OUR LEADERSHIP
Jesse A. Levine, CFA
CEO
Mr. Levine leads Samara Real Property and directs its investments in mixed use and multi-family real property. He has been a real estate principal since 1991 and has served as chief executive officer since inception. He supervises Verde’s program to opportunistically purchase well-situated real estate which provides an attractive current yield and the potential for significant total investment returns through intensive management and eventual redevelopment with greater and/or more valuable density. Mr. Levine leads all of Verde’s activities, including real estate purchases, post-purchase management, and development. He also directs the focus on utilizing advanced technology and architectural design to optimize rental square footage by maximizing parking capacity in urban settings. Under his leadership, Verde completed a dozen property purchases and several loan re-financings since 2015.
In the mid-1990s, while working at a boutique New York based investment banking firm, he led the firm’s engagement to advise Italy’s second largest auto retailer on its first institutional financing. From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Levine served as Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Netherlands-based ASM International, a semiconductor capital equipment producer with operations in Europe, Asia, and the United States. He participated on the internal team which worked with the company’s investment bankers to arrange four separate financings from 1999 to 2001 of approximately $400 million.
Mr. Levine earned a B.A. degree, with highest honors distinction, in economics from the University of Michigan. Mr. Levine subsequently earned the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst (“CFA”). Mr. Levine currently serves as a Trustee for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He previously served on the board of a non-profit Detroit area organization responsible for the management of a $180 million endowment. He served for several years on the governmental affairs committee of the Association for Manufacturing Technology which was formerly known as the National Machine Tool Builders’ Association.