The last year-and-a-half has brought about unprecedented growth for Skilken Gold, the national real estate developer based in Columbus. That growth embraces dozens of new developments across Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Florida. It also includes these thirteen, important new team members.
Here’s a brief introduction, beginning with our most recent hires.
Beth Cotner
Project Manager
Beth comes to Skilken Gold from McDonald’s Corporation where, most recently, she held the position of USRD: Development Expeditor. She previously served as McDonald’s National Real Estate Coordinator, Ohio Region: Senior Real Estate Coordinator, Construction Coordinator, FASA Accountant and 1st Assistant Manager- Crew. Beth holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Ohio Dominican University. As Project Manager at Skilken Gold, she is responsible for managing multiple development projects, including project scopes, schedules and budgets.
Emily Soares
Paralegal
Emily joined Skilken Gold, most recently from Squire Patton Boggs where she was the Real Estate/Tax Credit Finance Paralegal. She previously worked for the Columbus Public Library and for Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, LLP as a Finance/Commercial Real Estate Paralegal in New York. Emily will be responsible for asset acquisitions and dispositions, corporate financing and refinancing, as well as support tenant leasing activities. She is a graduate of Saint John’s University with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy.
Alison Purdon
Project Manager
With 15 years of experience in capital project management and delivery, Alison is responsible for managing multiple development projects at Skilken Gold, which include project scopes, schedules and budgets. Before joining the company, she was a Senior Project Manager with the Mount Carmel Health System, managing complex, multi-million-dollar projects that involved multiple stakeholders. Previously, she worked at Messer Construction on their OSU North District Transformation, Mount Carmel St Ann’s Project Grace, and other new condominium construction projects. Alison received her Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from The Ohio State University.
Erin Montgomery
Vice President –Sales & Client Engagement
Erin is an innovator with a national track record in sales and business development. As VP of Sales and Client Engagement for Skilken Gold, and a member of its Leadership Team, Erin drives corporate growth strategies—expanding client relationships and collaborative partnerships, cultivating new markets and industry sectors and generating long-term business opportunities for the organization.
Prior to joining Skilken Gold, Erin served as the Vice President of Business Development for Indianapolis-based MS Companies, a leading technology and services company that specializes in operational and workforce efficiencies.
Andrew Richlen
Project Manager
Andrew is an MBA graduate from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business and a licensed professional engineer with 10 years of experience. Andrew came to Skilken Gold from GPD group, and previously from Messer Construction, John Deere and Global Water Institute. He is responsible for managing multiple development projects at Skilken Gold, which include project scopes, schedules and budgets.
Kareem Amr
Assistant Project Manager
Kareem assists the real estate and project management teams on pre-development and project management responsibilities, including project scoping, budgeting and scheduling. Prior to joining Skilken Gold, Kareem worked at SVN Wilson Commercial Group as a Real Estate Brokerage Associate, specializing in multi-family, retail and land assets. Kareem has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business.
Julie Elker
Property Manager
Julie is responsible for managing Skilken Gold’s retail shopping centers, overseeing everything from day-to-day property management and tenant coordination to onsite renovation projects. She is a Certified Property Manager (CPM) and came to Skilken Gold from the Gilbert Group. She has more than 15 years of experience and has managed more than 4.2 million square feet of commercial property across 11 states.
Kerri Welch
Controller
As a key member of the Finance & Accounting Team , Kerri is responsible for all accounting operations, including forecasting, budgeting and cash- and risk-management, which support the company’s real estate development projects and overall business development and growth. Kerri is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with more than 20 years of experience and multi-million-dollar development expertise. She came to Skilken Gold from Arcos, Inc., as the Director of Finance & Business Planning and, previously, from Rise Brands, 2Checkout.com and L Brands. Kerri has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The Ohio State University.
Brent Lindley
Senior Director – Transformation
As a member of Skilken Gold’s Leadership Team, Brent is a change-management leader, creating systemic, cross-functional processes and systems upgrades throughout the organization. Brent came to the company from Standard Textile where he served as Director of Operations. Previously, he worked as a Director of Project Management in real estate and construction for Luxottica, and prior to that as a Project Manager for Best Buy, where he drove the successful roll-out of Best Buy Mobile. Brent has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance and an MBA from Drake University.
Sarah Gold
Senior Project Manager
Sarah works cross functionally with our Real Estate and Project Management Teams to manage development projects, from their early pre-development phases through execution, close-out and final hand-off to our Asset and Property Management Teams. Sarah came to Skilken Gold from the Lightengale Group, an industry-leading, affordable-housing, real estate development firm, based in Chicago. She worked previously at JCUA, also in affordable housing and community development, and at Bronner, a business management consulting firm serving the public sector across more than 400 jurisdictions in over a dozen states. Sarah received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and her master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she studied urban planning and policy, affordable housing, and community and economic development.
Emily Waterman
Leasing Manager
Emily is responsible for the leasing activity at Skilken Gold’s shopping centers in Ohio and Illinois. Prior to joining Skilken Gold, Emily was a landlord and tenant rep at The Gilbert Group, where she managed both new tenant leases and lease renewals across 18 shopping centers in Ohio, including grocery-anchored centers in both primary and tertiary markets.
Michael Solomon
Real Estate Manager
Michael focuses primarily on client market strategies, site selection and land acquisition. Mike came to Skilken Gold from Goodman Real Estate Services Group, a full-service commercial brokerage firm in Lyndhurst, Ohio, where he served as a Senior Director, representing shopping center developers and owners, retailers, restaurant chains, franchisees, and investors. Mike has a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources Management and Policy from The Ohio State University and is a licensed real estate sales agent.
Ryan Herchenroether
Director of Development
Ryan oversees project management and works strategically on building the company’s project management capacity and improving cross functional project execution process and systems. Ryan has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Vermont, a Master of Urban Planning (MUP) degree from Hunter College and more than a decade of experience, both broad and deep, in managing and overseeing complex development projects. Ryan came to Skilken Gold from Wallick Communities where he served as Vice President of Development.
Skilken Gold is still hiring. Please check the Jobs tab on our LinkedIn page for current openings.