The people who make it possible

Alex is a co-founder and the CEO of Cardinal Group Companies. Over the past 15 years, he has held various leadership roles, including President of CG Management and COO, and was named CEO in May of 2020. He is responsible for the overall vision of the Company and for ensuring the Cardinal Culture is strong for the Company's over 2,500 team members.

Prior to Cardinal Group, Alex was a Captain in the United States Marine Corps. He is a graduate of Miami University in Ohio and received his MBA from the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.

In his personal time, he serves the veteran community of Colorado as a Board Member of Salute Colorado and coaches youth sports.

Jason is primarily responsible for CGI's asset management and acquisition activities, including deal sourcing, execution, raising capital, and analyzing performance. Prior to starting Cardinal Group, Jason was the Director of Development Services for The London Group Realty Advisors in San Diego, where he performed market and financial analysis and helped secure entitlements for more than $3 billion of residential and commercial projects throughout California, Arizona and Colorado.

Jason is a graduate of Stanford University and holds a Master of Science in Real Estate from the University of San Diego's School of Business Administration. Jason is a licensed real estate broker in California and Colorado, and is an active member of the Urban Land Institute.

In his free time Jason enjoys being outside with his wife and two daughters.

Eric is a co-founder and the Chief Investment Officer of Cardinal Group Companies. Eric leads the company's investment and development efforts and is responsible for crafting investment strategies, identifying opportunities, structuring capital, and driving execution. Under his leadership, Cardinal has grown from an entrepreneurial venture into an institutional investment manager investing nationally across multiple product types and execution strategies.

Over the course of Eric's 20+ year real estate career, he has gained experience working across various product types while executing multiple investment and development strategies. In addition, he has successfully navigated numerous economic cycles by following his investment philosophy driven by macro and demographic shifts.

He holds a B.S. in Real Estate Finance and International Business from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business and holds a Masters of Science in Real Estate from the University of San Diego's School of Business Administration.

Cara Athmann joins Cardinal Group Companies with a blend of multi-family housing industry experience and technology & data consulting experience. She is responsible for leading the IT & Data strategy to support the Cardinal Group Companies. Cara has vast experience in strategy definition, project execution, and team member development. She also has a passion for leveraging technology, data, and innovation to drive business value.

Peter Lynch is the Head of People & Culture at Cardinal Group Companies. A noted Fortune 500 global executive in talent, operations, culture, and HR. He is also a top podcaster having created 2 podcasts that reached the top 25 ahead of The New York Times and Harvard Business Review. A TEDx speaker whose connection with audiences is legendary, he lives with his family in Denver.

He has also been a sought out high-performance coach with clients that included an NBA coach, a presidential candidate’s sr. advisor, a superior court judge and several executive teams. Peter is known for his impactful storytelling and has taken his message of success through authenticity to leaders and teams on 5 continents

Catherine joined Cardinal Group Companies as its inaugural General Counsel in October 2020. She is responsible for corporate and tactical legal initiatives, coordination of legal services for all operating businesses and departments, and oversight of corporate governance and compliance. Catherine also heads the Cardinal ESG Council.

Prior to joining Cardinal, Catherine served as General Counsel of an alternative financing and technology company, providing legal and strategic support to all aspects of the business's lending, securities, and governance activities. Catherine brings deep and diverse experience in both private and public company general corporate law, mergers & acquisitions, financing transactions, commercial contracting, and legal operations management. Catherine began her legal career as an associate at Jones Day in its Cleveland, OH, and New York, NY offices and continued private practice at Davis Graham & Stubbs after moving to Denver in 2012.

Catherine holds a dual BA/BS in English and Education from the University of Dayton in Dayton, OH, and graduated summa cum laude with her Juris Doctor from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University, in Cleveland, OH, where she participated in moot court and served as an associate editor of the Law Review.

Catherine is a start-up attorney at heart and has a special passion for supporting entrepreneurs on their journeys to success.

Eddie Moreno is a partner at Cardinal Group Management (CGM) and serves as the Executive Vice President of Operations for the company. As a passionate leader, he is responsible for leading the daily operation and success of Cardinal Group Management and its portfolio of communities nationwide. Eddie has over 20 years of experience in the multi-family space, having overseen the expansion of Cardinal’s student housing, market-rate multifamily, and affordable housing operations during his tenure; achieving NMHC Top 50 Manager ranking in 2020.

Eddie proudly serves as chairperson for Cardinal Group Companies' Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and previously served on the National Apartment Association's inaugural Diversity & Inclusion Council. Eddie attended the University of Texas at Austin and holds a BBA in Finance from the McCombs School of Business.

Jennifer serves as Senior Vice President at Cardinal Group Management (CGM). Jennifer has over 20 years of experience in the student housing industry. She is responsible for the day-to-day management and performance of Cardinal Group Management's student housing portfolio of clients and communities.

Jennifer has a reputation for driving revenues, maximizing expense efficiencies, and building long-term asset value. She is passionate about leveraging the power of data to optimize performance. Jennifer is known for being a people-centric leader focused on providing mentorship and support to her team and building strong internal and external relationships.

Jennifer's student housing career started as a Community Intern during college. Prior to joining Cardinal Group, Jennifer spent 15 years with Campus Advantage serving the organization in a variety of leadership roles throughout Operations and Asset Management, most recently as COO.

Jennifer attended the University of South Florida, where she earned a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Natural Science. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family and all things fitness.

Madison Meier serves as the Senior Vice President and Head of Capital Markets for Cardinal Group Investments. Her primary responsibilities include investor relations and capital raising efforts for the firm’s investment strategies. She also develops strategies to evolve the company’s investment pursuits and creates new products to diversify Cardinal’s offerings to the capital markets.

Madison joined Cardinal in 2020 with over 14 years of student housing experience. She led a consulting platform in her prior roles, was responsible for all business development efforts, and secured new investor relationships for various investment strategies.

Madison earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Kansas State University.

Madison loves the outdoors and mountains and spends her spare time hiking, boating, and skiing with her husband. She loves to travel and explore nature and has a passion for the holiday season, evident every year when she transforms her home into a winter wonderland.

Greg Martini is Senior Vice President, Head of Student Housing Investments for Cardinal Group Investments. His primary responsibilities include overseeing all deal sourcing, research, underwriting, market analysis, structuring, and transaction execution for student housing acquisitions.

Prior to joining Cardinal Group Investments, Greg Martini served as Vice President of acquisitions for a student housing group and managed projects totaling more than $2 billion in acquisitions and developments, as well as dispositioning over $5 billion while working on the brokerage team.

Greg Martini holds his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Villanova University’s School of Business.

Jim serves as the SVP, Head of Investment Operations for Cardinal Group Investments. Jim is responsible for overseeing Cardinal’s owned assets and is focused on maximizing investment performance, identifying value-add opportunities, and driving the growth of the institutional multifamily and student housing portfolio across the United States.

Jim joins Cardinal Group with over 20 years of experience in the asset management field. His extensive background encompasses a variety of asset classes, including conventional multifamily and student housing. Jim spent the majority of his career at GE Capital Real Estate, where he led strategic teams managing a diversified portfolio of REO, debt, and equity assets. During his tenure at GE Capital, Jim was instrumental in the successful management of over $4 billion of real estate and negotiated the sale of over $1 billion in real estate equity/REO properties. Jim was most recently with Carmel Partners, where he focused on the day-to-day operations for a multibillion-dollar multifamily real estate portfolio.

Jim is a graduate of California State University, Long Beach, with a BS in Accounting.

Doug Miller is the VP of Construction Services. In his role, Doug leads Cardinal Group's Construction Management Services team.

With over 20 years of experience in commercial construction and real estate, Doug has experience in project management and estimation. Doug has managed and worked with subcontractors, general contractors, and real estate owner/operator companies.

Doug earned his MS in Real Estate from the University of Denver in 2008. He also served as an Adjunct Professor and guest lecturer at DU.

John serves as the head of Finance and Accounting across all platforms of Cardinal Group Companies. He oversees Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A), Property Accounting, Corporate Accounting, Investor Reporting, Treasury Operations, and Financial Compliance.

During his 12 years with the organization, John has held several leadership positions. For Cardinal Group Investments, he served as VP of Asset Management, and for Cardinal Group Management, he served three years as VP of Accounting and five years as Financial Controller prior to his current role.

John is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds a B.S. in Accounting from Miami University's Farmer School of Business in Oxford, OH. John joined Cardinal Group shortly after its inception as the company's first employee.

Janna serves as the VP of Asset Management, responsible for the investment success of a national portfolio of student housing properties. Janna brings over a decade of experience in multifamily and student housing property and investment management.

Janna holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a Management Emphasis from the Milgard School of Business from the University of Washington. In addition to her degree, Janna also is the IREM Denver Chapter President and an IREM Certified Property Manager (CPM®) while also attending Georgetown University for her Master’s in Real Estate with expected graduation in Spring 2023.

In her free time, Janna enjoys traveling and exploring new cultures to broaden her horizons.

Jack first started his career with Cardinal in 2015 as a Property Accountant and has since held several roles throughout the organization. Jack transitioned to Cardinal Group Investments in 2017 and now serves as a Vice President of Asset Management, where he is responsible for managing and overseeing the execution of business plans across a portfolio of student housing communities.

Jack grew up in Connecticut and graduated from the University of Vermont in 2012. He started his career in commercial real estate in Burlington, VT, and spent a year as a ski instructor in Jackson Hole, WY, before starting his Cardinal journey.

Jack resides outside of Denver, CO where he enjoys hiking, all outdoor activities, and going on adventures with his fiancé and mini–Australian Shepherd Nala.

Will Conroy serves as Vice President of Management Services. The Management Services Team manages a host of internal functions, including national vendor agreements, intake of new communities, due diligence and disposition services, traveling operational support, internal platform development, and retail management.

Prior to joining Cardinal, Will attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Arts. In 2010, while completing his Masters in Creative Writing and teaching freshman English 101, Will started working for Cardinal Group in a part-time role and haven't looked back!

Will is a proud husband to Marybeth and father to his three children, Annabelle, Liam, and Charlie. Will likes to spend time outdoors, fly-fishing, hiking, camping, or anything else outside of cell phone range in his spare time. He is also a big Cleveland sports fan--Go Browns!

Christina started her Cardinal career in 2012 and has held several roles throughout the organization; and now serves as Vice President of Client Services. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing Cardinal Group Consulting and the sales and client management platform for Cardinal Group Management. Christina joined the business development team in 2016 and has since added over 100,000 beds to Cardinal’s student portfolio and over 10,000 units to Cardinal’s conventional portfolio, making Cardinal a NMHC Top 50 Manager in 2020.

Christina is a graduate of North Carolina State University, where she began her career with Cardinal as a part-time Community Assistant while in college.

She’s since relocated to Denver, CO where she enjoys skiing, reading, and spending time with her husband and son.

Sean is a VP of Operations, focusing on Cardinal Group Management’s portfolio of student housing communities. Sean’s experience in student housing began as an onsite manager, and he has since accrued 15 years of experience in leading operational teams. He is responsible for day-to-day operations for student housing communities across the US and has contributed to the growth of Cardinal Group Management’s student housing portfolio.

Sean graduated with a BA in History and an MS in Criminal Justice, both from New Mexico State University. He also serves on NMSU’s Alumni Board of Directors.

Sylvester joined Cardinal Group Management in 2017 as a Portfolio Manager and currently serves as the VP of Operations, managing over 38K beds. In this capacity, Sylvester ensures alignment between cell and on-site team performance, oversees the development and execution of all management plans, and partners with asset management to optimize value and NOI. He is passionate about leading his team, deploying Cardinal's operating playbook to yield success, and ultimately aligning the organization's culture with team members and portfolio growth.

Sylvester's student housing career began in 2002 as a university housing maintenance technician. Since then, he has served in multiple leadership roles within public and private student housing operations.

Prior to joining Cardinal, Sylvester served as the Vice President of European Operations for TXG Capital, LLC in London, U.K.

Sylvester holds a B.S. in Communication from Missouri Western State University and a M.A. in Higher Education and Policy from the University of Northern Colorado.

Brian Hawthorne joined Cardinal Group with over 15 years of experience in the multifamily industry. His extensive background encompasses a variety of asset types, including conventional and student housing, and he specializes in new construction lease-up communities, asset repositioning, dispositions, and value add.

Brian spent most of his career at Alliance Residential. He served as Vice President of Operations and led high-performing teams overseeing new construction-owned assets in a joint venture environment in multiple Texas markets. During his tenure at Alliance, Brian was instrumental in the successful disposition of many assets, including several record-breaking sales. After Alliance Residential was sold, Brian joined RPM, a boutique management firm where he served in a similar capacity and focused primarily on business development, client relationships, policy implementation, and culture.

Brian is a graduate of Texas State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing, and Brian also holds a Texas Real Estate License. He is a member of IREM with a Certified Property Manager (CPM) designation. He is based in Austin, TX.

Krista Nelson is Vice President of Marketing at Cardinal Group Management (CGM), leading the national marketing team responsible for driving marketing performance and strategy across CGM's third-party and owned-asset portfolios. Krista joined CGM at a pivotal time in the organization's growth, charged with constructing a centralized marketing team focused on scalable marketing strategies, full-stack vertical integration, and innovating existing processes. Krista brings a wealth of multifamily marketing expertise to amplify CGM's conventional portfolio growth.

Krista has a reputation for data-driven performance analysis, maximizing marketing performance across portfolios, understanding key DMA and sub-market differentiators, and contributing to early marketing and leasing success that ultimately drives asset value. Krista believes that harnessing the power of data through integration provides deeper optimization opportunities and has built a strong marketing foundation rooted in that data-first mentality.

Krista brings over six years of direct multifamily marketing experience and over 19 years of strategic marketing and brand development from experience across agencies, corporate marketing teams, and non-profit event strategy and fundraising. Krista's multifamily experience at two NMHC Top 10 management firms positions her as a valued expert property marketing leader. Prior to joining Cardinal Group, she drove marketing efforts for priority portfolios of third-party and owned assets at Alliance Residential and most recently led a team of marketing professionals for RPM Living's west division.

A native Phoenician, Krista attended Arizona Christian University and is proud to still call Arizona home. Free time is filled with dining out, enjoying her large extended family, cabin getaways, golf, Pilates, attending NFL games, and her two french bulldogs.

Michelle Richart is Director, Corporate Counsel, at Cardinal Group Companies and is responsible for providing legal guidance to all business entities and managing outside litigation. Prior to joining Cardinal in 2021, Michelle served as an Attorney-Advisor for the Department of Defense. Michelle brings a breadth of legal experience to Cardinal from the government, in-house, and private sectors.

Michelle is an honors graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a B.A. in Political Science and International Studies. She received her J.D. from the University of Nebraska College of Law, where she was a clinical law student and participated in moot court.

Michelle is an active duty military spouse and lived throughout the United States and overseas prior to moving to Colorado Springs in 2019. She is an advocate for military families and is involved in various organizations working to effect meaningful change through programming, policy, and legislation. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling and camping with her family.

Chris Bidwell serves as Risk Management Director at Cardinal Group. He has over 10 years of experience in real estate and property management, having previously held roles in Accounting, FP&A, and Compliance. Chris originally joined Cardinal Group in 2010 and has had experience with startup and publicly traded companies alike. Chris serves as Co-Chair for the Governance pillar of Cardinal’s ESG Council.

Chris’ team oversees all aspects of the company’s insurance and risk management functions – its insurance program, proprietary insurance products, loss control initiatives, and risk management platform. The team is responsible for identifying, evaluating, mitigating, and monitoring the company’s operational and strategic risks. The team also closely supports each of the Cardinal Group Companies by analyzing insurance needs through the identification of their risk exposures.

Prior to Cardinal, Chris graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

Outside of the office, he enjoys outdoor activities in the mountains of Colorado and likes to take road trips across the western US. He is an avid hiker during the summer and skier during the winter. He is a huge sports fan, loyal to his alma mater, the Buckeyes, as well as Cincinnati sports teams Bengals and Reds. He enjoys motor sports, especially Formula 1.

Gabe Villa is the Director of Data and Analytics at Cardinal Group Companies. He is responsible for driving and promoting a culture of data-driven decision-making at Cardinal. In addition, Gabe and his team focus on delivering data metrics to their product that provides value for team members' day-to-day operations.

Gabe brings a blend of consulting and industry experience and outstanding technical and leadership skills in Cloud Architecture, Software Engineering, Data Engineering, and Analytics. He has driven teams to solve complex global enterprise challenges leveraging. Gabe is a seasoned leader, data and technology professional, and speaker. In addition, he often facilitates or presents in tech and data conferences around the country or online.

Gabe studied Mass Communications and Information Technology and is a certified software developer and database developer. He is passionate about collaborating and forming partnerships with operations, engineers, functional stakeholders, and executives.

Gabe is from El Paso, TX, and has lived in Colorado Springs, CO, with his wife and kids for over a decade. He enjoys playing in adult soccer leagues and enjoying the Colorado hiking trails with his family and dog.

Brent joined Cardinal as the PMO Director after a career in management consulting. He has a passion for helping others transform their business. Some of his focus areas are defining and aligning strategic goals, leveraging data analytics & technology, improving customer experience, managing complex software integrations, and applying sound project management frameworks.

He has managed transformation projects for small, medium, and Fortune 500 companies across industries, including Real Estate, Defense/Government, Telecommunications, Energy, and Construction.

He earned an MBA from The College of William & Mary and a Finance degree from Virginia Tech.

Chris is a Systems Support Director on our IT & Data team, leading the IT and Systems Help Desk groups.

He has over 30 years of experience in information technology across several industry verticals, specializing in delivery and operations. Chris is an analytical thinker and problem solver, a valuable partner to the business, developing technical solutions to complex business challenges. In addition, he has a passion for leading teams, being a mentor and coach, and building on the Cardinal values of pursuing growth and knowledge.

Outside of work, Chris enjoys biking, golfing, and spending time with his family and friends.

Aylin is responsible for the continued optimization and success of Cardinal’s enterprise systems and for building out best practices across a team of talented Enterprise Application Administrators. Prior to joining Cardinal in May 2020, Aylin worked in consulting and administration roles across multiple Saas platforms. She brings an operational mindset to her role, having also previously served as the Director of Operations for a Saas company.

Aylin has a passion for understanding business needs, translating those needs into creative technology solutions, and coaching team members to build them into emerging leaders.

She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, with a B.A. in History.

In her free time, Aylin likes exploring everything Colorado offers with her family – mountains, rivers, cities, and everything in between.

Michael joined Cardinal Group in 2017 and currently serves as the Director of Consulting Services. In this role, Mike is charged with providing a wide range of consulting services, including market research and analysis, due diligence and transaction support, and pre-development design and feasibility.

Michael's background is in value-add and distressed real estate acquisitions, with more than $500 million in acquisition experience before joining the Consulting team. His extensive underwriting and transaction experience empowers Mike to provide expert analysis and guidance to Cardinal Group clients.

He is a graduate of the University of Denver and lived in Colorado for more than 10 years before recently relocating to Ann Arbor to support his partner as she pursues her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan.

Sara started her career in student housing in 2013 as a part-time leasing consultant in Minneapolis while attending the University of Minnesota. Sara has a background in property transitions and client relations.

She joined the Cardinal Group team in January 2022 as Director of Business Development for student housing and will be responsible for the sales and client management of Cardinal's student housing management platform.

Sara loves traveling, watching Minnesota sports, and spending time with her fiancé, cat, and two dogs.

Nick comes to the Director of Talent Acquisition role with over 20 years of experience in the multifamily industry. Nick joined Cardinal with years of experience in the operations world, allowing him to have unusual insight into career progression and scaled growth alongside the expanding industry. With over 15 years of people leadership, Nick guides a team of talent advisors and administrators in being effective advocates for current, future, and past team members.

Nick’s passion for experiencing different cultures allows him to communicate authentically with many audiences. Visiting nearly every state and seventeen foreign countries has allowed him to understand and speak to both the differences and similarities that make up the worldwide culture that exists within Cardinal today.

In his spare time Nick enjoys spending time with his family and traveling the world.

Rachel joins the Cardinal team with ten years of affordable housing experience. She has multi-layer tax credit experience and holds her HTC Compliance Training Certificate and UPCS Inspection Training Certificate. She is a two-time winner and two-time finalist of Austin Apartment Association Property of the Year for affordable housing communities. In 2018 she and her team received 1st place for Best of the Best, for Austin’s Choice Award, for Best Apartment.

Prior to joining the Solidago team, Rachel worked at ZRS Management as a Regional Manager and has been active in the multifamily industry for 18 years in Austin. Her background includes new construction, lease-ups, property renovations, tax credit, sales, take-overs, acquisitions, software training/implementation, and she is adept at managing operations and leasing programs from the ground up in a variety of project types – garden style, mid-rise, and high-rise. She received an Achievement of Excellence award and a Leasing Star award.

Rachel holds her NAA Certified Apartment Manager Designation (CAM) and NAHMA Credential for Green Property Management (CGPM). Rachel was recognized by the Austin Apartment Association as a 2013 Leadership Lyceum Graduate.

Johanna started her career in student housing in 2010 as a part-time leasing team member in Lawrence, KS where she was attending college at the University of Kansas. After graduating, Johanna spent several years moving around the country at various lease-ups where she spent time in Tucson, College Station, and Fort Collins.

Johanna joined the Cardinal Group team in June 2017 as a Portfolio Sales and Marketing Manager. Since 2017, she has held multiple roles and is currently the Director of Marketing and Strategy. In this role, she is responsible for leading the national property marketing team of Group Marketing Managers and Marketing Specialists continuing to make a client-centric team a top priority.