Management Team

Mr. Hake is the founder of Kipling Capital and has 43 years of experience and extensive long-term relationships in real estate, energy and other alternative investments. Since its inception in 1998, Mr. Hake has played an integral role in in the funding of over 110 real estate programs that have purchased over 1000 real estate properties, including office, industrial, retail, resort and residential properties valued in excess of $8.0 billion. From 1997 to 1998, Mr. Hake served as a real estate consultant and provided services in connection with the early stage development of Mayacama Golf Club in Sonoma County, California. From 1986 to 1997, Mr. Hake was President of Pacific Union Capital Corp., which provided equity capital for projects valued at over $1 billion, including pre-entitlement equity for the purchase and development of the 20,000-acre Rancho San Carlos/Santa Lucia Preserve, development equity for the Post Ranch Inn and the equity for the expansion and enhancement of Meadowood Resort. Mr. Hake was a General Partner of the Chileno Bay Club, a $1.3 billion dollar, 1,250-acre private oceanfront resort development in Cabo San Lucas.

In 1984, Mr. Hake founded Energy Partners, Inc. to invest in oil and gas development. In 2001, Mr. Hake co-founded Kipling Partners, LLC to invest directly in real estate related projects. Mr. Hake's early business career includes working for Xerox Corporation in Sales and Marketing for six years, acting as a General Partner in Oil and Gas investments, and teaching physics and science for three years. In 1993, Mr. Hake founded the Golden Gate Invitational Golf Tournament which has raised over $7MM for the benefit of the American Cancer Society. For over 25 years, he was an active board member and chairman. He has also worked pro-bono to raise a substantial portion of the investment funds used to create the Bay School of San Francisco. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Science and Education degree from Providence College.

Mr. Bigony joined Kipling Capital in October, 2004 and has over 40 years of experience combined in real estate, equipment leasing, commercial debt, alternative energy and alternative investment structuring and management. He currently serves as Kipling’s President and Chairman overseeing both long and short-term objectives of the company including Investment Manager development and selection, deal structuring, due diligence, operations and strategic planning functions.

Prior to joining Kipling Capital, Mr. Bigony acted as Interim Operating Officer for Golden State Vintners, the sixth largest producer of wine and wine production related services in the country. At Golden State Vintners, Mr. Bigony was instrumental in raising $100 million to support a management buy-out in response to a hostile take-over bid for the company. Mr. Bigony has served as an Operations Consultant to Lighthouse Capital Partners, a venture leasing firm, and as the Chief Financial Officer of Oliver-Allen Technology Equipment Leasing. At Oliver-Allen, Mr. Bigony's efforts facilitated the sale of the company to US Bancorp in April of 2000.

Prior to Oliver-Allen, Mr. Bigony served as Director of Operations and Chief Financial Officer for ATEL Capital Group and its related subsidiaries. In this capacity, he was responsible for overseeing all financial, accounting, and systems functions for the company and its seven public partnerships. His efforts helped ATEL grow to a company with over 28,000 investors and $1 billion in assets under management.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Bigony was a Management Consultant in the San Francisco Office of Ernst & Whinney. There he served clients such as the Bank of America, Steptoe and Johnson, and California Health Systems. Mr. Bigony is an active real estate investor, a founding investor in the Chileno Bay Club in Cabo San Lucas and an investor in real estate investments offered by Kipling Capital. Mr. Bigony was also a Founding Director and Treasurer of the I Have a Dream Foundation, Bay Area Chapter. He holds a BBA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and an MBA with a concentration in finance from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Roesler joined Kipling Capital in October, 2003 and brings over 33 years of investment experience in real estate and publicly traded equity and options markets. His responsibilities at Kipling Capital include investment selection, investment structuring, due diligence, overseeing investment relations and raising capital. Mr. Roesler has extensive experience in the equity options markets where he co-founded and served as CEO of the options specialist firm Cole Roesler Trading Group LP (CRTG), eventually expanding the company to over 70 employees with operations on the Pacific Options Exchange (PCX), the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the International Stock Exchange (ISE). CRTG actively traded hundreds of positions with an aggregate value exceeding $1 billion, predominantly focusing on tech stocks. In addition to the principal's co-investment, CRTG managed capital on behalf of several high net worth investors and one large institution.

In 1998, Mr. Roesler was nominated and subsequently elected by the PCX Seat voting membership to the PCX Board of Governors to serve a three-year term. During his term, Mr. Roesler served on the Board's Executive Committee for two years which was instrumental in the Demutualization of the PCX, allowing it to be sold ultimately to the NYSE Arca. Mr. Roesler was elected again by the Seat voting membership to serve as Vice Chairman of the Pacific Exchange during his final year on the Board as a Floor Governor. Over the years, Mr. Roesler has actively invested in real estate in the western United States and Hawaii. He has been both directly involved as an owner in a number of multifamily properties and as an investor in transactions offered by Kipling Capital.

Mr. Roesler holds an honors degree in Economics and a high honors degree in Spanish from the University of California, Berkeley. Mr. Roesler studied abroad for one year at the Universidad Central in Barcelona, Spain.

Mr. Skinner joined Kipling Capital in April 2020 and became a principal in 2023. Mr. Skinner brings over 26 years of experience in capital markets and alternative investments to the firm. He specializes in helping Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) and high net worth individuals, families and trusts develop and manage their alternative investment portfolios. As a member of the Kipling team, Mr. Skinner is responsible for developing and maintaining client relationships throughout the US. He sits on the board of directors and participates in the firm’s investment selection, investment structuring, due diligence and investor relations.

Prior to joining Kipling, Mr. Skinner was co-founder and COO of All of Us Financial, LLC where he focused on the startup’s formation and broker-dealer operations. He was formerly the COO of both Woodside Capital Partners and Inflection Point Research where he led their technology research marketing and sales efforts to the institutional marketplace. Mr. Skinner also served as President of Dakin Securities, a boutique investment banking firm in San Francisco that was sold to Moors & Cabot, an established Boston based firm founded in 1890, where he remained on as head of west coast capital markets and was a top revenue producer for seven years.

Mr. Skinner is a fourth generation San Francisco Bay Area native and active community member having served on the Kentfield Schools Foundation, IOTA Foundation, Zeta Psi Alumni Association, and San Domenico High School coaching staff. Mr. Skinner holds an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at U.C.L.A and a BA with Honors in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley where he competed on the Men’s Track and Cross Country teams.

Ms. Dekker joined Kipling Capital in November, 2015 to assist with our investment offerings, investor relations, and client service capabilities as well as our administrative, bookkeeping and office management functions. Over her seven plus years of dedicated service to the company, Ms. Dekker has acquired an in-depth understanding of all aspects of our internal operations. She was recently promoted to Director of Operations and now leads our capable team of professionals in operations and investor relations.

Prior to joining Kipling Capital, Ms. Dekker was responsible for the management of client accounts and relationships as a Brand Manager with BrandExtract. Prior to that role, she was an Account Executive with Turner Broadcasting, where she was responsible for the management of client relationships and personal and regional revenue budget requirements for selected international sales operations.

Prior to her tenure at Turner Broadcasting, she held marketing and customer relations positions at Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and CIP Marketing at Adidas. Ms. Dekker holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She was a UCLA Women’s Rowing NCAA Division 1 Scholarship Athlete and a 2003 Pac 10 gold medal recipient.

Mr. Ruhland joined Kipling Capital in March, 2022 to assist with our investment offerings, investor relations, and client service capabilities. He works closely with Kipling’s investor relations team in serving our clients and managers. Mr. Ruhland is a San Francisco Bay Area native and graduated from Chapman University in 2019 where he earned a BS in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance.

During his time at Chapman, Mr. Ruhland co-founded Tamid Group, a student-run investing organization. After graduating from Chapman, Mr. Ruhland returned to the Bay Area where he began his financial services career as an associate with a Mill Valley based Registered Investment Advisor. Mr. Ruhland has since become a member of Rebel One, an active VC and Angel investing organization. Mr. Ruhland is based out of Kipling’s Mill Valley, CA office.

Ms. Zelikoff joined Kipling Capital in January 2023 to assist with our investment offerings, investor relations, and client service capabilities. She works closely with Kipling’s investor relations team in serving our clients and managers. Prior to joining Kipling Capital, Ms. Zelikoff was a Private Banking Senior Client Associate and Assistant Vice President with Wells Fargo Private Bank responsible for management of assigned Private Bank Client Relationships. She was a Banker and a Recovery Specialist with Wachovia responsible for sales and service roles in the financial center throughout the Houston market. She also served as an Intern, State of Florida - Department of Financial Services where she learned about insurance fraud and white collar crime investigation.

Ms. Zelikoff was nominated by the Regional President of Wells Fargo to represent her regional peers by becoming a member of the South Florida and Central Florida Leadership Committee. She has volunteered and raised money for Rooney’s Golf Foundation, Ronald McDonald House, United Way, Prevent Child Abuse America, Alzheimer’s, and Girl Scouts of America, Big Brothers Big Sisters and is a Member of Criminal Justice Club, and Kappa Delta Sorority at the University of North Florida. Ms. Zelikoff earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree, University of North Florida in 2006.

Ms. Williams joined Kipling Capital in November of 2004. She is an integral part of our investment offering, investor relations, client service, compliance and reporting capabilities. Prior to joining Kipling Capital, Ms. Williams served as the Director of Administration and Assistant to the Chairman of the Board, President and Vice president of Unison Group, Inc. In her twenty years of service to Unison Group, Ms. Williams participated in Board meetings, maintained Board records, coordinated with corporate bankers and attorneys, negotiated lease agreements, trained and supervised administrative personnel, maintained confidential employee records, and assisted with various accounting and financial functions. Ms. Williams attended the University of Washington.