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Extraordinary Imagination | Proven Expertise

Investing is an ever-evolving business, and our team is equipped with quick-thinking entrepreneurial spirits who adapt and evolve to produce exceptional results. Here, diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences come together to create a dynamic and energetic culture that fosters collaboration and innovation.
Backed by research, technology, and talent, we proudly serve as a resource for fresh ideas and continual growth.

Executive Management

With nearly 100 years of combined investing and operating experience, Madison’s Investment Committee has successfully navigated numerous cycles together and invested collectively to create substantial value for investors. Our extensive transaction history, strong capital markets and structuring expertise, and long-established relationships have enabled Madison to realize the full potential of each investment.

Managing Partner

Richard Wagman

Richard Wagman is a Managing Partner and Founder of Madison where he sits on the Investment Committee and Management Committee. He is responsible for overseeing all functions within Madison with a particular emphasis on the transaction sourcing, acquisitions and capital markets activities for all commercial properties in the U.S. He is also responsible for identifying and securing institutional joint venture partners for Madison. Richard has overseen the acquisition of in excess of $2 billion of retail, residential and office properties in New York City and along the east coast of the United States.

In 1994 he found Principal Property Group LLC, a New York real estate investment company (“Principal”) that acquired close to 1 million square feet of commercial and industrial properties in the U.S. and Canada and sold the majority of the assets to a publicly traded REIT. Prior to Principal, Richard was an acquisition associate with Lend Lease International involved in advising public and private pension funds in real estate investments in the US and Europe. Richard worked in the New York, London and Paris offices for Lend Lease.

Richard is from Montreal, Canada and resides in Manhattan. He is actively involved in the Steering Committee for the Real Estate Division of UJA, is a board member of SparkYouth NYC, a non-profit supporting youth organizations in NY and is a member of the Urban Land Institute’s Urban Mixed-Use Development Council. Richard graduated from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce of the University of Pennsylvania with a dual concentration in Real Estate and Finance.

Partner

J. Joseph Jacobson

Joseph Jacobson serves as a Partner and Co-Founder at Madison Capital where he sits on the Investment Committee and Management Committee. In this capacity, he manages Madison Capital’s day-to-day business activities and oversees all transactions and operations, including asset management, capital markets, legal affairs, leasing, reporting, accounting, investor relations, due diligence and risk control. Mr. Jacobson also structures and oversees all of Madison Capital’s joint venture, equity and debt transactions.

Prior to joining Madison Capital, Mr. Jacobson served as an attorney in the Corporate Finance and Investment Fund practice groups at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP’s New York office. In this role, he gained expertise in the areas of real estate finance, private equity, investment funds, venture capital and REITs. He was involved in a wide array of transactions totaling in excess of $5 billion. Such transactions included initial public offerings, financing, acquisitions, onshore and offshore investment funds, private equity and venture capital investments, and commercial real estate (with a concentration in real estate investment funds, real estate investment trusts and real estate acquisitions). Mr. Jacobson’s extensive real estate experience includes the negotiation, structuring and documentation of acquisitions, dispositions and co-investment transactions, structuring of real estate joint ventures and partnerships, and REIT-related transactions (including formation and acquisition transactions).

Mr. Jacobson serves as a member of Cornell University College of Human Ecology Dean’s Advisory Council and is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY). Mr. Jacobson earned his Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude with distinction in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 and his Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School in 1996.

Managing Director, Head of Investment Management

Jonathan Ratner

Jonathan Ratner serves as Managing Director, Head of Investment Management at Madison Capital where he sits on the Investment Committee and Management Committee and is responsible for investment management activities including the capitalization, financing, leasing, capital programming and strategic planning for several of the firm’s assets. Mr. Ratner leads the firm’s development projects and oversees transactions throughout Madison Capital’s portfolio. He has completed over $2 billion in dispositions, financings and restructurings. He also directs capital raising initiatives and investor relations with many of the firm’s joint venture partners.

Prior to joining Madison Capital, Mr. Ratner was a Vice President at Emmes Asset Management Co. (renamed Vanbarton Group), where he managed the company’s $500 million New York City portfolio comprising 40 assets and two million square feet. Earlier in his career, Mr. Ratner oversaw high-end commercial construction activity as a Project Manager for Richter+Ratner Contracting Corp., where he managed complex build-outs for luxury retail clients including Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, Ermenegildo Zegna and Christian Dior. While attending business school, he worked for Toll Brothers’ City Living Division, supervising development projects in New Jersey.

Mr. Ratner sits on the Alumni Council at New York University’s Chen Institute for Global Real Estate Finance.  He is also on the Urban Land Institute’s New York Mixed-Use Council and is a performer in the annual Real Estate Rockers in Relief Benefit. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan and his Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Managing Director, Head of Acquisitions

Jonathan Nachmani

Jonathan Nachmani serves as a Managing Director, Head of Acquisitions at Madison Capital where he sits on the Investment Committee and Management Committee. In this capacity, Mr. Nachmani is responsible for sourcing, identifying, evaluating, underwriting and analyzing potential acquisitions and financing commercial real estate investments, including direct property acquisitions, loan investments and note acquisitions.

Since joining Madison Capital in 2016, Mr. Nachmani has overseen the acquisition of over $900m value-add, opportunistic, and special situation investments across the US. Prior to joining Madison, Jonathan acted as a Vice President at The Jackson Group, a high-net-worth family office of the founder of a major national retail company. In this capacity, he was responsible for sourcing and managing the acquisition and asset management of the firm’s retail and office portfolio; during his tenure at Jackson, he executed over thirty equity and debt investments on anchored retail, office, land and distressed debt opportunities in excess of $500 million.

Mr. Nachmani began his career as an Associate at Alpine Commercial Capital, a commercial mortgage advisory firm where he was responsible for originating and underwriting over $150 million in securitized and balance sheet loans secured by multifamily, retail, medical offices, credited and non-credited single tenant facilities, and shopping centers throughout the United States.

Acquisitions

Our Acquisitions Team has broad sourcing capabilities, creativity, and the ability to quickly and accurately underwrite complicated financial and legal structures. With backgrounds in transactional law, securitized lending, private equity, operations, and investment banking, Acquisitions utilizes its unique diversity of experience to secure investments for the firm.

Director

Bryan Lisser

Bryan Lisser serves as a Director at Madison Capital and is responsible for underwriting and analyzing potential acquisitions and financing commercial real estate investments including direct property acquisitions, loan investments and note acquisitions.

Prior to joining Madison Capital, Mr. Lisser served as an Associate in Ares Management’s Real Estate Debt Group, where he underwrote senior and subordinate debt investments and closed over $600 million in debt transactions. Mr. Lisser began his career as an Analyst in Cushman & Wakefield’s Investment Banking Group, where he worked closely with members of the Capital Markets Group to assist corporations in maximizing real estate value through the use of structured financial products involving tax, capital and accounting strategies.

Mr. Lisser earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration with a concentration in Finance and a minor in Real Estate.

Senior Vice President

Michael Stern

Michael Stern serves as a Senior Vice President at Madison Capital and is responsible for underwriting and analyzing potential acquisitions and financing commercial real estate investments including direct property acquisitions, loan investments and note acquisitions.

Prior to joining Madison Capital, Mr. Stern served as an Acquisitions Analyst in Morgan Stanley’s Private Real Estate Investing Group (MSREI) where he underwrote new real estate acquisition opportunities on behalf of the firm’s core and opportunistic funds. Prior to joining Madison Capital, Mr. Stern has acquired over $1.2 billion in multifamily, office, and life sciences assets.

Mr. Stern earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia Business School.

Investment Management

The thoughtful, detail oriented, hands-on Investment Management Team at Madison is focused on maximizing the value of each asset through operational efficiencies, enhancing cash flow, and minimizing risk.

Senior Vice President

John Clote

John Clote serves as a Senior Vice President at Madison Capital and is responsible for the investment management of many of the company’s commercial real estate investments through strategic planning, analysis, and lease negotiations.

Prior to joining Madison Capital, Mr. Clote served as an Asset Manager at Thor Equities where assisted in the management of a $10 billion portfolio comprising of 20 million square feet of retail, office, multifamily and mixed-use investments. While at Thor Equities, Mr. Clote completed approximately $1 billion of commercial real estate transactions, which included acquisitions, refinancing’s and dispositioning. Previously, Mr. Clote held the positions of Senior Transaction Coordinator and Assistant Project Manager at Cushman & Wakefield where he executed 100+ lease renewals and managed a $40 million construction budget for a Fortune 500 company.

Mr. Clote graduated from University of Miami, earning a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Business Management.

Vice President

Cindy Chang

Cindy Chang serves as a Vice President at Madison Capital where she is responsible for managing a portfolio of commercial real estate assets through strategic planning, analysis, and lease negotiations.

Prior to joining Madison Capital, Ms. Chang was an Asset Manager at Square Mile Capital Management where she managed a portfolio of multifamily, industrial, office, and mixed-use investments valued over $1.5 billion. Prior to that, Ms. Chang was a Senior Associate at USAA Real Estate Company and responsible for fund analytics across Square Mile’s opportunistic equity strategies. Ms. Chang began her career at BlackRock, where she oversaw the risk and performance of multi-asset institutional client portfolios worth over $1.7 trillion.

Ms. Chang earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Accounting from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Ms. Chang has been a CFA Charterholder since 2016.

Vice President

Michael Spinelli

Michael Spinelli serves as a Vice President at Madison Capital where he is responsible for managing a portfolio of commercial real estate assets through strategic planning, analysis, and lease negotiations.

Prior to joining Madison Capital, Mr. Spinelli served as a First Vice President at RXR assisting in the management of a $21 billion, 31 million square foot New York City office portfolio, while directly overseeing a $6 billion, 6.5 million square foot collection of Class A office buildings. In addition to day to day management of the portfolio, Mr. Spinelli also worked on over $4.5 billion of refinances, recapitalizations, dispositions, and repositioning in his time at RXR.

Mr. Spinelli graduated from Georgetown University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree with a focus on Finance and Management.

Associate Vice President

Chloe Ruan

Chloe Ruan serves as an Associate Vice President at Madison Capital where she is responsible for the investment management of the company’s commercial real estate assets through strategic planning, analysis, leasing and capital markets activities.

Ms. Ruan joined Madison Capital in 2021 as a member of the Acquisitions Team where she was responsible for underwriting and analyzing potential investments including equity and note acquisitions and closed over $100 million in transactions. Prior to joining Madison Capital, Ms. Ruan served as a Vice President in Morgan Stanley’s Global Fixed Income Team where she invested in mortgaged-backed securities on behalf of the firm’s institutional portfolios with over $9 billion in AUM.

Ms. Ruan earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Columbia University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a dual major in Real Estate and Management.

Associate

Ryan Buoye

Ryan Buoye serves as an Associate at Madison Capital where he is responsible for management of several of the firm’s commercial real estate assets.

Prior to joining Madison Capital, Mr. Buoye served as an Associate at Arch Street Capital where he assisted in the management of a $2 billion portfolio comprising office, industrial, retail, multi-family, and hotel investments. Prior to that, Mr. Buoye worked at Rockrose Development, where his responsibilities included supporting the asset management of a 4,800-unit multi-family portfolio and two-million square foot office and mixed-use portfolio, in addition to assisting in the underwriting of potential acquisitions. In his time at Rockrose, Mr. Buoye played an integral role in the closing of almost $800 million in debt financing. Mr. Buoye began his career as an appraiser in the Valuation and Advisory group at Cushman and Wakefield.

Mr. Buoye graduated from Lehigh University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance.

Managing Director

Aarthi Bansidhar

Aarthi Bansidhar serves as a Managing Director at Madison Capital and is responsible for reporting and joint venture accounting of Madison Capital’s real estate investments. She also manages property level accounting.

Prior to Madison Capital, Ms. Bansidhar held a position at Ernst & Young’s Financial Services group, where she primarily focused on Investment Company accounting. While in this role, she supervised the audits of various alternative investment vehicles.

Ms. Bansidhar graduated from Baruch College, where she also earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration in Accounting. She is a Certified Public Accountant licensed to practice in New York.

Assistant Controller

Christian Mejia

Christian Mejia serves as Assistant Controller at Madison Capital. He is responsible for all property level accounting for Madison Capital’s portfolio, including receivables, collections, payables, escalation calculations, budgeting, reporting, and lease accounting. Mr. Mejia assists in the preparation of financial statements and tax returns with third party firms. He is also responsible for the cost accounting for Madison Capital’s development projects.

Prior to joining Madison Capital, Mr. Mejia held a position as a Senior Corporate Accountant at Brookfield Office Properties, assisting in the company’s internal and external financial reporting. Earlier in his career, Mr. Mejia served as a Senior Associate at Deloitte, performing audits for clients in the private equity, real estate, and other industries.

Mr. Mejia graduated from the University of South Carolina, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Accounting.

Assistant Controller

Wen-Na Chen

Wen-Na Chen serves as an Assistant Controller at Madison Capital. She is responsible for financial reporting and overseeing property level accounting for Madison Capital ‘s portfolios.

Prior to joining Madison Capital, Ms. Chen held a position as a Senior Accountant at Blackpoint Partners LLC, where she was responsible for financial reporting, cash management and budgeting for commercial properties and speculative home constructions. Earlier in her career, Ms. Chen served as a Senior Accountant at Brack Capital Real Estate, performing budget reviews, preparing construction loan draws and financial reporting for condominium construction projects in New York City.

Ms, Chen earned a Bachelor of Science Degree and a Master of Science in Accounting from University of Maryland, College Park. She is a Certified Public Accountant licensed to practice in Virginia.

Junior Accountant

David Aponte

David Aponte serves as the Junior Accountant at Madison Capital.

Prior to joining Madison Capital, Mr. Aponte held a position at American Campus Communities as a bookkeeper for one of their managed properties, Dolphin Cove. Mr. Aponte was responsible for reconciling accounts for overall accuracy, completing financial audits, and managing the accounts receivable of all bedspaces at the property.

Mr. Aponte graduated from Baruch College, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance.

Office Manager

Noelle Mortensen

Noelle Mortensen serves as both an office manager and executive assistant to the partners of Madison Capital.

Prior to joining the team, Ms. Mortensen was engaged in the broadcast news world whilst freelancing as a personal assistant in the SoCal area.

Ms. Mortensen received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Performance and Communication from San Diego State University.