New Hampshire State of the Market

Brandon Kelly is the President and CEO of R.J. Kelly Co., Inc. (RJK) and a member of RJK's Executive Committee. Brandon is responsible for RJK's strategic goals, asset management efforts, and overall management of the company. He has over 35 years of real estate experience and has been involved in all aspects of RJK's endeavors since his youth. These roles have included asset management, leasing and lease negotiations, property management, finance, development, acquisition, and investment.

Megan is a problem-solver. As In House Counsel for Brady Sullivan Properties for more than a decade, Megan has extensive experience in all legal matters touching upon real estate development, ownership and management in states throughout New England. Megan routinely provides legal guidance in the highly regulated areas of construction, leasing, as well as residential and commercial property management. Prior to joining Brady Sullivan Properties, Megan’s practice focused on civil litigation. That is still a cornerstone of Megan’s practice at Brady Sullivan Properties and informs her approach to practical and effective risk management.

Mr. Farrelly joined Cushman & Wakefield as a broker in 1986 and soon after opened its Manchester, New Hampshire office to serve clients in the New Hampshire and Northern Massachusetts markets. Tom has since earned the title of Executive Managing Director, a position held by less than 5% of Cushman & Wakefield brokers worldwide. Tom is the lead member of the Cushman & Wakefield of New Hampshire team, which specializes in the sale and leasing of office and industrial properties. Over the last 38 years, Tom and his team have completed in excess of 48,000,000 square feet (SF) of office and industrial transactions, ranging in size from 500 to 750,000 SF. Tom has assisted a variety of landlords and tenants as well as corporations and institutions in the acquisition and disposition of their real estate. Significant transactions include the largest industrial sale in New Hampshire history, consisting of 375 acres of land in Hudson for $122,000,000 to a retailer for logistics purposes; the sale of the 760,000 SF, 180-acre HP Campus; the sale of a 600,000 SF flex portfolio which his team has sold three times in the past 10 years; the sale of Corning Lasertron’s 335,000 SF, partially completed manufacturing facility on 55 acres; the 250,000 SF, $21,500,000 sale/leaseback of Blue Cross Blue Shield’s headquarters; representing Timberland twice on its 250,000 SF headquarters lease; representing TIAA on its four-building, 202,000 SF portfolio; representing Lockheed Martin on three separate building sales totaling 415,000 SF; and representing Raytheon Marine on a 150,000 SF HQ building sale and its 80,000 SF headquarters lease. Tom has earned the award of “Top Industrial Broker” in the Boston office five times and has been Cushman & Wakefield’s New England “Top Producing Broker” twice. He has been the recipient of Cushman & Wakefield of New England’s “Most Ingenious Deal” award and has finished in the firm’s “Top 100” brokers nationally seven times. Under his leadership, the New Hampshire office was awarded the firm’s New England “Client Service Excellence Award” in 1999, 2000 and 2001, given to the brokerage team with the highest client feedback ratings. Tom is one of two brokers to have received the Governor’s Choice Award from the State of New Hampshire in recognition of his three plus decades of private sector efforts for economic development in the state. His team’s production has received CoStar’s Power Broker recognition awards several times. In past years, Tom and his team have won multiple awards from the CIBOR New Hampshire Commercial Real Estate Board and were the 2016 recipients for the Office Sale of the Year, Industrial Sale of the Year and the Union Leader Deal of the Year for the 110,000 SF build-to-suit for Gourmet Gift Baskets in Exeter. Tom holds the prestigious Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) designation and has served on its National Board of Directors SIOR New England Chapter Board of Directors and served as its President. He is a member of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors Commercial Investment Board of Realtors (CIBOR) and has served on their Board. Tom has served on the Board of Directors for the New Hampshire High Technology Council, on the Executive Board of the Daniel Webster Council of the Boy Scouts of America and as the Chair on the Bishop’s Charitable Assistant Fund as well as Chairman of its Summer Reception Fundraiser. Tom is a New Hampshire native, is married to his Wife Devin, has three children and currently resides on the seacoast in Rye, New Hampshire. Tom is a 1982 graduate of Plymouth State College with a BA in marketing.

Jim Kerouac is a Shareholder and Real Estate Practice Group Co-Chair at Bernstein Shur, a Northern New England law firm with an office in Manchester, NH, providing legal counsel to businesses of all sizes in a wide variety of industries. With more than twenty years of experience handling complex and multijurisdictional commercial real estate and commercial lending transactions, Jim leverages his understanding to convey the facts clearly and get the deal done. Whether he is working with clients or with opposing counsel, it’s Jim’s proven ability to communicate with clear, concise language while negotiating complex transactions that allows him to deliver practical solutions for clients and see them through the end. Jim is a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and the American College of Mortgage Attorneys. He is also recognized by MartindaleHubble with an AV Preeminent ® Peer Review. Jim has been recognized by several publications as one of the top real estate lawyers in New Hampshire, including recognition in The Best Lawyers in America for Real Estate Law and Commercial Transactions/UCC, ranking in Chambers USA© for Real Estate Law, and recognition in the Super Lawyers attorney rating service. Jim was an adjunct faculty member at The University of New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce School of Law, where he taught a course on Business Transactions in the Daniel Webster Honors Program. He is also active in charitable and civic matters across New Hampshire, including his current service as a member of the board of directors for the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund. Jim received his JD from the Boston University School of Law, and graduated cum laude with a B.S. in biology and a B.A. in philosophy from the University of New Hampshire.

Jay Bisognano founded Torrington Properties as a real estate investment firm in 2014 with the goal to capitalize on opportunities in value-added investment, development and management. As Chief Executive Officer, Jay currently oversees the firm’s investment strategy, development function and all new business. In addition to this role, Jay serves as founder and partner of Stonington Capital, a real estate finance company based in Boston.

Ronald Dupont is the President of Red Oak Apartment Homes, LLC. in Manchester. Founded in 1984, Red Oak is a leader in the apartment home rental business and currently has over 1800 apartment units in southern New Hampshire. Mr. Dupont received a BS in Industrial Engineering from Northeastern University and has an MBA from Rivier College. He served as the first President of the Apartment Association of New Hampshire and grew the association membership from representing 600 multi-family units to representing 12,000 units in 1 year.

As Principal & Head of Operations at Elm Grove Companies, Matt leads a skilled multidisciplinary team in both Development and Operational Excellence. He's the driving force behind the firm's Low-Income Housing Tax Credit initiatives, overseeing everything including planning, underwriting, financing, construction. In operations, Matt’s responsibilities include staff development, financial oversight, and customer service excellence. His leadership is metrics-driven, focused on boosting performance across the board and fostering an accountable and high performance culture. Since 2015, Matt has extended his expertise to Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU), serving as a Board Director and former Chair for an organization with over a million members. He also serves as the Treasurer for the New Hampshire Homebuilders Association. Academically, Matt holds a magna cum laude Bachelor's from Tufts University and a summa cum laude Master's from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He's an alumnus of the 2017 Leadership Greater Manchester program.

Preston Hunter is vice president at Eckman Construction, one of the area’s leading commercial construction management firms. He has had many roles at Eckman over his 18-year tenure. Currently his work is primarily focused on new project development, and he often partners with developers to help identify suitable sites for new multifamily housing projects. He is a graduate of Bucknell University where he earned a degree in Electrical Engineering. Preston is a lifelong resident of New Hampshire, and he currently resides in Bedford with his wife Kathryn and two children.

Greg focuses his practice on affordable housing and community development projects utilizing tax credit financing. He regularly represents both for-profit and non-profit developers in complex community development transactions throughout New England combining federal tax credit incentives with state tax credits and other funding sources. Greg regularly advises sponsors of tax credit transactions that leverage a variety of public and private funding combinations including Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, Historic Tax Credits, Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) public housing conversions, HUD assistance programs, tax-exempt and taxable bonds, commercial loans, HUD-insured loans, HOME funds, state tax credits, Federal and state rental assistance, low-interest loans, grants and energy efficiency subsidies.

Katie joined the Bedford, New Hampshire team as Vice President for Commercial Real Estate Practice after ten years in the property management industry. Some of Katie’s clients include one of the largest real estate development companies in MA, high-rise luxury condominiums, start-up real estate companies, market rate apartment owner operators, older wood frame condominium complexes and non-profits. Her territory extends throughout New England. Her background in property management as a regional portfolio manager provides her with a unique consultative approach to help her Real Estate clients coordinate coverage, identify potential loss exposures, transfer risk and implement risk management best practices. Katie is an avid skier, boater, and has a passion for the outdoors and enjoys spending time with her family. She has earned the professional designations of Commercial Lines Coverage Specialist (CLCS) from the National Underwriting Company; Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA) and Association Management Specialist (AMC) from the Community Associations Institute. Katie currently volunteers on the New England Chapter of the Community Association Institute Board of Directors and is a Past-President.