New Appointment to Provide Capital Markets Expertise to Support Company’s Rapid Growth in Off-Campus Housing Boom
RALEIGH, NC – May 22, 2012 – The Preiss Company, the nation’s fifth largest privately held owner and operator of student housing, announced today that Joseph Green has joined the company as chief financial officer. In addition to managing all accounting/financial reporting, treasury, risk management and administrative functions, he will be responsible for overseeing all relationships with capital market lenders and equity investors.
Green brings nearly 35 years of in-depth experience in real estate, finance, and capital markets. Prior to joining The Preiss Company, he was the chief executive officer of Cherokee Renewables, LLC, a company dedicated to providing capital to the solar photovoltaic industry and an affiliate of Cherokee Investment Partners, LLC, a private investment firm that manages more than $1 billion of Brownfield-related real estate assets. Green also served as a senior advisor to Noble Investment Group, a privately held hospitality firm that owns $1.2 billion of hotel real estate nationwide. Previously, he was chief executive officer of KeyBridge Capital LLC, a company that was an affiliate of investment bank Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Company. He is the former president and chief financial officer of Winston Hotels, Inc., a publicly traded real estate investment trust (NYSE: WXH), which was acquired by Inland American in 2007.
“Joe’s extensive relationships with the financial community, experience in structuring equity and debt instruments, expertise in sophisticated financial and accounting systems and his extensive background in real estate development and operations add tremendous depth to our senior management team,” said Donna Preiss, company founder and CEO. “There are a great deal of similarities between the hotel and student housing industries, and we will call on Joe’s broad background in hospitality to help continue our rapid growth. We have grown more than 30 percent in the past two years to more than 15,000 beds near universities in 11 markets and plan to continue aggressively expanding in selected markets. We now are well positioned to increase our market share in off-campus student housing. In addition, Joe has been an advisor and investor in our company, as well as personal friends, for a number of years, so we are confident he will add value to our company from day one”.
“College enrollments are expected to continue to steadily increase for at least the remainder of this decade,” Green said. “At the same time, universities are faced with reduced funding, rising costs, and an aging student housing stock. As a result, colleges increasingly are looking to private housing near campuses to fill the supply/demand gap. The Preiss Company has created a successful business model that is a win-win situation for both universities and students. The company has more than $100 million in its development and acquisition pipeline and expects to double its size over the next three years. I look forward to the opportunity to play a role in the company’s dynamic growth.”
Green holds a B.A. degree from East Carolina University, a J.D. degree from Wake Forest University and a Master of Laws in Taxation from Georgetown University.
About The Preiss Company
Founded in 1987, The Preiss Company specializes in the development, acquisition and management of off-campus student housing. The Raleigh-based company is the nation’s fifth largest privately held and largest woman-owned owner and operator of private student housing. The company’s portfolio currently comprises 15,000 beds located in 11 markets in eight states (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Maryland, Illinois, Texas, and Pennsylvania).
Additional information about the company may be found at www.tpco.com.