Our Talent

DXD Team

We have assembled the most talented group of self storage professionals in the United States. With our unprecedented access to industry data and extensive industry expertise, we are the best team to manage your investment and deliver unparalleled returns.

Drew Dolan

Principal, Fund Manager

Cory Sylvester

Principal, Radius+ Principal

Gary Delaney

Principal

Christine Becker

Chief Legal Counsel

Over his 20 year career in real estate, Drew has focused on deal structure, debt, and capital procurement and management. He has raised over $500 million and placed over $1 billion in debt for real estate investments. As Fund Manager and Principal at DXD, Drew created the fund structure, oversaw the capital raise for DXD Self Storage Funds I & II. Fund I launched in 2020 and exceeded the goal ending with $53 million. Fund I is fully committed and has placed $90 million in debt in the first two years. Drew has been quoted in both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times as an expert in the self storage industry. Previously, Drew was Fund Manager for Titan Development Real Estate Fund I, a $112 million fully discretionary fund focused on ground-up development. Before becoming Fund Manager, he was President of Titan Development. Drew is currently a member of YPO, active on his ULI Council, and was formerly on NAIOP's national board. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Arizona State University.

Cory leads site selection, investment committee, and technology architecture for DXD. His innovative efforts drive the evolving proprietary technology that is core to DXD’s differentiation. In addition to participating in the $53 million capital raise, Cory has built out the national real estate development team. He is a founding Principal of Radius+ and responsible for overseeing the data validation efforts for Radius+’s core datasets. Before founding Radius+, he spent six years advising hedge funds in the technology space at Columbus Circle Investors and J.P. Morgan Asset Management. He started his career at J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Skidmore College.

Gary manages the development cycle beginning with site identification from purchase agreement through entitlements, design, and construction. His experience and relationships with consultants and municipalities are an asset to DXD. Once a facility opens, Gary manages the operations and asset management with third-party operators using insights and data from DXD’s proprietary technology. Over the last 20 years, Gary has assembled and managed development teams that have developed more than 120 self storage facilities nationwide, now valued at over $1 billion. Gary received his Master of Business Administration with concentrations in Economics and Finance from Pepperdine University and his Bachelor of Science from Illinois State University.

Christine Becker is general counsel for DXD Capital, responsible for overseeing the company’s legal functions around the country. She brings more to the organization than just her legal expertise. She is an experienced attorney and executive with a background in risk and compliance, corporate governance, real property law and commercial transactions. Christine is a member of the company’s executive team and acts as a legal and business advisor to key governance committees, DXD’s board of directors and senior management. In her role, she advises on sustaining a culture of managing risk well and a best-in-class control environment to support the company’s responsible growth strategy. Prior to joining DXD, she advanced from associate to partner within private law practice and acted as general counsel for a Denver-based real estate development company. Becker holds a J.D. from the University of Denver Law School and an executive MBA from the University of Colorado.

Martha Hargrove

Managing Director, Investor Relations

Raymond Ferranti

Managing Director, Chief Financial Officer

Cameron Paktinat

Managing Director, Development

Rodney Lockard

Managing Director, Construction

Martha leads capital formation and investor relations, supporting the Principals to source and secure capital contributions and provide best-in-class service for DXD Capital’s investors. She also leads communications, marketing and public relations efforts. She helped the team exceed its goal for Fund I and oversaw earned media placements in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, NPR, GlobeSt., and other publications. Prior to joining DXD, Martha was the Vice President of Investor Relations at Titan Fund Management and Titan Development, where she helped raise the $112mm fully discretionary ground-up development TDREF I and its $98mm follow up, TDREF II. She managed relationships with over 200 hundred investors and reported on a portfolio with over $700mm AUM. Martha holds degrees from New York University and the University of Texas at Austin.

Ray oversees the accounting and finance functions of DXD with over 15 years of experience in the hedge fund and private equity industry. Prior to joining DXD, Ray was the Director of Finance and Control at Waterfall Asset Management, a global fixed income ABS hedge fund manager with $10 billion under management. He was responsible for coordinating the monthly NAV close and audits of 800+ entities and evaluating complicated structured transactions for appropriate accounting treatment under US GAAP. Prior to Waterfall, Ray was the Chief Accounting Officer of Special Investments at Ellington Management Group, a $10B fixed income hedge fund manager out of Greenwich, Connecticut. Before his time at Ellington, he was an auditor for Ernst & Young in their Financial Service practice. Ray holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Accounting and a Master in Business Administration from Marist College.

Cam oversees the development team, site selection, and underwriting at DXD. To date, his work has led to the successful investment committee approvals for twelve investments with additional pipeline projects. He oversaw the analysis of over 70,000 individual self storage opportunities using DXD proprietary technology. Cam brings extensive experience and an institutional framework for analyzing self storage deals after growing The William Warren Group’s northeast platform through development and acquisitions. Prior to his work at William Warren, he led the Northeastern Self Storage Practice Group for Colliers International. Cam holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Business and Management from Dickinson College.

Rod leads a group of in-house project managers in addition to managing DXD’s general contractors, designers, subcontractors, and vendors through the construction process through facility deliveries. With a strong emphasis on excellence, integrity, relationship building, and service, Rod’s leadership is key to our success in performing on budget and on time. He began his career in construction more than 38 years ago and pivoted to specialize in self storage in 2004. He has overseen the construction of 91 storage projects representing over three million square feet. Rod sold a family general contracting business, Lockard Inc., along with the sister company, Lo-Cal, a design build firm, to Warfel Construction in 2000. Over the past twenty years, he has led construction and business development for SAA Architects, Investment Real Estate Construction, and most recently, at Storage Construction, owned by PFG Capital.

Scott Hughes

Managing Director, Preconstruction

Chris Bailey

Managing Director, Project Finance & Legal Affairs

Kafilat Emmanuel

Managing Director, Data & Analytics

James Hamilton

Managing Director, Development

Scott manages the process from the end of entitlement to the beginning of construction. His primary focus is final permitting and liaising with the general contractor, development manager, and Director of Construction to prepare DXD projects to begin on time. Scott is a professional engineer licensed in Rhode Island and New York, and has been involved in construction and pre-construction work since 2005. Most recently, he was a Project Executive for Gilbane Building Company in New York City and a Senior Project Manager for Tishman Construction Corporation, also in New York City. Scott holds a Master of Science in Civil Engineering (Structures) from the Polytechnic Institute of NYU and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Rhode Island.

Chris oversees deal level debt and analyzes legal documents with counsel. Chris began his career practicing commercial law, where he participated in state and federal litigation involving real estate developers, ski resort owners and developers, borrowers, local governments and property insurers. Chris later joined Northmarq, a national firm which specializes in sourcing debt and equity for commercial real estate property owners and developers. There, he assisted in the placement of debt and equity related to the construction, stabilization and refinancing of self storage, multifamily, industrial-flex, retail and hospitality properties. Chris holds his Juris Doctorate from the University of Denver and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he graduated Manga Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Kafilat oversees the team that underwrites DXD Capital’s investments and ensures that every investment adequately compensates investors. Her team is also responsible for analyzing and monitoring operational facilities. Additionally, they track and report on fund performance. Kafilat brings over 15 years of experience developing tools and applications that help companies collect, analyze, and visualize data, enabling risk-efficient decision making. She is a certified Financial Risk Manager and has helped fund managers such as Titan Development and ARM Investment Managers underwrite and track the performance of over $250 million in fund assets. Kafilat holds a master’s degree in Management Sciences and Finance from the University of Southampton in England and a bachelor’s degree in Banking and Finance from Igbinedion University in Nigeria.

James oversees the entitlement and pre-construction efforts for DXD’s self storage pipeline across the country. Prior to joining DXD, James worked for a national developer based in South Carolina where he was responsible for the design, permitting and construction of over 1.2M squareM feet of self storage in Florida and the Northeast. He also managed the design, permitting, and delivery of the company’s renewable energy projects totaling over 170MW of solar energy. James is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College with a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Affairs.

James Preacher

Development Director

Brian Walsh

Development Director

Haeley Belt

Marketing Director

Avram Penner

Finance Director, Controller

James focuses site selection and entitlement efforts in South Florida. He has over 20 years of self storage experience and has helped develop and acquire over 2M GSF for the asset class. Previously, James served as Director of Development at William Warren for Florida markets and also as Director of Development at Westport Properties, where he worked on self storage projects in Florida and California. He has also worked for Miami City Self Storage and Extra Space Storage. James has proven skills in land acquisitions, contract negotiation, entitlements, and market analysis. His time in the space has led to exceptional efficiency in identifying issues and obtaining difficult approvals and permits in order to meet deadlines and keep project schedules. James is a licensed Real Estate Associate and holds an associate degree from Broward College.

Brian manages the entitlement and pre-construction efforts for DXD in the Northeast and in Florida. Brian started his career in acquisitions at Kimco Realty Corporation, where he successfully sourced and closed on over 20 large-scale shopping center transactions totaling 3.4M SF valued at over $2 billion. He was later recruited to help build out and scale a new business unit that focused on redevelopment programs by Sears Holdings in 2012. These efforts were a success and ultimately led to the $2.7 billion public rights offering of Seritage Growth Properties in 2015. While at Seritage, Brian served as Vice President of Development and was responsible for activating a national portfolio of over 10.5M SF. Most recently, he served as SVP of Development at Rhino Investments Group, a privately held developer of ground-up retail, multifamily, office and industrial product types. Brian earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from New York University and graduated Magna Cum Laude.

Haeley is responsible for planning and effectively executing DXD Capital's marketing strategy as well as building brand awareness. Haeley also leads numerous marketing efforts to connect with future investors and nurture current investor relationships. Prior to joining the DXD team, she was the Vice President of Marketing for House of Revenue, where she scaled revenue for over a dozen clients while managing their individual marketing strategies.

As Controller, Avram oversees DXD Capital's financial operations from day-to-day bookkeeping to year-end financial statements. Additionally, he works with fund administration to oversee capital contributions and distributions. Though he is a native New Mexican, Avram began his financial career with a non-profit housing developer in post-Katrina New Orleans. In 2015, he returned to Albuquerque and has since managed the finances for two venture-backed software startups. Avram holds bachelor's degrees in English and Philosophy from Tulane University.

Traci Dyer

Investor Relations Transactions & Marketing Manager

Adam Romano

Assistant Project Manager

Matthew Hagarman

Assistant Project Manager

Heather Santillanes

Accounting Associate

Traci works in tandem with the EVP and Principals to source and secure capital contributions, manage investor transactions, plan and execute investor events and provide best-in-class customer service for DXD Capital investors. Prior to joining the DXD team, she worked as a Client Service Manager for John Moore Associates in Albuquerque, and as Senior Client Services Associate at Raymond James office in Anchorage, Alaska. Traci is passionate about establishing new client relationships and finds joy in serving others. She holds a Business Communications degree from Texas Tech University.

As Assistant Project Manager of Preconstruction, Adam guides projects from development to construction. He is responsible for contracting architects, consultants, and general contractors. Prior to his time at DXD, Adam worked as a Project Engineer at Gilbane Building Company in New York City. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Middlebury College.

Matthew assists the construction team from start-up to closeout of projects. He works with the Construction Managers in all pre-construction and design efforts to ensure projects are completed in a timely and costly manner. Prior to DXD, Matthew worked as a Senior CAD Designer and uses these skills to assist in site development plans. Matthew is also a decorated Combat Veteran of Afghanistan. He holds an associate degree in Specialized Technology and has over 10 years of construction/design experience.

As Staff Accountant, Heather is responsible for the general accounting needs at DXD including routine bookkeeping, AR and AP processes, and payroll. Prior to joining DXD Capital, Heather managed the accounting operations for a construction firm in Flagstaff, Arizona. She holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Eastern New Mexico University.

Tyler McKee

Development Associate

JT Mitchell

Development Associate

Billy Deflin

Development Associate

As Development Associate, Tyler is responsible for identifying and tracking self storage opportunities. Prior to joining DXD Capital, Tyler was the President of Self Storage with a commercial real estate brokerage firm based in Atlanta, Georgia, where he specialized in the acquisition and disposition of self storage investment properties throughout the Southeast. Tyler has an active real estate license in both Georgia and California, and he is part of several cohorts including the Georgia Self Storage Association, Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors, the Self Storage Association, the Self Storage Association: Young Leaders Program, and CCIM Georgia Chapter. A native of San Diego, CA, Tyler received his master’s degree from Azusa Pacific University and also served as the Graduate Assistant for the University of San Diego baseball program. He obtained his bachelor’s from Doane University in Nebraska, where he also played collegiate baseball.

JT leads DXD’s market research initiatives. He reports directly to the investment committee, where he supplies in depth data and analysis to inform on potential self storage opportunities. While his primary focus is on the success of the development team, he also provides valuable support to the finance, investor relations, and marketing teams. Outside of DXD, JT serves as the 2023 Committee Chair of NAIOP New Mexico’s Developing Leaders and is a member of the Self Storage Association’s Young Leaders Group. JT is a graduate of The University of New Mexico, where he was a punter for the Lobo football team and graduated with Cum Laude honors.

As Development Associate, Billy leverages DXD's proprietary technology to identify and analyze investment opportunities. He began his career in self storage at The William Warren Group where he worked as a Market Research Analyst before transitioning into a Deal Lead role, spearheading site selection and entitlement efforts throughout South Florida. Billy holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics with Financial Applications from Southern Methodist University.

Kevin Ruiz-Jimenez

Data & Analytics Associate

Amy Krentler

Construction Administrator

As Investment Analyst, Kevin is responsible for underwriting acquisition and development investments, as well as building out reporting and analytics processes. Kevin began his career as an intern with CBRE’s Self Storage Advisory Group and later joined one of the self storage REITs, National Storage Affiliate, as an Acquisitions Specialist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Real Estate and Development from University of California San Diego.

As Project Assistant and Office Manager, Amy primarily supports the Construction team. She has 11 years of administrative experience with C-level executives in the construction and building industry. Prior to joining DXD Capital, Amy worked as a Field Office Administrator for a three-year Pennsylvania Turnpike expansion in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Amy is passionate about construction, safety, and implementing processes that promote jobs run smoothly, efficiently and with the highest level of integrity.

Interested in Joining Our Team?

Innovate with DXD Capital as we change the self storage industry using data to drive investor returns.