Meet Our Leadership Team

Jeff Kaveney

Director

As Director, Jeff Kaveney oversees Realogic’s consulting practice.  He manages our consulting team’s workflow and directs their projects, including CRE valuations, underwriting, financial due diligence, strategic analysis, financial modeling and debt analysis.  He is also responsible for our consulting team’s client relationships.

Jeff is an expert in debt and in all traditional as well as many non-traditional real estate assets.  He has extensive experience presenting to investment and credit committees and boards of directors, and has served as an expert witness in many court cases.

This is Jeff’s second stint with Realogic.  Prior to rejoining the company in 2008, he worked in New York for two years for Credit Suisse’s Real Estate Finance and Securitization Group.  While at Credit Suisse, Jeff conducted initial sizings of CMBS and syndication loans, managed due diligence and final underwritings, and prepared and presented credit memos, pitchbooks and rating agency presentations.

Prior, Jeff worked in the Originations Group at Eurohypo AG Investment Bank where, while originating deals, his daily responsibilities included managing the underwriting, due diligence and legal teams.

Tom Kaveney

Vice President

Tom Kaveney is Vice President at Realogic.  His primary responsibilities include financial modeling, strategic analysis, financial due diligence, underwriting and analyses supporting acquisitions, dispositions and related debt positions.  Tom manages a wide range of CRE projects and works both in-house as well as on-site for clients as needed.

Tom is also responsible for designing and building most of Realogic’s customized Excel® models, both for clients and our own internal use.  He is an expert in all traditional commercial real estate asset types, including hospitality, multifamily and mixed-use properties and development projects.

Dan Kawahara

Vice President, Transactions and Strategic Analysis

Dan Kawahara has worked in commercial real estate for over 15 years.  He oversees and provides a number of essential services to Realogic clients, including transactional underwriting, strategic analysis, financial due diligence and closings.  Dan is also responsible for managing the financial analysis team’s workflow and ensuring that our clients’ projects are completed accurately and on-time.

Before joining Realogic in January 2011, Dan was Vice President of Acquisitions & Development at The Missner Group, where his responsibilities included sourcing investment opportunities, underwriting, due diligence and asset management.  In addition to developing the operating strategy for each asset in his portfolio, Dan oversaw leasing activity, created and managed property budgets and coordinated investor reporting.

Prior to joining The Missner Group in 2008, Dan was Director of Industrial Fund Management for Wrightwood Capital, where he managed a portfolio of four million square feet of industrial properties located throughout the Chicago area and Southern Wisconsin.  Dan also served for seven years as Director of Due Diligence for Trizec Properties, closing over $5.3 billion in acquisitions and dispositions for the firm, as well as assisting with the $8.9 billion buyout of the company.

Monica Kelly

Vice President, Financial Analysis and Project Management

Monica Kelly brings 15+ years of commercial real estate experience to Realogic.  Her diverse responsibilities include proforma development and review, financial modeling and analysis, project management, due diligence and underwriting support. Monica has worked with all types of commercial real estate assets and has led teams on a wide variety of projects.  As a project manager, Monica has been the primary contact for many of Realogic’s clients, ranging from smaller commercial brokerage houses to large REITs.

Prior to joining Realogic, Monica was Assistant Vice President of Investments at Podolsky Northstar Realty Partners, focusing on valuation analysis for acquisitions and periodic asset review for potential dispositions.  Previously, Monica was a Six Sigma Quality Black Belt for GE Capital, leading several team while improving the quality and efficiency of the company’s operations.

EDUCATION:

B.A., Mathematics, with a Certificate in Business Administration, Loyola University

Ellen Hayes

Senior Manager, Analysis/Diligence

Ellen transitioned back to consulting in 2018 to provide essential services to our clients, including overseeing financial analysis and modeling assignments, asset and portfolio management, transaction/due diligence, and underwriting support.
In addition to her role at Realogic, Ellen works with Roosevelt University and The McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. Ellen has provided professional development technology classes at Roosevelt University since 2010.In Fall 2018, she will teach a full-semester class for the new undergrad Real Estate program at Roosevelt University. In Spring 2018, Ellen began teaching Project Feasibility and Valuation for the Northwestern University Masters of Project Management (MPM) program.
Ellen managed the training department at Realogic from 2008 to 2017. She was responsible for developing training curriculum and coordinating all training seminars, both public and private. To date, over 5,000 students, academics and CRE professionals have participated in Realogic’s training program, which includes intermediate and advanced courses in Excel_® and the ARGUS_® software suite.
Her prior responsibilities at Realogic include due diligence for large scale acquisitions, conducting detailed DCF analysis using the ARGUS_® software suite and conducting comprehensive lease audits for acquisitions and dispositions. She has also done land valuations and site inspections, including office, retail and industrial commercials assets and hotels.
Ellen has been a guest speaker at many of the nation’s top colleges and MBA programs, including the Wharton School of Business, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

LECTURER/GUEST LECTURER:

University of Illinois
University of Michigan
University of Wisconsin
University of North Carolina
U of C Booth School of Business
NU Kellogg School of Management
Wharton School of Business (U Penn)
Dartmouth University
Marquette University
Roosevelt University
Depaul University

Jessica Cook

Vice President, Due Diligence

Jessica Cook is a Vice President in Realogic’s Due Diligence department in Chicago. Ms. Cook supports commercial real estate transactions by managing lease abstraction projects locally and nationwide. This includes, among other things, abstraction project management, review and quality control, outside vendor management and various administrative responsibilities. As a valuable member of the Realogic team, Ms. Cook has contributed to real estate transactions of all sizes, and for a mix of office, retail and industrial properties.
Ms. Cook has worked for Realogic since 2017. Prior to joining Realogic, she provided litigation support, e-discovery software consulting, and trial services project management at FTI Consulting, in their Chicago and London offices. She was previously employed as a law clerk for the City of Chicago’s Law Department Collection and Ownership Division and also worked in supply chain and vendor management for Willis Towers Watson’s global workforce survey practice in Chicago.

EDUCATION, ASSOCIATIONS:

J.D., University of Illinois College of Law

B.A. in International Relations and Global Affairs, Eckerd College

Illinois Bar, 2007

Kathy Fera

Vice President, Lease Administration

Kathy Fera joined Realogic as Vice President of Lease Administration in 2000. Her primary responsibility is overseeing the lease administration maintenance accounts for approximately 100 million square feet of office/retail/industrial space for clients including Jones Lang LaSalle, Silverstein Properties, Callahan Partners and CBRE.

Kathy has over 30 years of experience in commercial real estate and property management. Prior to joining Realogic, she was a self-employed real estate consultant.  Her extended assignments for large real estate firms included serving on due diligence teams for acquisitions, providing temporary management staffing, handling the transition of properties due to acquisitions/dispositions, preparing budgets, performing recoveries, auditing management procedures and analyzing leases.

Prior, Kathy worked in real estate management for several large, well-known firms, including John Buck Company, U. S. Equities and CB Richard Ellis/Koll, supporting properties owned by Travelers Insurance and Metropolitan Life Insurance.  Kathy specialized in transitional properties that were recently acquired or were being prepared for sale.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE:

• Lease Administration
• Property Management

EDUCATION, LICENSES, DESIGNATIONS:

• B.A., Western Illinois University
• Licensed Illinois Real Estate Broker, State of Illinois
• Real Property Administrator Designation, BOMI International

Chris Mazur

Vice President, Lease Administration

Chris Mazur joined the firm as a Manager of Lease Administration in 2004 and was promoted to Vice President of Lease Administration in 2008. He oversees day-to-day lease administration for one of Realogic’s largest accounts, who owns approximately 21 million square feet of office and retail space.  Chris’ responsibilities include diligence abstracting, maintaining and updating the client’s accounting and abstracting systems and administering leases for the client’s managed acquisitions.

Prior to joining Realogic, Chris was Assistant Controller at CB Richard Ellis, where he was responsible for managing accounting processes for one of the firm’s largest clients. Prior to CB Richard Ellis, Chris held accounting positions with AMLI Residential Properties Trust, an apartment REIT.  He also worked in accounting and property management for Amerihost Properties– later known as Arlington Properties– a hotel development and management firm.

Gail SanFilippo

Vice President, Lease Administration

Gail SanFilippo joined Realogic in 2000 as Vice President of Abstracting Services. She is responsible for managing all due diligence assignments and staff, and has led due diligence projects for numerous Realogic clients, including Hines, Blackstone, Shorenstein, Federal Realty, The John Buck Company and USAA.  In addition, Gail has conducted Ellipsis® training for many Realogic clients.

Gail has over 40 years of experience in property management and all facets of lease administration for office, industrial and retail properties.  Previously, she was Director of Lease Administration for Kennedy-Wilson Properties (f/kla Heitman Properties, Ltd.), where she oversaw the 12-person lease administration department that supported over 185 office and industrial properties in 35 states constituting approximately 70 million square feet of commercial real estate space. She also oversaw lease administration for Heitman Properties’ extensive portfolio of retail properties, which included numerous malls and strip centers.

Chris Schmuker

Manager, Loan Abstraction

Chris Schmuker joined the firm in 1997 as part of our lease abstraction team. Her deep industry knowledge has empowered her team to abstract complex leases, and offer more specialty document abstraction including loans, non-standard legal documents, and joint venture agreements. Her expertise in legal documentation and accounting allows for her to add additional bandwidth for the analysis and due diligence teams, especially for non-standard documents. Chris is passionate about working with clients and meeting their individual needs.

Chris has over 25 years of CRE experience in legal document abstraction and negotiation. Prior to joining Realogic, she was with Travelers Realty and Investment Company, holding several positions over her tenure, most recently focusing on troubled debt restructuring and asset management for CRE. Chris is also a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Illinois.

Jim Pettinger

CEO

Jim Pettinger is CEO of Realogic.  He oversees the company’s day to day operations, helps set its long and short-term objectives and plays a crucial role in all strategic initiatives.  Jim is responsible for developing, implementing and refining internal processes that assure all Realogic assignments are completed on time, within budget and accurately.  In addition, Jim is responsible for researching, purchasing and implementing new technology that allows us to work efficiently, productively and precisely on behalf of our clients

Jim has nearly 25 years of commercial real estate experience and is expert in many facets of CRE consulting and management, including due diligence, lease administration, software and technology implementation, financing, budgeting and forecasting.  Prior to joining Realogic, Jim was a staff accountant at Meaden & Moore, an international accounting and financial consulting firm.

Mike Phelps

General Counsel

Mike currently serves as Realogic’s General Counsel and has over 17 years of commercial real estate experience. In his current role, he supports each of the company’s business lines and provides counsel on corporate, employment and compliance issues. He is also responsible for negotiation of contracts, master service agreements, software licenses and subscriptions and other intellectual property matters.  Mike originally joined the firm in 2000 and previously served as Manager in the Financial Analysis Department. His duties included financial modeling/analysis, acquisition/disposition analysis and due diligence, financial proforma development and review, underwriting support and Argus_®/Dyna_® training.

EDUCATION, LICENSES, MEMBERSHIPS:

• J.D., Chicago-Kent College of Law
• B.A., Finance, Investment, and Banking, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• B.A., Real Estate & Urban Development, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Licensed to Practice Law in Illinois
• Member, Rush University Medical Center Associates Board