Our Management Team
Melvin Andrews, President
Melvin Andrews is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Lakeside Capital Partners (“Lakeside”). Mr. Andrews is one of the founders and owners of Lakeside. Lakeside was formed in 1998 to be a new source of capital for the residential land development and home building industry. As Chief Investment Officer, Mr. Andrews is responsible for directing the strategic management and oversight of Lakeside, and each investment made by Lakeside. In addition, Mr. Andrews oversees the management of Lakeside’s investment holdings.
Mr. Andrews has over 25 years experience of establishing and managing equity investments strategies and programs, and directly originating equity real estate investments. Mr. Andrews was Executive Vice President, Chief Investment Officer and co-founder of Olympic Realty Advisors (“Olympic”). Olympic was a partner with both CalPERS and Shamrock Holdings, which is the family investment vehicle for Roy Disney and is managed by Stanley Gold. In addition, Mr. Andrews was a Senior Vice President, with Security Pacific Bank and directed all facets of real estate investments, joint ventures, real estate development, the management of REO, and the restructure of troubled real estate projects. Mr. Andrews’ lending experience involved underwriting, structuring and negotiating financing for residential and commercial projects developed by mid-size developers in California, and office, regional mall and mixed-use projects by large national developers.
Mr. Andrews has a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of California at
Berkeley, and an MBA from the Wharton Business School at the University of
Pennsylvania.
Marsha Jennings, Chief Operating Officer
Marsha Jennings joined Lakeside in April 2000 as Chief Operating Officer and became a partner in January 2002. Ms. Jennings manages Lakeside’s ongoing partnership investments, directs daily operations and investment administration. She is in charge of financial and project review reporting to investors.
Prior to joining Lakeside, Ms. Jennings was a Senior Vice President and Western Division Manager for Construction Lending Corporation of America, a subsidiary of IndyMac Mortgage Holdings, Inc. She directed subdivision construction loan production and managed lending officers for regional offices throughout the Western United States. In addition, Ms. Jennings spent eleven years with Security Pacific National Bank/Bank of America as a commercial real estate lending officer and manager.
Ms. Jennings has a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Utah, graduating Magna Cum Laude.
Ronald Lee, Chairman Emeritus
Ronald Lee is the Chairman Emeritus of Lakeside. Mr. Lee has over 35 years experience real estate investment and lending. Mr. Lee is a co-founder of Lakeside and still maintains significant ownership holdings. Mr. Lee retired from Lakeside in 2006 and continues his involvement in investments originated prior to that. In addition, he consults on new acquisitions and investments Lakeside pursues.
Prior to retiring, Mr. Lee was CEO of Lakeside where he and Mr. Andrews established the company’s investment strategy and plan, approved all investment transactions and co-directed the overall activity of the company. Mr. Lee also supervised and coordinated the activities of Lakeside’s investment officers.
Prior to Lakeside, Mr. Lee served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Olympic Realty Advisors (“Olympic”). Olympic was is a partner of both CalPERS and Shamrock Holdings, and made investments in residential land development in California.
Mr. Lee has twenty-two years of prior banking experience with Security Pacific Bank, with most of those years dedicated to the real estate industry. During this time Mr. Lee was President of Security Pacific Real Estate Capital Company, Executive Vice President of Security Pacific Bank and formed the Security Pacific California Real Estate Industry Group which included eight regional offices, plus a dedicated division for mortgage warehousing to finance the mortgage banking industry. This group included over two hundred line and staff officers and employees dedicated to providing construction financing and commercial lines of credit to major developers located in California. Mr. Lee had lending/investment authority for transactions up to $50 million. Through this unit, Mr. Lee was instrumental in three leveraged buy-outs of major California developers.
Sam Liao, Chief Financial Officer
Sam Liao joined Lakeside in January 2001 as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Liao is responsible for updating financial projections on all projects, and preparing financial reports for investors.
Prior to Lakeside, he was VP Finance/CFO for Metropolitan Investment from 1995-2000, managing and financing housing projects and achieving revenue of $159 million in 2000. He served as a business analyst for EDS /AT Kearny from 1994-1995, and was a top producer at Merrill Lynch Capital Markets as a Sr. Financial Consultant from 1990 – 1994. During his college years he was Director of Import/Export marketing for Mascot Company,
Ltd, in Los Angeles.
Mr. Liao has a BA in Economics from University of California Los Angeles (1989) and an MBA from University of Southern California (1990). Sam is completely fluent in English, Mandarin Chinese, and Taiwanese, and is a CPA and holds both insurance and real estate broker licenses.
Ender Sezgin, Director of Land Development and Construction
Ender Sezgin, joined Lakeside when it was formed in 1998, as Director of Land Development and Construction. Mr. Sezgin is responsible for due diligence and reviewing actual project development regarding engineering, development costs and any environmental issues pertaining to Lakeside investments. Prior to his engagement with Lakeside, Mr. Sezgin was a land development consultant for Olympic Realty Advisors.
Prior to 1995, Mr. Sezgin was Executive Vice president and partner of Integrated Resources Management, Inc. (“IRMI”). He managed a group of professionals in due diligence, entitlement, construction, and environmental projects. Major clients included Glendale Federal Bank, Imperial Bank, Bank of New York, Imperial Thrift and Loan, Fidelity Federal Bank, Mechanics National Bank, and several other financial institutions and law firms.
Prior to IRMI, he formed Management Resources with two partners and opened offices in Los Angeles, and Miami. During his time with Management Resources, he served as a part of a team of consulting professionals in evaluating, and packaging of non-performing assets (throughout the US-mostly residential subdivisions) for Ford Motor Company/First Nationwide Bank. Prior to 1992 Mr. Sezgin served as Vice President/ Assistant Manager of Construction Loan Services at Imperial Bank. His duties included due diligence, underwriting, and ongoing management of the construction loan portfolio. He authored the construction loan due diligence/management and environmental risk management policies for the Bank
Prior to Imperial Bank, he worked in Saudi Arabia as a Civil Engineer in construction of 2,500 home development for Kut-enka JV and also worked for several engineering firms in design of Water Resources Structures in Turkey.
Ender Sezgin holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, a leading technical university in the region. Mr. Sezgin also holds and MBA with studies at UCLA and San Diego State, and has done additional studies in Banking, Real Estate Law and Environmental Law.
Partners
Lakeside has had investment partnerships with the following capital provides or sources.
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners I
Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners II
California State Employees Retirement System (CALPERS)
Shamrock Capital Partners