Mr. Kelterer heads up the firm’s real estate practice. He has over 30 years of experience in the management and turnaround of troubled real estate assets, as well as the reporting requirements of the owners and lenders.

Mr. Kelterer’s background includes serving as Executive Director of Merrill Lynch Private Capital, a merchant and investment banking arm of Merrill Lynch Capital Resources. Mr. Kelterer also spent 16 years at Wells Fargo Bank where, as Senior Vice President, he founded the Southern California Division of the bank’s Real Estate Industries Group. The Southern California Division grew to generate in excess of $2 billion in annual financings from 1976 to 1981 throughout four offices and a staff of approximately 125 people. Mr. Kelterer ultimately became Deputy Group Head, where he had responsibility for the management of the entire statewide group with annual financings in excess of $4 billion.

Mr. Kelterer founded Benchmark Development Company in 1999 as a successor company to RSM Management, where Mr. Kelterer served as President and CEO since its inception in 1995. Benchmark was the Master Developer of a 5000-acre master planned community known as Rancho Santa Margarita located in South Orange County, California. Rancho Santa Margarita had in excess of 15,500 residential units, 7.5 million square feet of commercial, industrial and retail space, and numerous parks, walking trails and recreational amenities. Mr. Kelterer originally financed the project in 1985, while at Merrill Lynch, and was asked by the institutional investors (Copley Real Estate Advisors on behalf of New England Mutual Life and Harvard Capital) to return to the project in 1995 to finish the buildout. The results were that in excess of $135 million in debt was repaid; public financial instruments were restructured; illiquid partnerships were terminated; overhead was cut to manageable levels; adjustments (including re-entitlements) were made to the business plan to increase revenue; and assets were sold in an orderly manner. When the project concluded the investors received in excess of $100 million in net distributions. These distributions were after the payoff of all debt as well as the complete return of capital and preferences.

Mr. Kelterer also served as a development consultant and advisor on four planned communities in Northern and Southern California. Mr. Kelterer worked with the Chapman Family in the planning and structuring of Chapman Heights, a 2000 acre planned community in Yucaipa, California. He also served as an advisor to Teichert Construction and Pacific Coast Building Products with respect to their ownership interests in Serrano at El Dorado and The Parkway in Folsom. Mr. Kelterer also represented Phoenix Capital Partners in the liquidation of their partnership interest in the planned community of Rio Vista in Cathedral City.

Mr. Kelterer was also a Principal of Mandalay Bay Partners, L.L.C., a development entity formed to develop 136 acres of agricultural property located adjacent to Channel Islands Harbor in Ventura County, California. Full entitlements for this project, including California Coastal Commission approval, were completed in 2004. It is a waterfront-oriented planned community of 708 residential units, 20 acres of commercial development, and channel improvements to accommodate in excess of 500 boat slips. In all there are over 60 acres of visitor serving commercial and open space. This project was sold to D.R. Horton in April 2004.

Mr. Kelterer received his Bachelor’s Degree in Science and Commerce from Santa Clara University, and his MBA from the University of San Francisco. Mr. Kelterer is currently a member of several professional organizations including the ULI, and the NAIOP, including prior service as a Board member of NAIOP. He serves on an advisory board to the Dean of the Business School at the University of California, Irvine and teaches a course in Real Estate Development at the Merage Graduate School of Business at UCI.