TEAM

As Senior Vice President of Development, James Puleo oversees development activities on the east coast for CEI. Previously at BNE Real Estate Group for 13 years, he oversaw the entitlements, design and construction of over 4,000 apartments and helped raise BNE to be one of the premier development groups in the state of NJ.

Prior to BNE he worked in NYC and Miami with Plaza Construction for 10 years. James has his BA in Economics from Colgate University.

As Senior Vice President of Development, Greg Goldman oversees development activities on the West Coast. Prior to joining CEI, Greg was a Vice President with Century West Partners, responsible for the development and construction of Multifamily and Mixed Use projects in Southern California with a concentration in Santa Monica. Prior to Century West Partners, Greg spent seven years with Suffolk Construction both in their West Coast and Boston Offices. He is a graduate of Gettysburg College with a BA in Business Administration.

As Senior Vice President of Strategic Marketing & Creative Director, Claudia Ross oversees corporate branding strategy, project positioning, creative direction, integrated marketing, digital design & development and social media for CEI.

Previously, Claudia was Director of Marketing Services at Disney Interactive Studios, the video game division of The Walt Disney Company. She received an MBA from The Anderson Graduate School of Business at UCLA, a BS in Business from The Haas School Of Business at UC Berkeley, and is an accomplished photographer.

As Vice President, Investments, Zach is responsible for joint venture equity and debt origination, cultivating CEI’s capital markets relationships, structuring project capitalizations, and closing transactions. Additionally, Zach supports Cypress’ acquisition and development functions with underwriting new investment opportunities, managing development and construction projects, and transaction due diligence.

Prior to joining the CEI team, Zach worked as an Analyst with BlueGate Partners, a real estate advisory firm in New York City specializing in structured finance and institutional brokerage. Zach graduated from Northeastern University with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business Administration with a concentration in Finance.

As VP of Acquisitions, Mike is responsible for the sourcing and closing of acquisition opportunities. Mike also manages the due diligence, project management and entitlement process.

Prior to joining CEI, Mike worked as a broker for Land Advisors Organization in Irvine. Mike spent 3 years representing investors, developers and homebuilders in the acquisition of off-market, residential land within the Southern California marketplace. Mike graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Planning.

As Assistant VP of Construction, Aleksandra’s role for CEI involves oversite and management of projects during the preconstruction and construction phase; developing and nurturing contractor relationships; exceeding expectations throughout the construction process; and achievement of ownership financial goals.

Previously, Aleksandra served as Project Manager for WE O’Neil and DPR Construction. She has experience in multiple phases and aspects of construction such as: pre construction, value engineering, BIM coordination, estimating, buyout, managing project budget, cost reports, pay applications, change order review, scheduling & pull planning, phased turn over, site logistics, project safety, project controls and documentation, close out, and LEED project certification.

Aleksandra’s career experience includes residential apartment projects such as UDR Los Alisos Apartments in Mission Viejo and Shea Oakbrook Village in Irvine. She has also worked on a variety of advanced technology, higher education, life sciences, and office space projects such as: UCLA Montecito Medical Automated Parking Structure Retrofit in Santa Monica, Shire Lawrence offices in Thousand Oaks, Aerospace tape storage rooms and offices in El Segundo, DTV/ATT data equipment rooms in Los Angeles, HRL Lab tenant improvements in Malibu, and Occidental College Hameetman Career Center in Los Angeles.

Her BS in Structural Engineering from USC Viterbi lends to her attention to detail, quality, and integrity in all aspects of her work.

As Assistant VP of Construction, Will oversees projects on the East Coast, focusing on the greater NY metropolitan area. Prior to joining CEI, Will oversaw the predevelopment and construction of over 200,000 sf of luxury residential condos, 115,000 sf of mixed commercial and retail office space, and the rehabilitation of 400,000 sf of hotel and restaurant space in New York City.

Previous to his work in New York, Will worked at RPM Development and Construction, building high quality, LEED certified affordable housing in Newark, Orange and Franklin townships. Will received his BA from The College of New Jersey in English.

As Assistant Vice President, Miranda focuses on asset management of the CEI portfolio. Her responsibilities include overseeing the operations, launch and lease-up of recently delivered projects, maximizing value and cashflow of stabilized deals, and assisting senior management with the sale, recapitalization, and refinance processes.

Prior to joining CEI, Miranda worked in the New Jersey office of PGIM Real Estate and was responsible for asset managing a collection of multifamily and office properties. Miranda graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.

As a Construction Manager, Chonghui is responsible for implementing construction projects, working closely with both internal and external parties to ensure construction delivery.

Before joining CEI, Chonghui worked as project manager of Seazen Captial Partners to oversee the construction of multifamily projects in Texas and Nevada. Prior to Seazen Capital Partners, Chonghui served as an assistant project manager with Miller-Valentine Commercial Construction, focusing on industry and commercial type of construction.

Chonghui’s career experience includes multifamily projects such as Citadel Apartments in Houston, TX, and student housing project Echo 1055 in Las Vegas, NV. She has also worked on Fuyao Glass America Renovation and Expansion in Moraine, OH, Enerfab office building renovation in Cincinnati, OH, and St. Elizabeth Neurology Clinic fitout.

Chonghui graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management. She is also an accredited LEED AP BD+C.

As a Senior Associate, Tim focuses on underwriting new investment opportunities and analyzing development capitalization strategies. His responsibilities include financial modeling to support acquisitions and the CEI pipeline, assessing capital markets and project financing, and transaction due diligence.

Prior to joining CEI, Tim worked as an Analyst in the New Jersey office of HFF, a real estate advisory firm specializing in structured finance. Tim graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a minor in Urban Real Estate & Development.

As an Associate, Aaron focuses on underwriting new investment opportunities and analyzing development capitalization strategies. Prior to joining CEI in 2018, Aaron worked as an Analyst at Silverpeak Real Estate Partners, a New York City-based private equity firm, specializing in real estate acquisitions.

Aaron graduated from New York University with Honors and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Management.

As an Associate, Shane’s responsibilities include the underwriting of new investment opportunities in markets across the US, contributing to the due diligence and management of active projects, and supporting the marketing of deals to equity and debt investors. Shane specializes in financial modeling, creating detailed project budgets and evaluating capitalization alternatives.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Shane attended Northeastern University in Boston, graduating with honors. Shane holds a BS in Business Administration, concentrating in Finance and Accounting.