeowners Associations.

Mark Foxx

A licensed general contractor, real estate broker, consulting engineer and geologist, Mr. Foxx graduated from Washington State University in 1975 (B. S. Cum Laude in Geology) and from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1984 (M. S. in Earth Science). Mark Foxx joined LANDCO in 1998 and has a primary role in LANDCO’s acquisitions, due diligence and construction oversight. With an extensive background in land use planning, land entitlement, permitting, development and construction, Mark is active in raw land development opportunities as well as strategic identification of markets, submarkets and individual multi-family housing opportunities for LANDCO.

In 27 years as a consultant, general contractor and project manager, Mark has solved numerous complex entitlement, engineering, and construction problems, drawing on each of his many technical and professional disciplines. He has managed the acquisition and development of approximately 100 properties and has worked as a consultant on about 1,000 other projects.

Blane Lickteig

Principal, Construction / Asset Management

Mr. Lickteig graduated from University of California at Berkeley with a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1987 and an MBA concentrating in Real Estate and Finance in 1989. He then worked for Sinclair-Bayfield Development, an affordable multifamily housing developer, to secure financing and assist in the pre-development phase of a tax credit project in southern California. Mr. Lickteig came to work for American Union in 1991 as Director of Operations where he oversaw all of the acquisition and rehabilitation of American Union properties in Texas. He also established and maintained the primary management entity overseeing the Texas portfolio. When American Union was sold, Mr. Lickteig pursued independent investment dealings in the real estate and equities markets. Mr. Lickteig joins LANDCO Partners Fund as an operating Principal with primary focus on Texas property. He has overseen rehabilitation and construction on over 1,500 apartments for LANDCO.

 

Chris Spragg

Arizona Broker / Asset Manager

In October 1993, Ms. Sahinen-Spragg joined the Property Management field. She specializes in stabilizing the financial success of her properties through training her management team in business and financial management.

Ms. Sahinen-Spragg has nineteen years supervisory experience, with seven years of experience as an Asset Manager for privately owned and third party management companies. Her experience also includes HUD, Section 8, LIHTC and Home funded properties. Her background contains ten years’ experience in training, property takeovers, due diligence and auditing. As asset manager, she has been responsible for portfolios in three different states and as many as, 10 different markets. She has been responsible for several multi-million dollar interior and exterior rehab projects. In addition to those responsibilities, she has overseen several new construction lease-up communities. Her current responsibilities include oversight of day-to-day operations and financial performance of her portfolio.

Ms. Sahinen-Spragg holds an Arizona Brokers License, National Tax Credit Designation and a CAPS Designation.

Taylor Burks

Project Manager/Analyst

Originally from Dallas, Texas, Taylor graduated with honors from the University of South Carolina with a Bachelors in Business Administration in Finance and Marketing in 2007.

Following graduation, Taylor worked as a Tenant Representative at Transwestern Commercial Services, where he was charged with business development and negotiating office and industrial leases on behalf of clients.

In 2013 he joined CBRE overseeing Financial Planning and Analysis of CBRE’s Global Workplace Services division at their corporate headquarters in Dallas. In 2015 he relocated to San Francisco to work directly with several of CBRE’s GWS clients, most notably Union Bank (MUFG), PG&E, Synopsys, TD Ameritrade, and Uber. While in that role, Taylor was focused on guiding clients in cost optimization, site selection, economic incentive negotiation, and portfolio strategy.

Taylor currently resides in San Francisco with his wife, Sophia and their son, Tucker. He is an avid golfer and outdoorsman, and an active member of The Guardsmen, a non-profit organization raising money for at-risk Bay Area youth.

Charles E. Steidtmann

Esq., Legal Advisor

As an attorney, Mr. Steidtmann has over 20 years of experience representing clients in a broad array of real estate and real estate tax matters. In addition to running his private law practice, Mr. Steidtmann serves as an officer of LANDCO, advising from time to time on legal matters as well as coordinating appropriate counsel for the formation of various single-purpose entities necessary for LANDCO to carry out its work.

A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California at Los Angeles Law School, Mr. Steidtmann also holds a Masters of Law in Taxation from New York University. Until 1998, Mr. Steidtmann was a partner at the San Francisco law firm of Tichell, Maltzman, Mark, Bass & Ohleyer. He then left to create his own practice devoted entirely to commercial real estate transactions and tax issues.

Scott D. Mayer

Attorney, Licensed Real Estate Broker and Retail Development Specialist

Scott D. Mayer is an accomplished real estate executive and attorney with experience throughout the United States in sophisticated real estate transactions. Over his 22-year career, Scott has been involved in all aspects of commercial and residential real estate as a partner in a San Francisco law firm, and as a principal and the general counsel of a national real estate firm. He has worked with a broadly diverse group of public companies and government entities, including McDonald’s, the State of Wisconsin, CVS/pharmacy, and HMS Host. He has managed the acquisition, sale and development of multi-tenant and single tenant projects totaling approximately 1.9 million square feet, and has been intimately involved in contract negotiations, underwriting, due diligence, entitlements and closings. Scott has been responsible for closing over $250 million in acquisition and construction financing, including negotiation of loan documents. He has personally managed the leasing of over 1.5 million square feet for retail, government and office projects. Scott received a Master of Law (LL.M.) degree with honors in Tax from Golden Gate University in 1997. He received his Juris Doctorate in 1987 from Loyola Law School and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley in 1984. Scott is a long-time member of the Real Property Section of the State Bar of California, and has served as a member of its Executive Committee. He holds a California Real Estate Broker’s License (License No. 01000457).

Gary A. Beason

Mr. Beason has in excess of 30 years estate experience with approximately 20 years home building experience with a top 50 home builder.

Gary is a seasoned financial and accounting executive with large company real estate development and home building experience, capital market fund raising, SEC reporting experience, successful tenure as an entrepreneur, and a big-four public accounting background.

Prior to his association with LANDCO, Gary served as chief financial officer for the CorkyMcMillin Companies where he reported directly to the chairman. there he resided on the Company’s executive committee and information systems executive committee. Additionally, Gary supervised the corporate finance, treasury and accounting and control functions with approximately 100 personnel.

Gary holds an MBA and is a certified public accountant (CPA).

Joseph Orr

Joseph Orr is the Acquisitions Principal with Schlosser Development Company located in Austin, Texas. Schlosser Development specializes in retail and mixed use urban and suburban development. Mr. Orr has over 23 years of institutional, corporate, and private commercial real estate investment experience with involvement in over $5 b of real estate transactions. His areas of expertise include commercial real estate due diligence, macro- and micro-market research, underwriting, acquisitions and dispositions across a wide spectrum of property types and markets. Prior to joining SDC Austin, Mr. Orr was Vice President of Real Estate for Safeway, Inc. He has also held senior acquisitions’ positions with the RREEF Funds and AMB Institutional Realty Advisors.

Mr. Orr earned a B.A. in Biological Sciences and an M.S. in Real Estate and Urban Land Development from the University of Texas as Austin. Mr. Orr is a licensed real estate broker in California.