The City Of Waller: Small Town Feel, Big Town Opportunities

David Wolff is Chairman and President of Wolff Companies, a Houston-based holding company which manages his activities and investments in real estate development, financial assets, professional sports and agriculture. Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Wolff graduated with honors from Amherst College in 1962 and with an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1964. He has served as a Trustee of Amherst College and is presently a Trustee Emeritus. He has been an adviser to the faculty of Harvard Business School in the development of the study of entrepreneurship and was Chairman of his class’s 50th reunion campaign, which raised more money than any other reunion campaign in the school’s history. He performed his military service with the U.S. Coast Guard and, subsequently, as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy. David Wolff founded Wolff, Morgan and Company in 1970, which evolved into Wolff Companies in 1985 and has guided the company to its position as Houston’s largest developer of office, business and industrial parks as well as sites for healthcare, hotels, retail and multi-family. He is a partner in the San Francisco Giants and AT&T Park, San Francisco. His agricultural interests include a 1,680-acre working cattle ranch in Independence, Texas, which he has operated for 36 years, and vineyards in the Napa Valley of California. During his five decades in Houston, David Wolff has worked on many community endeavors including: the West Houston Association which he co-founded and then chaired for six years; the Houston Parks Board on which he served for 12 years, including two terms as Chairman; the Houston Grand Opera where he was Vice President and Chairman of the Finance Committee; and the Greater Houston Partnership. Mr. Wolff was Chairman of METRO (the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County) from 2004 to 2010. David and his wife, Mary, have been married for over forty years and have two daughters, two son-in-laws, three granddaughters and two grandsons.

Keith has over 40 years of experience in commercial real estate and that adds significant value to each client he represents. With a thorough knowledge of the Houston market, land owners attain maximum value with Keith’s representation. Keith also excels at representing investors, developers, and commercial users in acquiring small to 1,000-plus acre tracts of land by locating highly profitable sites in the best locations in Houston and the surrounding areas. Keith expertly negotiates to achieve the best possible prices for land buyers and land owners. His single focus is on the customer’s overall satisfaction. Keith has proven outstanding customer service while managing over 250 land listings, which is more land listings than any other firm in Houston. His success is due to the long-term relationships he forms with commercial clients, both domestic and international. During his 40+ years in commercial real estate, he has established solid relationships with other brokers in the Houston area. Keith also brings to Caldwell Companies his expert negotiating skills, a winning attitude, and sense of urgency to make deals close. He has ranked in the Houston Business Journal's Heavy Hitters of Commercial Real Estate Land Brokers List for 8 years, including the top 5 list for the past four years, and a second place ranking in 2016. Keith is a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM), and a member of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), where he is Vice-Chair of the SIOR National Membership Standards Committee. He served on the Board of Leadership North Houston and Leadership North Houston Alumni, and the Greater Tomball Chamber of Commerce. Currently he also serves on the Klein Education Foundation and was the past chairman of the Development Trends Committee for the North Houston Association. Prior to receiving his broker’s license, Keith studied Business at Sam Houston State University. Born in Tyler, Texas, Keith was raised in Cleveland. He currently lives in Cypress with his wife of 36 years, Dennise. He enjoys playing golf, fishing, traveling and spending time with his family.

Michael O’Neil currently serves as the Managing Director at Burckhardt Compression. O’Neil brings over 20 years of experience with him in extensive gas compression and management. Prior to joining Burckhardt Compression, O’Neil was Vice President & GM at Emco Wheaton (A KKR & GardnerDenver Division). Previous experiences include various executive positions in sales, operations, engineering, and aftermarket division at Cameron International and Dresser-Rand. He holds B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University.

Bob Nickles career has been centered on energy services, in particular natural gas compression. He began with Nickles Machine as Project Engineer and worked through the ranks as Engineering Manager, Plant Manager, VP of Operations, President and CEO. Ultimately, he established Nickles Industrial as the largest independent parts, service and repair organization in the reciprocating compression industry; NI was sold to Cooper Cameron in 2001. While with Cameron Bob served as VP of Sales and Marketing and also as VP of Operations. Bob was an equity investor and COO of Valerus Compression Services, which was sold to TPG. Currently Bob is a member of the Board of Directors for First Financial Bank serving on the Compensation Committee and the Kingwood Regional Advisory Board, other Board of Director roles include; Fast Fusion LLC, Frisco Professional Building Investors and serving as Managing Director of 3MCB Investments and Nickle’s Investments. He currently serves on the Finance Council of Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church. Mr. Nickles earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering Design Technology from Oklahoma State University.

Alex Makris is a Vice President in the Houston Brokerage Services Team of CBRE specializing in the purchase and sale of land. Alex has experience in asset disposition, land sales, investment sales, retail and residential development, as well as Retail and Land leasing. Alex has worked with investors and developers such as Trammell Crow Company, L&B Realty Advisors, Shanda Worldwide, Cole Capital, Inland Western, Credit Suisse, KB Homes, David S. Wolff Co., The Finger Companies, D.R. Horton, David Weekley Homes, HEB Stores and Toll Brothers. He also has experience negotiating with national retail tenants such as Walmart, Academy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Ross, TJX Company, Michaels, Best Buy, Kroger and many others. Alex came to CBRE through the Trammell Crow merger and has been with the combined companies for over fifteen years. Alex studied at the University of Houston and enjoyed a successful 12-year career in the restaurant business in Houston with Taste of Texas Restaurant and Pappas Restaurants prior to joining CBRE.

Kevin Moran was named Superintendent on June 5, 2018 by the Waller ISD School Board of Trustees. Mr. Moran joined Waller ISD in 2012 where served first as the 21st Century After School Centers on Education Grant Program Director and then as the Assistant Superintendent for Administration. Before joining Waller ISD, he served in administrative positions including high school principalships in Diboll ISD and Fort Bend ISD. He began his education career in 1989 after earning a Bachelor of Arts in Education degree from Bloomsburg State University in Pennsylvania and a Master of Science in Education degree from the University of Houston. Mr. Moran and his wife Maria have two grown children.

John Isom is the Director of the City of Waller Economic Development Corporation, a sales-tax funded non-profit tasked with increasing primary jobs and tax base for the city through business attraction and retention. A former Waller County Commissioner, he has served in his present position for 17 years, representing his community to business executives, developers, brokers, and site selectors in facilitating business site location and expansion. He has facilitated partnerships by networking community leaders from business, school district, university, and city/county government to work with regional organizations in economic development projects. He has also initiated and coordinated projects to plan for the future of the city in transportation and community development, resulting in a $2 million dollar downtown enhancement grant. He initiated a 2015 state law that added annexation flexibility allowing the 800+ Texas general law cities to annex by voluntary consent all projects to which they have provided utilities.

Darren earned a BA degree from Southwest Texas State University in 1988. Upon graduation he took a business development position at Reef Industries in Houston, Texas. Darren's 7 years at Reef proved beneficial to the company. He grew an obscure product line to four times the revenue, making his mark as a successful business developer. During his work for Reef, Darren observed the problems contractors were having controlling water on job sites. This motivated him to invent a new, innovative product that could safely control surface water, and thus the Aqua- Barrier water inflated cofferdam was born. The Aqua-Barriers are utilized on construction sites and as a flood protection device. H S I Services, Inc., originally Aqua-Barrier, Inc. began operations in 1996. Design and testing began using strict engineering practices. This resulted in his first US Patent obtained in 1998. Hydrological Solutions has 13 distributors worldwide that serve over 35 countries. All of the products Darren has invented are shipped all over the world. The trademark names are well known in many languages. In June of 2020 H S I Services moved to its state of the art 40,000 SF manufacturing facility. At 20581 FM 365 Waller, TX 77484. This will increase our manufacturing capabilities three-fold. As President of H S I Services, Inc., He uses his creative product development and marketing skills to maintain a competitive advantage in today's evolving marketplace. Darren recognizes he is under God's providence. This motivates him to maintain the highest ethical standards in the business world and in his work place relationships. His organization strives to make a difference in the world they touch.

Jason joined the Archway Team in 2019. He brings over 20 years of extensive background in O&G manufacturing operations management and small business development that provide a critical base of knowledge for his role as Development Manager. His understanding of manufacturing client needs will contribute greatly to our rapidly growing Industrial portfolio. Prior to joining Archway, he obtained his TREC Real Estate license in 2017 and has been involved in numerous commercial transactions. After serving in the U.S. Army, Jason earned a B.A. in Business & Marketing with a Minor in Entrepreneurship from the University of Houston. He later completed certification from the esteemed, top rated Entrepreneurship Program in the nation; the Bauer College of Business Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. He recently celebrated 25 years of marriage to his wife, Brandie, and has one son named Rowan and is an active member of Bayou City Fellowship of Cypress.

Christie was born on the Gold Coast and raised in Sydney, Australia. Miraculously, she survived both the snakes and spiders. A graduate of the University of New South Wales, Christie spent much of her misguided youth wandering the world, looking for adventure. Then she moved to Texas. A self-proclaimed science fiction nerd, sleep connoisseur and dinosaur enthusiast, Christie has been known to keep a folder of carefully-selected memes on her desktop (in case of emergencies). She has also been known to prefer the company of household pets at parties. Since relocating to Houston, Christie has developed a love for the US National Parks system and is quite obsessed with venturing out to hike, camp and explore as many as possible. Her current favorite is Canyonlands National Park, chiefly because it looks like another planet. When she is not watching YouTube videos of friendly belugas (or other sea creatures; she does not discriminate), Christie can be found lurking in a bookshop – usually in the aisle with the books about spaceships.

Kim was born in Flushing, New York and come from many generations of New Yorkers. It was a culture shock when she first moved to Houston, Texas in the late 70's but can now say Y'all with the best of them. Kim graduated from the University of Houston with a BBA in Marketing and has worked in media her entire life. Kim played and coached soccer for many years and even spent a summer in England playing in tournaments. The oldest of three girls, she now has two sons (the first born Texans in her family), a husband and three male rescue dogs.