principals
PETER PILLER
MANAGING PRINCIPAL OF THE ORANGE COUNTY, CA OFFICE
Peter is the co-founding principal of DPFG. Prior to the establishment of DPFG, Peter spent seven years with the national accounting firm of Kenneth Leventhal & Company in the Newport Beach office. Peter has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting from Cal State University, Fullerton. Peter has over twenty eight years experience in the real estate industry with the vast majority of those years focused in real estate consulting. Aside from general real estate experience, Peter has special emphasis in planning and implementing land secured public financing districts, performing valuation and feasibility analysis on all types of land uses, planning and implementing redevelopment related projects, and planning and implementing the financing of public school district projects. Peter is a member of several Building Industry Associations. You can contact Peter at peter.piller@dpfg.com
R. CHRIS LIGHTBURNE
MANAGING PRINCIPAL OF THE ORANGE COUNTY, CA OFFICE
Chris is the Co-Managing Principal of the Orange County Office where he responsible for providing a diversified range of real estate consulting services including cash flow services, portfolio and asset analysis, restructuring and asset management, the development and implementation of public finance and real estate development related strategies for land developers and builders, analyzing fiscal impacts of new developments, redevelopment financing , establishing rates, charges and development impact fees. Chris has also worked on behalf of the development community throughout California in analyzing and negotiating development impact fees, school fees, and maintenance and services taxes. He has over 20 years of experience in financial analysis, real estate economics, public finance, capital markets, information technology and accounting. Chris served as a manager of consulting with Kenneth Leventhal & Company (Later Ernst and Young Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group) in Newport Beach, California.
Client engagements included strategic planning, public finance, real estate portfolio acquisition and disposition, market and feasibility studies, mortgage backed securities, restructuring and reorganizations, and audits of public and private companies. Chris's past experience also includes senior management positions for three start-up/high growth companies involved in manufacturing and media where he was responsible for finance, information technology, operations, real estate and facilities, sales and marketing, and strategic planning. Chris holds a BA in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and is a Certified Public Accountant, inactive, in the State of California. You can contact Chris at chris.lightburne@dpfg.com
CHRIS AUSTIN
MANAGING PRINCIPAL OF THE SACRAMENTO, CA OFFICE
Chris is the Managing Principal of the Sacramento office. Chris has been working with the firm since 1998, and has been involved in providing consulting services on over 200 projects and the financing of over $800 million in public improvements for developer and builder clients in California, Nevada and Washington. Chris's experience includes general real estate consulting matters with specialized experience in planning and implementing public financing districts, negotiating and documenting school district financing transactions, fiscal impact analysis, and development feasibility analysis for both residential and non-residential properties. Additionally, Chris has recently been involved in negotiating and tracking impact fee reimbursements for recent portfolio acquisition from a national home building company.
Chris has also worked on behalf of the development community throughout California in analyzing and negotiating Development Impact Fees. Chris is a member of the North State Building Industry Association, Urban Land Institute, Building Industry Association of Central California and the Home Building Association of Northern California. He has recently been selected by his peers as a Committee Member for the California Building Industry Association Impact Fee Task Force. Chris received his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Arizona State University. You can contact Chris at chris.austin@dpfg.com
CHRIS COLE
PRESIDENT
Chris is a Co-Managing Principal in the Orange County office. Chris has been with the firm since February of 2003 and has been involved in providing consulting services on over 500 projects and the financing of over $1.3 billion in public improvements for developer, builder and financial institution clientele in California. Chris's experience includes real estate consulting matters with specialized experience in planning and implementing public financing districts, negotiating and documenting cost sharing agreements, reviewing and critiquing development impact fee studies, development agreements, school district financing transactions, fiscal impact analysis, and development feasibility analysis for both residential and non-residential properties. Chris also serves as the head of DPFG’s Disclosure Services practice group. Prior to joining DPFG in 2003, Chris served as a Contract Lobbyist for a California based lobbyist firm. Chris is a member of Builder Industry Association of Southern California, which includes the following Chapters, Baldy View, LA Ventura, Orange County, and Riverside. Chris received his Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Chico. You can contact Chris at chris.cole@dpfg.com.
RICK ROSENBERG
MANAGING PRINCIPAL OF THE TEXAS OFFICE
Rick Rosenberg is the Managing Principal for DPFG’s Texas region. In this capacity, Rick provides strategic planning, investment analysis, workout and financing services at both the project and entity level including recapitalizations, restructurings and the sourcing of new equity and debt capital for investments and developments with a particular focus on the use of public/private partnerships to efficiently and effectively finance the infrastructure and vertical improvements associated with residential, commercial and mixed-use developments. With a broad combination of analytical, strategic and communication skills, Rick has over 35 years of extensive real estate and finance experience, encompassing the investment analysis, acquisition; deal structuring, equity sourcing, asset management and financing of commercial and residential real estate investments (existing and under development) and operating companies, at both the entity and project level, located throughout the United States.
Prior to joining DPFG, Rick was the Vice President of Investments for the Cole Companies, the Chief Financial Officer for the Arizona Division of Centex Homes, the Chief Financial Officer and Director of Land Acquisitions for the Houston Division of K. Hovnanian Homes, and the Chief Financial Officer for MAXXAM Property Company. In addition, he has over ten years of prior consulting experience providing investment advisory services to developers, public agencies, Fortune 500 corporations and institutional investors. Rick has a Masters in Management degree with a dual concentration in Finance and Management Policy from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a B.S. with a concentration in Accounting from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. You can contact Rick at rick.rosenberg@dpfg.com
LUCY GALLO
MANAGING PRINCIPAL OF THE SOUTHEAST OFFICES
Lucy is the Managing Principal of Southeast offices of DPFG, Inc.. Lucy provides fiscal and economic impact analysis, real estate market analysis, cost/benefit modeling and public infrastructure finance (impact fees, tax increment financing, and special assessment districts) advisory services for urban development, redevelopment and comprehensive planning projects. Lucy has served as lead fiscal consultant for numerous large-scale economic development and public/private partnership engagements throughout the Southeast. Prior to joining DPFG, Lucy served as an Associate Vice President at AECOM Economics (formerly Economics Research Associates) an international consulting group providing research, applied economic analysis, and strategic planning services to a wide range of clients.
In the course of her career, Lucy has assisted a diverse cross-section of communities, ranging from small towns and rural counties to large urban cities, with fiscal and economic analyses to evaluate important land-use planning initiatives. Regardless of the community’s size, the goal of each engagement has been to address pertinent issues and concerns regarding long-term fiscal sustainability. The ultimate goal of every modeling assignment is to help local governments, and their constituencies, in carrying out fiscal stewardship. Lucy’s financial models are designed with utmost transparency; an approach that distinguishes her work in its field.
Academic collaborations include the UNC City and Regional Planning Department, the UNC School of Government, Winthrop University, and the Virginia Tech Real Estate Program. Affiliations: Government Finance Officers Association, Urban Land Institute, National Association of Home Builders, Growth and Infrastructure Consortium . You can contact Lucy at lucy.gallo@dpfg.com