Team
- Carl ChangChief Executive Officer
- Jonathan NeedellPresident & Chief Investment Officer
- John O’LaughlinGeneral Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer
- Kurt AltergottChief Financial Officer
- Justin SalvatoPartner
- Steve RitcheyPartner
- Kristin Pelkey BradleySenior Investment Manager
- Caitlyn MachInvestment Manager
- Riccardo LemosAssociate Investment Manager
- Catherine BuiSenior Investment Transaction Manager
- ChienHo LinDesign/Project Manager
- Curtiss JohnsonInvestment Analyst
- Irene XinInvestment Analyst
- Mary JiaTax Manager
- Emily RobertsSenior Tax Associate
- Chris CramondController
- Mia BergmanController
- Bea YeeSenior Investment Accountant
- Brian KagawaInvestment Accountant
- Matt GiffordInvestor Reporting / FP&A Manager
- David RominesInformation Technology Manager
- Sharon ChiuHuman Resources Manager
- Sally PowellCompliance Manager
- Tina LeeSenior Investment Director
- Michael SanchezSenior Investment Director of Credit
- Anna ReeseSenior Investment Manager
- Christina WangOffice Manager & Executive Assistant
- Katherine YeReceptionist
Carl Chang founded Redwood-Kairos in 2005 after more than 15 years managing the investments and real estate holdings of his family’s investment portfolio. Mr. Chang has directly acquired, developed, and managed over $1 billion worth of retail shopping centers, office, multi-family, and multi-tenant light industrial properties primarily throughout the United States. He has also successfully managed private equity investments in a number of early-stage companies.
From 2005 to the present, Mr. Chang has served as the Chairman of Sullivan Hayes Brokerage Company, LLC, a commercial leasing firm. Sullivan Hayes has leased over 6 million square feet of property over the past five years, and sold more than 500 acres of land.
In 1993, Mr. Chang co-founded CMCB Enterprises and CMCB Development Company, to develop and invest in real estate. During that time, he was a professional tennis coach, principally for his brother, Michael Chang, who is perhaps best remembered for becoming the youngest-ever male winner of a Grand Slam singles title when he won the French Open in 1989 at the age of 17. In 1996 Mr. Chang was named Coach of the Year by Tennis Magazine. In addition to his real estate investment activities, Carl Chang is also the Founder and Chairman of Pieology, a fast growing custom pizza concept that operates in the fast casual segment.
Mr. Chang holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Economy of Industrial Societies with an emphasis in International Business and Multinationals from the University of California, Berkeley. He serves on the board of advisors to The Center for Investment and Wealth Management at the University of California at Irvine. Mr. Chang was appointed for a three-year term, starting in 2018, as a member of the Los Angeles Branch board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
Jon Needell joined Redwood-Kairos in 2006 and has served as its Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Needell is currently President and Chief Investment Officer, responsible for overseeing acquisition and development underwriting and analyses, dispositions, and asset management. Mr. Needell also oversees all strategic and business planning, sourcing and structuring of construction, mini-perm, permanent debt, and joint venture equity financing, financial reporting, and lender and equity partner relations.
From 2003 to 2006, Mr. Needell was the Investment Director and Chief Financial Officer of Schnitzer West (formerly Schnitzer Northwest), a commercial real estate investment and development firm based in Bellevue, Washington. While at Schnitzer, Mr. Needell was responsible for the sourcing and structuring of the firm’s debt and equity financing efforts as well as its lender and equity partner relations.
Prior to Schnitzer, Mr. Needell served at Merrill Lynch & Co. as Director – Corporate Finance Group in the Investment Banking Division. Mr. Needell started at Merrill Lynch in 1992 and held several positions in the Real Estate Group, Investment Banking Division, prior to moving to the Corporate Finance Group in 2000. At Merrill Lynch he developed and maintained client relationships relating to corporate finance products with a special focus on real estate. In addition, he worked extensively in capital raising activities and deal structuring and negotiation. During his tenure at Merrill Lynch, Mr. Needell executed on over fifty transactions with an aggregate value of over $15 billion. These transactions included mergers and acquisitions or strategic private equity and PIPE investments, structured and convertible bond offerings, unsecured debt and preferred equity offerings, public secondary and add-on equity offerings, secured debt and commercial mortgage backed securities offerings, and several initial, secondary, and add-on public offerings of equity in real estate investment trusts (REITs).
Mr. Needell holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a double major in Economics and History from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. He is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and a member of the Urban Land Institute. Mr. Needell serves on the Investment Committee of the Board of Directors of Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC), the Board of Directors of Sterling Realty Organization, and the Board of Trustees of Stratton Mountain School. Mr. Needell is also a four-time Ironman.
John O’Laughlin joined Kairos as its General Counsel in 2007. As General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, his responsibilities include overseeing all investment transactions and the compliance department. Mr. O’Laughlin’s exposure to a wide range of business operations as well as his litigation and transactional background provides the company with added advantages and insight into its legal matters.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. O’Laughlin headed his own private practice focusing primarily on corporate and real estate litigation and transactions. From 1982 to 2004, Mr. O’Laughlin was a member at the law firm of Butterwick, Bright & O’Laughlin, Inc., serving as the firm’s managing partner from 1990 to 2004. Over his more than 30 years of practice, Mr. O’Laughlin represented a broad spectrum of clients, including business owners, landowners and operators, developers, contractors, brokers, and agents in all aspects of the litigation process, including real property, construction, eminent domain, contract, and lease disputes. His experience extends to representing clients in real property transactions such as acquisitions, sales, commercial leasing, and development. In addition, he negotiated, documented, and closed numerous loans secured by various types of real property including shopping centers, multifamily, and office complexes.
Mr. O’Laughlin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from San Diego State University and a Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego, School of Law from which he graduated magna cum laude.
Kurt Altergott serves as Chief Financial Officer of Kairos. He is responsible for all facets of financial, strategic, and operational functions. Mr. Altergott is also involved with strategic and business planning, financial reporting, compliance, sourcing debt, joint venture equity financing, and lender and equity partner relations.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Altergott was the Chief Financial Officer of MIG, a diversified investment advisor based in Newport Beach, CA where he was responsible for the sourcing and structuring of both the firm’s and for individual fund’s debt and equity raising efforts, risk mitigation and compliance, and lender and investor relations.
Prior to MIG, Mr. Altergott served as Chief Financial Officer or Senior Financial Officer at various privately or publicly owned organizations with multiple verticals and geographies including Centex Corporation, Kaufman & Broad, Virgin, and ADT. He has been involved in the sourcing and execution of over $1 billion in debt and equity proceeds, asset portfolio acquisitions and divestitures, and played roles in multiple buy and sell side mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, Mr. Altergott worked on deal structuring and negotiation including for a successful IPO. Additional areas of focus included SEC matters and reporting, Treasury, Taxation, and Risk Management. He began his career with Price Waterhouse where he worked with several diversified real estate clients.
Mr. Altergott is a CPA in the State of Florida and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Financial Executives International, and Beta Gamma Sigma. He holds a Master’s in Accounting and Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance, both from The Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.
Justin Salvato joined Kairos in 2012. Mr. Salvato is an Investment Director and Co-Head of the Investment Group focusing on the firm’s debt and alternative equity platform. Mr. Salvato leads the firm’s acquisition and disposition efforts, including deal sourcing, deal underwriting, and asset management.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Salvato was a Senior Underwriter in the acquisitions group at Torchlight Investors (formerly ING Clarion Capital), where he specialized in high yield debt origination. Prior to Torchlight, Mr. Salvato worked at Anglo Irish Bank as a CRE lender, and at PricewaterhouseCoopers as CRE appraiser. Throughout his career, Mr. Salvato has closed in excess of $1 billion of CRE debt and equity investments.
Mr. Salvato earned his Bachelor’s degree in Real Estate Finance at the University of Connecticut.
Steve Ritchey joined Kairos in 2013. Mr. Ritchey is a Partner and focuses on the firm’s office, industrial, multifamily, and retail asset management and acquisitions activities.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Ritchey was a Vice President for AEW Capital Management where he was responsible for the asset management of a variety of office, industrial, and multifamily assets across the western United States. Prior to assuming an asset management role at AEW, he served in an acquisitions role specializing in the acquisition of value-added property investments. Mr. Ritchey joined AEW in 2000 after spending three years in the asset management group of Prudential Realty Group, which managed the debt and equity investment portfolio of Prudential Insurance Company of America.
Mr. Ritchey earned both his Bachelor’s in Finance and Master’s in Business Administration degrees from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business.
Kristin Pelkey Bradley serves as a Senior Investment Manager, focusing on the firm’s multifamily and student housing asset management in the Southeastern United States.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Bradley was Real Estate Investment Consultant at Cushman & Wakefield and Vice President for DEXUS Property Group, where she was responsible for the asset management and strategy analytics of an industrial AUS REIT portfolio. Prior to DEXUS, Ms. Bradley was an associate asset manager at AEW Capital Management, specializing in value-add and core multifamily, industrial, and office assets across the Western United States. Ms. Bradley joined the AEW asset management team as an analyst in 2008 after spending two years in AEW’s investor relations group in Boston, MA where she served as a marketing analyst and was responsible for coordinating capital raising, marketing, and client reporting.
Ms. Bradley earned her Master’s in Finance from the Boston University and Bachelor’s in Communications from Loyola Marymount University.
Caitlyn Mach joined Kairos in 2018. As an Investment Manager, Ms. Mach focuses on the asset management of the firm’s multifamily, office and retail properties.
Prior to joining Kairos, Ms. Mach served as an Investment Associate at KBS Realty Advisors in the Acquisitions and Asset Management department. Prior to KBS, she was a part of CBRE’s Valuation and Advisory Services department where she focused on commercial real estate appraisals of all property types.
Ms. Mach earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Economics from University of California, Irvine.
Riccardo Lemos joined Kairos in 2016. As Associate Investment Manager, Mr. Lemos’s responsibilities include investment analysis for acquisitions and dispositions, due diligence, and supporting the investment management team.
Mr. Lemos earned his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley and has experience competing in professional tennis. Mr. Lemos was born in Italy and has lived in Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and Australia. He is fluent in Italian, Portuguese, French, and English.
Catherine Bui joined Kairos in May 2013 and currently serves as Senior Transaction Manager. Ms. Bui’s primary responsibilities include reviewing, preparing, and coordinating execution of all documentation and closing of escrow relating to acquisitions, financing/refinancing, and dispositions. She also provides operational support to the Investment Management team with various aspects of asset management, construction/redevelopment, and legal entity management.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Bui spent two years at American Honda Finance Corporation. Prior to Honda Finance, she took on part-time marketing and customer service positions at Alliance Inspection Management, Internet Brands, and Main Street Marketing while completing her degree at CSULB.
Ms. Bui graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies. She also holds a California Real Estate Salesperson License.
ChienHo Lin joined Kairos in 2019. Mr. Lin is a Design/Project Manager focusing on the firm’s office, industrial, multi-family, and retail construction projects.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Lin was a Design Program Manager for Starbucks Coffee Co. where he was responsible for the design project management for new stores in Los Angeles and Central California regions. Prior to Starbucks, Mr. Lin was a Design Manager for Pieology Pizzeria, where he managed design and construction projects, and design standardization of company and franchise stores. Mr. Lin has over 20 years of design and project management experience in corporate, retail food and distribution facilities.
Mr. Lin earned his Bachelor’s degree in Applied Arts at the San Diego State University.
Curtiss Johnson joined Kairos in 2017. As an Investment Analyst, Mr. Johnson’s responsibilities include investment analysis for capital transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions, due diligence, and supporting the investment management team.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Johnson interned with Ironwood Capital where he analyzed middle market manufacturing, technology, and aerospace companies in the New England area. Prior to Ironwood, Mr. Johnson completed a summer internship with Cigna Investment Management where he provided support to the Alternative Assets, Fixed Income, and Real Estate divisions.
Mr. Johnson earned his Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Connecticut, magna cum laude.
Irene Xin joined Kairos in 2017. As an Investment Analyst, Ms. Xin’s responsibilities include investment analysis for acquisitions and dispositions, due diligence, and supporting the Investment Management team.
Ms. Xin earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, with a concentration in Finance and ISOM (Information Systems & Operations Management), and joint Economics/ Mathematics from Emory University.
Mary Jia joined Kairos in 2017. As Tax Manager, Ms. Jia’s responsibilities include coordinating Federal and State income tax compliance, tax authority audits, tax research, and investor tax inquiries.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Jia was a Senior Tax Associate with KPMG Orange County office where she served both partnership and corporate clients in a variety of industries, including real estate, private equity, energy, and pharmaceuticals.
Ms. Jia is a Certified Public Accountant with the State of California. She received her Master’s in Taxation from the University of Southern California and her Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Languages from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
Emily Roberts joined Kairos in 2018. As Senior Tax Associate, Ms. Roberts’ responsibilities include coordinating Federal and State income tax compliance, tax authority audits, tax research, and assisting with tax inquiries.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Roberts served as Tax Analyst at Pacific Life Insurance Company. There, her main responsibilities included preparing Federal and State Tax Returns, ensuring documents were compliant with FATCA/CRS rules, and assisting with quarterly and yearly provision reports. Prior to Pacific Life, she was an Experienced Tax Associate at PwC where she supported both partnership and corporate clients in a variety of industries, including information technology and entertainment. In addition, Ms. Roberts skill set extends to office management, recruiting, and teaching-related duties, including onboarding new employees, event planning, and writing curriculum.
Ms. Roberts earned her Master of Professional Accountancy certificate from The University of California, Irvine and holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Elementary Education from Michigan State University.
Chris Cramond joined Kairos in 2015 as a Controller. He is currently responsible for fund accounting and oversight of the Dunton Commercial property accounting group.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Cramond was an Assistant Controller at The Laramar Group, responsible for preparing financial information for their residential real estate portfolio.
Prior to Laramar, Mr. Cramond was a Controller at Broe Real Estate Services, working on their commercial and residential real estate portfolio. Prior to Broe, he was Controller at Capital Pacific Homes, where he managed an accounting team responsible for providing financial information for the home building operations in Colorado, preparing GAAP financial statements and coordinating audits.
Mr. Cramond started his career in public accounting at Ernst & Young in Irvine, California. Mr. Cramond is a Certified Public Accountant and received his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from California State University, Long Beach.
Mia Bergman joined Kairos in 2016 as a Controller. Ms. Bergman’s responsibilities include managing financial operations, fund accounting and cash management, consolidated reporting, budget processes, audits, records and internal controls.
Prior to joining Kairos, Ms. Bergman was an Assistant Controller at Lennar Multifamily Communities overseeing budgeting, internal controls, financial reporting, and systems implementation for the Western Region. Prior to Lennar, she held Controller and Accounting Manager roles with real estate developers in Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Bergman started her career with six years of public accounting in the real estate group of EY (formerly Ernst & Young) in Chicago, Illinois.
Ms. Bergman earned her Bachelor’s in Accounting from Cass Business School at City University of London, with credits from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. She is fluent in French and Swedish.
Bea Yee joined Kairos in 2017. As Senior Investment Accountant, Ms. Yee’s responsibilities include overseeing day-to-day investment fund accounting for multiple vehicles.
Prior to joining Kairos, Ms. Yee served as Senior Accountant at Woodbridge Pacific Group, a real estate developer in Southern California. There, Ms. Yee’s main responsibilities included maintaining the general ledger, preparing financial statements for residential construction projects, weekly sales reporting, and project tracking. Prior to Woodbridge, Ms. Yee performed the full cycle of general accounting functions including overseeing general ledgers, preparing financial statements, and processing payroll, payables, and billings for multiple firms based in Washington, DC.
Ms. Yee earned her Bachelor’s in Accounting from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She grew up in Manila, Philippines and is fluent in Tagalog.
Brian Kagawa joined Kairos in 2017. As Investment Accountant, Mr. Kagawa’s responsibilities include overseeing the day to day accounting for in-house properties.
Prior to joining the firm, Brian spent 4 years at Keystone Pacific Property Management in their AP and GL departments handling the accounting for HOA’s and several business parks.
Mr. Kagawa earned his Bachelor’s in Business Economics from University of California, Irvine. Mr. Kagawa grew up in San Diego.
Matt Gifford joined Kairos in 2017 as its Investor Reporting / FP&A Manager. Mr. Gifford’s responsibilities include preparation of quarterly investor reports, capital account statements, auditor and custodian requests, quarterly and annual investment fair value support, preferred return calculations, fund track record, and performance reporting.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Gifford was a Fund Accounting Manager at LBA Realty, a full service commercial real estate investment and management company headquartered in Irvine, CA. During his tenure at LBA, Mr. Gifford was responsible for real estate fund, lender, and investor reporting, capital management, and REIT compliance. In addition, he was responsible for the calculation and reporting of property performance metrics and returns for all properties held by the company. He began his career as an auditor with TWHC where his clients included various financial institutions.
Mr. Gifford is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of California and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California Society of Certified Public Accountants. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Economics with an emphasis in Accounting from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
David Romines joined Kairos in 2016. As IT Manager, Mr. Romines’ responsibilities include managing the company’s IT infrastructure and Information Security and compliance needs.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Romines worked as a Network Operations Control Analyst for Mega Path, Systems Administrator and Information Security Analyst for Broadcom, and IT Manager for South Coast Repertory. Mr. Romines brings 15 years of diverse IT experience and a background in Information Security to the Kairos team.
Mr. Romines holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Information Technology from Arizona State University and IT certifications from Cisco, Microsoft and CompTIA.
Sharon Chiu joined Kairos in 2017. As Human Resources Manager, Ms. Chiu’s responsibilities include workforce planning and employment, compensation and benefits, employee relations, human resource development, and labor law compliance.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Chiu worked at various start-ups and technology companies in the Bay Area. She focused on building out the initial Human Resources department and streamlining processes to meet business needs.
Ms. Chiu earned her Bachelor’s in Political Science from the University of California, Berkley.
Sally Powell joined Kairos in 2013 and currently holds the position of Compliance Manager. She is responsible for overseeing the firm’s regulatory compliance program and policies.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Powell spent several years at CBRE in the Advisory and Transaction Services Group where she directed a team of portfolio administrators in the servicing of key corporate clients. She is also experienced in the development side of the wireless industry. Ms. Powell served as a Real Estate Development Manager for T-Mobile directing the build-out of a multi-state region. Prior to T-Mobile, she was the Regional Director for American Tower in the Southwest region.
Ms. Powell earned her Master’s in Urban Planning from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She completed her undergraduate studies at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, receiving a Bachelor’s in Environmental Planning and Land Use Studies.
Tina Lee joined Kairos in 2019 as a Senior Investment Director, focusing on the asset management, acquisitions and dispositions of the firm’s multifamily, office and retail assets. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Lee was Senior Vice President, Asset Management at the Resmark Companies, where she was responsible for the asset management of a portfolio of multifamily and for-sale residential development projects in the western United States. Prior to Resmark, Ms. Lee served as Portfolio Manager for Colony Capital, where she was responsible for managing approximately $1 billion of distressed and performing commercial debt and equity investments nationwide. Ms. Lee has over 20 years of real estate investment experience spanning underwriting and asset management of debt and equity investments in all commercial real estate types in positions at Shamrock Capital, Fremont Investment & Loan, American Realty Advisors, and Kilroy Realty Corporation. Ms. Lee holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Real Estate Management and Finance from California State University, Hayward.
Michael Sanchez joined Kairos in 2019 as Senior Investment Director of Credit where he is focused on the firm’s debt financing platform. Immediately prior to joining the firm, Mr. Sanchez was a Managing Director for RealtyMogul where he was responsible for the origination of senior and subordinated debt investments for its public, non-traded REIT. Mr. Sanchez was previously at Colony Capital, Inc. where he helped launch a senior debt platform in 2013 and where he served most recently as Senior Vice President. He joined Colony as a Portfolio Manager and was responsible for managing large distressed and performing commercial real estate debt portfolios. Mr. Sanchez has an extensive career in debt and equity investments as well as asset management and loan workouts. He has held previous positions at Hanover Financial Company, Acacia Capital and Highridge Partners. Mr. Sanchez began his career in commercial real estate financing at GE Capital. Mr. Sanchez is a graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona from which he received a Bachelor of Science in Finance, Real Estate and Law.
Anna Reese joined Kairos is 2019 as a Senior Investment Manager and is responsible for managing Investor Relations and Business Development activities for the firm. Prior to joining Kairos, Anna spent over two years as an Investor Relations Associate at Raven Capital Management, an asset-based direct lending Investment Manager, where she was responsible for managing existing client relationships and business development activities. Prior to Raven, Mrs. Reese spent over four years as an Investor Relations Analyst at Oceanwood Capital Management, a European event-driven hedge fund manager based in London, UK. Mrs. Reese holds a Master’s degree for Sports Management and Marketing from the University of London (Birkbeck) in London, UK. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree with Honors in Linguistics from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
Christina Wang joined Kairos in 2019. Ms. Wang’s responsibilities include managing office operations and assisting C-suite executives. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Wang worked as an Executive Assistant for Lockton, Marketing Associate for 99 Ranch Market Headquarter, and Public Relations Coordinator for Beyond Group. Ms. Wang brings 3 years of EA experience and 4 years of PR/Marketing experience to the Kairos team. Ms. Wang earned her Master’s in Public Relations from Syracuse University, and Bachelor’s in Health Care Administration from Taipei Medical University.
Katherine Ye joined Kairos in 2019. As a receptionist, Ms. Ye’s responsibilities include maintaining cleanliness of the conference rooms, cleaning and restocking the kitchen, and answering and transferring incoming phone calls. Ms. Ye earned her Bachelor’s in Clinical Nutrition from UC Davis.