Our Team

200 Years of Experience

GLC has 20+ professionals on our team and seven principals with over 200 years of experience that have closed more than $7 billion of commercial real estate investment across all property types, geographies, capital structures, and economic cycles.

Ryan Rans

Managing Partner

About Ryan:

Ryan serves as Managing Partner and co-founder of Great Lakes Capital. Ryan leads the firm’s strategic direction and investment focus. In addition to leveraging his two decades of development experience, he has worked to position the firm to capitalize on opportunities in both debt and equity across market segments and cycles. Combining real estate and private equity, he has guided GLC through investments in excess of $1 billion in assets. Ryan graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BBA in finance.

Brad Toothaker

Managing Partner

About Brad:

Serving as Managing Partner, Brad leads the firm with 20 years of real estate transaction and management experience. Throughout his tenure, he has gained an insightful and broad-based view of industry dynamics that allows him to provide his clients with valuable awareness of market trends and new opportunities in commercial real estate. Since co-founding GLC in 2005, he has contributed to the development of nearly 2 million square feet across almost all commercial property types. Brad graduated from UCLA with a BS in History and Business Administration.

Our Team

Tracey Vallejo

Chief Financial Officer

Liz Brier

Chief of Staff

Accounting

Megan Onken

Controller

Mary Schulz

Controller, GLC Affordable

Erika Trujillo

Senior Accountant

Luke Nondorf

Senior Accounting Specialist

Administrative

Alexandra Wilkins Headshot

Alex Wilkins

Executive Coordinator

Randi Fronek

Administrative Coordinator

Asset management

Kim Crouch

Director of Asset Management

Wendy Walton

Senior Asset Manager

Affordable

Gary Vizioli

COO, GLC Affordable

Nick Goede

Development Director, GLC Affordable

Karl Niederer

Development Director, GLC Affordable

Development

Jeff Smoke

Managing Director & Principal

David Arnold

Managing Director & Principal

Audra Sieradzki

Managing Director & Principal

Clay Scheetz

Managing Director & Principal

Kristen Sawdon

Managing Director & Principal

Dustin Louderback

Director of Hotel Design & Construction

Development Analysts

KJ Sanger

Senior Analyst

Isaac Hall

Analyst

Ryan Rans

Managing Partner

Ryan serves as Managing Partner and co-founder of Great Lakes Capital. Ryan leads the firm’s strategic direction and investment focus. In addition to leveraging his two decades of development experience, he has worked to position the firm to capitalize on opportunities in both debt and equity across market segments and cycles. Combining real estate and private equity, he has guided GLC through investments in excess of $1 billion in assets. Ryan graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BBA in finance.

Bradley Toothaker

Managing Partner

Serving as Managing Partner, Brad leads the firm with 20 years of real estate transaction and management experience. Throughout his tenure, he has gained an insightful and broad-based view of industry dynamics that allows him to provide his clients with valuable awareness of market trends and new opportunities in commercial real estate. Since co-founding GLC in 2005, he has contributed to the development of nearly 2 million square feet across almost all commercial property types. Brad graduated from UCLA with a BS in History and Business Administration.

Rich Deahl

General Counsel & Principal

Rich serves as general counsel and a principal of Great Lakes Capital, with oversight of corporate legal affairs and involvement in the strategic growth of GLC through acquisition, development, financing, and management of real estate. Prior to joining GLC, Rich was a partner at Barnes & Thornburg LLP where he provided counsel to developers, joint venture entities, and investors/owners in matters across all real estate sectors – with a focus on public-private partnerships. He received a JD and MBA in 1998 from Indiana University – McKinney School of Law and Kelley School of Business.

Matthew Deputy

In-House Counsel

As In-House Counsel at Great Lakes Capital, Matt supports the entire GLC team from assisting GLC’s developers with property acquisition/dispositions, entitlement and pipeline advancement strategies to leasing and litigation matters with GLC’s asset managers. Prior to joining GLC, Matt worked for a boutique law firm located in South Bend, Indiana and Washington D.C. where he advised clients in real estate transactions, M&A, and general corporate matters. Matt also assisted his clients in various commercial litigation matters with a particular focus on eminent domain litigation and property disputes.  He received a JD from the University of Notre Dame Law School and his B.S. from Indiana University, Kelley School of Business.

Linda Brotherson

In-House Counsel

Linda serves as in-house counsel supporting the GLC team in legal activities ranging from reviewing leasing contracts to property acquisitions and advising on litigation matters. She brings a unique perspective to our group with eleven years of trial experience.  Prior to joining GLC, Linda focused on criminal law and public service. Growing up in a family of general contractors, she has an innate capacity for commercial real estate development. Linda earned a J.D. from Saint Louis University School of Law and her B.A. with honors from Butler University. 

Tracey Vallejo

Chief Financial Officer

Tracey focuses on fund accounting and reporting along with banking and investor relations. Prior to GLC, Tracey has over 15 years in audit and accounting experience across a diverse clientele base through her controllership and audit manager for both a private manufacturing company and a public CPA firm located in the Midwest. Her undergraduate degree is from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana and her MBA is from the University of Phoenix.

Liz Brier

Chief of Staff

As Chief of Staff at Great Lakes Capital, Liz interacts with all facets of the organization to streamline operations, enhance strategic initiatives and drive greater efficiency across GLC’s projects. With a background in law and real estate development, Liz has focused her career on asset acquisitions and dispositions, finance, development, leasing, land use, zoning and joint venture and entity structuring. She also has extensive experience with mergers and acquisitions for private equity funds and individual companies in the areas of manufacturing, distribution, software, agribusiness, utilities and business services. Liz graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science and earned her JD from Emory University in 2008.

Megan Onken

Controller

Megan focuses on the GLC fund accounting and reporting along with various restaurant accounting in its Hospitality division. Megan joined the company in 2011. Prior to GLC, she had accounting roles at St. Louis-based Peabody Energy and Milwaukee-based Marcus Hotels and Resorts. She graduated from St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin.

Mary Schulz

Controller

Mary focuses on accounting for the Affordable Housing division, along with several of GLC’s Multifamily, Mixed-Use and Industrial developments. She oversees aviation ledgers and other special projects as assigned. Mary has accounting experience with development & property management, most notably for Office, Medical, and Industrial. She spent over 17 years with Duke Realty Corporation and more recently 3 years with Ambrose Property Group. She graduated from Manchester University (North Manchester, IN) with Magna Cum Laude honors.

Erika Trujillo

Senior Development Accountant

Luke Nondorf

Senior Accounting Specialist

Luke focuses on the GLC operational accounting and reporting for the residential and industrial portfolio. Luke joined GLC in 2023. Prior to GLC, he had accounting roles at Cornerstone Companies Inc. with their medical office portfolio and Duke Realty for various markets and industrial portfolios. Luke graduated from Ball State University with an MBA and undergraduate degree in Accounting.

Alexandra Wilkins Headshot

Alexandra Wilkins

Executive Coordinator

Alex focuses on providing support internally and externally to maximize efficient communication and coordination of processes and procedures. Her organization and willingness to go the extra mile allows her to offer assistance in many areas throughout the company. Alex graduated with a B.S. from Ball State University in 2016.

Randi Fronek

Administrative Coordinator

Randi specializes in assisting with various administrative tasks for Great Lakes Capital. Whether she’s directing phone inquiries, facilitating website maintenance, scheduling conference rooms for meetings, or gathering documents/sorting mail, she assists with a wide variety of tasks around the office. Prior to joining GLC, she was a paralegal for 13 years and she’s also a published author. She graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno, with a BA in English Writing and a minor in Communications.

Kimberly Crouch

Director of Asset Management

Kimberly has more than 25 years of experience in property asset management prior to joining Great Lakes Capital as Director of Asset Management. During her previous posts at Sundance Bay and Related, she orchestrated value-add and core plus renovations with lease-ups, and corrected underserved assets. She served as VP of Multifamily Operations (Midwest) at GlassRatner Advisory and Capital Group where she rebounded operations of court-appointed receiverships and REOs, primarily for Fannie Mae. She supervised 83 properties where she assisted with the transition of the 20,000-unit portfolio as a going concern with Equity Residential. She has earned the Certified Property Manager (CPM®) designation from the Institute of Real Estate Management. Kimberly is a past member of the Board of Directors for the Monroe County Apartment Association and instructor for the Certified Apartment Manager (CAM) designation.

Wendy Walton

Senior Asset Manager

Wendy has over 20 years of experience in commercial real estate during which she has worked with national, institutional, and private real estate companies.  Her experience has included investment and asset management, property management, leasing, acquisitions, dispositions and development across multiple asset classes and multiple markets throughout the United States.  Wendy obtained both her undergraduate and MBA degrees from Virginia Tech.  She holds a Certified Property Manager (CPM®) designation through the Institute of Real Estate Management and is a past president of the Central Virginia Chapter. In addition, she holds the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM®) certification conferred by CCIM.  Wendy is also a member of the VCU Kornblau Real Estate Circle of Excellence and the Greater Richmond Association for Commercial Real Estate

Gary Vizioli

Chief Operating Officer, GLC Affordable Housing

Gary serves as chief operating officer of Great Lakes Capital’s Affordable Housing division, primarily responsible for the division’s strategic direction and growth. He also leads the financing of the affordable transactions and works directly on select development projects. Prior to joining GLC, Gary was a senior banker with Wells Fargo Community Lending & Investment, where he managed the bank’s relationships with affordable housing development firms and closed $850 million in debt financing for the construction of over 3,600 multi-family housing units and over 336,000 square feet of commercial space, plus over $100 million in structured credit facilities. Gary earned a BS in Computer Science from Penn State University and an MS with distinction in Real Estate from New York University.

Nick Goede

Development Director, GLC Affordable

Nick focuses on GLC’s affordable housing development in Kansas and Missouri. Prior to joining GLC, Nick developed over $80 million of affordable and permanent supportive housing throughout Iowa. Over his 17-year career in real estate, Nick’s experience has spanned beyond affordable housing to include market rate housing, retail, historic, and mixed use development. Nick graduated from The University of Northern Iowa with a double major in Finance and Real Estate and completed his Master of Real Estate Development at Iowa State University. Nick is a father of three boys with his wife Christen and enjoys spending his free time coaching baseball, hunting, fishing, and camping.

Karl Niederer

Development Director

As a Development Director at Great Lakes Capital, Karl is responsible for GLC’s affordable housing development throughout Utah, Arizona, and Nevada. He has worked in various capacities of commercial real estate for over 15 years, including a successful 8 years of affordable, supportive housing development. Karl has directed the development of over one hundred million dollars of multi-family housing throughout the West. Prior to working in affordable housing, he owned and operated a real estate brokerage in San Diego, California. Karl earned a BS in Psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno. Karl enjoys spending time with his wife and two kids, golfing, traveling and surfing.

Jeff Smoke

Managing Director & Principal

As Managing Director and Principal at Great Lakes Capital, Jeff pursues a full spectrum of investment opportunities ranging from industrial warehouses and mixed-use developments to distressed debt sales. Jeff has over 15 years of commercial real estate experience and also serves on the executive committee at GLC. Prior to joining GLC, he was a derivatives trader at JonesTrading. Jeff graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BBA in finance and also competed in the 2004 Athens Olympics.

David Arnold

Managing Director & Principal

For over 30 years, David has been involved in commercial real estate development and investing activities involving over a billion dollars in value. His career has included a broad base of product types within organizations ranging from large financial institutions to entrepreneurial development partnerships. In addition to his real estate practice, David has been very involved in Fort Wayne economic development initiatives and numerous not-for profit boards. David earned a BS at St. Joseph’s College and an MBA from Indiana University with concentrations in both Finance and Real Estate.

Audra Sieradzki

Managing Director & Principal

Audra concentrates on maximizing the value of the GLC portfolio through the development and implementation of property, asset, and portfolio strategies. Focused on new investments and unlocking the value of market opportunities, Audra manages projects fitting her investment acumen as well as tenant and landlord advisory experience. Audra graduated from Vanderbilt University and brings over 13 years of national brokerage, corporate real estate advisory, investment, and development experience to the team.

Clay Scheetz

Managing Director & Principal

Clay serves as Managing Director & Principal of Great Lakes Capital and is a key member of the executive team and investment committee. Clay began his commercial real estate career in 1995 and has closed more than $4.5 billion of investment across property types, geographic markets, capital structures, and economic cycles. Clay graduated with honors from the University of Notre Dame with a BBA degree and earned an MBA from Columbia University. Clay is actively involved in numerous trade and civic organizations including the Colorectal Cancer Alliance where he serves as a national board member. In his free time, Clay enjoys spending time with his wife and three kids as well as water skiing, running, and swimming.

Kristen Sawdon

Managing Director & Principal

With 15 years and over $1B in new and existing real estate development and management experience, Kristen focuses on new investments and unlocking ahead-of-market opportunities. With background in development, asset management, leasing and property management, as well as across mixed-use, multifamily, hospitality, industrial and office asset classes – Kristen brings a broad knowledge base and strategic perspective to new development. Kristen holds an MBA with honors from the University of Notre Dame and a BA in business and psychology from Saint Mary’s College.

Dustin Louderback

Director of Hotel Design & Construction

Dustin serves as the Director of Hotel Design & Construction and has 15 years of experience in hospitality development. Upon graduating from the University of Tennessee, College of Architecture and Design, he spent two years working for one of the largest multi-disciplinary architecture firms in Atlanta, GA – Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates. Dustin was the Director of Design & Construction for White Lodging Services for 12 years before starting a consulting firm in Austin, TX. Over the past 15 years, Dustin has overseen in excess of $3 billion in real estate developments, primarily in hospitality. He is a registered Architect in several states and a LEED-accredited professional.

KJ Sanger

Senior Analyst

As Senior Analyst at Great Lakes Capital, Kathryn assists lead developers with project analysis and advancement, and asset managers with financial review and modeling. Prior to joining GLC, Kathryn worked as an Investment Associate with PGIM Real Estate on the Agency Multifamily team. In her previous role, Kathryn was directly involved with the underwriting and financing of over $3 billion in multifamily transactions. Kathryn graduated from Gettysburg College with a BA in Political Science and Economics.

Isaac Hall

Analyst

As an analyst, Isaac is involved in all aspects of the development process. He assists Jeff Smoke on a variety of multifamily to industrial projects located in the expanded Midwest region. He is heavily involved in financial modeling, project management, and other tasks associated with development and acquisitions. Isaac is a recent graduate of Indiana University South Bend’s Judd Leighton School of Business with a BS in Business with a focus in Finance and Minor in History. In his free time, Isaac enjoys hunting, fishing, and hiking.
Martin Huttenlocker Headshot

Martin Huttenlocker

Development Manager

Leveraging 17 years of relationships and extensive background in the commercial real estate industry, Martin provides direct strategic and analytical support as part of the Great Lakes Capital development team. Since joining the firm in 2017 he has performed a hybrid role in asset management and brokerage services within the GLC portfolio. Martin earned a BA in Political Science from the University of Missouri/Columbia and an MBA from Roosevelt University in Chicago.