JAMES FOSTIN COTCHEN
** *** *****, *** * Brooklyn, New York 11231
Tel. 203-***-**** E-mail: acvowk@r.postjobfree.com
Education
YALE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
Graduate, Master of Business Administration (MBA), Finance
New Haven, CT
2011-2013
Academic Distinction (Top 10% of class) in Real Estate for Institutional Investors; Basics of Accounting; Sourcing and Managing Funds; and International Trade
Director of Yale Real Estate Club, Organizing Committee and Board Member of Reaching Out MBA national conference, Organizing Committee Member of Yale SOM Private Equity Conference
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Bachelor of Arts (BA) with Honors, Economics and Slavic Languages and Literatures
Chicago, IL
1998-2002
Dean’s List 1998 – 2002; GPA 3.7/4.0; recipient of Maroon Key Society honor and George Bobrinskoy Award
Chairman of Doc Films (150+ volunteer student-run film society) and WHPK radio show host
Professional Experience
WALTON ASSET MANAGEMENT
Vice President (2015) and Senior Financial Analyst (2013-2015) for manager with $4 billion in real estate
New York, NY
2013 – 2015
Managed all aspects of a $100 million JV with a $10 billion hedge fund partner to invest in distressed properties with responsibilities including underwriting acquisitions, financial analysis, asset management, and reporting
Participated in negotiations, undertook analysis, and helped underwrite potential transactions for $200 million JV with ~$14 billion hedge fund partner to invest in homebuilder JVs
Develop sophisticated financial models in Excel used to underwrite acquisitions and monitor projects for asset management purposes
Manage 4 projects across the U.S. from an asset management point of view, including evaluating potential exits, managing financing, and working with local teams to deliver high returns to investors
Sourced and negotiated debt financing for 6 development projects across the U.S.
Recruited, trained, and managed a team of four analysts
Negotiated term sheets, modeled investor waterfalls, negotiated agreements, and ultimately closed three deals to raise $380 million in institutional capital in three funds
Assisted in negotiations on expansion of a JV to develop 30 hotels in underserved locations across Canada
COLLINS ENTERPRISES
Intern for developer with $600 million in U.S. property
Stamford, CT
Summer 2012
Developed detailed analytical models in Argus and Excel to assist with negotiations in transactions with private equity investors
Analyzed New York City metro portfolio of six properties and recommended strategy
Assisted with refinancing of two properties and with raising capital for investments
Helped implement new accounting and property management system (Yardi), which streamlined asset management operations
EPG GLOBAL PROPERTY INVEST
Head Analyst for €140 million private equity fund
Prague, Czech Republic
2008-2011
Underwrote three distressed real estate investments in the U.S., which returned IRRs greater than 35%
Performed due diligence on numerous investments on the Eastern seaboard of the U.S.
Created comprehensive analytical models in Excel to value a wide range of real estate; models were adopted internally and are still used for evaluating potential deals
Responsible for all valuation, due diligence, and viewing new investments for fund established with European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on real estate investments in Europe, especially Central and Eastern Europe, Germany, Austria, Italy, and the U.K.
Underwrote €120 million acquisition of 10 secondary positions in real estate funds
BREEVAST BV (BIFROST INVESTMENT GROUP)
Manager and Head Analyst for €200 million private equity fund
Bratislava, Slovakia
2005-2008
Restructured real estate asset to more than double net income from €850k/year to €2M/year in under two years
Led sales effort that successfully generated offers equivalent to a 10x multiple on equity
Permitted mixed-use project, found buyer, and negotiated terms of sale, yielding 6x equity multiple for investors
Managed 15-person property & facility management team
Negotiated over 50 leases representing 30,000 m2 (323,000 sq.ft.) in English and Slovak
Accountable for all modeling and analysis, including valuation, return calculation, and due diligence
COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL
Investment & Valuation Associate
Prague, Czech Republic
2003-2005
Valued over €600M of property and advised on numerous large real estate investment deals, including a €100 million office and retail complex, a €90 million logistics complex, and a €30 million office building
Organized and wrote research reports on various property types for Central and Eastern European region, including researching market trends, statistics analysis, and writing papers
ABN AMRO BANK NV
Intern to the CEO of Equities, Asia Pacific
Hong Kong, China
Summer 2001
Summarized market activities in eleven country markets overseen by the CEO, from South Korea to Australia, including digesting daily research from the regional analysts, further external research, and its daily analysis
Organized a major project to raise revenues with low-revenue clients, compiled reports analyzing employee-client relations and research library organization
Trained in research, sales, trading, and underwriting, including assisting the Equity Capital Markets team with presentations to clients across the region
Skills & Additional Information
Extensive knowledge of MS Office programs, especially Excel including building financial models, experience with Argus and Yardi
Experience using real estate databases like CoStar, Real Capital Analytics, Metrostudy, John Burns, etc.
Pittsburgh native; fluent in Czech and Slovak (learned in Europe), basic Spanish, Russian, and German
Large collection of photography with a focus on architecture
Extensive travel (U.S., Europe, and Asia); interest in architecture, art, film, and music