Our Leadership Team

Jim Pettinger

CEO

Jim Pettinger is CEO of Realogic.  He oversees the company’s day to day operations, helps set its long and short-term objectives and plays a crucial role in all strategic initiatives.  Jim is responsible for developing, implementing and refining the internal processes that assure all Realogic assignments are completed on time, within budget and accurately. In addition, Jim is responsible for researching, purchasing and implementing new technology that allows us to work efficiently, productively and meticulously on behalf of our clients.

In 2024, the commercial real estate publisher GlobeSt. recognized Jim as one of CRE’s Best Bosses. That same year, Crain’s Chicago Business named him one of Commercial Real Estate’s Notable Leaders. The two well-deserved honors reflect his unwavering professionalism, outstanding management and communication skills, deep knowledge of and passion for commercial real estate and proptech and the admirable job he does leading our best-in-class real estate consulting firm.

Jim has nearly 25 years of commercial real estate experience and is expert in many facets of CRE consulting and management, including due diligence, lease administration, software and technology implementation, financing, budgeting and forecasting.  Prior to joining Realogic, Jim was a staff accountant at Meaden & Moore, an international accounting and financial consulting firm.

Areas of Expertise

• Due Diligence
• Underwriting
• Operational Efficiency
• Technology & Software
• Data Integration
• Product Development
• Workforce As A Service

Education

B.S., University of Wisconsin-Madison

Sal Caldarone

President

After several successful, eventful years in the proptech sector, Realogic co-founder and long-time CEO Sal Caldarone returned to Realogic as company president in May 2024.

As a senior leader at Realogic, he is involved in all aspects of our company’s operations, including client delivery, strategy, business development, marketing and proptech initiatives. In addition, he has resumed doing consulting and advisory work for Realogic’s clients, who range from small private investors to many of the biggest names in commercial real estate.

In 2019, Sal spearheaded the spin-off of rSquared CRE, a proptech start-up, from Realogic and became CEO of the fledgling company. Under Sal’s leadership, rSquared CRE developed and successfully launched rDCF, an innovative cloud-based valuation and underwriting solution that filled a pressing need in the burgeoning proptech market.

Recognizing the enormous potential of rDCF, commercial real estate finance giant SitusAMC purchased rSquared and its assets in 2020. As a senior director at Situs, Sal remained at the helm of rSquared until returning to Realogic earlier this year.

Sal has worked in commercial real estate and software development for nearly 40 years. Over the course of his long, storied career, he has underwritten thousands of commercial real estate transactions, performed financial due diligence, modeled CRE funds, abstracted and administered leases and loan documents and provided purchase price accounting services. In addition, he has helped design, develop and bring to market several leading proptech solutions. In 2024, Crain’s Chicago Business named Sal a Notable Commercial Real Estate Leader in recognition of his many professional achievements and contributions to the commercial real estate industry.

Prior to founding Realogic in 1992, Sal was an assistant vice president at Orix Real Estate Equities, where he supported commercial property acquisitions, syndications and asset management on behalf of investors. Prior to joining Orix, he was a syndication analyst for VMS Realty Partners. Sal began his career servicing some of commercial real estate’s largest private syndicators as an auditor for public accounting firm Peat, Marwick and Mitchell (now KMPG).

Areas of Expertise

• Due Diligence
• Underwriting
• Valuations
• Financial Modeling
• Software Development
• Real Estate Strategy
• Lease Abstraction
• Loan Abstraction
• Purchase Price Accounting
• Proptech

Education

B.S., Accounting- Northern Illinois University

Mike Phelps

General Counsel

Mike Phelps currently serves as Realogic’s General Counsel and has over 20 years of commercial real estate experience. In his current role, he supports each of the company’s business lines and provides counsel on corporate, employment and compliance issues. He is also responsible for negotiation of contracts, master service agreements, software licenses and subscriptions and other intellectual property matters.

Additionally, Mike manages Realogic’s relationships with its 3^rd party human resource and information technology providers, as well as contributes to Realogic’s strategic marketing and sales initiatives.

Mike originally joined the firm in 2000 and previously served as Manager in the Financial Analysis Department. His duties included financial modeling/analysis, acquisition/disposition analysis and due diligence, financial proforma development and review, underwriting support and Argus/Dyna training.

Areas of Expertise

• Legal counsel
• Contract negotiation
• Intellectual property
• Human resources
• Information technology

Education

• J.D., Chicago-Kent College of Law
• B.A., Finance, Investment, and Banking, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• B.A., Real Estate & Urban Development, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Licenses and Memberships

• Licensed to Practice Law in Illinois
• Member, Rush University Medical Center Associates Board

Jeff Kaveney

Managing Director

As Managing Director, Jeff Kaveney heads Realogic’s Financial Consulting Department.  He oversees the group’s workflow and day-to-day operations, as well as provides expert guidance and direction on consulting assignments, including CRE valuations, underwriting, financial due diligence, strategic analysis, financial modeling and debt analysis projects. In addition, Jeff serves as the primary liaison between Realogic and many of our consulting clients.

Jeff is an expert from both the debt and equity perspectives on all traditional real estate assets, as well as many non-traditional assets.  He has material experience presenting to investment and credit committees and boards of directors, and has served as an expert witness on real estate matters.

Earlier in Jeff’s career, he gained significant capital markets experience in New York, where he worked for Eurohypo AG Investment Bank in the Originations Group.  Additionally, he worked within Credit Suisse’s Real Estate Finance and Securitization Group for Realogic, where he conducted initial sizings of CMBS and syndication loans, due diligence and underwriting, and prepared and presented credit memos, pitchbooks and rating agency presentations.

Areas of Expertise

• Project management
• Valuation
• Capital Markets
• Financial modeling
• Excel^® modeling
• Due diligence and transaction analysis
• Strategic planning and analysis
• Underwriting
• Debt origination, analysis and structuring
• Closing support
• Opportunity Zones
• Workforce As A Service

Education

• B.S., Economics, Marquette University
• B.A., Finance, Marquette University

Kathy Fera

Director

Kathy Fera joined Realogic as Vice President of Lease Administration in 2000. Her primary responsibility is overseeing the lease administration maintenance accounts for approximately 100 million square feet of office, retail and industrial space for clients including Jones Lang LaSalle, Silverstein Properties, Hines, Glenstar and CBRE.

Kathy has over 30 years of experience in commercial real estate and property management. Prior to joining Realogic, she was a self-employed real estate consultant.  Her extended assignments for large real estate firms included serving on due diligence teams for acquisitions, providing temporary management staffing, handling the transition of properties due to acquisitions/dispositions, preparing budgets, performing recoveries, auditing management procedures and analyzing leases.

Prior, Kathy worked in real estate management for several large, well-known firms, including John Buck Company, CBRE and U.S. Equities, supporting properties owned by Travelers Insurance and Metropolitan Life Insurance.  Kathy specialized in transitional properties that were recently acquired or were being prepared for sale.

Areas of Expertise

• Lease administration
• Due diligence
• Budgeting
• Property management
• Training and development
• rAbstract

Education

• B.A., Western Illinois University

Licenses and Designations

• Licensed Illinois Managing Broker, State of Illinois
• Real Property Administrator Designation (RPA), BOMI International

Gail SanFilippo

Director

Gail SanFilippo joined Realogic in 2000 as Vice President of Abstracting Services. She is responsible for managing all due diligence assignments and staff, and has led due diligence projects for numerous Realogic clients, including Hines, Blackstone, Shorenstein, Federal Realty, The John Buck Company and USAA.

Gail has over 40 years of experience in property management and all facets of lease administration for office, industrial and retail properties.  Previously, she was Director of Lease Administration for Kennedy-Wilson Properties (f/kla Heitman Properties, Ltd.), where she oversaw the 12-person lease administration department that supported over 185 office and industrial properties in 35 states constituting approximately 70 million square feet of commercial real estate space. She also oversaw lease administration for Heitman Properties’ extensive portfolio of retail properties, which included numerous malls and strip centers.

Education

Mundelein College/Loyola University

Areas of Expertise

• Lease abstraction
• Lease administration
• Due diligence
• Training
• Property management
• rAbstract

Tom Kaveney

Director

Tom Kaveney is a Director at Realogic.  His primary responsibilities include financial modeling, strategic analysis, financial due diligence, underwriting and analyses supporting acquisitions, dispositions and related debt positions. Tom manages a wide range of CRE projects and works both in-house as well as on-site for clients, as needed.

Tom is also responsible for designing and building most of Realogic’s customized Excel® models, both for clients and our own internal use.  Tom has over 20 years’ experience in commercial real estate and is an expert in all traditional asset types, including hospitality, multifamily and mixed-use properties and development projects.

Education

• B.S., Applied Mathematical Economics, Marquette University
• B.A., Political Science, Marquette University

Areas of Expertise

• Project management
• Strategic planning
• Valuation
• Excel® modeling
• Due diligence
• Development
• Capital Markets
• Debt structuring
• Underwriting
• Equity waterfall modeling

Steve Waryas

Vice President

Steve brings over 25 years of commercial real estate experience and expertise to Realogic. During his career, Steve has been involved in commercial real estate in numerous capacities, including bank Chief Credit Officer, portfolio and asset manager, member of a debt and structured finance team, transaction analysis group team lead, consultant and appraiser. His background and experience across multiple disciplines has provided Steve with a firm grasp of the nuanced perspectives of commercial real estate investors, sellers, lenders, asset managers, partners, developers, property managers and attorneys.

With experience performing in all phases of opportunity life cycles, Steve is adept at screening, underwriting and structuring opportunities across a broad spectrum of asset classes including office, retail (single tenant to regional mall), industrial, hospitality, multi-family, student housing and self-storage.  Throughout his career, he has been involved in projects ranging in size from single tenant to large multi-tenant, multi-asset portfolios and worked with smaller investors, joint ventures, investment brokers, private equity firms, REITs, finance companies, note buyers and banks, among others.

His responsibilities at Realogic include project management, proforma development and review, financial modeling and analysis and due diligence.

Areas of Expertise

• Transaction Analysis
• Due Diligence
• Underwriting
• Valuation
• Project Management

Education

B.S., Finance/Real Estate, Indiana University

Monica Kelly

Vice President, Financial Analysis and Project Management

Monica Kelly brings over 20 years of commercial real estate experience and expertise to Realogic.  Her diverse responsibilities include proforma development and review, financial modeling and analysis, project management, due diligence and underwriting support. Monica has worked with all types of commercial real estate assets, including office, retail, industrial, multi-family and hospitality, and has led teams on a wide variety of successful projects.  As Vice President, Monica is the primary contact for many of Realogic’s clients, ranging from smaller commercial brokerage houses to large REITs.

Prior to joining Realogic, Monica was Assistant Vice President of Investments at Podolsky Northstar Realty Partners, focusing on valuation analysis for acquisitions and periodic asset review for potential dispositions.  Previously, Monica was a Six Sigma Quality Black Belt for GE Capital, leading several teams while improving the quality and efficiency of the company’s operations.

Areas of Expertise

• Financial modeling and analysis
• Due diligence
• Underwriting
• Valuation
• Project management
• Closing support
• Estoppels

Education

B.A., Mathematics, with a Certificate in Business Administration, Loyola University

Chris Mazur

Vice President, Lease Administration

Chris Mazur joined the firm as a Manager of Lease Administration in 2004 and was promoted to Vice President of Lease Administration in 2008. He oversees day-to-day lease administration for one of Realogic’s largest clients, who owns approximately 21 million square feet of office and retail space.  Chris’ responsibilities include diligence abstracting, maintaining and updating the client’s accounting and abstracting systems and administering leases for the client’s managed acquisitions.

Chris has over 12 years of experience in commercial real estate. Prior to joining Realogic, Chris was Assistant Controller at CB Richard Ellis, where he was responsible for managing accounting processes for one of the firm’s largest clients. Prior to CB Richard Ellis, Chris held accounting positions with AMLI Residential Properties Trust, an apartment REIT.  He also worked in accounting and property management for Amerihost Properties– later known as Arlington Properties– a hotel development and management firm.

Education

B.S., Ball State University

Designations and Memberships

• Certified Public Accountant, State of Illinois
• Member, Illinois CPA Society

Areas of Expertise

• Lease administration
• Lease abstraction
• Due diligence
• Property management
• rAbstract

Sean Flood

Vice President, Due Diligence Abstracting

Sean joined Realogic seven years ago and has steadily risen through the ranks of our Due Diligence Lease Abstraction Department, learning new skills, taking on additional responsibility and growing as a company and industry leader every step of the way.

In his current role as Vice President of Due Diligence Abstracting, Sean coordinates the day-to-day operations of Realogic’s Due Diligence Lease Abstracting Department where he is primarily responsible for managing the department’s workflow. In addition, Sean plans, initiates and manages lease abstracting projects for many of Realogic’s due diligence clients, including leading commercial real estate owners, operators, investors and REITS. In this capacity, he prepares and coordinates project proposals for prospective and current clients while managing, coaching, and helping further the professional development of the members of Realogic’s best-in-class lease abstraction team.

Prior, Sean was Senior Manager in the Due Diligence Abstracting Department, after an extended period as a Manager within the department. In both roles, his diverse and wide-ranging responsibilities included initiating and coordinating lease abstraction projects, managing the abstraction team’s relationship with clients, and serving as lead abstractor on numerous projects.

Sean previously held positions as Senior Associate and Lease Analyst within the Due Diligence Abstracting Team. In these roles he supported the team in completing projects for the Realogic clients that Sean continues to service presently.

Education

• B.S., Agricultural Business Management, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Areas of Expertise

• Lease abstraction
• Due diligence
• Project management
• Vendor management
• Staff development
• rAbstract software
• Lease administration

Ellen Hayes

Vice President

As Vice President, Ellen provides a broad range of essential services to Realogic’s clients, including financial analysis and modeling, asset and portfolio management, transaction/due diligence, project management and underwriting support. In addition, she oversees Realogic’s commercial real estate training program, serving as the lead instructor, developing the training curriculum and coordinating all public and private classes. To date, over 5,000 students, academics and CRE professionals have participated in the program, which includes intermediate and advanced courses in Excel® and the ARGUS® software suite.

In addition to her senior management role at Realogic, Ellen serves as an instructor at Roosevelt University and The McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. She has taught professional development technology classes at Roosevelt University since 2010 and since fall 2018 has taught a full-semester class for the school’s undergraduate Real Estate program. In Spring 2018, Ellen began teaching Project Feasibility and Valuation for the Northwestern University Masters of Project Management (MPM) program.

In her previous roles at Realogic, Ellen’s responsibilities included conducting due diligence for large scale acquisitions, performing DCF analysis using the ARGUS® software suite and conducting comprehensive lease audits to support property acquisitions and dispositions. She also has extensive experience in land valuations and site inspections for all asset classes.

A respected and knowledgeable industry leader with over 20 years of commercial real estate experience, Ellen has been invited to be a guest speaker at many of the nation’s top universities and MBA programs, including the Wharton School of Business, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Areas of Expertise

• Financial modeling
• ARGUS Enterprise ®
• Excel ®
• Training
• Due diligence
• Asset management

Education

B.A. Finance, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Memberships

• Committee Member, The Goldie Initiative (2017+)
• Member, Real Estate Finance Forum
• Honorary Member, Rho Epsilon (UIUC)

Lecturer/Guest Lecturer

• University of Illinois
• University of Michigan
• University of Wisconsin
• University of North Carolina
• University of Chicago- Booth School of Business
• Northwestern University- Kellogg School of Management
• University of Pennsylvania- Wharton School of Business
• Dartmouth University
• Marquette University
• Roosevelt University
• DePaul University

Chris Schmuker

Senior Manager, Loan Abstraction

Chris Schmuker joined the firm in 1997 as part of Realogic’s lease abstraction team. Her deep commercial real estate knowledge has empowered her team to abstract complex leases and offer more specialized document abstraction, including loans, non-standard legal documents and joint venture agreements. Her expertise in legal documentation and accounting allows her to provide additional bandwidth for the analysis and due diligence teams, especially for non-standard documents. Chris is passionate about working with clients and meeting their individual needs.

Chris has over 25 years of experience in legal document abstraction and negotiation. Prior to joining Realogic, she was with Travelers Realty and Investment Company, holding several positions over her tenure, most recently focusing on troubled debt restructuring and asset management for commercial real estate. Chris is also a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Illinois.

Areas of Expertise

• Lease administration
• Due diligence
• Lease abstraction
• Loan abstraction
• Joint venture abstraction
• Legal agreement abstraction
• rAbstract

Education

• M.B.A., Finance and Real Estate, Northwestern University
• B.S., Accounting, Northern Illinois University

Designations

Certified Public Accountant, State of Illinois

Charri Isaacson

Senior Manager

A skilled, accomplished and well-rounded commercial real professional with extensive industry experience, Charri joined Realogic in 2005 and is an indispensable member of our team. As Senior Manager, she is responsible for administering over 1,700 leases for more than 31 million square feet of commercial space on behalf of Realogic’s clients. Her responsibilities also include managing due diligence projects for client acquisitions and dispositions and abstracting leases and other non-lease commercial real estate documents. Additionally, Charri coordinates and manages the on-boarding of new lease administration clients and implementations of Realogic’s lease abstraction and administration software, rAbstract.

Prior to joining Realogic, Charri spent 11 years with Golub & Company, an international commercial real estate investment and development company based in Chicago, as both an asset and property manager. While at Golub, Charri managed numerous properties throughout the Chicago area, overseeing budgeting, recovery reconciliations, tenant improvement construction and cost tracking. In addition, Charri managed due diligence projects for company acquisitions and dispositions and created the company’s property take-over procedure.

Charri began her long and successful career at Travelers Insurance, where she worked in the asset management department for 10 years.

Areas of Expertise

• Lease Administration
• Due Diligence
• Project Management
• Lease Abstraction
• Non-Lease Document Abstraction
• Acquisitions
• Dispositions
• Asset Management
• Property Management

Education

St. Xavier University, Chicago, IL

Kara Blinn

Controller

Kara Blinn is Realogic’s controller. In this role, she oversees all of Realogic’s accounting activities, including financial reporting and payroll, as well as office management and administration.

Prior to joining Realogic in 2022, Kara spent over 20 years in various accounting roles, including as Accounting Manager at Staub Anderson LLC, a Chicago law firm, and with clothing retailer Cabi Clothing, investment firm Grosvenor Capital and at Trizec Properties, a major office and retail REIT that was acquired by Brookfield Properties and The Blackstone Group in 2006 for $8.9 billion. She began her career as a staff auditor at Price Waterhouse Coopers LLP, a leading public accounting firm.

Areas of Expertise

• General accounting
• Property accounting
• Financial reporting
• Budgeting
• Financial forecasting
• Accounts Payable
• Accounts Receivable
• Office management

Education

B.A., Accounting, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Terry Banike

Vice President, Marketing

As Vice President of Marketing, Terry oversees Realogic’s marketing program, including strategy, messaging, branding, content, martech and demand generation.

Terry joined Realogic in 2017 and eventually moved into a product marketing role with rSquared CRE, a successful commercial real estate software start up and spin-off of Realogic that was eventually acquired by CRE finance giant Situs AMC. In 2020, he rejoined Realogic to support the company’s ambitious growth initiatives.

Prior to joining Realogic, Terry worked in various marketing, communications and public relations roles in the payments industry, including with Citigroup, Dean Witter Discover and Moneris Solutions, at the time one of North America’s largest payment processors, where he headed marketing for the company’s strategic partnership channel and managed US communications.

Areas of Expertise

• Marketing strategy
• Demand generation
• Digital marketing
• Marketing communications
• Brand development
• Social media
• Public relations

Education

BS, Advertising, University of Illinois, Champaign – Urbana