Participant Bios
Michael Alexander (McIntire '99)
Marathon Asset Management
Michael Alexander is a Senior Vice President and Investment Analyst at Marathon Asset Management in New York, where he focuses on distressed investing opportunities and the high-yield credit markets. Mr. Alexander conducts industry analysis and fundamental credit research, and participates in the distressed investing process by acting on creditors’ committees and other roles to recapitalize businesses in which Marathon has a position. Although he has covered many different industries, a large proportion of Mr. Alexander’s investing experience has been in the paper and packaging, chemicals, metals and mining, and commercial real estate sectors. Mr. Alexander joined Marathon in 2005 from The Blackstone Group, where he worked for six years in the Restructuring and Reorganization Group, advising distressed companies and creditors on a broad range of restructuring mandates. Mr. Alexander holds a bachelor of science degree in finance from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia (1999).
David Chattleton (McIntire '00)
Morgan Stanley
Mr. Chattleton is an Executive Director in Morgan Stanley’s Real Estate Investment Banking group and is based in New York. Since joining Morgan Stanley in 2002, Mr. Chattleton has worked on an array of mergers and acquisitions and capital raising transactions both within the real estate industry and across the aerospace, financial services, and financial sponsor sectors. Notable real estate highlights include transactions for Archstone-Smith, Mill Creek Residential, Centerline Holdings, AvalonBay, and BioMed Realty.
Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Chattleton spent two years with McKinsey & Company, where he worked on corporate finance assignments in the financial services, medical products, and industrials sectors. Mr. Chattleton is a Class of 2000 graduate of the McIntire School of Commerce and a member of the McIntire Young Alumni Council.
Allen de Olazarra (A&S '81)
America's Capital Partners
Allen C. de Olazarra is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of America’s Capital Partners (ACP), a vertically integrated private real estate investment company headquartered in Miami and operating in major markets along the eastern seaboard of the United States. ACP integrates equity placement and capital market access with the ability to identify opportunity, manage risk, and create value with a diverse portfolio of real estate assets. ACP is a full-service real estate operating company with industry-leading leasing, asset management, construction management, and development expertise. ACP and its affiliates currently have over $1 billion of assets under management composed of approximately 5 million square feet of office and commercial real estate assets. Since 1993, ACP has invested in and has realized on over $4 billion in real estate assets in 14 major markets along the East Coast, with outstanding results.
Prior to founding ACP, Mr. de Olazarra was the CEO of Associated Capital Properties, one of the leading real estate operating and investment companies in Florida. Mr. de Olazarra started his real estate career at Cushman and Wakefield in 1982, serving as Senior Director until 1993, and twice earned Cushman and Wakefield’s prestigious “Deal of the Year” award.
Mr. de Olazarra received his B.A. degree in English from the University of Virginia in 1981 and has remained active in the University community. Mr. de Olazarra currently serves as a Trustee of the Foundation for the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Virginia and is the Executive in Residence at the Center for Growth Enterprises and a Founding Fellow of the University of Virginia Real Estate Institute. Mr. de Olazarra also serves on the Real Estate Advisory Board at Florida State University and is an occasional lecturer at FSU and NYU. Mr. de Olazarra is a member of the Urban Land Institute and the Real Estate Roundtable.
Together with his wife, Diane, the de Olazarras have focused their philanthropic efforts on matters that involve advocacy and educational opportunities for children, the arts, and the environment.
The couple resides in Coral Gables, Fla., and Charlottesville, Va. They have three daughters.
Robert Harper (McIntire '00)
The Blackstone Group
Mr. Harper is a Managing Director in Blackstone’s real estate private equity group and is based in New York. Since joining Blackstone in 2002, Mr. Harper has been involved in analyzing Blackstone’s real estate investments in all property types and has worked on transactions including Hilton Worldwide, Equity Office Properties, and Extended Stay Hotels. Mr. Harper has also analyzed and participated in numerous distressed real estate investments and restructurings. His responsibilities include acquisitions, financings, asset management, and dispositions. Prior to joining Blackstone, Mr. Harper worked for Morgan Stanley’s real estate private equity group in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. Mr. Harper is a graduate of the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.
Carney Hawks (McIntire '96)
Partner, Brigade Capital Management
Mr. Hawks is an Original Partner with Brigade Capital Management, an $8 billion money management firm, where he helps manage a variety of credit-focused investment products. Prior to joining Brigade, Mr. Hawks was a Managing Director at Mackay Shields in its high-yield bond group. Through his work at both firms, Mr. Hawks has been involved in dozens of corporate restructurings and currently sits on the board of two companies his firm has helped reorganize.
Mr. Hawks is a graduate with distinction from the McIntire School of Commerce in 1996 and a CFA charterholder. He currently serves on McIntire’s Advisory Board. He is also on the Board of Trustees at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy and is a member of the board of directors of the Children’s Cardiomyopathy Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to improving research and treatment for pediatric heart disease. Mr. Hawks lives in Greenwich, Conn., with his wife, Melissa, and their three children.
David Hilty (McIntire '90)
Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin
Mr. Hilty is a Managing Director in Houlihan Lokey’s New York office and heads the Financial Restructuring Group in New York. He has been employed by the firm for over 20 years and has primarily worked in the Financial Restructuring Group, where has advised companies, bondholders, and other creditor groups in out-of-court restructurings, “pre-packaged” or “pre-arranged” Chapter 11s, and unplanned Chapter 11 reorganizations. In addition, he has been involved in the financial restructuring of several European- and Latin American-based companies, advising both debtors and creditors, including designing and structuring out-of-court exchange offers and “pre-arranged” reorganizations in local European and Latin American jurisdictions.
In addition to assisting clients with financial restructurings services, Mr. Hilty has provided clients with a variety of other investment banking and valuation services, including debt financings for distressed and non-distressed companies, advising on the acquisition or sale of companies and/or operating divisions in a distressed and non-distressed environment, and raising debt and equity capital. Since 1995, he has also served as the National Director of Marketing for the Financial Restructuring Group and has coordinated the firm’s tracking, monitoring, and marketing of engagements.
Mr. Hilty earned a B.S. in Commerce with a concentration in finance from the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce. He is registered with FINRA as a General Securities Representative (Series 7 and 63) and a Limited Representative – Investment Banking (Series 79).
Jeff Johnson
Reunion Office
Jeffrey L. Johnson is the Managing Principal of Reunion Office Holdings. Prior to forming Reunion Office Holdings, from 2003 to 2007, Mr. Johnson was Chief Investment Officer and Chairman of the Investment Committee for Equity Office Properties Trust (NYSE: EOP). Mr. Johnson restructured the Investment group and implemented an investment strategy that resulted in over $12.5 billion in transaction volume, providing capital for a $2.6 billion Equity Office stock repurchase at an average purchase price of $31.16 per share. He was developing a strategy for international investment when he became involved in Equity Office’s sale to The Blackstone Group for $55.50 per share, the largest public-to-private transaction ever completed in the United States at that time. Equity Office’s total shareholder return was over 35% during Mr. Johnson’s most recent tenure as Chief Investment Officer.
Beginning in 2000, he was a Managing Director, Founding Partner, and Co-Head of U.S. Investments for Lehman Brothers’ real estate private equity group, where he was one of six founding members who raised a $1.6 billion international private equity real estate fund. Through July 2002, over $500 million of equity was invested in $6.9 billion of real estate, with returns exceeding 30%.
From 1990 to 1999, Mr. Johnson was a senior executive at Equity Office and its predecessor entities, most recently serving as Chief Investment Officer. Mr. Johnson was instrumental in completing Equity Office’s initial public offering in July 1997, setting investment strategies and completing over $9 billion of real estate operating company transactions and property acquisitions. Mr. Johnson led the Investment team on Equity Office’s $4.3 billion merger with Beacon Properties. He established the development group, the mergers and acquisitions group, and the investment management group of Equity Office. During his tenure as Chief Investment Officer, Equity Office experienced external growth of almost 200%, and per share earnings growth of over 15% per annum. In 1996, Mr. Johnson was placed in charge of the asset management department, where he restructured the group and developed the valuation process in preparation of Equity Office’s initial public offering. From 1990 to 1996, he was a senior acquisitions officer, responsible for acquiring over $1.2 billion of office properties, or 40% of Zell/Merrill Lynch Opportunity Funds II, III, and IV. Those funds reported an imputed return in excess of 15% per annum. After the acquisition of a portfolio from Wright-Runstad & Co., Mr. Johnson was appointed to the board of directors of Wright-Runstad & Co.
Prior to 1990, Mr. Johnson worked as real estate investor with Aldrich, Eastman & Waltch and First Wachovia. Mr. Johnson holds an undergraduate degree from Denison University and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School. He is the Chairman of Kellogg’s Real Estate Advisory Board, a member of the Urban Land Institute and the Chicago Commonwealth Club, and a Trustee of The Nature Conservancy.
Bruce Richards
CEO, Marathon Asset Management
Bruce Richards is a Co-Managing Partner and the Chief Executive Officer of Marathon, and is responsible for general oversight of the firm’s capital across its funds and managed accounts. Mr. Richards leads Marathon’s Executive Committee, which manages the firm’s operational initiatives and its strategic direction, and he is also a member of Marathon’s Investment Committee. Mr. Richards’ day-to-day presence is critical in maximizing the firm’s synergies and leveraging the intellectual capital throughout the firm. Prior to founding Marathon, Mr. Richards worked on Wall Street for 15 years, including 10 years as a Managing Director in the fixed income divisions of Smith Barney and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where he was head of a trading desk, responsible for principal investments and market making. Mr. Richards also worked at Shearson Lehman Hutton (“Lehman Brothers”) as a trader in the company's Fixed Income Division, after starting his career with Paine Webber. Mr. Richards received his B.A. in Economics, summa cum laude, from Tulane University in 1982 and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Phillip Schaeffer (McIntire '77)
Katonah Scott's Cove Management LLC
Mr. Schaeffer is the Managing Director and Portfolio Manager of Katonah Scott’s Cove Management LLC (KSCM), which manages hedge funds that focus on event-driven long short high yield and distressed debt and which is indirectly owned by Kohlberg Capital Corporation. He was the Managing Member and sole owner of Scott's Cove Capital Management LLC, KSCM’s predecessor firm, which he sold to KCAP in January 2008, and has been involved in distressed debt investing since 1986. From 1981 to 1986, Mr. Schaeffer was with the Taubman Companies, where he was Assistant to the Chairman, A. Alfred Taubman, and, later, Vice President and CFO of A&W Restaurants Inc. Mr. Schaeffer is a graduate of the Harvard Business School (M.B.A. 1981) and of the University of Virginia (B.S. 1977). He was Senior Tax Consultant in the tax department of Arthur Andersen & Co., Washington, D.C., prior to attending Harvard. Mr. Schaeffer serves on McIntire’s Advisory Board and lives in Greenwich, Conn., with his wife and son.
John Shippee (McIntire '85)
Intermarket Corporation
Mr. Shippee is a Principal at Intermarket Corporation, an investment manager founded in 1969. Intermarket specializes in the fundamental analysis of and investment in credit and distressed instruments, including bank loans, high-yield bonds, trade and litigation claims, and related equity instruments. Intermarket has generated net annualized returns to investors of 15% since inception while managing a portfolio of assets approaching $1 billion.
Before joining Intermarket, Mr. Shippee headed Deutsche Bank’s Distressed Products Group for the Americas from its formation in June 1999 until his retirement from DB in April 2009. DPGA represented DB’s sell-side market-making and distressed investing efforts in New York. Under his leadership, DPGA expanded from 6 to 37 professionals with oversight of a $1.5 billion trading book while generating returns on capital ranging from 16% to 35% per annum. In addition to supervising the group’s risk book, his responsibilities included managing DPGA’s sales, analysis, and trading personnel as well as managing select customer relationships. Mr. Shippee was a member of DB’s Distressed Products Global Investment Committee and its Global Markets America’s Management Committee.
Prior to June 1999, Mr. Shippee was employed by Bankers Trust Company in its high-yield bond department, most recently as a Managing Director and senior salesman, covering the institutional distressed investor universe. Prior responsibilities included five years as an Institutional Investor-ranked high-yield research analyst covering various industry sectors.
In 1985 Mr. Shippee graduated with Distinction from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia with a concentration in finance and is an incoming member of the McIntire Advisory Board. After graduation, he joined Bankers Trust in its commercial lending department, focused on Fortune 500 corporations.
Mr. Shippee resides in Ridgewood, N.J., with his wife and three children.
Robert White (McIntire '87)
Real Capital Analytics
Robert M. White Jr., CRE, is the Founder and President of Real Capital Analytics Inc., an international research firm that publishes Capital Trends Monthly. Real Capital Analytics provides real-time data concerning the capital markets for commercial real estate and the values of commercial properties. The firm maintains offices in New York City, San Jose (Calif.), The Hague, and London. It has approximately 800 clients, including the industry’s leading brokerage firms, institutional advisers, REITs, developers, foreign investors, and banks.
Mr. White is a noted authority on the real estate capital markets, with credits in The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, The Economist, Forbes, The New York Times, and Financial Times, among others. In addition, he was named one of National Real Estate Investor Magazine’s “Ten to Watch” in 2005, Institutional Investor’s “20 Rising Stars of Real Estate” in 2006, and Real Estate Forum’s “10 CEOs to Watch” in 2007. Previously, Mr. White spent 14 years in the real estate investment banking and brokerage industry and has orchestrated billions of commercial sales, acquisitions, and recapitalizations. He was formerly a Managing Director and Principal of Granite Partners LLC and spent nine years with Eastdil Realty in New York and London.
Mr. White is a Counselor of Real Estate, a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and a Fellow of the Homer Hoyt Institute. He is also a member of numerous industry organizations and a supporter of academic studies. Mr. White is a graduate of the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.