Management Team

Christian Heger and Kyle Ransford founded Cardinal Real Estate Investments in July of 2001.

Kyle A. Ransford, Founder and General Partner - kyle@cardinalinvestments.com

Kyle Ransford, is the co-founder of Cardinal Investments, LLC. His passion for real estate and his experience in finance led him to the foundation of Cardinal Investments in 2001. Currently, he has 90% of his personal assets invested in the firm’s projects.

Ransford founded Cardinal Investments in order to invest and develop residential, commercial and resort real estate projects with a focus on quality, design and creativity while maintaining respect for the community and preserving the integrity of each location.

The company has had tremendous growth in its first 5 years, which Ransford credits to an innovative, hands on approach. By recognizing and acting quickly on emerging markets and trends, Cardinal has outperformed the general real estate market considerably with each deal.

Ransford began his entrepreneurial career in Real Estate in 1994 with an investment portfolio of distressed REO properties.
From 1998-2000 Ransford ensconced himself in investment banking, first for Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin, a Real Estate Investment firm, and then for himself. During this time, he executed over $1 billion in mergers and acquisitions. In addition to that, he has also provided a variety of consulting and financial advisory services for companies in the real estate, internet and technology industries.

Ransford earned a B.S. in business administration from Southern Methodist University, and an M.B.A. in finance from the University of Southern California.

He resides between New York City and Los Angeles with his wife, son, and daughter. He also serves as the chairman of the board of the Bank of Manhattan.

Christian M. Heger, Founder and Partner - christian@cardinalinvestments.com

Christian Heger, Founder and Partner of Cardinal Investments, LLC, has personally invested over 90% of his assets in each of the company’s 24 projects to date.

As the Partner in command of the firm’s Pasadena office, Heger is involved in all facets of Cardinal Real Estate Investments as well as Monarch Property Management, overseeing the individual assets from acquisition through stabilization and disposition. Heger has acted as the primary manager for nearly half of Cardinal Investment’s transactions, leading the projects’ acquisition, financing, construction, accounting and ongoing property management.

Prior to founding Cardinal Real Estate Investments, Heger worked for Salem Partners LP, a Santa Monica based investment banking firm. At Salem Partners, he gained experience in various types of transactions in the entertainment and technology industries including mergers and acquisitions, private equity placements and asset valuations.

Heger graduated cum laude from the University of Southern California, earning a B.S. in Business Administration. At USC, he participated in the undergraduate honors curriculum and focused on the study of finance and business economics. He holds a California Real Estate License.

Trevor Stahelski, Partner - trevor@cardinalinvestments.com

Trevor Stahelski serves as a Partner for Cardinal Investments New York. He is directly involved in every facet of the company. Stahelski manages all daily operations, including deal sourcing, design and construction, as well as overseeing property management of the individual assets from acquisition through stabilization and disposition.

Stahelski began his career working as an asset manager for Mitsui Real Estate Sales in Los Angeles, where he managed a $200 million property portfolio. The 5 years he spent there gave him the exposure to hone his skills, and gain valuable experience.

Prior to founding Cardinal Investments New York, Stahelski followed his entrepreneurial spirit and started EWS Holdings, a boutique real estate development company based in Palmer, Massachusetts, Stahelski’s hometown. At EWS Holdings, he executed various residential and commercial transactions, handling deal sourcing, acquisition and construction management.

Stahelski graduated from the University of Southern California, earning a B.S. in Business Administration.

He currently resides in New York City.

Jesse Langley, Partner - jesse@cardinalinvestments.com

Jesse Langley has been a partner in Cardinal Real Estate Investments since 2003 and works closely with the acquisitions, design, sales and marketing for the firm.

As an 18-year resident of Mammoth Lakes, CA, Langley offers invaluable local knowledge, insight, and community relations for Cardinal’s current project in Mammoth Lakes. He is strongly involved in the local development, zoning, entitlements and politics for this project.

In addition to Cardinal Real Estate Investments, Langley is also a member of the Taunovo Bay, Fiji Islands development team. He drives and manages the sales and marketing for Taunovo Bay, and has already sold more than $25 million in beachfront real estate.

Langley’s entrepreneurial endeavors also include the establishment of Landmark Brokerage, a real estate and mortgage company based in San Diego, CA. While launching Landmark Brokerage, Langley also served as a Lieutenant within the Special Operations community for the US Navy.

Langley is a licensed California Real Estate Broker and an alumnus of the University of Southern California, where he earned his B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship.

Michael T. Flaherty, Partner - mike@cardinalinvestments.com

Michael Flaherty oversees the entire acquisition, entitlement and construction development process for Cardinal Investments. Throughout his extensive career, he has worked on a variety of projects and aspects of retail and residential real estate development nationwide.

Prior to joining Cardinal Investments, Flaherty managed BP ARCO’s zoning and development in the five western states for Bovis Lend Lease, one of the world’s largest real estate development, project management, and construction companies. That development program consisted of more than 100 projects, over a five-year period.

Additionally, Flaherty managed BP Hydrogen’s development plan in the U.S., which included the first retail designed hydrogen fueling facility in the U.S. at the Los Angeles International Airport. Governor Schwarzenegger inaugurated the site and Flaherty was awarded the 2004 Director’s Excellence Award for his excellence in corporate leadership.

Prior to Flaherty’s work in the retail industry, he managed numerous residential developments for Toll Brothers, Inc., the nation’s largest developer and builder of luxury homes. He was responsible for all facets of development from acquisition and design to sales and marketing. At Toll Brothers, Inc, Flaherty was engaged on numerous high volume residential projects, including a 234 acre, 600 unit mixed use, golf course development in Philadelphia, PA. All of his projects were nominated and one was awarded the Community of the Year award by the U.S. Home Builders Association.

Prior to joining Cardinal Investments, Flaherty founded Pacific Investment Corp. and West Coast Home Buyer, LLC for the investment and development of numerous personal projects nationwide.

Flaherty earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Villanova University and a M.B.A from the University of Southern California.

Mark Henderson, Partner – mark@cardinalinvestments.com

Mark Henderson specializes in property acquisitions and repositioning, and has been with Cardinal Investments since 2003.

Henderson pulls from his experiences gained in over 10 years of management duties within projects including Land subdivisions, single/multi-family, office, retail and Hospitality developments. He brings with him a comprehensive knowledge in areas including construction management, architecture, regulatory entitlement and design.

Henderson has built a reputation by delivering well-designed, highly marketable properties upon completion.

Previous to his partnership with Cardinal Investments, Henderson worked with The Hotel Group LLC, a company specializing in boutique hotel repositioning, where his responsibilities focused on property acquisitions, entitlement and renovation planning. He worked on projects including The Crescent Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA and the upcoming Cooper Square Hotel in New York City’s downtown area. Prior to The Hotel Group LLC, Henderson was a principle for Archway Properties, which specialized in residential development.

Henderson holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Southern California, a post degree in Real Estate Investment from the Business Management program at UCLA and a California Real Estate License.

Jeff Larsen, Partner

Jeff Larsen serves as a Partner for Cardinal Investments Fiji. He is responsible for managing all facets of each Fiji development from initial deal sourcing through project completion, including obtaining appropriate approvals, managing design through construction and ensuring product quality and conformance to project budgets and projections.

A passionate environmentalist and conservationist, Larsen is responsible for cultivating and implementing environmentally and culturally sustainable development guidelines and practices as well as managing the environmental review of each project.

To date, Larsen has successfully completed over 20 real estate transactions in Fiji. He has an extensive knowledge of Fijian property and commercial law and processes, and excellent professional relationships with Fiji based solicitors, financial advisors, appraisers and surveyors.

Prior to his work with Cardinal Investments, Larsen worked with the luxury Taunovo Bay Resort Development as VP of Development commencing in December 1999. At Taunovo Bay, Larsen obtained all project development approvals to enable the completion of all project components, including successfully securing government funding and managing the civil contractor and construction management team in completing the residential villa component.

Before his relocation to Fiji, Larsen spent five years managing a number of successful development projects as a Project Manager for San Francisco based, Pacific Union Company and as a Land Use Planner for the Alameda County Planning Department.

Larsen received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Sarah Brown, Partner - sarah@cardinalinvestments.com

Sarah Brown joined Cardinal Investments in 2005 with her primary focus on sourcing and analyzing new acquisition opportunities, managing the acquisition phase of deals and raising equity for projects.

Prior to signing on at Cardinal, Brown worked for a small brokerage firm, where she achieved an extraordinary $27 million in transactions in her first two years practicing real estate, earning her a rank in the top two percent of agents in the United States.

Brown also spent a year in PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Dallas office, and nearly three years in their New York office, as a transaction services consultant. While at PWC, she served as a financial advisor and consultant to Fortune 500 companies in the analysis of acquisitions and integration post-acquisition.

Brown is an alumna of Texas A&M University, where she earned a BBA in Accounting and Masters Degree in Finance. She also earned her CPA license in Texas and holds a California Real Estate Broker license.

Nicole Fitzgerald, Associate - nicole@cardinalinvestments.com

Nicole Fitzgerald joined Cardinal Investments in 2004, where she is engaged in the daily operations of each of the firm’s numerous projects.

Fitzgerald is based in Los Angeles, where she manages the office and assists Founder Kyle Ransford in many aspects of the firm’s operations while handling investor relations, correspondence and raising capital funds.

Along with compiling quarterly reports for investors, Fitzgerald supervises essential aspects of Cardinal Investments, including oversight of marketing, press strategy and website maintenance.

Fitzgerald earned a BA in International Relations Global Business with an emphasis in Marketing from the University of Southern California. She holds a California Real Estate and California Notary License. She also serves as the Secretary of the Bank of Manhattan.

Jason de Guzman, Acquisitions - jdeguzman@cardinalinvestments.com

Jason de Guzman joined Cardinal Investments in 2008 and specializes in acquisitions for the firm.

Prior to joining Cardinal Investments, de Guzman worked as a Land Acquisition Specialist for John Laing Homes, the second-largest new homebuilder in the nation. He was responsible for spearheading all land acquisitions for the Inland Empire Division, which encompasses Riverside County and San Bernardino County.

Before working for John Laing Homes, de Guzman also worked for Investments Limited, a large full-service commercial real estate investment firm in South Florida. He was responsible for the leasing of all commercial retail, office and industrial properties, as well as the acquisition of multifamily and retail assets.

De Guzman earned a BA in Business Administration with emphasis in Real Estate from the University of San Diego. He also holds a California Real Estate Sales License.

Michelle Hernandez, President, Monarch Property Management - michelle@monarch-management.com

Ms. Hernandez oversees leasing, marketing, billing, legal matters, construction and general tenant services for buildings owned by Cardinal. She has achieved an impressive track record specializing in investment real estate. Since Monarch’s inception in January 2003, Cardinal’s properties have experienced little to no vacancy. Prior to founding Monarch Property Management, Ms. Hernandez served as the property manager and administrator for Glenn Building Services, a property management and janitorial services company based in Pasadena. At Glenn Building Services, she served as the off-site manager for the company's apartment units, and supervised construction and maintenance at numerous other commercial and residential properties. Ms. Hernandez holds a California Real Estate License and speaks conversational Spanish.