1. How many years have you been in Private Lending and why did you enter this field?

I’ve been in private lending for 4 of the 14 years I’ve been in finance. I entered this field after seeing the opportunity through the lens of a larger asset manager I was working with. They were buying residential transition loans (RTLs) from other private loan originators and generating an excellent risk adjusted return. I liked the short-term nature (12 to 24 months) and the fact that this niche part of the real estate market was serving a very important role in addressing the US housing crisis. I could also see that these loans were often originated, sold, and then packaged up in various securitizations that found their way in the portfolios of large institutional pensions, endowments, and foundations, but by the time they made it to them, there were many layers of spread removed. I quickly realized that I personally wanted exposure to these types of loans, but in a way that didn’t involve all the middlemen. This is how I met the Oved Family and their private lending business, IceCap Group. I joined Joseph Oved and Ezra Dweck in 2019 with a vision to launch fund vehicles that would provide investors with direct and diversified exposure. Working synergistically with their quickly growing business originating mainly short-term, first lien RTLs in the Northeast, we launched our first fund in August 2020. We followed that with our second fund, a private REIT, in September of 2021, and just recently launched our third fund, IceCap Real Estate Debt Fund III. We target 13 to 18% net cash-on-cash returns, which our first fund has delivered on consistently over the last three years. Fund III is an open-ended evergreen structure with a quarterly investment and redemption period that we plan to grow to over $100m in AUM in the next year, which fits in nicely with the family’s exisiting balance sheet dedicated to longer term lending in addition to their recently acquired insurance business. I am proud of what we’ve built and to have worked with the team at Geraci to structure these funds.

2. Where did you get your start?

I started my career at Goldman Sachs in 2010 on the commodities trading floor in Calgary, Canada. I made my way to New York with GS in 2012, then worked for two large wall street hedge funds and eventually converted my focus from one hard asset (commodities) to another (Real Estate).

3. What is your current role and how does that affect your company at large?

I am the Chief Strategy Officer, Fund Management and IR, supporting our firm’s ability to originate more than $500M a year, predominantly in short term bridge loans used for more affordable residential and multifamily rehab projects. I manage our funds and investor relationships while also working on interesting opportunistic private deals, either personally or in concert with the Oveds.

4. How have you seen your company grow in spite of or because of current market conditions?

The last few years have presented many challenges in the form of Covid, rapidly rising interest rates, and general market volatility by way of regional bank instability. Because of our strong balance sheet and family office backing, we’ve been able to continue originating loans and acquire talent through all market conditions while some others in the space have unfortunately atrophied.

5. What are some of your goals for 2023 and beyond?

To see our business exceed originations of $1B/year and our Funds hit $250M AUM while partnering with the highest quality borrowers and investors alike.

6. What does success look like for you?

Success is all about the double bottom line. There are many ways to make money in this world, but strong monetary performance must also be coupled with doing something to improve humanity and/or the planet in some way. Otherwise, I’m not interested.  

7. What is something most people don’t know about you or your company? What steps are you or your company taking today to make an impact on the industry?

We are relationship lenders. Our team actively works with our borrowers to avoid foreclosures and keep their careers on path. We’ve even been known to help our borrowers in situations where they have a foreclosure with another lender. This is a big reason why over 65% of our loans are with repeat borrowers. They like doing business with us because we put them first.

We’ve also invested heavily in our own proprietary technology and underwriting by backing them with a full development team. This is what has allowed us to punch outside our weight class and continue to grow our business at a time when markets have presented their fair share of challenges. This has also helped us keep our portfolios healthy and current with very little by way of delinquencies.

8. What piece of advice did you personally receive early in your career that has helped shape decisions you’ve made?

Careers are a jungle gym, not a ladder. There is no linear path to success.

9. Are you involved in any associations, networking groups, or the like that have influenced your career path?

The GS Alumni Network, The University of Calgary Alumni Network, Summit, The Spru Crew, Vibrant Ventures, The Microdosing Collective, and my own personally curated network of badass women across various roles in finance / investing / entrepreneurship that I am so grateful to support and be supported by!

10. Tell us about a person or organization you admire. How have they made an important impact on you, the industry, or the world?

Since moving to Austin, TX a couple years ago, I now agree with those who say Matthew McConaughey is a state (if not national) treasure! His philanthropic work is admirable (Just Keep Livin’ Foundation), and his book Greenlights is filled with inspiration I think about often. There is one quote I often reflect on:

“Life is our resume. It is our story to tell, and we write the chapters. Can we live in a way where we look forward to looking back?”

Thank you for the opportunity to share a little bit about mine! Many more chapters still to come…