- Paula J. Ingram
- Bjorn Borgenhard
- Brent Wessel
- Ernie Iriarte
- Kenneth Margala
- Martin Zucker
- Paul Jankovsky, Jr.
Paula J. Ingram
Managing Partner
Paula J. Ingram brings over 25 years of commercial real estate investment and finance experience to the firm specializing in the origination, analysis, and placement of real estate investments nationwide.
Paula’s experience includes heading up the Acquisitions division for a private principal to acquire distressed assets, serving as Managing Director of Capital Markets with the Brokerage firms Ackman-Ziff, Cohen Financial, and Holiday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. Ms. Ingram founded, and was responsible for, the Trammell Crow Company’s Florida Mortgage Brokerage division.
The foundation for these endeavors began early in her career serving as a Senior Lending Officer with the Bank of Ireland, which eventually placed her in the Hilco division of Special Assets working out the bank’s largest special loans. She later went on to join GID, General Investment and Development, a large principal investor where she worked under the CFO and Treasurer responsible for all portfolio and acquisition financing nationwide.
Paula brings a diversified background with a breadth of experience in the commercial real estate finance arena, having worked many sides of the deal on all product types. She has closed over $3 Billion in deal transactions as a Lender, Borrower and Broker.
In 1998, Paula organized an Overland African Safari expedition for a five-person team of travelers. The year-long expedition took the team across two continents, 16 countries and more than 18,000 land miles. Her expedition involved intense levels of physical and emotional stamina in high-risk situations. Having to manage various levels of stress, Paula and her team were often faced with unpredictable situations complicated by limited resources and time. Combating on a daily basis dangerous wildlife, poor road conditions, politically unstable governments, the random AK47 to her head, she persevered. This extraordinary accomplishment has shaped Paula’s ability to think outside of the box, leading to a unique perspective and innovative solutions.
Beyond her adventurous lifestyle having traveled extensively, she is also an avid boater holding both her Crew and Skipper Licenses with the Royal Yachting Association. Paula is a sports enthusiast active in skiing, tennis and swimming.
Paula holds a triple major B.S. in Finance, Investments and Economics from Babson College in Wellesley, MA.
Bjorn Borgenhard
Managing Partner
Bjorn brings over 30 years of Commercial Real Estate and Finance experience to the table.
Most recently he was Managing Partner with a borrower advocate firm in the CMBS space. His previous 12 years were spent with LNR, the world’s largest CMBS Special Servicer and B-piece investor, in senior positions in the Asset Management and Investment Divisions where he was recognized for his ability to find innovative solutions to restructuring large delinquent commercial real estate loans and his expert underwriting skills. He was the top producer in the company having worked out $4+ billion in commercial real estate loans and managed numerous CMBS B-piece acquisitions.
Before LNR, Bjorn co-founded the Canadian CMBS market in the capacity of Chief Credit Officer with Merrill Lynch’s CMBS conduit program in Canada, which became the largest commercial real estate lender in Canada within 3 years of the inception of the industry with Bjorn managing the first 6 international CMBS securitizations. He is also recognized for helping shape the original underwriting standards in the CMBS industry as part of the original CMBS underwriting team with Merrill Lynch in New York in the mid 90’s. Overall Bjorn has originated and underwritten 10+ billion in commercial real estate loans.
In his earlier career, he did extensive consulting work for the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) in the capacity of CFO for an Asset Management Company out of Dallas. He was recognized by the RTC as an expert at valuing insolvent Savings & Loan Institutions with an emphasis on the commercial real estate portfolios. He valued 30+ financial institutions for the RTC within 5% of ultimate disposition proceeds.
He began his career in the banking industry where he developed innovative interest rate hedging strategies for mortgage loans using futures and options considered cutting edge at the time. He is recognized as a mentor and commercial real estate & finance industry expert.
In his free time, Bjorn is an avid skier, sailor and chef. He speaks 5 languages and has visited over 50 countries during his travels around the globe.
Bjorn holds an MBA in Finance & Banking and a B.S. in Business Administration, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of San Francisco.
Brent Wessel
Managing Director
Mr. Wessel brings over 25 years of Commercial and Multifamily industry experience and has been involved in over $22 Billion in real estate transactions nationally including multi-market portfolios, single assets of class A, B, and C properties for both securitization and portfolio lending.
In Loan Workouts, Mr. Wessel has been responsible for the restructuring and disposition of performing and non-performing assets, loan modifications, discounted payoffs, extensions and served on credit committee.
Mr. Wessel has held senior level management and origination positions at Cantor Fitzgerald, SunTrust Bank, Red Capital Group, Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets and GE Capital Real Estate. These assignments have given him an insider’s knowledge of the lender’s capabilities and motivations.
Mr. Wessel holds a BA and MBA from the University of Redlands and Advanced Business Management degree from the University of California, Riverside.
Industry Involvement: MBA, CMBA, Mortgage Bankers Assoc. SSA, ISS and ULI
Ernie Iriarte
Managing Director
Mr. Iriarte brings over 25 years of commercial real estate and finance experience to Pinpoint.
Prior to joining Pinpoint, Mr. Iriarte held a senior originations position with various national capital market groups including Cantor Fitzgerald, 3650 REIT, Goldman Sachs and Bank of New York. Mr. Iriarte’s expertise in all commercial real estate asset types includes origination/underwriting of debt and equity as well as distressed special situations, asset management and dispositions. His forte has been coordinating the borrow and lender relationship for the benefit of all parties.
Mr. Iriarte began his career at CBRE where he was responsible for maintaining the firms Wall Street/CMBS relationships. He still maintains industry wide contacts as a result of his tenure at CBRE which have spread to a variety of firms and professions throughout the real estate industry.
Mr. Iriarte has extensive experience in valuing distressed institutional commercial real estate portfolios having worked on FDIC and institutional workout assignments for various consulting groups. His experience involved evaluating and grading institutional real estate portfolios as well as developing recommendations for restructuring best case dispositions of individual assets.
Mr. Iriarte received a B.S. in Finance from the University of Southern California.
Kenneth Margala
Managing Director
Mr. Margala is a 30-year seasoned real estate professional with a diverse background in loan origination real estate finance and project analysis supported by public accounting experience early in his career. His experience as a senior tax consultant and auditor for a Big Four firm as well as CFO for a major real estate company provided him a solid foundation for proficiency in commercial real estate due diligence and underwriting.
Mr. Margala has a proven record of origination, underwriting and funding of conventional and innovative structured finance and capital market structures. Over a 25-year period, Mr. Margala has been personally responsible for the underwriting, origination, management, and disposition through securitization, sale, or refinance of several billion in CMBS, mezzanine, and bridge financings.
Mr. Margala has organized, established, and managed regional origination and underwriting operations in the US Eastern and Western Regions of several funding institutions including Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, UBS, and Cantor Fitzgerald. He possesses a large database of existing borrowing relationships with an excellent reputation in the mortgage banking and brokerage communities.
In the workout arena, Mr. Margala has extensive experience in valuing distressed institutional commercial real estate portfolios having worked for the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC), FDIC and various consulting groups. His experience involved evaluating and grading institutional real estate portfolios as well as developing recommendations for restructuring best case dispositions of individual assets.
Mr. Margala is experienced in the design and implementation of loan underwriting models, and the origination and securitization process with extensive knowledge of underwriting standards. He is credited with developing the underwriting loan analysis and evaluation model which became the standard underwriting model utilized by many institutional lenders, due diligence evaluators and rating agencies.
Mr. Margala attended Stanford University on an Academic/Athletic Scholarship, graduating with a BA in Economics and was a member of two Rose Bowl teams. He also attended California State Polytechnic College in the MBA program.
Martin Zucker
Counsel
Martin Zucker has practiced law for over 15 years. He is a licensed attorney and a member in good standing of The New York Bar and The Florida Bar. Martin practices in the area of real estate law with an emphasis on commercial real estate mortgage financing transactions. He has significant experience in representing commercial lenders and borrowers in the negotiation and closing of CMBS and large commercial mortgage transactions.
Prior to beginning his legal career, Martin worked as an asset manager for Real Estate Recovery, Inc., in their Florida and New York offices in the early 90’s administering a portfolio of REO property and non-performing mortgage loans for liquidation on behalf of the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC). Complimenting his workout experience, he also worked as an underwriter for Merrill Lynch in their original CMBS group in the mid 90’s.
Martin’s unique background in Commercial Real Estate underwriting and credit analysis sets him apart from other attorneys in his field and makes him an invaluable resource in advising clients in connections with deal structuring, strategy and other possible issues that may arise in the course of a mortgage transaction.
Martin lives in South Florida with his wife and two children where he enjoys the perks of the Florida sunshine, biking, fishing and coaching his children in youth sports.
Martin earned his B.A. degree from the University of Florida, his M.B.A. from the University of Miami, and his J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law.
Advisory Board
Paul Jankovsky, Jr.
Paul Jankovsky, Jr. is a finance and real estate executive with over 35 years of experience in banking, investment banking, real estate and capital markets with a proven track record of consistently producing results that positively affect profits and organizational growth. He has personally produced in excess of $4 billion of successful and profitably securitized commercial real estate loans during 14 years with Wall Street firms Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Merrill Lynch. Paul was also a Principal and Co-Founder of BH Capital, a Behringer Harvard Related Company which dealt with distressed debt transactions. Since 2008, Paul has been Managing Principal of JM Advisors, LLC, a firm which has been a consultant to distressed debt purchasers as well as banks and real estate investors on both CMBS and conventional real estate finance transactions.