Everyone knows that Rick has a passion for old vacant buildings.  But not just exploring them – doing something about them.  For the past decade, Rick has been working in the public, private, and non-profit sides of real estate development in Cleveland, to help transform our city into a dense, connected, and vibrant place for all Clevelanders. 

Arriving in Cleveland in 2015 as Brownfield and Special Projects Program Manager for the City of Cleveland Department of Economic Development, Rick actively engaged in financial assistance and modelling of incentives for real estate transactions, focused on the revitalization of environmentally compromised, structurally obsolete, and underutilized properties.  In 2020, he left the City to work in the CDC system as Vice President, later Managing Director, of MidTown Cleveland, handling real estate from acquisitions to development processes and financing.  Rick also worked for Cohen and Company, consulting on Opportunity Zone and Tax Increment Financing projects, and advising on financial models, deal structures, and processes related to federal, state and local incentives.    

Before Cleveland, Rick attended graduate school at New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate and subsequently spent two and half years working for New York City’s Housing Preservation Department as a lending officer for affordable housing subsidy programs.  A graduate of The Ohio State University, Rick majored in history, but spent most of his time community organizing. He has years of experience knocking doors for political campaigns and eventually worked for Governor Ted Strickland in the Ohio Department of Public Safety. 

Born and raised in Tiffin, Ohio,  Rick is a vegetable gardener, a bike rider, an amateur sailor, and active in his block club and community.  He is also active in ULI and a board member of Venture for America’s Cleveland Chapter.  Rick, his wife Emily, and two daughters live in Ohio City with a small black cat and 10,000 bees.