Maurice Malfatti

Manager, co-founder, President/CEO

Maurice co-founded Blue Heron in 2011. He oversees the firm’s operations and the investment strategy, portfolio construction, and management of Blue Heron’s funds, serving on the Investment Committee for each. Maurice plays a key role in sourcing opportunities and negotiating deal structure and terms. He is actively involved in the visioning and development of the value-creation business plan for each asset and overseeing its execution.

Maurice has over 25 years of real estate experience, spanning investment, commercial brokerage, development, and construction. During the Great Recession, he served as a key member of a distressed asset receivership team on behalf of a regional bank. Maurice began investing in real estate in 1996. As a commercial broker, from 2005-2011, Maurice successfully closed 85 lease and sale transactions spanning office, retail, industrial, self-storage, and land; and he served as a property and/or asset manager for several retail, office, and residential rental properties.

Over his career, Maurice has co-founded, operated, and exited several successful ventures, including real estate investments and a construction/property maintenance company.

From 2000-2005, Maurice was a partner with a NYSE-member broker-dealer firm, covering buy-side institutional investors as an equities sales trader. He began his career in 1993 as a systems analyst for Andersen Consulting (now Accenture).

Maurice is an NC-licensed real estate broker and a past member of the board of directors for the Realtors Commercial Alliance in Wilmington, NC. Maurice is an active supporter of Habitat for Humanity and a regular participant of Habitat’s CEO Build and Team Build events. He is a frequent guest lecturer at the UNC Kenan-Flagler School of Business and serves on the board of the Real Estate Foundation of the Triangle Community Foundation.

Maurice received a BS in industrial engineering from Lehigh University.

Ron Strom

Manager, Co-founder

Ron co-founded Blue Heron in 2011. He serves as an advisor on the execution of Blue Heron’s real estate investment strategy, including continuing to be active in sourcing and negotiating investment opportunities. Ron continues to be involved in the firm’s organizational strategies, including long-term succession planning and the advancement of ESG initiatives. He maintains key relationships with investors, lenders, and other real estate industry leaders, facilitated by his lifelong passion for involvement with community and philanthropic initiatives.

Ron has over 40 years of commercial real estate experience, spanning development, acquisitions, dispositions, debt transactions, lease negotiation, asset management, advisory work, and brokerage. Prior to co-founding Blue Heron, Ron developed, acquired, and invested in multiple property types including residential, historic renovations, office, retail, land for development, student housing, and multifamily projects. He led the assemblage, development, and disposition of a portfolio of retail centers to a publicly traded REIT, the redevelopment and ground-up construction of two Whole Foods centers in North Carolina, and the development of four projects for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ron has served as a real estate consultant to Whole Foods Market, UNC-Chapel Hill, and GlaxoSmithKline.

Ron has and continues to serve on numerous boards and in leadership positions within the greater Triangle area of North Carolina. He chaired a $2 million capital campaign for WUNC Public Radio and served as the chairman of the board for Triangle Land Conservancy. He served as chairman of the Leadership Council for the Triangle Community Foundation after serving as its finance committee chair. He has served on the boards of UNC Board of Visitors, the Self-Help Ventures Fund, and the Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation. He continues to assist local agencies with affordable housing initiatives and currently serves on the Leadership Committee for a $7.5 million Habitat for Humanity capital campaign that will result in a Chapel Hill mixed-income community. He is assisting the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in its efforts to complete an east-west trail across North Carolina. As part of gaining development entitlements for a Fund I asset, Ron authored Chapel Hill’s first affordable housing rental agreement, a concept that was a finalist for Urban Land Institute’s ‘best ideas’ in the Triangle for 2014.

Ron received a BA in English and education from Vassar College and a Master of Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Deborah Jones

Chief Financial Officer

Deborah joined Blue Heron in 2016 as Chief Financial Officer. Deborah directs all aspects of finance for Blue Heron including financial reporting, fund administration, fund metrics reporting, annual audits and tax preparation, budgeting, and cash flow projections. She works closely with the Blue Heron’s asset management and development teams to analyze budgets and cash flow of the investment properties.

Deborah has been engaged in the practice of accounting for over 28 years, beginning her career with KPMG auditing banks, insurance companies, and other heavily-regulated industries. Her career includes diversified financial management positions in a variety of industries including real estate investment, operations, and development, life, health, property, and casualty insurance, and pharmaceutical product development and distribution.

Previously, she served as Vice President of Financial Development for Universal American, Director of Finance for Lek Pharmaceuticals, and, most recently as Chief Financial Officer for The Martin Organization, a real estate conglomerate with development, commercial, and residential holdings as well as self-storage facility development and management.

Deborah has held treasury and other positions on several non-profit Boards including Cape Fear Literacy Council, Wilmington Child Advocacy Commission, and The Penn State Alumni Association of Wilmington NC.

Deborah received a BS in Accounting from The Pennsylvania State University and an MA from University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She earned the CPA designation in 1993.

Matthew Hobbs

Director - Investments, Risk & Compliance

Matt joined Blue Heron in 2014 and has 20 years of real estate experience in acquisitions, dispositions, financial analysis, development, renovation, leasing, property management, and historic restoration. Matt brings this deep experience as a member of the Investment Team, focusing on transactions (including deal and joint venture structure, negotiation, due diligence, and closing), construction agreements, and asset and fund operations. Matt also serves a key role in the firm’s corporate governance, including risk management and compliance.

Prior to joining Blue Heron, Matt managed finance, leasing, and property management for NC-based retail developer Adventure Development. He played an instrumental role in the development of a $100 million+, 1.2 million-square-foot mixed-use project in Pittsburgh, PA. From 2004-2010, at Mark Properties, Inc., a private equity real estate investment company in Durham, NC, Matt led acquisitions, asset management, and leasing of a 2.5 million-square-foot retail and office portfolio. Ahead of the Great Recession, Matt participated in the disposition of a significant portion of Mark Properties’ holdings, including the successful marketing and sale of a portfolio of shopping centers.

Matt is chairman of the board of the Self-Help Ventures Fund in Durham, NC, a leading non-profit community development financial organization focused on commercial lending, real estate development, affordable home-lending, and capital support of its affiliated credit unions. As an active preservationist, Matt serves on the board of directors of Preservation North Carolina, from whom he received the Carraway Merit Award 2017.

Matt received a BSE in mechanical engineering from Princeton University, an MA in early American culture from the University of Delaware/Winterthur Museum, and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Kevin Wade

Managing Director - Investments, Development & Portfolio Management

Kevin joined Blue Heron in 2017 and serves as a member of the investment team, supporting investment, asset management, and development activities.  His responsibilities include development project management, acquisitions underwriting and analysis, asset management, market research, and data analytics.

Before joining Blue Heron, Kevin spent 6 years as an architect in a wide range of roles including design, project management, and construction administration. He worked in various markets and across many building types including large public projects, commercial office, multifamily and student housing, and custom single-family homes, as well as several historic and adaptive reuse projects. While pursuing his MBA, Kevin managed Kenan-Flagler Business School’s real estate private equity fund, overseeing three fund vehicles. In this role he was responsible for fundraising, deal sourcing, investment underwriting and execution, investor relations, and asset management. He also oversaw accounting for the fund including capital calls, distributions, and financial projections.

Kevin is a registered architect in North Carolina and a LEED Green Associate. He received a BS in Architecture from North Carolina State University and an MBA with a concentration in real estate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School. In addition, he has taken advanced real estate data science coursework through MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning.

Patrick Wade

Director, Development & construction management

Patrick joined Blue Heron in 2021 and serves as a member of the development team, supporting pre-development and construction activities. His primary responsibility is working closely with design and construction teams to manage schedules, budgets, and quality during the execution of development and value-add projects.

Prior to joining Blue Heron, Patrick spent 15 years as a structural engineer and project manager for an ENR Top 40 national engineering firm. His design and project management experience includes a wide variety of projects for federal, municipal, and private clients. Most recently, Patrick led a national asset management consulting practice, with a focus on facility condition assessments and capital planning.

Patrick is a registered professional engineer in North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida. He received a BS in civil engineering and a MS in structural engineering and mechanics from North Carolina State University. His graduate research and thesis investigated the behavior of high strength bolts in bolted moment connections.

Katie Thompson Bowe

Director, Investor relations

Katie joined Blue Heron in 2023. She leads Investor Relations and serves in a multi-faceted role spanning fundraising, communications, operations, strategic projects, and ESG initiatives.

Prior to joining Blue Heron, Katie worked for 5 years in the treasury department of Credit Suisse. She managed complex, global projects and contributed to COO initiatives, such as improvements in technology, data visualization, budgeting, communications, and employee engagement. Previously, Katie spent 10 years fundraising, developing and managing programs, and improving processes and systems at Habitat for Humanity.

Katie has served on boards and committees at Habitat for Humanity (Wake County), Leadership Triangle, the Association of Fundraising Professionals (Triangle Chapter), and the Johnson Service Corps.

Katie received a BS in business administration from Villanova University with co-majors in marketing and international business management.

Jon wajsgras

Director, Acquisitions & Asset Management

Jon joined Blue Heron in 2020 and serves a key role on the Investment Team, leading asset management and investment underwriting and analysis. Jon is also involved in sourcing investment opportunities, managing capital market relationships, data analytics, and internal system improvement to support firm growth. Additionally, Jon supports portfolio management and investor reporting.

Prior to joining Blue Heron, Jon was an Associate at Glouston Capital Partners, a Boston-based private equity secondaries investment firm. At Glouston, his primary responsibilities included investment underwriting, evaluation, and portfolio monitoring. Prior to GCP, Jon was an Associate in the Transaction Services Valuation Group at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Jon graduated cum laude from Boston College with a BA in economics. He also graduated with honors from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, earning an MBA with concentrations in decision sciences and operations. Jon is a CFA Charterholder.

Angelo Boone

Associate, Development & Acquisitions

Angelo joined Blue Heron in 2020. He is a member of the Investment Team and is primarily responsible for development project management support. Angelo also supports investment underwriting and analysis and market research.

Angelo graduated magna cum laude from Elon University with a double major in finance and entrepreneurship and a minor in economics. He was president of Elon’s Real Estate Club, where he broadened the scope of content and opportunities to club members by facilitating new mentorship and internship pipelines, as well as career opportunities through company visits in Raleigh, Winston-Salem, and New York City.

Jaren Joyner

Associate

Jaren joined Blue Heron as an Associate in 2022. He is a member of the investment team and is responsible for investment underwriting and analysis, market research, asset management, and development project management support. He has previous experience working on residential, retail and self-storage development projects, as well as experience working in business development for a large property management/ownership group.

Jaren is a native of Winston-Salem, NC and a graduate of East Carolina University.

William Luke

Sr. Analyst

William joined Blue Heron as a Senior Financial Analyst in 2022. He is a member of the investment team and is responsible for investment underwriting and analysis, market research, and overall investment team support. His experience includes working at a REIT where he focused on advancing due diligence for retail transactions and, most recently, underwriting acquisitions for an institutional SFR investor.

William graduated from the Michigan State University - Broad College of Business in 2020 with a B.A. in finance.

Leslie neal

Analyst

Leslie joined Blue Heron as an Analyst in 2024. She is a member of the investment team and is responsible for investment underwriting and analysis, and market research. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she studied business and real estate at the Kenan-Flagler Business School. She most recently interned with the UNC Wood Center of Real Estate Studies during her senior year. 

Leslie is a Raleigh, NC native and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BSBA focused in Real Estate. 

Melissa "Missy" Coleman

Operations Manager, Accounting

Missy joined Blue Heron at its inception in 2011 and has worked alongside co-founder Ron Strom for over 30 years. She provides support across numerous areas of the firm, including investor relations, project management, financial reporting, HR, and office operations. Missy has over 30 years of experience in commercial real estate, including lender and investor correspondence, development and project management, real estate closings, and property management.

For Blue Heron, Missy has fulfilled bookkeeping and accounting duties across assets. Missy works closely with Blue Heron’s CFO, external auditors, and fund administrator in the preparation and distribution of investor reports and financial statements. Missy plays critical roles in both fund and real estate closings and works closely with lenders, property managers, and internal asset and development managers throughout an investment’s life cycle.

Prior to Blue Heron, Missy worked with Ron Strom performing project management duties across numerous developments, including a student housing development at UNC-Chapel Hill, three office buildings for UNC-Chapel Hill, the renovation of Midtown Market shopping center in Chapel Hill, NC, and the development of several Whole Foods stores.

Missy received a BA in communication from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.