THE SERRA TEAM
PRINCIPALS
R. David Kelly | Managing Director and Co-founder
Mr. Kelly has 35 years of real estate and capital markets experience. Over his career he has arranged over $50 billion of financial transactions, developed over $3.5 billion in real estate assets including over $400 million in public- private partnerships. Mr. Kelly also has significant governance and strategic planning experience, particularly in the public sector. He was Chairman of the Texas Public Finance Authority from 2002-2006 and Chairman of the Teacher’s Retirement System of Texas from 2009-2017. He is currently lead independent director of TCW Direct Lending, a director of The Invesco REIT, and a director of Children’s Medical Center Plano Governing Board.
Mr. Kelly received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Michael J. Lessel | Managing Director and Co-founder
Mr. Lessel has 37 years of experience in development, construction, brokerage and asset management. During that time, he represented The Walt Disney Company and PepsiCo and others in over 350 commercial transactions, including many confidential assignments. He also has provided significant consulting services to Fortune 100 companies and others with respect to real estate strategies and operations in warehousing/distribution, office, retail (including rollouts), telecommunications and infrastructure development and repositioning. He served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and spent three years in the White House as the senior military social aide to President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan.
Mr. Lessel received a Bachelor of Science degree with dual concentration in engineering and economics from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Stephen Perry | Managing Director
Mr. Perry has a thirty-year history of successful real estate and private equity investments including a long-term partnership with Richard Rainwater. He and his partners structured, executed, and financed the acquisition of Bally Gaming in the only successful contested-acquisition ever in the U.S. gaming industry, resulting in a 40-fold increase in stock price. Mr. Perry was a co-founder of the largest independent operator of timeshare resorts in the world, Signature Resorts, which grew from start-up to $1 billion in market capitalization in seven years. Mr. Perry serves as a board member of the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues, which provides a forum for rigorous policy debate to over 10,000 students throughout the U.S.
Mr. Perry received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
TEAM MEMBERS
Michael Anthony | Executive Director
Mr. Anthony has 39 years of experience in corporate finance, investment banking, asset management, construction and project management. He served in many senior finance roles at JP Morgan, RBS Greenwich Capital and HSBC domestically and internationally. These include Head of Corporate Derivative and FX Sales, Managing Director Corporate Finance Advisory, Private Banker and Global Head of Thought Leadership. Mr. Anthony performed cost engineering and program management services for Turner Construction on a variety of projects including hospitals, hotels, retail and parking facilities. He also served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and worked on major military infrastructure projects in the U.S., Central America and Europe.
Mr. Anthony received a Bachelor of Science in general engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a Master of Business Administration degree from The Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.
Jacki Silvergleit | Account Manager and Administration
45+ years real estate experience; 30+ years experience as the primary administrative real estate professional at Frito-Lay, Inc and PepsiCo. Global portfolio of 3,000 + properties under direct management. Supervised and managed or provided significant input to real estate database design, migration, and operation; strategic analytics and planning; receivables and automated payables, leasing, acquisition, and disposition transaction management. Coordinated all services with accounting, operations and legal staff and was able to play key role in elevating real estate to a similar footing as these organizations within PepsiCo. Brokerage and construction experience with third party and own account for single family homes and SFH, MFH, retail and office development.
Martha Gurule | Administration and Accounting
Works on all Serra projects. Has served as Controller of Intervest Property Company, Inc., a commercial and multi-family real estate management company. Manages all aspects of financial accounting, reporting and analysis as related to Operations and Acquisitions. Properties include a chain of suite hotels, several multi-family apartment buildings and commercial office buildings. She has worked on a wide variety of asset types and was part of a team responsible for site selection, development analysis, construction supervision and ongoing operation of those assets. Martha earned a BBA degree in Accounting from Texas A&M University, and a BBS degree in Biological Science from Texas Tech University.
Elonia Taylor | Administrative Assistant
Texas salesperson. Works and assists on all Serra accounts and transactions. 27 years of experience in the real estate and financial services industries. Prior experience includes sales and trading and product support services with Bank of America and staff accountant and operations at The Walton Johnson Group, Inc., an investment banking firm. Elonia is a graduate of the University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff, where she received a B.S. in Accounting.
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