J. Christopher Mizer
President & CEO
J. Christopher Mizer founded Vivaris, Ltd. in June of 1998. Vivaris (formerly Lake Erie Capital) invests in and acquires middle-market businesses in a broad range of industries that are leaders in their market niches. Mr. Mizer serves as the chairman of each of the portfolio companies and guides key strategic decisions and their execution. He also serves as the operating president on an interim basis when companies are going through periods of ownership succession and new management team members are being assembled.
Mr. Mizer is a former Vice President and Officer of the investment banking division of Key Capital Markets, where he focused on merger, acquisition, and financing projects for Fortune 500 clients, private companies, and successful entrepreneurs. Prior to joining Key Corp., he was Consultant in the Capital Markets practice with Ernst & Young.
He began his career as a Research Assistant with The Center for Economic Issues, a think-tank focused on economic development. He earned the B.S. (biology, applied math), B.A. (economics), M.S. degrees (biology - neurogenetics), and MBA (finance, accounting) degrees from Case Western Reserve University.
Christopher has taught business strategy, finance and entrepreneurship at the graduate level at Case Western Reserve University, John Carroll University, and the University of California, San Diego and at the undergraduate at San Diego State University.
Steven C. Scholl
Vice President
Mr. Scholl was a Principal and Co-Founder of National Schedule Masters, a software and consulting business focused on the land development and construction industries. He built a national sales force and operational processes for entitlement and construction strategies for municipal, military and private-sector clients. His extensive development and construction skills yielded hundreds of major clients including Cadillac Fairview, Daon, The Irvine Company, DR Horton, Tishman, Lennar, Pulte, Fluor, Kiewit, U.S. Olympic Committee, Magic Mountain, Disney, the U.S. Military as well as projects in 22 countries.
As President of mortgage and investment banker, National Bankers Acceptance Corporation, Mr. Scholl oversaw the acquisition of construction loans for commercial, residential and land loan clients. He represented and approved loans for over 100 client banks and negotiated a financial joint-venture with Key Bank. Under Key Bank, Mr. Scholl managed 7 residential retail loan offices in California and managed underwriting and funding of over 3,000 residential loans in a 3-year period. In addition he negotiated construction and permanent financing for office, retail, and industrial developers.
Mr. Scholl was also successful in negotiating contracts with the FDIC that yielded transactions totaling over $10 billion including one transaction of $4.5 billion.
Steve is also committed to charity. He formed Dr. Prison, a not-for-profit organization, which provides services to first-time offenders and to families of the incarcerated.
Timothy W. O’Rielly,
Director
Real Estate
Mr. O’Rielly’s diversified 25 year real estate career has encompassed virtually every aspect of commercial development. He has directed the acquisition, planning, financing, governmental approvals, design and marketing of more than 1 million square feet of commercial development with an estimated buildout value of $200 million. Tim consults for corporate clients ongoing including; Residential Ventures, Hillman Properties, Oliver McMillan, The Flagship Group, Black Orchid Equity, Wolfpack Ventures, Parallel 6, RPC Property Tax Advisors, Access Youth Academy and Cappello Capital. Projects of note include; Sorrento Towers a $175million 830,000 SF mid-rise office, mixed-use complex in San Diego, Blackhorse Farms a $40 million mixed-use project with a conference center and residential in San Diego, Cherry Tower a $25 million 226,000 SF office project in Denver, 6000 Evans a $5 million 106,000 SF office project in Denver. Mr. O’Rielly is currently working actively to expand the Coronado Coastal Development platform to opportune locations in Southern California. Mr. O’Rielly attended Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude. He is an avid sports enthusiast having completed the Hawaii Ironman and currently plays USTA tennis tournaments. He is also a photographer and has exhibited shows called “Oaxaca Spirti”, “Mayan Spirit” and “O’Rielly and Ray in Paris.”
John C. De Puy,
Joint Venture Partner & Business
Development
Mr. De Puy is the President of Oaktree Ventures. His business background includes more than 25 years as an entrepreneur, CEO, investment banker, management consultant and civic leader. He has been instrumental in advising more than 600 companies, primarily medium-sized software and high technology companies. John has played crit ical roles in the founding, operations and funding of more than 20 private and public companies. John was formerly a Partner at A.M. Razo, an investment banking firm located in Irvine, California. Mr. De Puy began his career in the securities business as a Registered Financial Principal with Christopher Weil and Company syndicating commercial and industrial income producing properties. He is also the author of four books (Going Public Without Being Eaten Alive, Gaining The Edge, Power Marketing, Strategies for Success) and numerous articles. He is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.
Kursat Misirlioglu
Joint Venture Partner & Global Growth Opportunities
Kursat founded KGM Investments after working as Chief Financial Officer and Director of Finance for several years. He has extensive deal structure and project finance experience in private equity investments and merger and acquisition, real estate and renewable energy industries. As the director of finance at one of Marubeni’s US subsidiary renewable energy owner company, Mr. Misirlioglu lead nine acquisitions including the due diligence process. As a Certified Economic Development Finance Professional (CEDFP), Mr. Misirlioglu implements creative solutions to complex Community Economic Development projects that create public/private partnerships. Kursat holds an MSBA from San Diego State University.