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 a founding partner and Chief Financial Officer of Cardinal Group. His primary responsibility is managing all of Cardinal Group's capital markets activities.

Prior to founding Cardinal Group Jason worked in consulting and publishing. He holds a BA from Stanford University and an MA from the University of San Diego.

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 serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Cardinal Group Companies.  Cara is responsible for the continued transformation of Cardinal's operations to leverage technology, data, and process engineering to drive business performance and adapt to customers' changing expectations.  Cara has over 20 years of experience building and leading digital transformations across a variety of industries.  Prior to joining Cardinal, Cara spent about 15 years of her career in consulting building and implementing large-scale technology solutions.  She also spent 5 years at AIMCO, now AIR communities, working on technology solutions to optimize operations for their Conventional, Affordable, and Student portfolios.  Cara attended Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA and holds a BS in Physics with a minor in Mathematical Statistics.

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

John serves as Chief Administrative Officer for Cardinal Group Companies. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the corporate business and direct oversight of functions including finance, accounting, risk management, and business administration.

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 as VP of Accounting, Financial Controller, and most recently as VP, of Finance & Compliance.

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.

Jennifer serves as President, Property Operations and Experience 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 Acquisitions for Cardinal Group Investments. His primary responsibilities include overseeing all deal sourcing, research, underwriting, market analysis, structuring, and transaction execution for student and multifamily 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.

As Head of Development, Ryan oversees the Cardinal Group development platform targeting ground-up conventional multifamily and student housing opportunities in key markets across the country.

Ryan is responsible for leading the investment analysis, transaction management and development management teams for all new development opportunities. Ryan manages teams focused on financial underwriting, design management, project management and entitlement while working with debt and equity partners in the capitalization of all Multi Family and Student assets.

Prior to joining Cardinal, Ryan served as Executive Vice President of Development at CA Ventures (CAV) where he managed a development team responsible for over 15,000 beds and $2 Billion in ground up student housing development nationwide. Ryan also served Vice President of Development at Lennar Multifamily Communities (LMC) where he managed a development team responsible for over $500m in ground up multifamily projects in the Chicagoland area. Ryan spent his early years at Southern Land Company (SLC) in Nashville, TN as a Development Manager working on mixed-use developments across the southeastern US.

Janna serves as the SVP 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.

Doug Miller is the VP of Real Estate Services. In his role, Doug leads Cardinal Group's Real Estate 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.

Nick joined Cardinal in January of 2023 to take over the legal role supporting Cardinal Company operations. He is responsible for leading the legal operations team, supporting corporate and client contracting, litigation resolution and management, implementing and managing legal tech and systems, employment law matters and generally supporting the company and leadership at the intersection of law and business operations.

Immediately prior to joining Cardinal, Nick was head of legal for a tech startup with domestic and international operations. Before becoming an attorney, Nick served in the United States Army as an Engineer officer (Essayons!).

Nick's experience operating in dynamic environments and solving tough problems (whether in support of combat or business operations) have helped him to be a decisive and effective leader from anywhere in an organization.

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.

Andrew Ellis serves as Vice President, Development Management and is responsible for leading, managing, and growing the development management platform, which is responsible for project entitlements, due diligence, interfacing with contractors during the preconstruction and construction phases of a project, and overall schedule and budget management.

While Andrew’s 16+ year career has spanned multiple market segments and roles, his current focus with Cardinal Group Investments is on multi-family student and conventional ground up developments.

Andrew earned his Bachelor of Science in Construction Management from Colorado State University.

In his free time, Andrew enjoys traveling and recreating in the great outdoors.

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!

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.

Mrs. Ivory serves as Vice President of Multi-family Operations at Cardinal Group overseeing a large portfolio of conventional communities across the country. Hope has over 23 years of experience in the multi-family industry with positions ranging from Area Vice President, Senior Regional/ Area Manager, Real Estate Associate to Multi-Site Property Manager, Hope has a broad range of operational experience. Her attention to detail, strong operational background, and effective leadership make her a valuable member of the Cardinal team. Hope's previous experience includes Asset Living/Echelon, and Greystar/Riverstone Residential.

Hope is currently a CPM candidate with IREM and is very involved with the Apartment Association of Metro Denver.

Carynes serves as the Director of Operations Training & Development on the People & Culture team at Cardinal Group Management. Carynes has over 20 years of experience in the student housing industry, and started her career onsite in Tallahassee, FL after graduating from Florida State University. She is responsible for the day-to-day leadership management of the Operations Training & Development + Travel Platforms for team members at Cardinal Group.

Carynes has a reputation for maximizing team member engagement and leading dispersed teams across multiple locations. She supports a culture of continuous improvement, actively searching, designing, and implementing effective coaching and education methods to elevate team member performance. Carynes' student housing career started as a leasing team member and went on to hold multiple onsite positions before moving into a Senior Operations role. Prior to joining Cardinal Group, Carynes spent 10 years with Next Chapter Properties serving the organization in a variety of leadership roles overseeing operations, asset management, new development start-ups, and third party business management.

Carynes earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida State University. She is both a Gallup certified StrengthFinders Coach and Boss to Coach Manager. Carynes enjoys outdoor activities and beach time with her family, active outings, and finding unique food spots when traveling.

Chris is the Vice President of 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.

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.

Nathan is the Sr. Director of AI and Architecture, coming to Cardinal after 20 years in consulting delivering high-impact technology solutions for over a dozen Fortune 500 companies. Nathan regularly leads technical teams through the design, development, and delivery of large and complex digital solutions that meet the core needs of modern businesses. Nathan's recent focus has been on guiding organizations through the complex process of incorporating artificial intelligence capabilities into new and existing digital offerings. Nathan has a degree in Electrical Engineering from Idaho State University.

Nathan's passion for technology knows no bounds. His technology solutions often integrate AI, automation, cloud capabilities, and modern user experiences, all using the latest technology stacks and digital innovation breakthroughs.

Rachel serves as the Sr. Director of Data and Analytics and is responsible for the continued transformation of Cardinal’s data strategy and data delivery. She's passionate about the power and value of data, and loves helping companies build their data capabilities. Rachel has over 12 years of experience in building and leading data and analytics transformation across a variety of industries.

Prior to joining Cardinal, Rachel worked in both management consulting and industry roles to help companies build data and analytics solutions across a wide range of technologies and business needs. As a self-proclaimed data champion and strategic problem solver, Rachel has a track record of delivering relevant, impactful, and actionable insights to stakeholders.

Rachel attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine and holds a BA in Economics.

Scott started his career in student housing in 2005 as a part-time Community Assistant in Chapel Hill, NC as he was finishing up college at the University of North Carolina. After graduation, Scott worked at multiple communities in leasing and operations as manager.

Scott joined Cardinal Group in October of 2011 as a Community Manager. He has held numerous roles in various departments including Assistant Portfolio Manager beginning in 2014 and Internal Talent Manager in 2017. Scott is currently Director of Client Onboarding & Transitions. In this role, he is responsible for navigating a transitions team through new business acquisitions, while focused on maximizing the client experience.

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.

Carey joined Cardinal in March of 2021 and serves as the Revenue Management Director for both Student and Conventional communities. She brings 10 years of experience in revenue management and 24 years of experience in property management and real estate. She holds certifications for both conventional and student revenue management platforms. Her diverse background in multifamily and commercial operations, commercial accounting, and training in education lends itself well to supporting onsite teams in leveraging complex systems that enhance asset performance.

Carey has a passion for identifying trends through data, collaborating with teams on strategy, and optimizing asset performance through revenue management disciplines. Her strengths in relationship building and direct communication help her successfully navigate business challenges as well as promote process adoption across the organization.

Carey earned her master's degree in bilingual education from Texas State University and worked in the public education system all while advancing her career in property management and real estate. She grew up playing tennis and running with her father, a professional tennis coach, and now continues to enjoy both sports with her three kids in Austin, TX.

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.

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.

As the Director of New Developments, Karissa oversees properties from pre-development underwriting, through lease up, and to stabilization. Karissa blends market-specific tactics, creative problem solving, tested strategies, and data-driven decisions to optimize new developments and drive market demand and leasing velocity.

It was love at first lease when Karissa started her Property Management career in 1996. Since then, she’s held a variety of leasing and marketing roles from Leasing Agent to Director of Leasing to VP of Marketing and Business Development. Karissa has had the opportunity to see the industry from many vantage points having worked in conventional, affordable, and student housing while holding senior leadership roles for Owner/Managers, Third Party Managers, and directly for Owner/Developers.

Karissa has a B.S. in Marketing from Providence College and an MBA from the Isenberg School of Management at The University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has her Certified Apartment Leasing Professional (CALP) and Accredited Residential Manager (ARM) Certifications.

Karissa credits incredible mentorship for much of the joy and success she’s had in her career and seeks to pay it forward any chance she can. She currently lives in Jacksonville, FL with her husband and son where she enjoys splashing around in the pool, exploring new places, yoga, and trying to develop a green thumb.

Carlton currently serves as the Director of Capex Project Management. In his role at Cardinal, Carlton
leads a team of project managers who oversee various capital improvement projects nationwide.

He is a veteran multifamily construction professional with over 20 years of experience. His career
includes stints in new home construction, onsite project management, and more than 10 years of
deploying capital improvements on both conventional and student housing projects.

Carlton received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Construction Engineering from Texas Tech University in
1994.

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.

Katy started her career in student housing in 2002 as a community assistant in Champaign, IL where she was attending college at the University of Illinois. She quickly realized that she wanted to make a career in student housing. She decided to take a leap of faith and move across the country to manage a new development in southern California and quickly joined the corporate team after that.
In 2008, she joined Campus Advantage where she spent the next 15 years of her career. She started in the leasing and marketing department where she became the Vice President and oversaw the entire portfolios leasing strategies. In 2016 she decided to try her hand in operations and took on the role of Vice President of Operations, specializing in owned assets.

Katy lives in Roscoe, IL with her husband, Kyle and two children Owen and Lucy. Most of her free time is spent on the sidelines of one her children's activities, cheering too loudly.

Prior to Cardinal Group, Kevin spent the last 15 years in Purpose Built Student Housing. The majority of his time in the space was spent with Campus Crest Communities where he was the VP of Operations supporting the day-to-day management of 51,000+ beds. At Campus Crest Kevin was able to be a part of taking the company public in 2010 as well as participating in the merger with Copper Beech Townhomes.
After Campus Crest Kevin worked with Asset Campus Housing, and most recently with Valeo Americas. At Valeo he supported the development, construction, student, and senior housing teams.

Kevin finds value in being able to learn from, develop, and support team members in all facets of the business. He focuses on how teams are able to operate more efficiently so that more time can be spent with our residents and team members in order to create an enhanced experience.

Kevin is a proud graduate of Clemson University (GO TIGERS!) and received my BS in Management and Marketing. He lives in Charlotte, NC, and when not at work he enjoys time outdoors with my family, traveling and creating new experiences. Kevin has 3 kids - 5 yr old daughter Mallory, 2 yr old son Cooper, and an 8-month-old son Dominic, and of course, an amazing wife that holds it all together!

Eli has held multiple roles within the student housing industry for the past 20 years, working his way from an onsite porter on the facilities side to Vice President of Operations, with experience ranging from development and construction to operational property management. He has worked for American Campus Communities, Trinitas Ventures, and GMH, before beginning his career with Cardinal Group.

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 sales and Marketing. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the centralized Sales & Marketing team serving the student housing vertical.

Lisa joined Cardinal in January of 2024 and serves as the Director of Real Estate for Cardinal Group Companies. She is responsible for leading and managing all legal aspects of Cardinal's real estate platform.  

Lisa has close to 20 years of experience as an attorney providing counsel to and conducting real estate transactions for commercial real estate firms. Prior to joining Cardinal, Lisa served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer to a private equity office and hotel real estate investment firm in Denver.  

Lisa also spent many years at two different law firms based in Denver.

Robert Galván serves as the Director of Multifamily Acquisitions at Cardinal Group Investments (CGI). His expertise lies in implementing the acquisition strategy for multifamily and commercial properties across the United States, with a particular focus on Colorado and its surrounding areas. Prior to his current role, he worked as a Senior Associate and Associate within the Student Housing platform of CGI. In these positions, he played a vital role in sourcing, evaluating, conducting due diligence, and finalizing total transactions of approximately $1.5 billion.

Before joining CGI, Robert held positions in valuations and financial analysis at Goldman Sachs and BetaWest, a valuations and asset management firm. In these roles, he was responsible for creating and maintaining complex financial models for commercial real estate, as well as supporting business plans, market valuations, and acquisition due diligence efforts.

In his personal time, Robert enjoys spending time with his family, hiking, and exploring this great big world.

Brian serves as the Financial Planning & Analysis Director for Cardinal Group Management. He is responsible for leading the budgeting, forecasting and analysis functions. Brian brings over 15 years of finance experience in various industries and multiple roles. He has an analytical mindset and a passion for learning and growth.

He is a graduate of Colorado State University and received his MBA from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.

James started his career in student housing in 1999 as temp labor for turn at several communities in Tallahassee, Florida. While attending Florida State University, he advanced to Maintenance Supervisor before eventually moving over to operations and property management, first as a Leasing Manager and then as a Community Manager while working for one of the largest REITs in student housing, Education Realty Trust (EDR). In 2012 he relocated to Memphis, TN with a promotion to Regional Manager, overseeing a portfolio that covered nearly 7,000 beds and spanned from Lubbock, TX, to Greenville, NC and many points in between. After a combined 19 years in Owner-operated and public REIT student housing management, he made the jump to third-party management, joining Cardinal in April of 2018 and relocating to Denver, CO as Portfolio Manager.

James accepted a role as Group Facilities Manager in 2022, covering Cardinals growing Conventional and Affordable portfolios, providing facilities and operational support to teams in Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Montana, and Kentucky. In this capacity, James has been instrumental in assisting with national facilities and MRO platform creation, assisting with emergency response and management, policy creation and adoption, and building national partnerships with vendors across the multifamily housing industry. His primary interests in this role, such as building and expanding facilities operations and performance platforms, technology adoption, ESG integration, and asset preservation support services, afforded him the opportunity to accept a promotion to Director of Facilities for Cardinal Group Real Estate Services in April of 2023. In this role, James will continue to develop MRO platforms that complement Cardinal's expansive centralization program, embrace and build upon Cardinal's culture of excellence and support, and develop company-wide services and products that make communities safer, more effective, and more efficient to operate and maintain.

In his free time, James enjoys the outdoors and the amazing Colorado weather with his two dogs, plays soccer, and works on various hobbies and DIY projects around the home. He is an avid gardener and car enthusiast - so if you don't catch him elbow-deep tending to his plants, he's probably tinkering around his garage working on some new toy or gadget for his car.

Mitchell joined Cardinal in September of 2022 and serves as the Fund Accounting Director. He joins Cardinal with 7 years of experience in the real estate industry, specifically in affordable housing. He is responsible for leading and overseeing the accounting and reporting of acquisitions, investment, and partnership transactions. He is an active Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Prior to Cardinal, Mitchell served as an AVP in the fund management department of an affordable housing syndicator, managing various real estate funds. In addition, he was an audit manager at a public accounting firm, overseeing various client engagements. Mitchell graduated from Purdue University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business management with a concentration in finance.

Mitchell lives in South Bend, IN with his wife, Sarah, and daughter, Lylah. During his free time, he enjoys spending time with family, managing his family’s rental property, exercise, being outside and watching sports, especially Purdue football and basketball.

Katie started her career at Cardinal in 2018 and has grown within the organization due to her strategic vision and execution. In this role, she is responsible for org-wide internal communications, culture and engagement, and administrative operations functions.

An ideator and innovator, she’s passionate about the power of strategic planning and the user (people!) experience. With a combination background in marketing, change, and project management, Katie likes to approach each project with a fresh perspective and an eye for details. She is a go-to team member for collaboration, structure, mentorship, DEI, and energetic presentations.

Katie earned a BA from Florida State University and then quickly moved to Colorado to try out the cold weather. She loves a good book, hiking, buying knick-knacks, travel, and seasonal drink menus.