O u r T e a m…
Pacific Growth has assembled a talented team with a collective 50 years of experience in real estate acquisitions, redevelopment, finance, construction, entitlements, management and dispositions. We strive to continue to build our reputation for quality, integrity, and superior returns in real estate.
Over the past decade, our team has built a nationwide network of relationships with distinguished individuals in all facets of the real estate industry. This strong network of alliances gives Pacific Growth the competitive advantage to identify and acquire emerging opportunities before the competition.
SHANNON D. PHILLIPS
Founder and Principal
Mr. Shannon Phillips is a founder and principal of Pacific Growth. He has over 12 years of real estate experience in residential and commercial properties and leads the fund management team.
Shannon is a pioneer for the Company in acquisitions to include multi-family, residential and retail. He has personally led over 50 successful real estate transactions in recent years and has a definitive level of experience in acquisitions, due diligence, re-development, dispositions, investment analysis, negotiations, real estate law, entitlements, marketing, management and team management. He has worked on larger multi-family assets and retail developments with national tenants such as Walgreens, Staples, McDonald’s, Washington Mutual and Pet Food Express.
Shannon is a licensed real estate professional, has a Bachelors of Science with an emphasis in Real Estate, and is a member of the Association of Realtors, California Apartment Association, National Multifamily Housing Council and International Council of Shopping Centers. He is a Bay Area native and lives in Tiburon, CA with his wife and daughter.
415-789-5529
CHRISTOPHER J. LAFORNARA
Founder and Principal
Mr. Chris Lafornara is a founder and principal of Pacific Growth. Chris leads the acquisition team with Shannon Phillips and owns California Funding and Lafornara Construction Companies. Chris has grown his personal real estate portfolio to include assets over $75 Million. He has over 15 years of real estate experience in redevelopment, acquisitions, dispositions, investment analysis, finance, market research, construction, leasing, negotiations, entitlements, property management and asset management.
Chris has a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in Real Estate Finance. He has a Real Estate Brokers License, is a licensed property manager with a CRM designation, has a General Contractor License, and is a member of the San Diego Association of Realtors and National Association of Realtors. He lives in San Diego, CA and directs operations out of the San Diego office.
619-233-6454
JOSEPH C. VESCE
Principal
Mr. Joe Vesce is an asset to the Pacific Growth team. He has extensive experience assembling, managing and training talented teams to meet Company budgets and exceed investor returns. Joe brings an 8 year track record of innovation, leadership, and success. After serving as a top ten national sales manager for Apex Systems Inc., one of the largest national staffing service companies, he co-founded Cypress HCM, LLC. Joe grew Cypress HCM, LLC to profitability within 6 months of operations, managed and trained up to 100 contractual employees for national Fortune 500 companies, then sold his ownership in the Company. Prior to Apex and Cypress, Joe worked as an analyst with Kiewit/FCI/Manson to manage budgets, forecasts, projections and assist in negotiating change order costs for the $1.4 Billion Bay Bridge construction project. Prior to Kiewit, Joe trained with Charles Schwab’s accelerated management program and focused on retail, institutional, financial services and banking sectors. Joe is a graduate of Saint Mary’s College of Moraga from the School of Economic and Business Administration. He is a Bay Area native and currently lives in Sausalito, CA.
415-789-5966
YAMEL RAMIREZ
Vice President of Sales
Ms. Yamel Ramirez is Vice President of Sales at Pacific Growth and leads the in-house brokerage division. She directs the Company’s leasing and sales teams for retail, multi-family, office and industrial projects and is an invaluable asset to our team. Yamel, formerly with Sperry Van Ness, began her career in property management, learning the real estate business from the ground up. She has either sold or has a pipeline of over $50 million in real estate transactions and assists the Principals with acquisitions, due diligence and dispositions.
Yamel has a Business Administration degree from San Diego State University, is a licensed real estate professional, is a member of the National Association of Realtors, San Diego Association of Realtors and the Commercial Real Estate Association.
619-273-3734
ROBERT ALEXANDER
Vice President of Acquisitions
Mr. Robert Alexander is Vice President of Acquisitions with Pacific Growth and works directly with the Principals of the Company to identify, analyze, acquire, underwrite and finance new acquisitions. Robert has helped acquire and underwrite over $50 million in Company assets. In addition, he is the liaison with Company lenders and is responsible for insuring each project is within budget and meets the Company’s performance goals.
Robert has a degree in Business finance as a Cume Laude graduate from the University of San Francisco, is a licensed California real estate professional and is working towards his real estate Brokers license.
619-233-6455
ROBIN GUNNING
Senior Asset & Project Manager
Ms. Robin Gunning is the Senior Asset & Project Manager with Pacific Growth. She has over 20 years experience with asset & project management to include development feasibility studies entitlements, construction, development and asset management. Robin has completed numerous office and multi-family condo conversions throughout her career and has an extensive experience working with HOA formations, CC&R formations, budgeting, site development and asset repositioning. Robin works directly with the Principals of Pacific Growth to consult with and hire architects, contractor’s engineers and other consultants needed to complete projects within budget and on schedule.
619-990-4628
