our team
meet
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success
Mike Ballard co-founded Camino Verde Group and is the firm’s CEO. He has 30 years of experience in all facets of real estate operations, including entitlement, acquisitions, development, marketing, renovation, dispositions, property management and finance. Mike has been involved in the development and/or renovation of multifamily, retail and office properties as well as data centers. He is currently involved in the development of more than $200 million in multifamily projects.
Mike is also a partner in Ascent Multifamily Accounting, a bookkeeping firm for the multifamily industry. The firm currently serves more than 50,000 units for 40 apartment owners in 13 states. In 2020, the firm was ranked in the Inc.500 as the 374th fastest growing company in America.
Mike was a founding member of the board of the Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, also helped with the formation of the local National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) and Construction Financial Management Association chapters. He also is the past president of the Las Vegas Rotary Club, the oldest and largest service club in Southern Nevada.
Mike has helped start two banks and served on the board of Black Mountain Community Bank. Early in Mike’s career, he worked for Laventhol & Horwath, CPAs and later joined RSM McGladrey & Pullen before starting his own consulting firm.
Kevin Romney is the cofounder and managing director of Camino Verde Group. He is responsible for underwriting, acquisitions, financing, legal and corporate operations. He also provides financing support for development projects.
Prior to creating the Camino Verde Group, Kevin founded The Romney Group in 1989 and remained president and CEO of the company until he left to create Camino Verde Group in 2019. At the Romney Group, Kevin owned and developed commercial property and managed retail, office and medical projects. While at The Romney Group,
Kevin was also CEO and president of Paramount MultiServices, in which he built a group of call centers serving several Fortune 500 companies. These call centers were located throughout Texas, New Mexico and Nebraska.
Kevin started his career at Ernst and Whinney. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Brigham Young University.
Joseph Gallagher is a senior financial and development executive with more than three decades of experience. Prior to Camino Verde Group, Joseph has held senior roles at Cobalt Data Centers, Marnell Companies, Station Casinos and the Las Vegas Sands corporation. In his more than 15 years in construction management, he has been responsible for more than $1 billion in construction projects.
As Chief Financial Officer of Cobalt Data Centers, Joseph was responsible for the overall financial affairs of the company, including managing cash flows, capital expenditures, finances and budgetary procedures. Joseph also served as Project Manager for the construction of the Cobalt Cheyenne Data Center. He oversaw the design and construction teams and directed their activities with an eye toward project budget and schedule.
Prior to that, Joseph spent five years as a senior executive for the Marnell Companies, one of the leading construction and architecture firms in the U.S. Marnell is best known for its Las Vegas Strip resort work, including Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Wynn Las Vegas, The Mirage, Treasure Island and the M Resort.
Prior to that, Joseph was Director of Construction Finance for Station Casinos where he was the chief construction financial officer during the design and construction of Green Valley Ranch Resort and Thunder Valley Casino as well as numerous expansions, renovations and remodels.
Joseph has also held senior roles in the financial departments of the Sands Hotel and Casino and Sands Expo & Convention Center.
Jeff Knowlton
CFO, Managing director
Jeff Knowlton joined Camino Verde Group in 2021 and serves as the firm’s chief financial officer and managing director. Jeff brings more than 16 years of experience in evaluating and investing in private investments (hedge funds, private equity funds, commodities, real estate, operating companies, etc). He also serves as the chief financial officer for Hayman Capital Management, LP (“HCM”) a hedge fund advisor in Dallas, Texas, which at its peak, had assets under management (AUM) in excess of $2 Billion.
Mr. Knowlton was also appointed as the chief financial officer for Conservation Equity Management, LP (“CEM”) in February 2021, a private equity real estate advisor that has more than $100 million in commitments. As the CFO for CEM, Mr. Knowlton is involved in various aspects of real estate diligence, including assisting with project modeling, obtaining financing from banks, structuring investment deals, overseeing legal relationships, creation of new entities and management of bank relationships. He oversees the audit and tax activities for various funds managed by CVG, HCM and CEM.
Jeff worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers as an auditor. Mr. Knowlton studied accounting at Brigham Young University where he obtained a bachelor’s and master’s in accounting in 2002.
Mark Taylor
General counsel
Mark Taylor serves as the firm’s general counsel, as well as being a managing director for the firm. His 35-year career has been marked by understanding capital markets and making strategic real estate investments. Most investments are based on purchasing the asset at a discount to its intrinsic value and using financing and aggressive management strategies to realize that value.
Mark operated his own investment firm, Stone Street Capital, for nine years before joining the Camino Verde Group. Prior to establishing Stone Street, he was at KBR Capital Partners, a New York-based Investment Fund, where he directed the fund’s real estate investments and served as general counsel.
Prior to KBR, Mark was employed by The Beach Company, headquartered in Charleston and one of the South’s oldest and most recognized development companies. He was in charge of the Commercial Real Estate Division. The Beach Company owned and managed more than 600,000 s.f. of retail, more than 300,000 s.f. of office, and one million s.f. of industrial property.
Sean Varner
Asset manager
Sean Varner Is an asset manager at Camino Verde Group, primarily working with our properties with master leases. He works with veterans or justice-involved organizations to help them meet their housing needs. He also oversees the maintenance operations working with our third-party management companies to expedite capital improvements and turns.
Prior to joining Camino Verde, Sean worked for U.S. Homeland Security from 2017 to 2020. For more than 15 years, he successfully operated his own business in Henderson Nevada.
Sean has been active in the community primarily in his church and in youth sports. He served as a coach of the Green Valley High School football team for ten years. He’s spent decades years involved in coaching thousands of young men in football and other sports.
Robby Thomas Serves as a Vice President of Asset Management for Camino Verde Group and is responsible for asset management and oversight of third-party property management firms. He also assists the firm in securing and financing affordable housing communities in Nevada.
Robby is a financial services and non-profit leader whose career and leadership spans more than two decades. He started his career in banking at Bank of America, Sovereign Bank and OneUnited Bank, the nation’s largest African-American Bank.
Robby’s business and leadership experience includes serving successfully for two terms as President and Chairman of the Greater Grove Hall Main Streets (a community-based economic development initiative in partnership with local stakeholders and the City of Boston). He also served as a director and officer of the Grove Hall Neighborhood Development Corp, a multi-million-dollar community based real estate developer of low-income housing
John Edmond is the founder of Nucleus Investments and Nucleus Associates Community Development Corporation. John has been in real estate development business for more than 40 years.
John was the first black baccarat dealer in Las Vegas. He started at the Stardust, moved to the MGM, before ultimately becoming Senior Vice President of Baccarat at the Caesars Palace until 1985. Million-dollar games, rubbing shoulders with celebrities and making money was par for the course. Edmond made a goal to save much of that money to invest in the historic West Las Vegas. He started Nucleus Investments, developed the Edmond Town Center, and began buying properties in the historic Westside to help the struggling community.
In 2000 at the behest of Governor Kenny Guinn, John started the not-for-profit, Nucleus Community Development Corporation. He also serves on the board of the City of Las Vegas Community Investment Corporation, a city-controlled nonprofit, which serves as a Community Development Entity awarding approved NMTC loans.
Mike Montandon is broker and co-owner of Providence Commercial, a commercial real estate brokerage firm based in Henderson NV. Prior to Providence, Mike served as Vice President of Business Development and Government Affairs at DC Building Group, Managing Partner at Insight Investment Partners where he focused on the San Diego County, Phoenix, and Las Vegas markets for a diverse range of asset classes.
For 12 years, from 1997 to 2009, mike served as Mayor of North Las Vegas, Nevada’s fourth largest city and the nations 89th largest city. Prior to serving as North Las Vegas’ mayor, he was Senior Appraisal Analyst with Bank of America.
In addition to his professional career, Mike has served on several boards and committees. The most recent include Board of Directors for Valley Bank of Nevada, the Las Vegas Chapters of NAIOP, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor’s Authority (LVCVA) and the Nellis Air Force Base Support Team.
Mujahid Ramadan is the founder and CEO of M.R. Consulting, a diversity training and consulting firm. At MR Consulting, Mujahid leads a team of six professionals and administrative members that creates and delivers diversity and management training for corporations and public agencies.
Prior to starting his consulting firm, Ramadan served as CEO of Nevada Partners Organization, Inc. where he managed the construction of a 20,000 job training facility and then managed a staff fo 25. He developed and implemented the welfare-to-work initiative programs, designed and facilitated the Metro Police Department’s Academy Diversity program and participated in the design and implementation of MGM MIRAGE Diversity and Hiring Promotion Outreach in Southern Nevada and in Detroit Michigan.
Proir to Nevada Partners, Ramadan was appointed Nevada State Drug Policy Director, aka State Drug Czar, by Governor Bill Miller. There he administered governor’s drug policy commission and its funding of a $13 million dollar yearly budget for law enforcement, education and treatment.
Prior to joining the Governor’s cabinet, Ramadan served as U.S. Senator Harry’s Reid’s regional representative.
Ramadan served as an advisor to the President’s Faith Community Initiative, a board member of the Inter-Faith Council for Workers Justice, a participant in the National Leadership Summit on Race Relations and America’s Public Education System, and a trainer for the Justice Department Violent Crimes Program.