Faculty

Joseph Cahoon

Lecturer, Department of Finance, GSB 5.160
McCombs School of Business
The University of Texas at Austin
512-232-6828
joseph.cahoon@mccombs.utexas.edu

Joseph Cahoon joined the REFIC as managing director in 2009. Before that he worked at Gables Residential where he was responsible for sourcing and underwriting multi-family and mixed-use acquisition and development opportunities in Dallas. Prior to joining Gables in 2006, he was a partner with Champion Partners in Dallas where he focused on value-add office investments. Cahoon also worked as a project manager with Century Development in Houston, where he helped lead the construction of the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts and Century Development's 1000 Main office tower before attending business school in 2003.

George W. Gau, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Finance, GSB 5.167
McCombs School of Business
The University of Texas at Austin
512-471-6612
george.gau@mccombs.utexas.edu

Dr. George W. Gau served as dean of the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin from 2002 to 2008. He is the founding director (1999-2002) of the Real Estate Finance and Investment Center. He holds the George S. Watson Centennial Professorship in Real Estate and the J. Ludwig Mosle Centennial Memorial Professorship in Investments and Money Management in the McCombs School. He received his Ph.D. in finance from the University of Illinois, and he previously taught at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada and the National University of Singapore.

Dr. Gau is an internationally-recognized scholar in the fields of real estate and mortgage markets. He has authored over forty academic and professional publications. He is a past president of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association and a fellow of the Homer Hoyt Institute. He is a member of the Editorial Review Board of Real Estate Economics.

Greg Hallman, Ph.D.

Senior Lecturer, Department of Finance, GSB 5.161
McCombs School of Business
The University of Texas at Austin
512-232-6831
greg.hallman@mccombs.utexas.edu

Dr. Hallman is a lecturer in real estate finance. In the fall 2002, he earned a "Top McCombs Faculty" award from his students for his exemplary instruction. He received an MBA from Tulane University and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Hallman has worked primarily in consulting, and, most recently, he was a managing director in the Silicon Valley office of InteCap, Inc., an economic consulting company.

Jay Hartzell, Ph.D

Department of Finance Chair, Finance Professor
McCombs School of Business
The University of Texas at Austin
512-471-6779
jay.hartzell@mccombs.utexas.edu

Jay Hartzell serves as the finance department chair and is a professor of finance, Allied Bancshares Centennial Fellow, and the executive director of the Real Estate Finance and Investment Center. Dr. Hartzell received his Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin and taught previously at New York University's Stern School of Business. His research focuses on corporate finance, especially real estate finance and corporate governance.

Sheridan Titman, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Finance, CBA 6.266
McCombs School of Business
The University of Texas at Austin
512-232-2787
sheridan.titman@mccombs.utexas.edu

Dr. Sheridan Titman holds the McAllister Chair in Financial Services in the U.T. Department of Finance. He is also research director of the Real Estate Finance and Investment Center. Dr. Titman received his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University and he has developed a national reputation for his research on finance and real estate. He has authored articles on urban land development, valuation of commercial mortgages, and real estate investment trusts. He is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, editor of the International Review of Finance, and associate editor of leading academic journals like Real Estate Economics, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, and Journal of Finance.

Stathis Tompaidis, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Department of Information, Risk and Operations Management, GSB 5.162
McCombs School of Business
The University of Texas at Austin
512-471-5252
stathis.tompaidis@mccombs.utexas.edu

Dr. Tompaidis is an associate professor in the Department of Management Science and Information Systems. He received his Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin. He has authored papers on the valuation of options on leasing contracts and commercial mortgages.

Staff

Jay Hartzell

Executive Director
McCombs School of Business, CBA 6.238
512-471-6779
jay.hartzell@mccombs.utexas.edu

 

Joseph Cahoon

Managing Director
McCombs School of Business, GSB 5.160
512-232-6828
joseph.cahoon@mccombs.utexas.edu

 

Rachel Allen

Director
McCombs School of Business
CBA 6.272
512-232-6842
rachel.allen@mccombs.utexas.edu

 

Mary Cone

Senior Administrative Associate
McCombs School of Business, CBA 6.423N
512-232-5444
mary.cone@mccombs.utexas.edu

 

Advisory Directors

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  Steve LeBlanc

  Steve LeBlanc is the founding partner of CapRidge Partners, a fully integrated office building investor and manager headquartered in Austin, Texas, serving the major markets throughout the state, including Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Founded in 2012 by Steve LeBlanc and Tom Stacy, the company is dedicated to providing superior services to its customers and tenants.

  
  Mr. LeBlanc is the former senior managing director of private markets, overseeing the real assets, private equity, and principal investments portfolios at the $110 Billion Teacher Retirement System of Texas (“TRS”). Mr. LeBlanc’s team was responsible for managing the over $45 Billion Real Estate and Private Equity portfolio exposure for the fund. His team made 116 investment commitments around the globe of nearly $30 Billion in equity from 2008 to 2012. Steve led the creation of the $ 6 Billion Private Markets’ Strategic Partnership Network at TRS.
  
  An experienced leader of investment professionals and assets in the real estate industry, Steve was president and CEO of NYSE-listed REIT Summit Properties in Charlotte, North Carolina. Summit had 500 employees, 18,000 apartment homes and $150-300 million of annual development and acquisitions. From 1998 to 2004, Summit increased its equity market cap from $0.5 Billion to $1.1 Billion (225%) and the total market cap from $1.26 Billion to over $2 Billion (176%). The total rate of return for shareholders was 144% and averaged nearly 20% a year. Summit Properties merged with Camden Property Trust on February 28th, 2005. He was recognized as the MF Executive of the Year.
  
  He also served as president of Urban Growth Property Trust in Chicago, IL, where he developed the company’s strategic business plan, orchestrated the transition to REIT status and recruited, hired and trained the team, which initiated over $250 million in acquisitions and developments.
  
  Prior to that, he served as the executive vice president for Archstone Communities Trust in Santa Fe, NM. Initially he was head of acquisitions of existing communities, then promoted to head of land acquisitions, then promoted to head of development, then promoted to head of development for Security Capital Atlantic and helped take it public and subsequently merged into Archstone. He was responsible for the development, acquisition and management of 11,000 apartment homes and the purchase of land for an additional 10,000 apartment homes.
  
  Prior to that he was a senior partner at Lincoln Property Company where he was initially the partner for Austin/San Antonio (1984-1987). He was then promoted to senior partner for all of Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. (1987-1989). He was then promoted to open the office in the northeast (1989-1992). He was responsible for the management of 17,000 apartments as well as the firm’s acquisition and development activities.
  
  Steve is a member of the Private Capital Research Institute, and the SEC Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies. He is a member of the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA), and on the editorial advisory board of The Institutional Real Estate Letter – North America. He is a trustee and governor of the Urban Land Institute and formerly served as chairman of the district council in Austin. He has served on the board of trustees of the Real Estate Roundtable, the Investment Advisory Board of the Employee Retirement System of Texas and the Penland School of Crafts and Charlotte Latin School.
  
  In 2011, Steve was invited to testify in front of the Congressional Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises on the “Reopening American Capital Markets to Emerging Growth Companies Act of 2011”. He has been a guest host on CNBC’s Squawk Box as well as on Bloomberg Television’s Street Smarts and Money Moves and Fox Business Network’s Countdown to the Closing Bell.
  
  Steve has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Real Estate/Finance from The University of Texas at Austin where he is the Associate Director of the Real Estate and Finance Council and a lecturer at the McCombs School of Business where he led the creation of the Real Estate Certificate Program for Undergraduate Students at The University of Texas at Austin.

• 

  Lenore M. Sullivan

  Lenore M. (Lennie) Sullivan is a former partner in Perella Weinberg Partners, an independent financial services firm providing corporate advisory and asset management services to clients around the world. She was appointed to the Investment Advisory Committee of the Employee Retirement System of the State of Texas in January 2010, and she sits on the boards of Parkway Properties, Inc. and HFF, Inc., both NYSE listed companies. Ms. Sullivan served as the associate director of the Real Estate Finance and Investment Center, and as a lecturer in the finance department at the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, from 2002-2007.

  Prior to accepting her appointment at U.T., Sullivan was a vice president of Hunt Private Equity Group, Inc. From 1992 until 2000, Ms. Sullivan was president of Stonegate Advisors, a boutique investment banking firm that she co-founded, focusing on raising debt and equity capital for privately held companies. She served as CFO of Joseph C. Canizaro Interests (now Columbus Properties), a real estate development and investment firm in New Orleans, from 1995 through 1996, and was a partner and financial associate with the Trammell Crow Company and various affiliated companies, including Wyndham Hotel Company, from 1983 to 2002. She currently serves as co-chair of Texas Women Ventures, is a charter investor in Texas Women Ventures Funds I and II, and a partner and investment committee member in Republic Holdings Texas Funds I and II.

  Ms. Sullivan holds a bachelor's degree from Smith College and an MBA from Harvard University.