Reuben Leibowitz

Managing Director

Mr. Leibowitz founded JEN Partners in 2005. He is a Managing Director and is responsible for overall management of the firm.  Prior to founding JEN Partners, Mr. Leibowitz was responsible for Warburg Pincus’s real estate practice for 20 years. He also helped set and implement Warburg Pincus’ long term strategy, and structure the firm’s operating entities and private equity funds, including finance, legal and tax.  Prior to joining Warburg Pincus in 1984, Mr. Leibowitz spent 15 years in public accounting.

Mr. Leibowitz received a B.S. from Brooklyn College, an M.B.A. from the Stern School at New York University (NYU), a J.D. from the Brooklyn Law School, and an LLM from NYU School of Law.  He is a director of Simon Property Group, the largest U.S. REIT, and was previously a director of four other NYSE listed companies, Chelsea Property, Grubb & Ellis, Lennar and Pacific Greystone. 

Stephanie Errico

Vice President of Administration

Ms. Errico is the Vice President of Administration at JEN.  Stephanie has been a valued team member right from the inception of the firm.  Prior to joining JEN Partners, Stephanie’s first job was at CPA firm Cornick, Garber & Sandler. In 1984, she joined Warburg Pincus where she met Reuben Leibowitz, and worked closely with him for over 20 years before helping him establish JEN.  Stephanie has the great honor of being JEN’s first employee.  

Beyond her finance role at the firm, Stephanie is beloved amongst JEN limited partners and makes sure everyone feels welcome when they visit us.  Come visit!

Allen Anderson

Managing Director

Mr. Anderson joined JEN Partners as a Managing Director in 2008, after having served as Senior Advisor since 2006 and is involved in all aspects of JEN’s investment process.  Prior to joining JEN, Mr. Anderson served as CEO of AV Homes Inc., a publicly traded active-adult homebuilder. From 1996 until its sale to Pro Logis in 1999, Mr. Anderson was Chairman and CEO of Meridian Industrial Trust, a NYSE listed REIT. Prior to Meridian, Mr. Anderson was CEO of a bank holding company’s real estate subsidiary, a Partner in Arthur Andersen’s institutional real estate services practice, and a director of Lend Lease Global Properties Fund.

Mr. Anderson is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, having received degrees in Finance and Real Estate. He is a founding member of the Research Committee of the Pension Real Estate Association. 

Lori Huneke

Business Manager

Ms. Huneke is the Business Manager at JEN and has responsibilities within the firm’s finance, accounting, and office management functions.  Prior to joining JEN, Ms. Huneke was the Vice President of Administration at Vanke US, the US subsidiary of China Vanke, a Fortune Global 500 company and one of the largest homebuilders in China. Before joining Vanke US, Lori was a Business Development Manager at Li & Fung in Hong Kong.

Ms. Huneke holds a B.A. in Asian Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. She is also Treasurer of the Board of Berkeley Real Estate Alumni Association (BREAA)’s New York Chapter.

Jason Wong

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Wong joined JEN Partners in March 2021, and is responsible for the firm’s financial operations, tax planning, and capital management of the investments. Prior to joining JEN, Mr. Wong served as CFO for Vanke US, the US subsidiary of China Vanke, a Fortune Global 500 company, and one of the largest homebuilders in China. Before joining Vanke, Jason served as a Principal Controller at Medley Capital and as a Manager of international and corporate tax at Deloitte. 

Mr. Wong is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.S. in Accounting from St. John’s University, an M.S. in Taxation from Long Island University, and an M.B.A. from Cornell University.

Leslie Candes

General Counsel

Leslie Candes is the General Counsel at JEN. She joined JEN in 2023 and provides legal guidance on all of the firm’s legal activities. Her responsibilities include oversight of all land banking and real estate acquisition and development documents, litigation and corporate matters. Before joining JEN, Ms. Candes was the Vice President and Chief Legal Counsel- US for Mattamy Homes where she oversaw all of their legal activities in the US.  Prior to that, Ms. Candes was an attorney in private practice in Orlando, Florida.  

Ms. Candes graduated from Florida State University with a B.A. in Criminology and from Stetson University College of Law with Juris Doctorate of Law.

Ethan Leibowitz

Managing Director

Mr. Leibowitz is a Managing Director at JEN. He joined JEN in 2007, and oversees the firm’s investment portfolio, is responsible for the firm’s long term strategy and evaluates and executes investment opportunities. Prior to joining JEN, Mr. Leibowitz was a management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, where he worked on various strategic, operational and commercial real estate initiatives in the financial services, retail and healthcare sectors.  He previously worked as a summer analyst in the real estate groups of Lazard Frères and Madison Capital Management.

Mr. Leibowitz graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a B.S.E in electrical engineering.

Anna Hui

Fund Controller

Ms. Hui joined the firm in 2017 and has responsibilities for the firm’s finance and management of investments. Prior to joining JEN Partners, Anna was a Senior Operations Analyst in the Real Estate Private Equity strategy of Angelo Gordon & Co., where she supported opportunistic and core plus funds investing in the U.S and parts of Europe and Asia.

Anna holds a  B.B.A. degree in Finance, and an M.S. in Accountancy from Bernard M. Baruch College.    

Adam Peterson

Managing Director

Mr. Peterson joined JEN Partners in 2011, and is responsible for overall business development for the firm including investments, regional partnerships and fundraising.  His responsibilities include sourcing, underwriting and executing investment opportunities as well as sourcing new regional partners to join the JEN team.  Before joining JEN, Mr. Peterson was a Senior Project Manager with Matthews Southwest, a Texas-based real estate developer where he managed a 1,500-acre master planned community in North Dallas.  He previously worked as a management consultant at Oliver Wyman in New York City where his responsibilities included consulting for US GSE lenders and other financial institutions.

Mr. Peterson graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a B.A. in Politics.

Jeffrey Lucas

Vice President

Mr. Lucas joined JEN in 2018, and is responsible for sourcing and underwriting investment opportunities. Before joining JEN, Mr. Lucas was a Real Estate Tax Professional at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where he provided tax and advisory services to various clients in the real estate investment industry.

Jeff is a Certified Public Accountant in New York State. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Richmond’s Robins School of Business with a degree in Accounting.

Allyson Arber

Director of Tax

Ms. Arber joined JEN Partners in 2017 and is responsible for fund tax strategy and implementation. Prior to joining JEN, Ms. Arber was a Director at CBIZ (previously Mahoney Cohen) for 11 years specializing in pass-through entity taxation, tax compliance, and strategy consulting. For the 9 prior years she worked at BDO Seidman as the administrator in charge of the tax department before switching over to purely technical tax work. Right after graduation, she worked for the IRS for 6 years as a tax technician, office auditor and then as a revenue agent conducting field examinations.

Ms. Arber graduated from Saint Bonaventure University with a BBA in Accounting.

Michael Edwards

Controller

Mr. Edwards joined JEN Partners in August 2021 and has responsibilities within the firm’s finance and accounting functions. Prior to joining JEN Partners, Mr. Edwards was an Accounting Manager at The Related Companies working in the corporate accounting group on various real estate portfolios. Before The Related Companies he previously worked at PwC as an Assurance Manager.

Michael is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in New York and Ohio and holds an M.S in Accounting from The Ohio State University and a B.S. in Accounting from Ithaca College.

Andrew Kozicz

Junior Associate

Mr. Kozicz joined JEN in 2022, and is responsible for researching and underwriting investment opportunities. Prior to joining JEN, Mr. Kozicz was an Investment Analyst at Whitman Peterson, where he evaluated investments across multiple asset classes including multifamily, hospitality, and life sciences.

Andrew graduated from the University of Texas with a B.B.A in Finance and a certificate in Real Estate.

Richard Jerman

Florida Regional Partner

Mr. Jerman co-leads JEN’s Florida residential land efforts.  He has 30 years of experience in real estate, specializing in acquisition, finance, governmental entitlements, planning, land sales and land development of residential communities.  Mr. Jerman has been involved in the planning, entitlement and development of numerous projects exceeding a total of 13,000 acres planned for over 25,000 residential units in Florida.  From 2005 to 2007, Mr. Jerman was the Regional Land Vice President for Tousa Homes, responsible for land acquisition, land sales and overall development in Florida. Prior to Tousa Homes, Mr. Jerman was a General Partner in various partnerships involved in residential development and large master planned communities. He has been responsible for conceptual planning, management of governmental approval processes, land development and construction. 

Mr. Jerman received his B.S. in Accounting and practiced as a Certified Public Accountant at the beginning of his career.

Dan Edwards

Florida Regional Partner

Mr. Edwards co-leads JEN’s Florida residential land efforts.  He has over 15 years of experience in residential real estate.  Throughout his career he has worked for several publicly traded homebuilders with a primary focus of delivering residential lots through land acquisition and development.  Most recently, Mr. Edwards held the role of Regional Vice President of Land Operations for Dream Finders Homes covering the Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, Charlotte and Savannah markets.  In this role he oversaw all land operations and worked with each market to develop land acquisition and development strategies that met the needs of the business plan. Prior to Dream Finders Homes, Mr. Edwards held several roles for publicly traded homebuilders in Orlando, Tampa and Fort Myers and was responsible for all facets of land operations: acquisition, planning/entitlements, and development.  Over the course of his career, he has been involved in the acquisition and development of over 15,000 residential lots throughout Florida.

Mr. Edwards is a graduate of the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida with a degree in Business Administration.

Mike Jesberger

Arizona Regional Partner

Mr. Jesberger leads JEN’s Arizona residential land efforts.  He is a 25-year veteran in developing residential master planned communities.  Mr. Jesberger started with JEN in 2009 after 6 years at Element Homes, a Phoenix builder he co-founded.  He was an Executive Vice President at Element Homes, which built and sold over 1,600 homes.  Prior to starting Element, Mr. Jesberger was with the Del Webb Corporation and later Pulte Homes for 11 years. Mr. Jesberger was the Arizona Vice President of Land Acquisitions for Pulte and also served as Del Webb’s general manager at Sun City Grand, overseeing the day-to-day operations of this 4,000-acre master planned community. 

Mr. Jesberger is a native of Arizona and holds a B.S. in Construction from Arizona State University.   He has served on a number of non-profit boards, most recently completing a term on the Maricopa Water District Board of Directors.

Mike Brady

North Texas Regional Partner

Mr. Brady leads JEN’s Texas residential land efforts. He has over 30 years of experience in homebuilding and land development across the Texas market. Prior to JEN, Mr. Brady worked at Contrast Development, a residential land investment and development firm based in Dallas. Prior to joining Contrast, he spent 28 years working for publicly traded homebuilders, including Pulte Homes and Standard Pacific Homes. As the Dallas Division President for Standard Pacific Homes for 19 years, he held overall market responsibility for strategic positioning, land and lot acquisition, product development, sales and marketing, construction and customer satisfaction.

Mr. Brady holds a BBA in accounting from Texas Tech University – Rawls College of Business. He is a CPA and spent four years in the public accounting industry prior to entering the homebuilding business.

Tom Woliver

North Texas Regional Partner

Mr. Woliver joined JEN Texas in 2020 and co-leads JEN’s Texas residential land efforts.  He has over 25 years in the real estate industry specializing in building community vision, planning, land development, land acquisition, and governmental entitlements. Prior to starting his own development and consulting firm, Mr. Woliver served as Vice President at Hillwood Communities. During his tenure at Hillwood, Mr. Woliver was responsible for creating and several master planned communities throughout Texas and was responsible for the development of over 20,000 lots.  Prior to Hillwood, Mr. Woliver worked for TBG Partners as a Senior Land Planner and Senior Landscape Architect in Austin and Dallas.

Mr. Woliver is a Texas Native and holds a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from Texas A&M University.  Mr Woliver is an active member of the Urban Land Institute, currently serving as the Chair of the National Community Development Product Council and a mentor for the ULI Building Healthy Places Program.

Steve Check

Georgia Regional Partner

Mr. Check leads JEN’s Georgia land efforts focused on the Atlanta market. Mr. Check started his land acquisition career with Ryan Homes in 1987 and brings over 25 years of significant experience and expertise as a land acquisition and development executive.  Mr. Check has held senior management roles with regional and national home builders, including 12 years with McCar Homes as President of Land Acquisition and Development where he was responsible for all Southeastern land purchases and was a major factor in growing McCar into one of the largest private builder in the nation.      

Mr. Check is an alumnus of Western Michigan University and sits on the Design Review Board of the City of Milton (greater Atlanta).

Clifton Taylor

Sacramento & NorCal Regional Partner

Mr. Taylor leads JEN's Northern California land efforts, based out of Roseville, CA  (greater Sacramento).  Mr. Taylor has two decades of real estate and asset management experience in Northern California with a primary focus on entitlement and regulatory permitting of master-planned communities.  He formerly led Richland Communities real estate division located in Roseville, where he was responsible for the company’s Northern California assets in the Sacramento Region, Bay Area and San Joaquin Valley.

Mr. Taylor has worked successfully with federal, state and local agencies on numerous complex regulatory permitting matters in Sacramento, West Sacramento, Roseville, Elk Grove, Lincoln, Dixon, Lathrop, Antioch and Brentwood.  He also played a leading role on the development of the Placer County Habitat Conservation Plan, serving most recently as a member of the Finance Committee.  In 2005, Clifton led a team that received a California Department of Conservation Director’s Award and San Joaquin Council of Governments Regional Excellence Award for his work on the largest Williamson Act easement exchange in California’s history.

Mr. Taylor holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is active in the community, previously serving on the Sutter Roseville Medical Center Foundation Board and is also a founding member of the Urban Land Institute Young Leaders Group in Sacramento.  Additionally, he is President & CEO of the Lincoln Potters Baseball Club, LLC, a collegiate wood bat baseball organization based in Lincoln, CA.  

Conor Gilligan

Maryland Regional Partner

Mr. Gilligan co-leads JEN’s Maryland land efforts with nearly two decades of experience in real estate, specializing in land feasibilities, acquisition, entitlements, environmental impacts, community planning and land development.  In 2007, he co-founded Craftsmen Developers, LLC a Maryland-based real estate development and consulting firm.  Craftsmen focuses on creating new residential communities and assisting institutional partners with their land transactions.  He is the past Director of Land Development for Technical Olympic USA (2004-2007) and Gilligan Development Inc. (2002-2004), where he oversaw development of over 45 communities in the Mid-Atlantic Region. 

Mr. Gilligan is an active member of the Home Builders Association of Maryland, the United States Green Building Council and Urban Land Institute. He is the proud recipient of ULI Baltimore’s 2014 Leadership Award. He is also an active board member with The Providence Center, and the Foundation Board at Baltimore Washington Medical Center.

Bob Schultz

Maryland Regional Partner

Mr. Schultz co-leads JEN’s Maryland land efforts.  He has devoted the past 18 years of his career as a corporate accountant to the home building and development industries. As the former Chief Financial Officer of Gilligan Development, he directed and oversaw the companies accounting and financial requirements.  In September 2004, he facilitated the multimillion-dollar sale of Gilligan Development to Technical Olympic USA.  Following the closing, he held the position of Vice President of Finance and Operations for Technical Olympic USA, Baltimore Division.  Three years later, he became one of the founding partners of Craftsmen Developers where he has served since the company’s inception as the Vice President of Finance and Operations. 

Mr. Schultz received a B.A. in Accounting from The Pennsylvania State University.

Kris Thompson

Maryland Regional Partner

Mr. Thompson co-leads JEN’s Maryland land efforts.  As a second-generation builder, he has more than three decades of commercial and residential experience in the Mid-Atlantic region.  In 1996, he joined Gilligan Development as Vice President of Construction overseeing commercial construction and land development operations. He was part of the senior management team that organized Gilligan Development’s sale to Technical Olympic USA, and became VP of Land Development for the Baltimore Division. In 2009 he rejoined Craftsmen Developers as the Vice President of Construction and Development.

Mr. Thompson received his B.A. in Economics from St. Mary’s College of Maryland and is a LEED Accredited Professional and member of USGBC.

Paul Onufer

Southern California Regional Partner

Mr. Onufer leads JEN’s Southern California land efforts with over 3 decades of experience in the real estate development industry.  He spent 10 years with Pulte Homes in Chicago as a forward planner, and in Las Vegas as Director of Land Acquisition and Development where he helped grow Pulte’s Las Vegas business from $60 million in revenue to over $150 million in two years. He also served as Vice President of Land Acquisition and Development for Pulte’s Southern California Division. Since 2000 he was the founding principal Ion Communities, LLC.  During his career, he has purchased over 10,000 home sites, entitled over 8,000 home sites and developed over 5,000 lots.  

Mr. Onufer received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University. 

John Petrella

Greater D.C. Regional Partner

Mr. Petrella leads JEN’s Greater D.C. land efforts with over 3 decades of experience in the real estate development industry. Mr. Petrella began his career as a Professional Land Surveyor/ Project Manager at several large Civil engineering firms in Suburban, Maryland. He began developing Real Estate in 1987 and in the last 32 years has been involved in entitling and/ or developing approximately 10,000 residential lots in the Metro area, as well as several million Square Feet of retail and office space.

At present, Mr. Petrella and his firm, Holly Ridge, focuses on development of large residential parcels in Maryland and Virginia, for finished lot sales to national builders.

Matt O’Brien

Florida Regional Partner

Mr. O’Brien co-leads JEN’s Florida residential land efforts, focused on Tampa and the Gulf Coast. He has 25 years of experience in residential real estate, specializing in community acquisition, entitlements, and development. During his career he has been responsible for the planning, acquisition and development of over 45,000 residential units. Mr. O’Brien started with JEN Partners in 2020 after 5 years at Mattamy Homes, where he served as Vice President of Acquisition and Development for West Florida.  Prior to his time at Mattamy Homes, Mr. O’Brien served as the Vice President of Land Acquisition and Development for Pulte Homes North Florida and Division President for Meritage Homes Tampa.

Mr. O’Brien is a native of Tampa Florida and graduated from Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Trey Marsh

Central Texas Regional Partner

Mr. Marsh leads JEN’s central Texas residential land efforts focused on San Antonio and Austin. He has 20 years of experience in single family real estate and has been directly responsible for the acquisition, entitlement, and development of over 15,000 single family lots and multiple master planned communities. Prior to starting his own land development firm, Mr. Marsh was most recently the Vice President of Land for PulteGroup where he was directly responsible for a $100M capital balance that was assembled through a combination of raw land, finished lot takedowns, and option contracts that sustained a 1,000 closing/year homebuilding operation. Prior to PulteGroup, Mr. Marsh practiced as a senior consulting engineer working on a variety of single family, commercial, and industrial projects in South/Central Texas.

Mr. Marsh holds B.S. degrees in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University and a M.B.A. from Houston Baptist University. He is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Texas.

Jerry B Richmond III

Colorado Regional Partner

Mr. Richmond leads JEN’s Colorado residential land efforts focused on Denver and surrounding MSA’s from Colorado Springs to Fort Collins. He has over 30 years of experience in single family real estate development and has been responsible for the acquisition, entitlement, development, and disposition of over 15,000 homesites and multiple Master Planned Communities, including a National Community of the Year winner. Prior to starting his own land development firm in 2022, Mr. Richmond was the Executive Vice President for RainTree Investment Corporation –– Colorado Division. From 2009 to April 2021, he managed the acquisition, entitlements, development, and disposition of over 9200 home sites to builders. Prior to RTIC, Mr. Richmond was a Principal with Alberta Development Partners and was responsible for the acquisition, entitlement, development, and disposition of 1.1 million sf of mixed-use retail and 1,200 home sites in Colorado and Texas, and has also worked for two National Home Builders, Richmond American Homes and Lennar/US Homes in the Denver and Northern Colorado markets. 

Mr. Richmond has been self-taught in the Land Development field and holds a B.S. Degree in Sociology and Criminal Justice, from the University of Northern Colorado. 

Aaron Talarico

Coastal California Regional Partner

Mr. Talarico leads JEN's Southern California land efforts, based out of Orange County, CA. With over two decades of experience in real estate and asset management, he has a primary focus on land acquisition, entitlement, and regulatory processing. Previously, he led the land division at Meritage Homes/MLC Holdings in Southern California, overseeing the acquisition, due diligence, and forward planning strategies. Under Mr. Talarico’s leadership, the land team established itself as a leading presence in the acquisition and development of Southern California’s residential market.

Throughout his career, he has worked successfully with local governments and planning agencies, securing entitlements and resolving complex land use challenges across Southern California. His extensive experience in zoning laws, product optimization, and innovative land use solutions has positioned him as a key player in the Southern California real estate market.

Mr. Talarico holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the University of Notre Dame. He is the past president of the Building Industry Association Riverside chapter and has served on the Board of his town's Chamber of Commerce, as well as its Parking/Traffic/Circulation and Recreation committees. He remains active in the community, with a deep passion for mentoring and developing emerging talent in the real estate field.

Nathan Pile

Curve Development

Nathan Pile leads JEN’s National Single Family for Rent efforts.  He has over 20 years of experience in development and construction. Over the past 7 years, he worked with JEN’s Arizona Regional Partner, Terrawest Communities, while completing The Enclave at Borgata, a luxury 86-unit condominium.  Prior to Terrawest, he served as an Owner Representative for Zaremba Group on the acquisition, build and sale of a 22-story, 7 story, and 30-story West 6th high rise in Tempe, AZ.  Prior to West 6th Nathan worked with The Weitz Company on The Summit a 20-story high-rise, and various large-scale developments. 

Mr. Pile grew up in Nebraska building custom residential homes and holds a degree in Construction Engineering from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.