Courtland Partners
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Key Professionals

  • Michael J. Humphrey, Managing Principal
  • Steven C. Novick, Principal and Chief Operating Officer
  • Benjamin Blakney, Managing Director
  • Garrett E. Zdolshek, Managing Director
  • Lourdes “Lou” Canlas, Managing Director
  • William J. Foster, Managing Director
  • Dan Wolnik, CPA, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer
  • Charles R. Manak, General Counsel
  • Joseph Cook, CFA, CPA, Director
  • Catherine A. Butler, Director of Performance Measurement
  • Michael P. Murphy, Senior Consultant
  • Robert H. ("Bo") Rodgers, Senior Consultant
  • Daniel P. Moore, CFA, Senior Consultant
  • Thomas G. DeFranco, Consultant and Director of Infrastructure Investments
  • Marc A. Rivitz, Senior Analyst
  • Michael R. Jurec, Senior Analyst-Research Coordinator
  • Mary C. Jaquillard, Analyst
  • John S. Ramsey, Performance Measurement Analyst
  • Robert J. Negrelli, Analyst
  • Jacinta de Rivera, Analyst
  • Jarrod Rapalje, Analyst
  • Andrew J. Mitro, Analyst
  • Patricia A. Kleve, Controller
  • Susan Yelin, Assistant Controller
  • Julie M. Limpach, Executive Assistant

  • Michael J. HumphreyMichael J. Humphrey, Managing Principal, is a co-founder of the firm. He has over 20 years of real estate investment experience as an attorney, a workout consultant and an advisor.Mr. Humphrey began his career in the national office of Ernst & Whinney (now Ernst & Young) and, following law school, was an associate with the law firm of Baker & Hostetler. He then acted as a legal counsel and financial analyst for a real estate workout firm specializing in the liquidation of distressed real estate assets. That firm's clients were primarily financial institutions (e.g., Banc Texas and The Bank of New England) requiring the disposition of non-performing mortgage loans and real estate owned. Prior to starting Courtland, Mr. Humphrey was a Senior Consultant with The Townsend Group for over four years where he was responsible for a number of state and other pension fund clients. He is a member of Courtland's Investment Committee.Mr. Humphrey holds a B.A., summa cum laude, in Economics from Wittenberg University and a J.D. from Columbia University Law School, where he was a Stone Scholar. He has spoken at a number of real estate seminars and is a member of the Urban Land Institute and the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries

    Steven  C.  NovickSteven C. Novick, Principal and Chief Operating Officer, has over 30 years of real estate experience in all aspects of investing from property acquisitions and dispositions to portfolio construction Mr. Novick’s experience is both as a direct investor as well as in the capacity of an advisor and consultant. Mr. Novick also heads the firm’s infrastructure practice and is the Chairman of its Investment Committee.  Mr. Novick began his real estate career with the United Housing Foundation where he was responsible for various properties located throughout New York City.  He then become a Vice President/ Director of Operations at Integrated Resources, where he performed both acquisition and asset management services.  At Integrated, Mr. Novick was responsible for overseeing their national portfolio of properties.  His responsibilities included establishing operating policies and procedures, developing leasing strategies and implementing regional management operations.  Mr. Novick left Integrated to become an Executive Vice President/Partner/Director of Asset Management for Urdang and Associates Real Estate Advisors.  During his eleven years with Urdang, he participated in growing firm assets from 7 to 120 with a total value of $1.5 billion.  Mr. Novick received his B.S. from Long Island University and a C.P.M. from the Institute of Real Estate Management.  He is also a member of the National Multi-Housing Council, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers, the Urban Land Institute, and PREA.

    Benjamin Blakney, Managing Director, has over 18 years of financial industry experience within the institutional investor market as a senior executive in both the public and private sectors. Mr. Blakney's experience includes senior positions as Treasurer and Interim Finance Director of the City of Philadelphia and Chairman of the Municipal Retirement System. During his term, he managed the issuance of over $4 billion of tax-exempt securities and presided over the inaugural allocation of Fund assets to foreign markets. Following his public sector appointments, Mr. Blakney served as Chief Operating Officer and President of INNOVA Global Research and INNOVA Securities where he helped build proprietary research and private placement capabilities that provided access to emerging market mid-cap investment opportunities for institutional clients. After INNOVA, he became the Chief Operating Officer and President of NCM Capital Management Group where he managed the operations, client servicing, and marketing activities of an investment advisory firm with peak assets under management of $6.8 billion and over 70 institutional clients. Prior to joining Courtland, he was Director of Institutional Funds for The Dilweg Companies, a commercial real estate investment manager with a multi-sector portfolio approximating $250 million. In this capacity, he was responsible for strategically positioning the firm’s investment program within the institutional investor community. Mr. Blakney received his B.A. in Economics from Williams College and a Masters in City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    Garrett E. Zdolshek, Managing Director, has over eight years of real estate experience in consulting and investment banking. His prior experience includes over two years with Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Co. and Red Capital Group, two regional investment banks specializing in real transactions. Mr. Zdolshek is a member of Courtland’s Investment Committee and is responsible for advising public pension, corporate and union fund clients.  His primary responsibilities include developing client strategy, completing investment due diligence and advising clients on strategic investment initiatives.  He is also responsible for reviewing international investment opportunities in Asia and Europe on behalf of Courtland clients.  Mr. Zdolshek graduated from Baldwin Wallace College where he received his B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance.

    Lourdes “Lou” Canlas, Managing Director, was the Senior Investment Officer-Real Estate and Timber of the $50 billion Massachusetts Pension Reserve Investment Management Board. In that position, she was in charge of MassPRIM’s $4.5 billion real estate and $1.5 billion timber investments. Before joining MassPRIM, Ms. Canlas served as Senior Investment Officer of Real Estate at the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund and Asset Manager for the Ohio School Employees Retirement System. Prior to these positions, Ms. Canlas was a Property Manager for Linclay Development Corporation, and a Senior Consultant-Appraiser for Laventhol and Horwath. Lou received her M.B.A. from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio and her B.S. in Business Administration from the University of the Philippines. She served as Vice Chairman of the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) Plan Sponsor Executive Council.

    William J. Foster, Managing Director, has 15 years of investment and financial market experience. Mr. Foster previously was Senior Consultant and Principal of Hartland & Co., a regional general consulting firm, where he was responsible for relationship management, policy strategy and formulation, and researching alternative investment strategies, notably hedge funds and private equity. Mr. Foster previously was a Senior Associate of Investment Banking within McDonald & Company’s Structured Finance Group, where he was responsible for structuring complex debt securitization of real estate-generated cash flows, including sale-lease back transactions, synthetic leases, and high yield debt originations. Mr. Foster is a member of Courtland Partners’ Investment Committee and his responsibilities include advising public and corporate pension funds on general investment strategy and strategic investment initiatives, with a focus on restructuring senior and subordinated debt investments. Mr. Foster holds a BSBA degree from The Ohio State University with majors in Accounting and Finance. Additionally, he earned his MBA degree from Yale University, with a concentration in Finance.

    Dan Wolnik, CPA, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, has over 19 years of real estate experience in accounting, financial reporting, property management, and systems experience. Prior to joining Courtland, Mr. Wolnik worked with Forest City Enterprises, a $10 billion public real estate operating company, as an employee and consultant for over six years. While at Forest City Mr. Wolnik was the Director of Internal Reporting – Corporate Controller Group. Recent projects completed included integrating a Strategic Enterprise Management - Business Planning and Simulation system. Prior positions held include Controller of The Mid-America Management Corporation, a private $500 million real estate owner and manager where he was responsible for corporate policy and procedure. Additionally, Mr. Wolnik worked in the Assurance and Business Advisory Services group at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and served as a controller with a privately held real estate development and property management firm.  Mr. Wolnik received his M.B.A. in Finance from Case Western Reserve University and B.B.A. in Accounting from Cleveland State University. He has been an active Ohio CPA since 1994. He is a member of The Ohio Society of CPAs and American Institute of CPAs.

    Charles R. Manak, General Counsel, has over ten-years of experience working with private equity funds and companies investing in infrastructure projects and real estate in European emerging markets.  While Charles was a Senior Associate at Linklaters, he created and led Linklaters Central European private equity practice group.  While at Linklaters, Charles also was lead counsel to Honeywell International, Inc. and the Impression Group in their respective European acquisitions and cross-border due diligence exercises in Central and Eastern Europe.  Among other things, Charles has structured European leveraged buy-outs, real estate investment vehicles and international joint ventures in Russia, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Romania.  Prior to joining Linklaters, Charles was General Counsel to an International Finance Corporation and Bank of Austria sponsored private equity fund known as Central European Telecom Investments, LP managed in Guernsey, the Channel Islands.  Charles holds a B.A. in Economics from Wittenberg University, a J.D. from Case Western Reserve Law School and has spoken at a number of private equity seminars in Prague, Budapest and Bucharest.

    Joseph Cook, CFA, CPA, Director, has over 15 years of real estate, investment and finance experience working for major institutional investors. Mr. Cook began his career with Deloitte & Touche. He then joined Security Properties Inc. as Vice President of Accounting where he directed corporate, partnership and project accounting groups responsible for over 150 reporting entities. Mr. Cook subsequently joined HAL Investments, Inc. as a senior finance officer where he was responsible for monitoring the performance of the managers retained by HAL, as well as the profitability of HAL’s direct investments in operating companies and commercial real estate. After leaving HAL, Mr. Cook became a Vice President at the consumer insurance unit of GE Capital in Seattle, where he held positions as Portfolio Manager, Capital Markets Leader and Manager of Finance. At GE Capital, Mr. Cook was responsible for building portfolios to match the particular insurance liabilities. He helped launch programs to invest in alternative assets (e.g. hedge funds, private equity partnerships, bank loans and emerging market debt), instituted a securities lending program and developed performance measurement systems. As Manager of Finance, Joe was responsible for the integrity of financial reporting and internal controls. Mr. Cook holds a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University and is a member of the Seattle Society of Financial Analysts and the Washington Society of CPAs. He also serves on the Investment Advisory Committee for both the Seattle and Tacoma city employee retirement systems.

    Catherine A. Butler, Director of Performance Measurement, has over ten years of real estate consulting experience, primarily in performance measurement and reporting. Ms. Butler is responsible for overseeing client accounting, performance measurement, financial statement reconciliation, benchmarking and other accounting and reporting duties. Ms. Butler received her B.A. in Anthropology from Miami University of Ohio and an M.A. in Anthropology from Western Michigan University.

    Michael P. Murphy, Senior Consultant, has over eight years of real estate, investment, financial reporting, due diligence, audit and financial management experience. His prior experience includes over three years as a financial analyst for a hedge fund, Stark Investments, and a year as a consultant for Enterprise Development Inc. Mr. Murphy is currently responsible for handling various union and public pension fund accounts in addition to assisting firm principals with other projects and due diligence.  His primary responsibilities include developing client strategy, completing investment due diligence, recommending investments, attending client board meetings, conducting research and preparing performance reports for clients.  He has evaluated over $10.0 billion of real estate investment allocations in both domestic and international markets.  Mr. Murphy received his B.S., cum laude, in Business Administration from Marquette University with a concentration in Finance and an M.B.A. with a dual concentration of Finance and Strategy from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management.

    Robert H. ("Bo") Rodgers, Senior Consultant, has over 35 years of real estate, banking and legal experience.  In 1984, Mr. Rodgers became a founding principal of Devon Properties (“Devon”), a private real estate investment and management company acting on behalf of European investors.  Headquartered in New York City, Devon invested throughout the United States and Canada in a broad spectrum of property types, sizes and locations.  Devon invested in office, retail, industrial, multi-family and residential land, and its investments ranged across core, value-added, opportunistic and development risk/reward categories.  Mr. Rodgers principal responsibilities at Devon included investment strategy, acquisitions, major financing and reporting to investors.  The entire Devon portfolio was liquidated between the years of 2004 – 2006.  Prior to Devon, Mr. Rodgers was Vice President at J.P. Morgan, where he worked in the real estate investment banking group; a Vice President at Lehman Brothers., where he worked on asset-backed financing, including real estate; and a legal associate in the New York office of Dewey Ballantine.  Mr. Rodgers holds a B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from Yale University and a J.D. from Harvard University.

    Daniel P. Moore, CFA, Senior Consultant, has over 15 years of investment experience including equity research and investment banking. Mr. Moore spent his most recent five years as a Vice President in the Equity Research division of KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc. He was responsible for creating a research product focused on energy-related master limited partnerships and developed specific investment recommendations for his institutional and retail clientele. Prior to joining the equity research team, Mr. Moore spent five years as a Vice President in the company’s Investment Banking division where he was responsible for origination, structuring, marketing, monitoring, and ongoing communications regarding proprietary private placements of equity and/or debt. Mr. Moore received his B.A. from University of Notre Dame.

    Thomas G. DeFranco, Consultant and Director of Infrastructure Investments, has over eleven years of legal, real estate and asset management experience.  Mr. DeFranco previously practiced law as a sole practitioner and for Thompson Hine LLP. Additionally, he worked for two privately-held asset management companies focusing on commercial real estate and Taft-Hartley Plans. Mr. DeFranco directs infrastructure investments for various state pension plans and other clients through conducting market research, fund/manager meetings and evaluations, due diligence reports, portfolio strategy and modeling, and helping to increase investor awareness of the benefits infrastructure investments can bring to an investment portfolio.  He also provides real estate consulting services for several clients.  Mr. DeFranco speaks frequently at industry and client seminars. Mr. DeFranco received both his J.D. and M.B.A. from Stetson University and a B.S.B.A. in Marketing from Xavier University (Ohio). He also holds a Series 7 license.

    Marc A. Rivitz, Senior Analyst, has over six years of real estate investment and development experience. Mr. Rivitz began his real estate career at Spaulding & Slye Colliers (now Jones Lang LaSalle), where he valued office buildings and development projects with respect to property sales. He also worked with Tishman Speyer Properties in São Paulo, Brazil, where he developed a business plan analyzing Tishman’s entry strategy into the Brazilian residential development market. Most recently, he worked with the Trammell Crow Company (acquired by CB Richard Ellis) in Washington, D.C. where he managed their investment sales group which provided valuations and offering memoranda in conjunction with asset dispositions totaling over $1.0 billion. Mr. Rivitz received his B.A. in Government from Cornell University with a concentration in International Relations and an International M.B.A. in Finance, Marketing and Strategic Management from the University of Chicago.

    Michael R. Jurec, Senior Analyst-Research Coordinator, has over 11 years of investment experience in consulting, research and developing portfolio analytics. Mr. Jurec began his career at an investment management firm where he developed research regarding balanced investment portfolios. He then worked at McDonald Investments, where he was an Investment Consultant/Associate Vice President. At McDonald Investments, he managed corporate investment accounts for which he researched and analyzed investment diversity and portfolio balance. Most recently Mr. Jurec worked at Victory Capital Management of Key Bank where he was an Analyst, specializing in Portfolio Analytics. At Key Bank, he developed analytical and research tools for investment and portfolio managers. He also completed due diligence research on managers and their products. Additionally, he advised on the development of databases and provided research data interpretation. Mr. Jurec received his B.A. from the University of Akron with a major in Finance and an M.B.A. from Baldwin-Wallace College.

    Mary C. Jaquillard, Analyst, has over eight years of experience in the financial industry.  Most recently, she was a Performance Analyst with Hartland & Co. Investment Consultants where her responsibilities included performance calculation and reconciliation, preparing client reports, and training other members of the analyst team.  Previously, she was a Registered Client Associate with Merrill Lynch and a Financial Services Representative with Fidelity Investments. Ms. Jaquillard is responsible for assisting in the preparation of performance measurement reports, manager research, and providing other client services. Ms. Jaquillard received her B.S. in Finance from Miami University.

    John S. Ramsey, Performance Measurement Analyst, has over 13 years in the investment management field, having spent several years working with portfolio analytics where he analyzed economic conditions and capital markets as well as product analysis at Victory Capital Management, an asset management firm in Cleveland Ohio.  Mr. Ramsey has experience applying the modern portfolio theory in asset allocation studies for institutional investors.  Most recently, he was responsible for Victory Capital Management’s compliance with Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) as the designated GIPS manager, as well as lead analyst for portfolio performance measurement.  In addition he has five years of US GAAP auditing experience.  Mr. Ramsey received his Bachelor of Arts from Kent State University with a major in finance and minor in accounting. 

    Robert J. Negrelli, Analyst, was previously employed with the internal audit department of The Sherwin-Williams Company. He was responsible for auditing automotive, commercial, and retail stores in Western New York and Ontario, Canada. Mr. Negrelli is responsible for assisting in the preparation of performance measurement reports, providing client and manager services, and database management. Mr. Negrelli received his B.S. in Finance from Miami University.

    Jacinta de Rivera, Analyst, was previously employed with Marcus & Millichap, a commercial real estate brokerage. At Marcus & Millichap, Ms. de Rivera managed several property transactions, including numerous 1031 exchanges. Prior to this, she worked on single and multi-family property transactions for a local real estate company. Ms. de Rivera is responsible for evaluating investments and preparing due diligence reports. She also works with principals and consultants in providing other client services.Ms. de Rivera received her B.A. in Political Science from University of California at Los Angeles.  Ms. de Rivera is a member of the Urban Land Institute.  

    Jarrod Rapalje, Analyst, was previously employed with Bernstein Global Wealth Management as a Private Client Assistant. He worked alongside financial advisors in servicing high net worth individuals across the Midwest. He is responsible for preparation of performance measurement reports, assisting with client services, and tracking new investment offerings. Mr. Rapalje received both his B.B.A. in Trust and Investment Management and M.B.A. with a concentration in Finance from Campbell University in North Carolina.  Mr. Rapalje is a Level III Candidate in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program. 

    Andrew J. Mitro, Analyst,

    has six months experience with Courtland.  Mr. Mitro is responsible for the preparation of performance measurement reports, assisting with client service, database management, and tracking investment offerings.  Mr. Mitro received his B.A. in Social and Behavioral Sciences from The Ohio State University.

    Patricia A. Kleve, Controller, has over thirteen years of real estate experience. Ms. Kleve is responsible for Courtland's internal accounting as well as assisting in due diligence reviews. She has previous experience as the C.O.O. of The Townsend Group. Ms. Kleve received her B.S. in Business Administration from Baldwin Wallace College in Ohio

    Susan Yelin, Assistant Controller, has over 22 years of finance and accounting experience. She started her career with Changhwa Commercial Bank based in Taiwan. Other positions included Corporate Treasurer of Collins Co., Ltd. and VP Controller of Triumph Int’l, both in international trade and distribution business. She was also a Financial/Accounting Analyst for Xerox, responsible for transfer pricing for developing markets and the consolidation systems for corporate accounting and sale activities. Ms. Yelin is responsible for performance measurement reporting and database management. Ms. Yelin received her B. B. A. from National Taiwan University and M. B. A. from University of Washington with concentration in Finance and Management Information Systems.

    Julie M. Limpach, Executive Assistant, has five years experience in the financial industry. Most recently, she was an Equity Sales Assistant for FTN Equity Capital Markets Corp., formerly Midwest Research. Her responsibilities included managing the day-to-day activities of the Institutional Sales and Sales Traders teams. In addition, she organized Non-Deal Road Shows, compiled the Heard in the Midwest: Most Interesting Anecdotes of the Week, managed client entitlement requests and served as the Corporate Management Liaison during conferences. Prior to joining FTN, she was a Media Relations Coordinator for The Cleveland Museum of Art, one of the top five U.S. fine art museums, where she was responsible for heightening the visibility of museum exhibitions within the national and international media. Ms. Limpach received her B.A. in Mass Media-Communications, Management from The University of Akron.

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