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Investors

Meet The Professionals

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The senior principals of Merion Realty Partners have dedicated their careers to investing and managing investment capital of high net-worth investors,  institutional investors, trusts as well as their own personal capital. This experience spans several investment cycles and changing economic environments. Merion’s investment professionals average 30 years per professional of commercial real estate related experience focused on acquisitions, finance, asset management, property management and fund management. These professionals have extensive experience in multifamily due diligence, legal review, financing, and value-add repositioning strategies.

Merion // Partner

William
Landman

Merion // Partner

Richard 
Aljian

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Vice President

Jeffrey
Shumaker

Vice President

David
Rodgers, CCIM

Vice President

Joseph Martell, CFA

Principal Counsel

Richard Kwait

Chief Financial Officer

Matthew
Hopper

Chief Executive Officer

Anna
Miller

Acquisitions Manager

Anthony DiSilvestro

Legal Administration

Debra Robinson

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Mr. Landman is a co-founding and controlling member of Merion Realty Partners and directs all investment, management and strategic initiatives of the firm. In addition, he is a co-founding and controlling member of MainLine Investment Partners, LLC. Comprised of a family of businesses, MainLine Investment Partners is involved in the control, operation and/or ownership of the firm, MainLine Private Wealth, LLC, MainLine Investment Advisers, LLC and MainLine Securities LLC. Mr. Landman has also been a principal and Senior Managing Director of CMS Companies for almost 30 years (since 1987), and during this period has been responsible for the investment strategy of over $2 billion in private equity and real estate capital.

 

He is also a principal at Renovus Capital, an education-oriented SBIC, is a principal and manager of Merion Residential, a real-estate management company, and directs various corporate investments for MainLine Investment Partners. Mr. Landman currently serves as a Board Member of Thomas Jefferson University System. He also serves on numerous boards of private equity firms and portfolio companies associated with MainLine or CMS investments. Prior to joining CMS, Mr. Landman was a partner in Reich & Landman with offices in Pittsburgh, PA and Sarasota, FL, with expertise in transactional corporate practices and the representation of professional athletes. Mr. Landman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a Juris Doctor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Mr. Aljian is a co-founding member of Merion Realty Partners and oversees all investment, disposition, asset management and management operations of Merion Realty Partners and Merion Residential. Since Merion Realty Partners was formed in 2011, a total of 47 apartment communities have been acquired consisting of approximately 12,023 apartment units.  Merion has also successfully realized 29 assets to date and recapitalized three additional assets.   As of March 2022, the Merion portfolio is comprised of 19 multifamily assets housing a total of nearly 5,000 units. 

Prior to the formation of Merion, Mr. Aljian was the Director of Real Estate and Partner of CMS Companies where he was responsible for real estate fund investments. Mr. Aljian joined CMS and Mr. Landman in 1995 and was instrumental in developing the joint venture and direct acquisition platform for multifamily, hospitality, medical office and retail asset classes for which CMS raised capital. Over his tenure at CMS Companies, a total of 20 real estate funds were raised representing a total of $1.4 billion of invested equity across a broad array of asset classes.  At one point, the funds had amassed an interest in 57,000 multifamily apartment units.  Mr. Aljian and his team embarked on a disposition strategy totaling over 40,000 apartment units by the end of 2009.

Mr. Aljian is a member of the National Multi Housing Counsel, Urban Land Institute and serves on Villanova’s Business School of Real Estate Advisory Counsel.  He previously held a position on the Board of Directors and Audit Committee for the Valley Forge Casino Resort. He also Prior to joining CMS, Mr. Aljian was an asset manager at Coopers & Lybrand, an advisor at Nisman Investment Services, and an officer and asset manager at Midlantic National Bank. Mr. Aljian holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Villanova University.

Mr. Shumaker serves as a Vice President of Merion Realty Partners and is responsible for the acquisition, asset management and disposition of multifamily properties. Prior to the creation of Merion Realty Partners in 2011, Mr. Shumaker served as Vice President for CMS Companies in a similar capacity. While at CMS, he was the fund manager for the firm’s multifamily investment business since 2001. Mr. Shumaker was instrumental in creating the firm’s direct acquisition platform and participated in or directly sourced and managed the acquisition of 35 apartment properties throughout the United States. During his time at CMS, Mr. Shumaker also oversaw the disposition of more than 20 properties and managed the firm’s multifamily asset management division.

Mr. Shumaker was involved with the creation of Merion Residential, and continues to work closely with the management company’s various professionals to ensure the goals of the property owner are achieved. Prior to his tenure at CMS, Mr. Shumaker developed extensive experience in multifamily operations serving in various managerial roles with a publicly traded REIT, quasi-institutional regional firms and private owners. Jeff graduated in 1993 from St. Joseph’s University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics.

David is is a Vice President of Merion Realty Partners and provides asset management and operational oversight to Merion’s commercial and multifamily investments. Mr. Rodgers has worked in the commercial real estate investment sector for over twenty years through varying market cycles and has extensive experience in office, single-tenant net leased, multifamily and hotel assets. Prior to the formation of Merion Realty Partners, Mr. Rodgers served as a Vice President of the CMS Companies real estate group during which time he was responsible for the underwriting and performance of various direct and joint venture commercial real estate investments.

In addition, Mr. Rodgers previously served as a Director of Asset Management for Legg Mason Real Estate Services, a national pension fund advisory firm where he was directly responsible for the overall performance of the firm’s various commercial real estate investments in his client based portfolio. Mr. Rodgers graduated from Boston University in 1989 with a Bachelors of Arts Degree and has been a registered Pennsylvania State Real Estate Sales Professional since 1995 and a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) since 2003.

Mr. Martell is a Vice President of Merion Realty Partners and has more than 16 years of real estate investment experience including acquisitions, asset management, dispositions and fund management. Mr. Martell is responsible for the asset management of hospitality and multifamily properties as well as the firm’s multifamily acquisitions effort. Prior to the creation of Merion Realty Partners, Mr. Martell spent seven years with CMS in a similar role. He managed various joint venture relationships as well as sourced, underwrote, and closed direct acquisitions within the multifamily, hospitality and retail asset classes. Formerly, he worked for five years with W.P. Carey & Co. LLC, a net lease real estate investment firm based in New York. Mr. Martell graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from Boston College. He is a CFA charter holder.

Mr. Kwait is Associate General Counsel to Merion Realty Partners assisting the real estate professional in achieving the objectives of the company. Prior to joining Merion, Mr. Kwait served from 2002 to 2011 as in-house real estate counsel for CMS Companies handling the acquisition, financing and disposition of real estate assets across multiple private equity real estate funds. Before joining CMS, Mr. Kwait worked for five years in the real estate department of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis in Philadelphia. In 1992, Mr. Kwait received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from University of Pennsylvania and in 1996 he obtained a Juris Doctor Degree from Temple University School of Law graduating cum laude.

Matthew Hopper, age 42, is a Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Merion Realty Partners, managing the corporate finance, treasury, regulatory, and partnership accounting functions.  Mr. Hopper is also the Chief Financial Officer of Merion Residential, an affiliated real estate management company.  Mr. Hopper has been associated with Merion since 2014 when he joined as Controller.  For eight years prior to joining the Company, Mr. Hopper held various accounting management positions at KPMG LLP, most recently as a Senior Manager in the firm’s Audit practice, where he focused on real estate and private equity funds and advisors.  Mr. Hopper obtained his Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Science in Accounting from Southern Methodist University.  Mr. Hopper is a Certified Public Accountant.

As the Chief Executive Officer for Merion Residential, Anna brings to the company over 25 years of commercial and multifamily operations expertise. Her previous positions include COO for Resource Residential where she also held various other executive positions over the course of 7 years. Prior to her move to Philadelphia, Anna served as Vice President of Operations for a Michigan-based private land owner with over 40 commercial and multifamily assets. This is only a small snapshot of the years of expertise that Anna brings to Merion Residential. Anna holds two master’s degrees in Business administration and Information Systems Management from Hawaii Pacific University and dual undergraduate degrees in Business Administration in Management and Marketing.

As an Acquisitions Manager at Merion, Mr. DiSilvestro’s primary responsibilities include the sourcing and evaluation of acquisitions as well as assisting in the disposition and asset management of the real estate portfolio. He also implemented and manages the organization’s investor relation platform in addition to overseeing and carrying out the firm’s internal valuation processes. Prior to joining Merion, Mr. DiSilvestro spent two years with Clarion/Samuels Associates, a real estate consulting firm specializing in real estate valuation, condemnation appraisals, and tax appeal litigation. Anthony graduated Cum Laude from Villanova University in 2013 with a Business Administration degree in Finance, Accounting, and Real Estate. Mr. DiSilvestro is an active member of Villanova’s Daniel M. DiLella Center for Real Estate and serves on the Center’s Nova Next Council.

Ms. Robinson is the Executive Assistant to co-founding principal of MainLine Investment, Richard Mitchell, and the Associate General Counsel for Merion Realty Partners, Richard Kwait. She has 30 years legal experience; 25 of which specific to real estate. Prior to joining CMS, Ms. Robinson was Executive Assistant to the Real Estate Department Managing Partner at Mesirov, Gelman, Jaffe Cramer & Jamieson.